Read Rise Of The Worm Sovereign Chapter 631 - Two More Pawns Added To The Hand online for free - AllNovelFull
With the short plan made, Lin Wu thought that it was time to finish up here.
"Well then, you two can head back. But I need to do just one thing before that." Lin Wu said.
"What's that, master?" Both Tian Han and Tian Chu asked.
"You, come here." Lin Wu ordered.
"Y-yes?" Tian Han said nervously as he stepped forward.
"Don't move." Lin Wu said as he touched Tian Han's forehead with a sharp spike.
The man was shaking in his boots, but knew better to flinch.
'If he wanted to kill me, he doesn't need to do this. He can simply crush me with a breath.' Tian Han thought and forced himself to calm down.
~slick~
At that time, he felt a sharp pain in his head and wanted to wince, but it disappeared just as quickly as it had appeared.
~shing~
Lin Wu withdrew the spike from his head, and only a faint wound was left there. A drop of blood dripped down from the spot and trailed down to his nose.
"What was that, master?" Tian Chu asked, feeling curious.
She asked this because she could feel a familiar feeling coming from Tian Han now. It was similar to the feeling she got from master and she was confused about it.
"A little improvement, you could say. Now you two can talk with your minds… between each other and me as well." Lin Wu explained.
'What?' Tian Han said, but realized that he had not moved his lips.
"I HEARD THAT!" Tian Chu was surprised.
"Seems like you two already grasped it, good. This will make it easier to communicate." Lin Wu stated.
"Oh, and also… I want the spirit tools you have." Lin Wu demanded.
"My spirit tools?" Tian Han said before taking them all out.
"I want, this, this and that one." Lin Wu pointed them out.
"Umm, these were all given to me by Elder Jigou. My father will probably ask me if he finds them missing." Tian Han stated.
"Simply say that you lost them during the battle." Lin Wu stated. "And I'll have some rewards for you later too, so you won't miss them as much either."
"O-okay, master. If you say so…" Tian Han said, under the fierce gaze of Tian Chu.
With the quick explanation done, the two of them headed back to the Tian clan, while Lin Wu stayed back.
Once they were gone, Lin Wu stored the spirit tools he got from Tian Han in the storage for the system to analyze and pulled up the map.
'Another task done… thought it went in a completely different direction than I had thought.' Lin Wu thought to himself.
"At least I know have a potential in to the Tian Clan's main branch." Lin Wu muttered.
His aim was to use the two to gain information from the main branch and potentially open up opportunities for him to visit it directly.
"Those probes will need to be upgraded one last time if they are to head out there. System, you will be done with the new version till then, right?" Lin Wu asked.
"Affirmative." The system replied.
"Good. The new version is necessary for a sensitive area like that." Lin Wu said.
The system had started its analysis of the spirit tools and would be done with it soon, from what Lin Wu could see.
"Time to head back I guess." Lin Wu said as he made his way back to the Tian clan's vicinity.
Quickly entering the ground, Lin Wu reached the Weasel who was still sleeping soundly.
~knock~
"Wake up! We leaving now." Lin Wu said, knocking the beast down from the tree.
~KIII~
Tim was a bit startled and his fur stood on its ends, but then it calmed down seeing Lin Wu.
"We leave?" he asked, feeling groggy.
"Yes." Lin Wu replied.
"Leave for where?" He questioned further.
"Home." Lin Wu stated.
"Home?" The weasel seemed intrigued by the word, but didn't say anything by that.
"Come, follow." Lin Wu ordered, and started to move.
The two of them first went a sufficient distance away from the Tian clan before taking flight and speeding their way towards the Frozen Cloud Sect.
'Yun Bai should be done by now. I'll contact him just in case.' Lin Wu thought and opened the communication link.
But after a minute, he furrowed his brows.
"How is this not working?" Lin Wu was confused.
~DING~
——
ANSWER: The communication target is missing and cannot be found in the range.
——
"That's strange… if the jade slip was broken, the system would have known. Then this only means Yun Bai is not in the range or… the system cannot reach into the grotto where the Frost Foxes live." Lin Wu reckoned.
After thinking for a bit, Lin Wu understood that it would make sense if an old formation array that had hidden the Frost Fox clan for such a long time could stop the system's signals like an interference field.
"Seems like we'll have to wait at the Frozen Cloud sect for him them. Though system, keep on trying and tell me if the link works again." Lin Wu stated.
"Affirmative." The system accepted.
Lin Wu and Tim then continued on to their journey silently. Lin Wu was also observing the beast, trying to get a better gauge of the beast's behavior.
During the journey, they had come across several beasts, but Tim did not attack him like before. He seemed to be far more in control than before.
"He's getting more… sane." Lin Wu muttered to himself.
Their journey lasted a few days before they finally reached the Frozen Cloud sect. They did need to stop a couple of times because Tim got hungry and needed to eat something. Lin Wu let him do this and also got the system to analyze him at the same time.
This let him discover the fact that it was absolutely essential for Tim to continue eating or he might not be able to function properly.
"It's like a diabetic person needing sugar from time to time…"
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In one of the peaks of the Frozen Cloud sect, a group of elders were sitting. They were all talking about something and had serious expressions on their head.
"How can this be possible? They failed for ten years and suddenly succeeded?" A brown haired elder said out loud.
"No matter what we say, it has already happened. Now we need to figure out how to stop them from gaining too much power." Another elder spoke.
"Elder Liewei is right, we need to do damage control." A few others chimed in.
~Sigh~
A loud sight could be heard coming from the oldest looking elder in the hall. The man seemed like he was over a hundred years old compared to a mortal's appearance. His skin was dry and saggy, with wrinkles so thick they hid his eyes.
Still, his sigh was enough to silence all the elders in the hall.
"Is there a problem… Elder Weizhe?" The elder who was sitting at the head of the hall spoke.
He was relatively younger than the other elders and seemed to be middle aged. Yet if one felt the spirit Qi fluctuation coming from him, they would be able to tell that he was at the Dao Shell realm.
From his position and authoritarian voice, it was evident that he was the leader of these elders.
