Walker Of The Worlds

by Stayrr

Lin Mu was a common boy living in a small town, ostracized by the townsmen because of a mistake he made during the harvest, his house seized to compensate for it. Forced to fend for himself in the outskirts, he finds a rusty ring embedded in the tree where he always used to play as a child. Witness his story as the mysterious rusty ring changes his destiny forever, opening him up

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Walker Of The Worlds

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Lin Mu was a common boy living in a small town, ostracized by the townsmen because of a mistake he made during the harvest, his house seized to compensate for it. Forced to fend for himself in the outskirts, he finds a rusty ring embedded in the tree where he always used to play as a child.

Witness his story as the mysterious rusty ring changes his destiny forever, opening him up to a world he would never have experienced, people he would have never met, and powers he would have never had.

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Read Walker Of The Worlds - Chapter 1 - Lin Mu online free - NovelFull

Chapter 1: Lin Mu

"Lin Mu, stop lazing around we still have a lot of trees left to harvest in today's quota, we barely filled our quota yesterday and I don't want to anger the supervisor again, he will definitely cut our wages this time."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Uncle Yuan Tu, this wheelbarrow is very heavy for me, can't you bring it to the main cart?"

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

"Can't you just do as I asked Lin Mu? If you keep on shirking from hard work you'll never get strong, in the time you spent talking you could have very well been on your way to the collecting cart." Yuan Tu spoke, feeling annoyed.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Li Peng thought about how to compensate for the over 700 gold coins' worth of damage. He knew that he'll probably have to dock a whole month's wages from every peasant working here, but it still wouldn't be enough. At this point, he looked at Lin Mu.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Chapter 2: Awakening

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"I have to find something to eat. It would be no use going back to the town as I don't have any money left, the guards took away the last of which I had. Guess I'll head back to the tree and get some apples."

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

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

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

"I don't think I've ever seen this before here on the tree. Did someone put it there? I may as well keep it, maybe I can sell it in the town later on."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Chapter 3: The Mysterious Ring

Lin Mu found himself in a dark place once again, but this time he can see his body clearly even though there was no source of light present there. Lin Mu, clearly having no idea how he ended up there, felt scared and couldn't help but ask himself if he was back in a dream.

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

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

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

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

"Those runes and scriptures look similar to the ones that were carved on the outside of the ancestral temple of Wu Lim city. But aren't they used by cultivators to make qi formations? Why would they appear in my dream?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"I guess I'll just have to make some traps and catch some small fierce beasts like the black horned rabbits and thorn tailed rats. Even though they don't sell for much, I can still exchange them in town. I'll need to start somewhere so I can save at least until I have enough coins to buy a weapon sturdy enough to kill stronger beasts."

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

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

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

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

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Chapter 4: Spatial Disturbance

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

With an unimpressed look, the patriarch spoke;

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

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

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

The Sect Patriarch now looking slightly interested said,

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

Taking a momentary pause, the patriarch continued:

"And the second matter, what about it?"

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

"The Star catching peak detected spatial disturbances coming from the Empire."

Having a calm look, the patriarch replied,

"That is indeed uncommon, but I don't understand how it's a cause for concern. Meteors fall every year randomly all over the empire. Even when the star catching formation is active, it can't attract all of them with the formation."

Elder Han answered,

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

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

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

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

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

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

"The disciples at the star catching peak just detected another spatial disturbance. It was much fainter than previously and we don't know if it was caused by the same thing as before, but we now know that it came from the Northern lands."

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

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

Cupping his hands, Elder Han replied,

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

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

Still cupping his hands, Elder Han continued,

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

Now with a tired look the Sect Patriarch said,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Chapter 5: Success And Failure

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

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

'How do I pull my hand out!? I can't just keep it like this, and it doesn't look like anyone will come help me anytime soon. I'm much too far from the town and hunters don't come to this section of the outskirts to hunt either, since there aren't any beasts worth their time here. I'll just have to keep trying.'

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sky Precepts Sect; Star Catching Peak:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"…Why am I here again?"

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Chapter 6: Understanding The Mysteries Of The Ring

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

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

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

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

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

"Now that I have caught a black-horned rabbit, how am I going to skin it? I don't have a knife or blade with me. I'll need to figure something out quickly or the meat will spoil fast if I don't drain the blood."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Not again… Nooooooo…"

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

"I don't know how long I'll have to struggle before I will be able to pull my hand out, heck I don't even know if I'll be able to pull it out in the first place."