The old elder named Weizhe looked up at the middle aged elder with a still face.
"How long will you keep this up? We should have stopped a long time ago, doing this will only harm the sect further." Elder Weizhe spoke.
"Oh? Has Elder Weizhe decided to leave the Frozen Cliff division?" The middle aged elder asked in an intrusive tone.
"I never said that, Elder Qianshu. Do not twist my words." Elder Weizhe replied, his tone still calm.
"If you are making such statements, then it only means that you are inclined on doing as I said. If you don't want to leave the Broken Cliff Division, then you will listen to our words and do as I say." Elder Qianshu said in a firm voice.
Elder Weizhe looked at the man and stayed silent. Five minutes passed like this, as the two men had a staring match.
"Fine… do as you want. I won't interfere in anything unless it comes to… that. But at the same time mark my words… we should have never taken the help of outsiders," Elder Weizhe said before standing up.
His back was hunched, and he had a weak gait while talking. If any laymen looked at him, they would think that the man had one foot in death's door. There weren't any detectable spirit Qi fluctuations coming from him either and his vitality was rather weak too.
The other elder looked at Elder Qianshu with interest, wondering if today was finally the day the two would battle.
'This damned old man… why does he still hand on to his life, his time is long gone…' Elder Qianshu thought.
His expression seemed upset, yet he did not do anything and forcibly held back. He kept on watching till Elder Weizhe reached the door of the hall.
~Creak~
But just as he was about to open the door, it opened on its own.
"Elder! I—" The person who had just opened the door was startled. "Elder Weizhe!"
The old man watched the young disciples with a still expression and simply passed by him without saying anything. The disciple seemed a bit shocked but reeled in that, since he had something important to say.
"What is it?!" The brown haired elder asked in an irritated tone.
"Elders! This disciple has come to inform you that Chief Disciple Wang Xiong has left the sect once again!"
Hearing this, the elders seemed a bit confused.
"Didn't he just come back three days ago after calming the mine? Why is he out again?" an elder asked.
"I-I don't know. He was seeing leaving just five minutes ago. I rushed here to inform you, as instructed." The disciple replied.
"Hang on, has he gone alone? Or is there someone with him?" the elder named as Liewei asked further.
The other elders seemed intrigued by why he had asked a question like this.
"The last time he left with a few people, but called more to claim the mine. If he is going for something big, he will probably take more people. We can asses his goals from that." Elder Liewei explained.
The elders nodded their heads in understanding and looked towards the disciple for answers.
"He left with core disciple Ye Jin. No one else is with him." The disciple answered.
"Oh? Just those two, huh…" Elder Qianshu said with interest.
"Are you sure those two didn't go out just to celebrate? We do know they are 'close' now." Another elder asked.
"I do not know about that, elder." The disciple replied, feeling helpless.
"What do we do now then?" A short elder asked.
"Hmm… we have kept to ourselves for quite a bit now. Our ally hasn't contacted us about the mine either and we have no extra information. I think it is time for us to probe for intelligence on our own this time." Elder Qianshu spoke.
Hearing this suggestion, the elders couldn't help but agree.
"But will our ally be fine with this? Didn't they say not to interfere till they make contact again?" The brown haired elder questioned.
"What do you think of us? We are the elders of the Frozen Cliff division! They are the outsiders and we are the ones who will be dealing with everything at once. Even if they are our ally, our relationship is that of a merchant and customer." Elder Qianshu said in a reprimanding tone.
"I-I… I understand." The brown haired elder lowered his head.
"If we do go through with this, what do you suggest we do?" A Female elder asked.
"Well… I'd like to ask Elder Liewei for a suggestion. He has always had an analytical mind." Elder Qianshu spoke.
Elder Liewei nodded his head, and a smile appeared on his face.
"With pleasure…"
"Senior Lin Wu has returned rather quickly." Ye Jin spoke.
"I know, even I did not expect him to return this fast. I fully expected him to be gone for at least a couple of months." Wang Xiong replied.
"You have experience with that?" Ye Jin asked, feeling curious.
"Well… I don't know what Senior did exactly. But that's just how much communication I had with him in the past. He would barely contact me a couple of times in a year." Wang Xiong replied. "So I just guessed based on that estimate." He added.
"I see. But we do have the means to contact him directly, so that maybe the restricting factor back then." Ye Jin replied.
"Possibly, yeah." Wang Xiong nodded in agreement.
The two of them were flying towards a location that had been designated as a meeting point by Lin Wu. It was a sufficient distance away from the Frozen Cloud sect such that the elders of the sect shouldn't detect Lin Wu.
He had decided to be a bit cautious after seeing Tian Han's spirit tools and bet on the fact that there would be someone else with such tools or similar skills in the sect. So far, he had been lucky when he infiltrated the sect, but this time there was no Yun Bai there.
The man would be able to cover for Lin Wu if he was there, but since he had not returned yet, doing so would be unwise. Additionally, the little battle that Yun Bai and Lin Wu had back then had alerted a few strong experts of the sect and Lin Wu didn't want to alert them again, just in case they were keeping an eye.
And thus, Wang Xiong and Ye Jin had no option but to leave the sect to meet with him.
"There it is. That should be the place." Wang Xiong said as he pointed towards a certain area.
It was a rocky hill that was bare of any trees and there was a lake that was attached to its base. It seemed like over many years, the rain had washed over the soil from the hill and left behind only a rocky core.
The rain water then accumulated at its base to form the lake. It wasn't particular picturesque and there were also many spirit beasts that lived near it, thus no one really came here.
"I didn't even know there was a hill like this here." Ye Jin spoke.
"I've only passed by here a couple of times. I remember the first time I went past here, it still had some trees growing on it." Wang Xiong commented.
The two of them came to land beside the lake and looked around for Lin Wu.
"Where is Senior? I can feel him nearby, but can't estimate where he is exactly." Ye Jin wondered.
~Ripple~
And just as she said that, the water of the lake started to ripple. Faint tremors appeared in the ground, before a dark body could be seen in the depths of the water.
~gush~
Then from the lake rose up the head of Lin Wu along with a part of his body. Sitting on one of his spikes was none other than Tim the weasel. Though he seemed to be irritated by the water and shaking it off from his body.
"Just in time." Lin Wu spoke.
"Senior!" Wang Xiong and Ye Jin cupped their hands in greeting.
"Do you know where Yun Bai is, or when he's coming back?" Lin Wu questioned.
"Guardian Yun? I thought he was in contact with you." Wang Xiong answered.
"No… while I did try to contact him, I couldn't. When did he leave the sect?" Lin Wu replied.
"Hmm, I can't tell exactly. But I went to see if he was there on his peaks after returning from the mine and couldn't enter it. The formation arrays blocked me from progression, which means that he wasn't on the peak." Wang Xiong explained.
"I guess he had left by then. He didn't say anything to you before leaving?" Lin Wu asked.
"No nothing. I don't even know when he left." Wang Xiong repeated.
Hearing this, Lin Wu couldn't help but furrow his brows.
'So we have no estimate on when he's going to come back and no way to contact him either.' Lin Wu understood.
While Lin Wu could very well leave for the forest and talk to Yun Bai later, he would prefer if it was done face to face since there were somethings best shown to him directly. Plus, Yun Bai was also likely to bring some records that Lin Wu would need to check physically to read.
"Did you want to ask 'us' anything?" Wang Xiong questioned, feeling a bit strange since Lin Wu could have very well asked them this through the communication link, unaware of the extra caution that the worm was taking now.
Until the system gave him the green signal that it had patched a few new vulnerabilities and cross checked them, to ensure they worked, Lin Wu would not dare to use the communication link in areas controlled by others.
"Ah yes, how are things going with Di Guan mines?" Lin Wu questioned.
"Oh! Everything is going really well due to the senior's help. We have already secured the area and assigned some people there temporarily. Ye Jin will work on expanding the numbers and make sure that everything is fine on the end of the sect as well, since we will be sending out disciples." Wang Xiong answered.
"Hmm… that's good—" Lin Wu was mid way to replying when he felt something and his aura changed.
"Tim! Attack them!" Lin Wu ordered as he rapidly sank back into the water and drilled back underground.
~KIIIIII~
The weasel needed little more to act and spun in the air while aiming towards the confused Wang Xiong and Ye Jin.
"W-what?" Wang Xiong hurriedly dodged and Ye Jin did the same.
They couldn't understand why Lin Wu would do something like this all of a sudden.
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~SHING~SHING~SHING~
The sound of Tim's hard and sharp fur grinding against rocks could be heard as sparks and debris shot around.
"Get back!" Wang Xiong shouted.
Ye Jin was confused by the sudden change, but knew better than to question it at this moment.
~kiikiii~
Seeing that he had missed the targets, Tim pivoted off the rocks and shot up into the sky and dived down in one smooth motion. His claws were wide extended and a faint glow could also be seen on them.
Wang Xiong couldn't help but shudder seeing this. He felt a pressure he had rarely ever felt before and knew that if he tried to go head to head against Tim, he would be utterly destroyed.
"Dammit!"
Gritting his teeth, Wang Xiong waved his hands.
"Taiji Scripture: Yin Pull!" Wang Xiong chanted.
~Whoosh~
With his gesture, the water in the lake started to rise. A cold wave of energy spread out from Wang Xiong's body and entered the water, quickly freezing it in the air.
~crack~crack~
The frozen water then splintered into hundreds and hundreds of thin needles that floated in the air.
"Rise!" Wang Xiong pointed towards Tim who was falling towards him.
~pew~pew~pew~
The sound of wind being torn could be heard as the ice needles traveled at a great speed.
~clang~clang~clang~
The ice needles hit Tim's body and did no damage.
'How did we even think that we could defeat a beast like this back then?' Wang Xiong couldn't help but feel stupid now.
But while the needles did no damage, it did slow down Tim enough that both Wang Xiong and Ye Jin could retreat even more.
"Tri-light Swords!" Ye Jin made seals with her hand before materializing three swords in front of her.
The swords were made out of Qi but if one looked closer, they would see that it wasn't just normal attribute less spirit Qi, but it had traces of Yin Qi in it.
"Touch of Yin!" Ye Jin tapped one of the sword on its pommel, turning its color into black.
"Touch of Yang!" Wang Xiong reached Ye Jin and tapped the pommel of the second sword, turning it white.
The two of them then looked at each other and nodded before clasping their free hand together.
"Dual Unity Swordsmanship! Blade of Companion!" The two of them chanted together and held onto the swords they had tapped.
~WEENG~
The third sword that was freely floating started to move at that moment. It came to float in front of them and gained a dual color. Half of the sword was black and the other half was white.
Wang Xiong held the white sword in his right hand, while Ye Jin held the black sword in her left hand. They gazed at the incoming Weasel beast and swung the swords in unison.
~SLASH~
The third sword mirrored their moves and shot towards Tim, letting out a powerful slash.
The air was split apart as peerless sword energy shot out of the dual colored sword. The energy traveled vertically in a straight line, creating a deep ravine in the ground and splitting the rocks in its path into two as well.
~KREEE~
Tim's glowing claws crossed mid air and slammed into the incoming slash.
~DENG~
As if a gong had been hit, a sonorous sound spread in the surroundings. The frozen part of the lake cracked upon being influenced by the sound, and even the rocky hill gained some extra cracks.
It was evident that the sound held a lot of power within it, prompting one to think that the actual attacks held even more power.
Wang Xiong and Ye Jin exerted all their power, trying to push Tim back. They didn't know why Lin Wu had ordered this or why he was letting this happen, but they knew that survival was everything at this moment.
~Kacha~
But despite their strength, the swords in their hands started to crack and so did the third sword that was actually clashing with Tim.
"No…" Ye Jin said unwillingly.
~BOOM~
A blinding explosion happened as pure physical force and Spirit Qi met.
"AAAAHHHH!" Ye Jin cried out in pain as she was knocked away.