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

Thinking of the object that slammed his hand, a rectangular box, slightly larger than the size of his palm, appeared in his hand.

"As I thought, whenever I touch or hold something in the rift, it is stored in the ring. But it wasn't exactly the same with the wooden slip."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"These… These are alchemical pills!!! Aren't these used by qi cultivators, how did they end up in that rift!?"

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

"I don't know what these pills do, if I can find out I'll be able to use them for my own cultivation."

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

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

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Chapter 7: Onward To The Town

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Don't come closer kid, you've no business here!"

Lin Mu abruptly halted in place and replied,

"I just wanted to ask what hunter group are you all from, I don't think I've seen your group hunting in these parts."

The hunter, with a hint of annoyance, answered,

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

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

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

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

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Chapter 8: Conflict

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Lin Mu had come close to the orchards when he heard the man who was glaring at him shout,

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

Before Lin Mu could reply, the man spoke again,

"After the supervisor confiscated your property, why would you come here! You're not welcome to stay here anymore."

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

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

Yuan Tu answered disparagingly,

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

The other peasants all agreed in a irritated melody:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Grab this kid! He'll compensate us with his bones and blood!"

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

By this time, the town's guards had noticed the commotion and informed the supervisor: Li Peng.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"What're you waiting for, omens!? SPEAK!!!!"

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

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

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

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

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

With slight panic in his voice, Lin Mu shouted,

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

"LIES!!!!" Yuan Tu yelled.

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

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

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

"The boy is clearly lying, Sir. He says he is going to sell and buy things from the town, yet I don't see him carrying anything to sell and I don't think he has any money left after the punishment."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Li Peng stayed silent while looking at the horn in Lin Mu's hand, then spoke…

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Chapter 9: Resolution

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

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

He knew they were mercenaries from Zhou Hua city. The mayor had employed three mercenary companies last month for completing some secret tasks that he was not informed about. This was probably the first group coming back after completing their task.

Snapping out of his thoughts, Li Peng spoke,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The lead mercenary then replied,

"We are from the crimson fang mercenary company. We only do the work we are paid to do, and don't want to be involved in this matter."

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

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

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

Li Peng looking a little satisfied upon seeing the mercenary's upset expression, and declared,

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

The mercenary leading the trio spoke first,

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

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

Li Peng, still having a poker face, answered,

"Hmm, is that so?"

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

The mercenary who had spoken to Lin Mu before said,

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

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

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

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

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

Hearing the whole conversation, Yuan Tu's forehead was covered in a cold sweat from fear of what was about to come. Li Peng looked at Lin Mu for a moment before glaring at Yuan Tu with a hint of anger in his eyes before declaring….

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Chapter 10: Conclusion

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

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

Li Peng declared,

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

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

"I yelled at him because he came back to the town when you exiled him Sir, and attacked him so he would learn his lesson and not come back."

Li Peng raised his eyebrows and stated,

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

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

With an amused tone, Li Peng spoke,

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Guards, take him away."

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

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

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

"WHAT ARE YOU ALL STILL DOING STANDING AROUND!? GET BACK TO WORK IF YOU DON'T WANT TO BE PUNISHED AS WELL!"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"How is the harvest progressing?"

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

Li Peng hummed in response before speaking,

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

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

"What about the man Yuan Tu?"

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

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

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

"Has Yuan Tu been punished yet?"

"Yes sir." Chimed the guards in unison.

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

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

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

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

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

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

"And what of the man Yuan Tu?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Chapter 11: Selling The Pelts And The Horn

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

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

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

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

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

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

'Why are there guards from Wu Lim city here? What could have made them come here?'

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

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

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

Lin Mu approached the clerk,

"I would like to sell some pelts."

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

"How many?"

"Two pelts."

The clerk raised his brows in question,

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

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

The clerk's face had a look of annoyance after hearing what Lin Mu had come to sell.

With an annoyed tone, he spoke,

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

Some of the hunters who had heard the conversation started laughing.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

'I guess I can check out this place, not like I have many other options left, anyway.'

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Have some patience, I'm coming."

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

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

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

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

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

"Show me what you want to sell."

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

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

"This is a rather weird way to skin a beast, but the pelts are fine and don't have any tears."