Wang Xiong was the same and was sent flying along with her. Still, he was stronger than her and was able to maintain his control. His eyes were open and just when he was about to slam into a tree, he saw something.
'They…!' Wang Xiong's eyes went wide, but quickly gained a calm expression.
~Thud~
His body collided into a tree, breaking it in half and collapsing on the side.
"Ugh!" Wang Xiong grunted in pain and forced himself to stand again.
His spirit sense quickly spread around and a few new things came into his observation. But ignoring those things, he quickly went to Ye Jin who had met a similar fate as him.
"Ye Jin!" he called out anxiously.
Seeing that she had simply suffered some cuts and bruises, he felt better.
"No… the damage is not just physical…" Wang Xiong sensed as he saw the arms of Ye Jin tremble non stop.
He could already guess what had happened to her meridians and knew that if he checked them right now, it would only cause more disturbance to him and take away the precious time they had right now.
"That beast… where is he?" Wang Xiong turned around to search for him.
His eyes wandered around but could not find him.
'Dammit, I can't even sense him with spirit sense. He's far too different!' Wang Xiong cursed internally.
"Be… Behind…" Ye Jin's lips faintly moved, and she mouthed out a word.
Wang Xiong's eyes darted to his back and there he spotted the beast rising up from the ground.
The beast had also been knocked away like them due to the explosion. But when Wang Xiong saw the state of the beast, he was in for a surprise again.
"Just how tough is he even… Not even a scratch!" Wang Xiong felt uneasy.
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~cough~ cough~
Ye Jin coughed out a mouthful of blood. She felt like the wind had been knocked out of her lungs and her body ached to no end.
Her body told her to sleep and rest, but her brain shouted that she would die very quickly if she tried that.
"WAKE UP!" Thankfully, Wang Xiong's shout was enough to rouse her completely.
Her vision stabilized and she quickly ate a pill to start the recovery.
"This battle is not over yet," Wang Xiong said as he gazed at the Weasel beast.
~WOONG~
A serious expression appeared on Wang Xiong's face as he withdrew a Guan Dao from his spatial storage treasure.
This Guan Dao was different from the one he had used a long time ago and was twice as thick. The spirit Qi fluctuations coming from it were also very strong, and it was easy to tell that it was at least a High Grade spirit weapon.
There were three tassels hanging off the back of the Guan Dao's blade having the three colors: Black, white and Grey.
Wang Xiong raised the Guan Dao and spun it in the air, leaving a train of three colors just the same as the tassels.
With the circle created, Wang Xiong hooked his finger toward it and rotated it.
~Zing~
The circle started to spin on a flat axis first, but then Wang Xiong stomped his foot, making it spin on a vertical axis as well. In just a couple of seconds, Wang Xiong and Ye Jin disappeared as a blurry sphere appeared around them due to the spinning circle.
"Kill!" A screeching voice was heard.
Tim ran at great pace and slammed into the sphere head first.
~spark~
Like golden confetti, sparks shot out everywhere due to the collision. This time, Wang Xiong was in a defensive situation and could not move at all. Ye Jin was still reeling in from the impact and looked at her companion with a concerned expression.
"Why is he attacking us? We didn't do anything! Why is senior punishing us?" Ye Jin asked feeling wronged.
"No!" Wang Xiong shouted in response, stunning Ye Jin.
She could see the fierce look in his eyes and knew that something was wrong.
"He isn't punishing us… he is protecting us." Wang Xiong replied.
"W-what? That's insane." Ye Jin said, finding it all absurd.
"I know what it seems like. But this is the best solution that could have been used." Wang Xiong said as he gathered more spirit Qi from his Dantian.
"What do you mean? A solution for what?" Ye Jin questioned.
"A solution that would keep us safe and hide our link to Senior Lin Wu." Wang Xiong answered.
Upon hearing this, a thought came into Ye Jin's mind. She found that thought to be very wrong and couldn't tell how it would be possible, but at the same time it seemed the most logical answer too.
"We… we were followed, weren't we?" Ye Jin questioned.
"Yes… I don't know how we didn't sense them. But they tracked us down all the way here." Wang Xiong answered.
By this time, Ye Jin understood what had happened and only felt frustrated.
"What do we do then?" Ye Jin asked.
"We have to push the weasel as far as possible. As long as he is far enough, he won't attack us." Wang Xiong replied.
"Alright! Do we do the same thing as before?" Ye Jin asked.
"No… that won't work. I'll hold him off for as long as possible, you take that thing out." Wang Xiong replied.
Ye Jin's expression turned serious and she nodded her head. Wang Xiong put his focus on defending and supplying spirit Qi to the spinning ring while Ye Jin pulled out a small glass bottle.
The glass bottle was transparent, and in it a small piece of flesh was floating in fluid. It was hard to tell what thing the flesh belonged to or what the fluid was, but the number of runs that were carved into the bottle showed that whatever it must be, it was very volatile.
Such runes were carved to make a stabilizing formation that could restrain unstable materials.
Ye Jin held the bottle in both her hands and started pouring all her spirit Qi into it. The more spirit Qi that entered it, the more the runes glowed. After a few seconds, the runes reached a peak and the spirit Qi started to enter the fluid, and then the piece of flesh.
The flesh started to tremble and bulge.
~kacha~
At that moment, a single crack appeared on the glass bottle.
"It's ready!" Ye Jin hurriedly spoke.
"On my call!" Wang Xiong instructed.
"One… Two… NOW!" Wang Xiong yelled.
The ring that was spinning in the shape of a sphear expanded outwards with a surge of spirit Qi and pushed back Tim.
"GO!" Ye Jin threw the small glass bottle with all her strength and it flew toward Tim.
Wang Xiong too reacted quickly and slammed the Guan Dao into the ground, creating an ice dome around them.
~shatter~
The glass bottle hit Tim on the head and broke apart.
~huu~
Then, like match meeting a keg of gunpowder, the piece of flesh ignited!
~KABOOM!~
A massive explosion shook the area, directly burning away the trees and the grass.
"ARGH!" Wang Xiong grunted in strain as he did his best to maintain the ice dome.
The rate at which he was supplying it spirit Qi and the rate at which it was melting was almost the same, but it looked like he was faltering.
~SKREEE~
Tim seemed to be injured as well and was sent flying like a rocket.
~thud~thud~thud~
His body broke through tens of trees at once before crashing into the ground.
But even then, he didn't stop and created a long gully in the ground. From this, one could tell just how much force was there in the explosion.
~shatter~
The ice dome that was protecting Wang Xiong and Ye Jin broke apart as well when the spirit Qi ran out.
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~huu~huu~huu~
Wang Xiong panted and looked towards the distance, hoping his plan had worked.
~SKREEEEEE~
An ear piercing screech could be heard coming from a kilometer away at that moment. It was familiar to them as they had already heard Tim many times before, but in this instance, it was different.
"His cry is not one bit weaker… even stronger actually. Just how durable is this beast?" Wang Xiong couldn't help but say.
"How can something even survive that explosion with no scratches? For heaven's sake, that was a Lava Drake's Fire sac!" Ye Jin said in shock.
"Senior Lin Wu had an eye for the talent. There is no way he would have taken an interest in a beast like that and even protected it despite the things it has done. The talent it has is no less than the top experts of us humans." Wang Xiong had to admit.
"ARGH!" But just as he said this, a loud scream could be heard.
Wang Xiong and Ye Jin looked at each other and nodded.
"Seems like it worked." Wang Xiong said.
"Hopefully this keeps him away from us, and those that tailed us on toes." Ye Jin replied.
The two of them could hear more cries coming from the forest and knew that there was a bloody battle going on there, possibly. But they didn't go to check it out. Instead, the two of them retreated to a safer location and hid.
The place they were hiding in right now was actually a hole in the ground. If one didn't look through the collapsed trees, they would not know that there was actually a hole this big here.
"Senior Lin Wu even prepared this for us." Wang Xiong said, seeing the rather spacious hole.
"Now that we're here, why don't you try contacting him?" Ye Jin questioned.
"Hmm… let's see if the link works now. Earlier he had suppressed it… possibly to make sure that the way we acted was normal." Wang Xiong replied.
He then closed his eyes and tried to link up with the communication system that Lin Wu had active most of the time. After a few seconds, he finally got through and felt relieved.
"Senior Lin Wu…" Wang Xiong called out.
"Did you two get far enough?" Lin Wu questioned directly, his tone plain.
"Yes. We are currently in one of the holes you made for us nearby." Wang Xiong answered.
Lin Wu who was hiding a few kilometer away in the ground, furrowed his brows and tried to recall the location.
"Did I make a hole for them nearby?" Lin Wu wondered.
He quickly switched though the map and indeed found the hole that they were talking about.
"Oh it's there. I didn't even know I had one there." Lin Wu muttered to himself before responding to the two.
"And I reckon, you two understood the situation?" Lin Wu questioned.
"We were confused and lost at first, but I understood after seeing some things." Wang Xiong answered.
"I see… then are you two upset with me?" Lin Wu asked, feeling curious.
Lin Wu could understand if they felt like that, as anyone who was pushed into a difficult situation like that without an explanation would feel irritated. Plus, the one that he put Wang Xiong and Ye Jin wasn't just difficult, it was downright deadly.
'Tim certainly won't hold back, it's not in his nature.' Lin Wu thought.
"No senior!" Wang Xiong hurriedly said.
"Though I did think that it was a test of some kind." Ye Jin too joined in at this point, sensing the connection better.
"Hmm… you could say that it was a test too. Not just for me to asses, but for you two to learn as well." Lin Wu said before taking a pause, "I hope you two understood the lesson that comes out of this?" he asked.
"We do, senior!" Wang Xiong and Ye Jin replied in unison.
"And what lesson is that?" Lin Wu asked, while trying to suppress his chuckle.
'I always wanted to play a teacher, hehe.' Lin Wu thought to himself.
"That we need to be vigilant at all times. We have become complacent and thought that our enemies won't act any more just because they have been silent for a while." Wang Xiong answered.
"And I also learned that fate can twist at any instant, thus being prepared is everything." Ye Jin added.
"That is truly an important factor." Lin Wu agreed.
"If Ye Jin didn't have that Lava Drake Fire sac, I doubt we would have been able to push Tim back that far. Even our combined attacks were not something that could have as big of an effect." Wang Xiong stated.
Lin Wu quickly checked the stored memories that the Pentagem had in the two subordinates and got to know what had happened. He had activated the passive recording feature as soon as he distanced himself.
He didn't know if there would be more than just some Core condensation realm and Nascent soul realm people spying on them, thus Lin Wu decided to be cautious.
'Oh? They certainly came up with some new skills… they are even collaborative ones.' Lin Wu thought, feeling rather impressed.
He could see that the two of them had taken the Taiji Refinement scripture and applied that to some other skill they knew and come up with newer versions of them. Lin Wu let the system gather them and update its data banks for future reference.
After thinking for a bit, Lin Wu spoke again.
"Those people… they are definitely from the sect. Which means someone ordered them to come after you two and seeing their numbers, I doubt they had any good intentions." Lin Wu stated.
"I… I know senior. They are most definitely from the Frozen Cliff division. They had backed off from having frontal conflicts with us in the past few years, and I thought they would do the same now.
But my thought is now proved to be wrong, and it's evident that they were simply biding their time.." Wang Xiong elaborated.
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Lin Wu too was surprised by the way how those spies had appeared.
'The detection distance was far too close and the time needed to detect them was high too. What happened there system?' Lin Wu questioned the system.
~DING~
——
ANSWER: According to the latest analysis, the foes have the effect of a certain formation array that can temporally conceal their tracks and presence. The formation array only works in a certain area and needs for the operators to stay within it for it to express its effects.
While the system could overcome the masking ability of the foes, it was only possible once they were under a certain radius. This was possible due to the new data extrapolated from the Aura Exposure hoop.
——
Seeing the system's response, Lin Wu was now hundred percent sure that being cautious was the better choice.