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

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

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

"Nothing."

"Excuse me?"

"The horn has no use, I won't buy it." The woman replied with a rather straight face.

With a pleading tone, Lin Mu spoke,

"But can't you make weapons with it? Or some other equipment?"

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

Taking a pause, she added,

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

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

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

Still having a straight face the woman replied,

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

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

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

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

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

"Who was it, Ke'er?"

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

"Just some boy."

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Chapter 12: Returning To The Shack

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

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

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

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

'I should head to a teahouse to find out when the merchants would be coming next week.'

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

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

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

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

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

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

"What? Why, what happened?"

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

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

"And how do you know this?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

"That could be it, but they won't reveal the information so easily."

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

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

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

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

"Does anyone know when the merchants will come next week?"

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

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

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

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

He didn't want to keep on making trips to the stream from the hunting shack again and again just to get some water. He easily found a shop that sold sundries and bought a gourd from there. It was a little later than 2 pm now, and he wanted to go back to the hunting shack before sundown so that he could check up on the traps he had set. At least he now had some rice to eat for dinner, and if he could find some bird nests in the forest, he'll be able to eat some eggs with it.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Chapter 13: Training

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

'Hmm, more spatial disturbances were detected in the Northern lands and they appear every day. This is more common than I thought. Even though spatial disturbances also occur naturally, they don't occur this often. We need to be faster in the investigation, we don't know how bad this could get.'

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

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

"Greetings to the Head elder"

"This disciple greets Head elder"

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

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

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

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

"What brings you here, Head elder Han?"

"How's the process for the mission to the northern lands going?" Elder Han said with a straight face.

"The selection for the disciples has been completed and they will be departing for the Northern lands in a week."

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

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

Elder Han nodded his head in agreement and continued,

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

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

"Yes, I'll inform the disciples of this."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

'I should do physical training and then try reciting the calming heart sutra and see if that's any better. Even though I don't have any physical training manual, just normal exercises should work too.'

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

'I need to buy another set of clothes on my next trip to the town, I can't just make do with only one set.'

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

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

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Chapter 14: Making A Small Fortune

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

'Seems like a deer passed through here. That's strange as well… they don't usually wander out here either.'

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The clerk saw him and scrunched his face in annoyance.

"What do you want this time, kid? I told you we don't buy pelts of low tiered beasts."

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

"This, I wish to sell it."

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

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

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

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

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

"I'll take it, give me the money."

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

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

"Stop right there, brat."

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Chapter 15: Chase

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Is that so, huh? So you wouldn't mind showing us the place yourself?" the man standing at the front asked with an evil smile on his face.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Catch him."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"How's this brat still running?"

"Keep on running, he should be on his last legs."

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

"THIEVES!!!"

"THIEVES WANT TO STEAL MY MONEY HEEELP!"

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

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

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

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

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

"LEAVE ME, I DON'T WANT THE MONEY ANYMORE."

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Can't believe thieves have such low standards now." The man who was holding the coin pouch spoke with a hint of disdain in his voice.

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

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

"GODDAMMIT, that brat fooled us."

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

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

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Chapter 16: Shopping

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

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

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

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

'I guess no one even comes to the alley itself, not to mention this shop.'

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

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

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

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

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

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

"What else do you need?"

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

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

"Pick whatever sized pouch you want from here."

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

"How much for these two pouches?"

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

"That sack will cost 25 copper coins."

"I'll take it." said Lin Mu.

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

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

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

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

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

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

"You don't have any specific idea of what kind of sword you want?" Asked the woman.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"What's your dominant hand?" Jing Wei asked.

"The right one."

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

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

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

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

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

"Try the next one."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Chapter 17: First Sword

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"And you have more than 30 silver coins with you, don't you?" Jing Wei asked with a mocking tone, yet his face was expressionless.

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

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

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

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

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

"Besides, that sheath will help you to hide the sword's appearance. You don't want any strong hunters or thieves to snatch it from you, right?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The baffled Duan Ke then asked,

"But grandfather, that still won't be enough for you to sell your old sword, which you used during your youth, for so cheap."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Keep an eye on that boy Ke'er. The one thing I'm sure of is that the boy has secrets, and we don't know if there is someone secretly backing him either."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Chapter 18: Four Vessels Restoration Pill

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Though getting the four vessels restoration pill would be next to impossible, even for the leader of the crimson fang mercenaries. The only place you can get it from in this region would be from the Tri-cauldron peony sect, and I can't even tell what it would cost. For us commoners, it is a priceless pill."