'These were weaker cultivators and they were still able to hide from us. If they were any strong, I would be in great trouble.' Lin Wu thought with slight fear.
Though it also made him wonder why the people of the Frozen Cliff division had not used this tactic before.
"Do you have an idea of who could have sent them?" Lin Wu questioned.
"It is the Frozen Cliff division certainly. Though cannot hold back anymore, especially now that we have the Di Guan Mines under us as well." Wang Xiong answered.
"Hmm… they won't act without specific orders. Which means the elders can't hold back either." Ye Jin added.
Wang Xiong nodded in response and Lin Wu quickly checked the situation of the said spies.
"Looks like the Frozen Cliff division will be having a little bad luck today." Lin Wu spoke.
"Is something happening to them, senior?" Wang Xiong questioned.
"Your choice of knocking away Tim was the best one. It gave you enough time to escape and also made it in a way that the pursuers won't be able to follow either." Lin Wu answered.
Hearing this, Wang Xiong felt a bit content.
"What is happening to Tim, though? Will he be fine?" Ye Jin asked with a little concern.
Even though she was cursing the beast just a few minutes ago, Ye Jin now understood the reason behind it and felt a bit embarrassed.
"Oh, he's fine. That little explosion barely gave him any cracks." Lin Wu replied. "Though… the same cannot be said for those that were following you." He added.
"I guess we'll get to see it in a bit." Wang Xiong said with little excitement.
Lin Wu nodded in agreement and Ye Jin had nothing to add to it, thus just stayed silent. More time passed and finally an hour had gone by. No sounds of screeching or roaring could be heard and it felt like things had selected.
"Should we check now, senior?" Wang Xiong questioned.
"Just give me a minute…" Lin Wu said as he started to spread his spirit sense once more.
In his range of perception, he could see that there was nothing alive there.
"It is fine now. We will head back." Lin Wu answered.
Wang Xiong and Ye Jin left the hole, making their way to the site. Lin Wu did the same, except he reappeared from the ground instead of the water.
~splash~
Lin Wu's entire body rose from ground and gazed at the damage and destruction.
"Let's head there, shall we?" Ye Jin questioned.
The trio then moved towards the site of conflict.
~KIIIII~
And just as they got anymore closer, the cry of a weasel could be heard again.
"Come out now, Tim. This is enough," Lin Wu called out.
~KREEE~
The cry of a weasel rousing from the area could be heard.
~thud~thud~thud~
A few seconds, the figure of Tim could be seen rushing at them at a great speed.
Ye Jin secretly flinched seeing Tim and his body. The beast was uninjured for the most part and had only gained some superficial injuries. But other than that, there was a lot of blood that covered his body.
There were even pieces of flesh and hair hanging off him.
"What did you do…" Ye Jin couldn't help but say.
"Eat." Tim casually responded.
Lin Wu ended up being the one that could explain the situation.
"I'm still curious about something senior… Did you know that something like this would happen?" Wang Xiong questioned.
"Somewhat I guess." Lin Wu said as he scanned the area with his spirit sense.
In his range of perception, Lin Wu could see several headless bodies. Some had half of their entire body bit in half while some had a partial part eaten. Regardless, all of those were wounds from which barely anyone would be able to escape.
Lin Wu double checked it all just in case to make sure there won't be anyone hiding their cultivation and spirit Qi signals.
"Senior Lin Wu is wise. But it is indeed good that you prompted us to do this. The ones that survived will certainly bring back the information. The elders will only find out that we barely managed to survive.
We might even be able to root out the traitors." Wang Xiong replied.
"Mmhmm. This is a good form of misdirection." Lin Wu agreed.
The three of them checked the area for a few more minutes before finally sitting down to talk.
"So what do you think the mindset of the elders was?" Lin Wu questioned.
"I'm thinking they are now in a panic mode. We have suddenly gained control of the Di Guan mines, which we have been competing for a long time. Since the balance was shifted, the elders were definitely looking into make us fail.
But now with the Senior's hints, not only did we manage to flip the tail on us, we probably strained their resources even more." Wang Xiong said after thinking or a minute.
Lin Wu nodded his head in acknowledgment and thought that it was now time to find an even better place for their meeting.
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Lin Wu and his two subordinates had changed their location and were now in an area that was about fifty kilometers away from the site of battle. This was a place that Lin Wu had already passed by and felt like it was good enough.
There were little to no strong beasts nearby, with the strongest one being at the peak core condensation realm and there weren't any important resources here either.
But what this place did have was a sinkhole. It was around twenty meters wide and was hidden by a lot of trees and had plants growing all over it. Even if one looked at it from the sky, they would find it harder to differentiate since there were just too many plants growing on its walls and other surfaces.
From the top, it just looked like a singular green area and the depth was difficult to perceive.
"I never knew there was a sinkhole like this here." Ye Jin said, finding it a rather pleasant place.
"Mmhmm… it is a little wet, but other than that, it's rather beautiful." Wang Xiong agreed seeing the various flowers that were growing there.
The flowers were just normal flowers and thus there was no need for any beasts or cultivators to tread in this area.
"You two should stay here for a couple of days before returning. Though if Yun Bai contacts us before that, we'll just talk with him then." Lin Wu spoke.
"As you wish, senior." Wang Xiong replied.
With this, the plan for staying in the sinkhole was made. While two days was not that long of a time, it was still a bit strange for the two of them to stay here with Lin Wu. It was just a bit awkward since they were not used to being with him for longer periods of time.
But at the same time, they were curious about Lin Wu and how he cultivated.
"Umm… senior." Ye Jin suddenly spoke up.
"Yes?" Lin Wu responded.
"Since we will be here together for a while… will you be willing to give us some pointers on cultivation?" Ye Jin asked.
"Yes! I'd love to do this, since we don't get an opportunity like this often." Wang Xiong chimed in as well.
Lin Wu had certainly not expected something like this and was completely lost.
'Shit… I completely forgot about the teaching part of the mysterious and powerful senior act.' Lin Wu thought to himself.
Lin Wu's cultivation was mostly assisted by the system and it was in charge of handling the technical parts. Lin Wu would at most follow the information that was already in his mind and follow that to cultivate.
Even the information that he had learned from the various cultivation techniques and manuals was mostly surface-level since he couldn't apply it directly to his body due to not being human.
This was the issue because of which he left most things to the system. Though Lin Wu did know that once he entered the Dao Treading realm, he would have to actively start comprehending the Dao in order to progress and the system would not be able to help him for the most part.
'I have to come up with something, or it'll become awkward.' Lin Wu thought to himself.
He was silent for five minutes, which made Wang Xiong and Ye Jin feel a bit nervous, but since Lin Wu didn't express any displeasure, they decided to wait and see.
"Alright…" Lin Wu finally spoke, relieving the two.
"But before that, you already know that I am a beast and thus the things that apply to humans don't particularly apply to me and vice a versa. Thus I won't be giving you any pointers pertaining to specific cultivation techniques." Lin Wu stated.
"That isunderstandable, senior. We will be fine with anything that you teach us." Wang Xiong and Ye Jin replied.
"Very well, I'll give you some general information then." Lin Wu said.
The two humans listened to him attentively as Lin Wu started to speak. The thing that Lin Wu started with was the very basics of cultivation, which was the different realms and their meanings.
He explained all the realms all the way to the Immortal Ascension realm, which was what the two of them knew of until now.
"Now then, this was the part that you mostly knew of. But I'll be telling you about the realms that exist above the Immortal Ascension realm." Lin Wu said, exciting the two humans.
"From what I've heard from patriarch, above the Immortal Ascension realm is the Immortal Realm, right?" Wang Xiong asked.
"Indeed, but there is more to it than just that. The immortal Realm is just a basic generalization and there are many sub realms in it. More accurately, there are 7 such sub realms.
All the realms from the Qi refining realm all the way to the Immortal Ascension realm are the sub realms of the Major realm which is called as the Spirit realm. That is the reason why you are all called spirit cultivators or spirit Qi cultivators and the ones that are in the immortal realm are called as Immortal cultivators or Immortal Qi cultivators." Lin Wu replied.
This was just the start of Lin Wu's explanation and he then went on to explain about the seven tribulations that encompassed the seven sub realms of the Immortal realm. Wang Xiong and Ye Jin were so stunned by all this that they couldn't even blink their eyes.
Lin Wu of course, skipped over some things that he literally could not say due to the world's restrictions, but the information that he had given was already enough to overwhelm the two.
Wang Xiong was the most intrigued by how someone actually reached an Immortal World. The whole moving through the gates of the Greater and Grand Void both confused and amazed him.
Lin Wu teaching them this had another effect, though.. The belief that Lin Wu was long lived and had seen all this was now firmly anchored in their hearts.
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While Lin Wu was teaching Wang Xiong and Ye Jin in peace, someone else was currently in distress.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN HALF OF YOUR WERE SLAUGHTERED?" Elder Qianshu thundered.
"T-That's what happened elder." A person spoke fearfully.
The other elders in the hall were tense as well and didn't know what to say. There was just one person who had come to deliver the report since all others were either injured or were taking care of the injured.
Elder Qianshu frowned and looked at Elder Liewei whose forehead was wrinkled and more were being added by the minute.
"Tell me everything from the start. This doesn't make sense." Elder Liewei stated.
~huu~
The tired disciple took a deep breath and started his explanation again.
"We followed Wang Xiong and Ye Jin as we were ordered to, and stayed hidden. We tracked them down to a rocky hill out of the sect and found that they were actually there to find a beast." The disciple said.
"A beast? What kind of a beast?" Elder Qianshu questioned.
"At first we didn't get a proper look since we had to keep away from their sights, but we did feel the spirit qi fluctuations that came from their battle. From that we could estimate that it was a beast at the Nascent soul realm." The disciple answered.
"A beast at the nascent soul realm this close to the sect?" A brown haired elder said in confusion.
"Were there any reports of such a beast?" A female elder questioned another elder.
"No. No such report came to us in the past year. Plus, we do regular patrols in the hundred kilometer area around the sect nearly every day, thus we would have known if there was a beast as strong as that there." A short elder who only had one hand answered.
"Hmm… this means that the information about this beast was only known to the two of them… or perhaps even the Frozen Brook Division." Elder Qianshu said.
"I doubt that the entire Frozen Brook Divisions knows about it. If they did, our informants would have long since told us about it." The brown haired elder chimed in.
The elders thought for a few minutes before Elder Qianshu spoke again.
"Still, it doesn't make sense that over half of you died. For heaven's sake! You had two Nascent soul realm cultivators with you too, didn't you?" Elder Qianshu asked in an irritated tone.
"We did indeed, Elder. But… but… they were the first ones to die. They were killed in less than ten seconds as the beast directly ate one of them whole and munched away the head of the other." The disciple replied while stammering.
It was evident that it was hard for him to speak, and the whole incident was rather traumatic.
"What kind of a useless Nascent soul cultivators do we have? They can't even contend against one Nascent soul realm beast? Even if it was at the Adult Soul stages, they should have at least been able to retreat." Elder Qianshu said.
"We would have… if it was a normal situation." The disciple replied nervously.
He saw the inquiring look of Elder Qianshu and explained how they couldn't sense the cultivation base of the spirit beast and how they were caught off guard by an explosion. The explosion was the main reason why the beast was able to reach them so quickly and attack them.
~Sigh~
"I don't know if this is our misfortune or if this was done intentionally…" Elder Liewei said.
Elder Qianshu only furrowed his brows and fiddled a bead in his hand.
"What about their skills? Did you at least get that information?" Elder Qianshu questioned.
"That we did yes!" The disciples said before handing the elder a jade slip.
Elder Qianshu took hold of it and quickly scanned through it. By the time he was done, his expression had eased up slightly.
"We have this as a consolation at the moment. But their skills… they are unlike what I've seen before." Elder Qianshu stated.
"Can I take a look too?" Elder Liewei asked to which he was thrown the jade slip.
After a couple of minutes, Elder Liewei's expression turned complex.
"I can identify some of the techniques as they have a base in other skill of our sect. But one thing is fore sure, they have modified them all. That Wang Xiong is using the inheritance he got in the Millennium forest to change out sect's skills." Elder Liewei spoke.
"That bastard was able to increase the power of those skills by quite a bit. Thankfully, we know about it now, or if we had to go against him directly in the future, we would have been caught in a tough situation." Elder Qianshu replied.
"Elder Qianshu is right. That man has too many secrets that we don't know of. Even after all these years, we still don't know about that strange crystal armor he used." The female disciple said in a tired tone.
"Speaking of that crystal armor… we never saw him use that again, have we?" the one armed elder asked.
"No, we haven't. At first we thought it was some kind of a technique, but after the research we did, we are sure that it is an actual spirit tool and not a construct made by a technique." The female elder replied.
"That armor can withstand and even redirect tribulation lightning, which shows that it is easily as powerful as a peak grades spirit tool. That is a very strong trump card to hide, so my question is… why did Wang Xiong not use it when he was being attacked by the beast today?" Elder Qianshu questioned.
Hearing this, all of the elders were puzzled and tried to think of an answer.
"Perhaps it has some additional cost that we don't know of?" An elder sitting at the back said.
"Hmm… that would make sense. It probably has a great cost of use that prevents Wang Xiong form using it as needed. We can add this to our records as well.." Elder Liewei agreed.
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The elders of the Frozen Cliff division were contemplating in the discoveries and were talking amongst themselves.
"Wait, we forgot the most important thing!" one of the elders said out loud.
"What is it?" A female elder asked.
"Those two… did Wang Xiong or Ye Jing return?" Elder Liewei questioned.
The disciple seemed hesitant to answer, as if he had done something wrong.
"We… we don't know elders. We escaped after being attacked and did not have the chance to check up on them. The beast was on our heels and continued to chase us. Those that were slow died in that time." The disciple answered.
"YOU FOOLS! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE THEN!? GET OTHERS TO SEARCH FOR THEM! WE NEED TO KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING OR IF THEY ARE EVEN ALIVE!" Elder Qianshu yelled.
"Right away elder!" The disciple quickly ran away.
The elders looked on with serious expressions and knew that the coming time would be a difficult. But they had to soldier on if they were to fulfill their goals.
Wang Xiong and Lin Wu were unaware of all that had happened in the sect, but they didn't need to care for it since it was their intention from the start. Getting the Frozen Cliff Division anxious would make it easier for them to make mistakes, and they might even slip up and give them an opportunity to act.
Two days passed like this and Lin Wu continued to teach his 'students' things that he knew. The topics that he taught them were not just limited to cultivation either. He went on to tell them about the various beasts he had learned about and the different cultivators along with their histories.
Lin Wu had already seen the memories of the Skull god enough to know about some prominent figures.
"Senior all these powerful experts… are they still alive?" Wang Xiong questioned.
"Oh, and how do children differ in the immortal worlds? Are they born mortals or do they already have cultivation bases?" Ye Jin questioned as well.
"Hmm… I can't really tell if those experts are still alive since it has been a long time since I was dormant. Some of the stronger ones should still be alive though and new ones definitely appeared. The cultivation world is ever expanding and new experts will be born every second. The ones that we think are talented are merely a drop in the great ocean that is the Cosmos." Lin Wu answered Wang Xiong first.
"I see…" Wang Xiong said in understanding.
"As for the children, that greatly varies. There are some peerless experts whose children can be born immortals. Or if not that there are some that will directly breakthrough to the Nascent soul realm in just a few days to a month after being born.
Most children in cultivation worlds will stay in the Nascent soul realm for a majority of their early childhood since their appearance will be stuck like that once they reach the Adult Soul stage of the castanet soul realm." Lin Mu answered Ye Jin.
"Then do they never turn adults in appearance? Won't they have to reach the end of their lifespan to get old? Won't that be too big of an inconvenience?" Ye Jin asked.
This was a question that Lin Wu himself have had and was confused by at first. But he had gotten the answer for it after a little bit of a search through the Skull god's memories.
"The problem of being stuck in the form of a child is a problem only people of lower ranked worlds will have. There are other treasure that can allow them to quickly increase their appearance and age if they need to. Plus, the appearance being stuck due to reaching Adult Soul stage of the nascent soul realm is not an absolute thing. There are other issues that can age them too, for example using self sacrificial techniques." Lin Mu answered.
"That is rather unique. Seems like the difference between us and the people of higher worlds is very vast, almost that of a star and a spec of dust." Ye Jin said, feeling a little small.
"Hmm… while it is indeed like that, people of the lower ranked worlds still have some advantages. Since they have fewer resources, they have to suffer a lot more hardships and struggle to reach the Immortal realm. Thus, when they reach the Immortal world, they are tempered and have stronger mentality than the people there.
They will be able to function far better and efficiently even if their talent might be lower. That is actually a very lucrative point that the people of the Immortal worlds desire. Plus, it is not like the people of the Lower worlds are not valued.
The heavens are just and give little gifts to every person in the universe. It is simply that these gifts can be hidden and only show in their descendants later on. The people of the immortal worlds desire this and thus encourage mixing and marrying with the people of lower worlds.
This improves the gene pool and allows more variety of talented people to be born." Lin Wu explained in detail.
For this answer, Lin Wu had added his own understanding of genetics and breeding he had from his past life. It was a logical answer, yet for a cultivation world, bloodline 'purity' was often considered important. Thus, to Wang Xiong and Ye Jin it was a new principal.
"That… so we have such value as well." Wang Xiong said in an intrigued tone.
"Besides, despite the restrictions of the lower ranked worlds, there are still experts born in them that are many times talented than the people of the immortal realm. They go on to become great individuals that rule over the areas of the Immortal world and may even start their own powers there." Lin Wu added.
Hearing these words, Wang Xiong couldn't help but imagine himself in the same position as a great expert or a sect master that ruled over a top sect.
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