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

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

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

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

Lin Mu was shocked upon hearing the mercenary's answer.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Chapter 19: Danger And Harvest

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

"I'm one more step closer to becoming a qi cultivator. Now I just have to keep up this pace and not falter." Lin Mu declared firmly.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Lin Mu felt a little tired after completing the task and wanted to rest. Now that he had the Red-snouted boar's carcass, its vital energy rich meat would last him for at least a week.

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

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

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Chapter 20: A New Martial Technique

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

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

After each repetition, he could feel the vital energy from the meat he had eaten being assimilated. This lasted for over thirty minutes, after which all the vital energy he had obtained from eating the beast's meat had been completely absorbed. Lin Mu stopped after this as he felt like he was starving.

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

'I should make a larger stove to cook outside, I don't want to wait every time I'm hungry,' thought Lin Mu.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"This… this… this is a martial technique!" Exclaimed Lin Mu.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Chapter 21: Hunting And Training

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

'They seem to be in a stare-down?' Thought Lin Mu upon seeing the behaviour of the two beasts.

The first beast was a black panther who had a small tuft of yellow fur on the top of its head, while the other beast was an ape who had light brown fur and arms which were abnormally long compared to its body.

Lin Mu did not know the names of these beasts, but they seemed to be very strong mid tiered beasts. He did not know why, but instead of escaping, Lin Mu's curiosity made him observe the beasts with interest. He wanted to know why these beasts were in conflict as they did not seem to be competing for territory.

Only when the ape beast moved a little did Lin Mu see what was hidden behind him. Upon seeing the object behind the ape, Lin Mu's eyes went wide.

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Chapter 22: First Battle

What Lin Mu saw behind the ape beast was a plant that was 2 feet tall. It was dark green in colour and had 6 leaves on its stalk. There was a purple-coloured fruit the size of a grape hanging from it. Lin Mu thought he was hallucinating at first when he saw faint wisps of smoke arising from the fruit.

"Wait, that's not smoke, that's spirit qi!" spoke Lin Mu out loud, before slamming his mouth shut upon remembering what kind of situation he was in.

Thankfully, the beasts did not seem to notice when Lin Mu spoke out loud. The plant that the ape beast was guarding was a spirit herb and that too, one that had already borne fruit. The conflict between the two beasts seemed to be due to the spirit herb.

Beasts had their own innate cultivation talent and did not have the need for cultivation techniques to enter the qi refining realm like humans. But beasts could still consume spirit herbs to increase their speed of cultivation.

Because of this whenever a spirit herb or spirit fruit grew in the wild it was usually fought upon by multiple beasts and sometimes even humans if they discovered it.

Lin Mu had seen some spirit herbs and spirit fruits before, but none of such high quality. The spirit apples which grew in the orchards of Northern town were of the lowest quality of spirit fruit and still cost one gold coin each, Lin Mu could not even imagine how expensive a spirit herb of this quality was worth.

At this moment, wild thoughts were running in Lin Mu's mind. He was imagining all methods he could use to snatch the spirit herb and obtain it for his own use.

'If I can obtain that spirit herb, I'm sure I will enter the qi refining realm with the help of the calming heart sutra.' Thought Lin Mu.

Lin Mu kept on observing the beasts while formulating plans for obtaining the spirit herb. Currently, the two beasts were growling at each other, trying to intimidate each other. The ape beast seems to have been guarding the spirit herb for some time, while the panther beast seemed to have just discovered it and was coveting it.

After a couple of minutes, the panther beast could not take it anymore and made the first move. The panther beast pounced on the ape with its claws drawn. The ape beast howled loudly at the panther's approach and extended his arm to intercept the panther. The panther scratched the ape on the chest while the ape slammed the panther with its long arm on its side, which made the panther retreat.

The panther was then circling the ape, looking for the next opportunity to strike. The ape was scratched on its chest and was bleeding from the wound, while the panther seemed to be completely fine after the ape's retaliation. From this, one could assume that the panther was the stronger beast of the two, and the ape seemed to be at a disadvantage.

This time the ape lunged forward with its arms stretched up and smashed them together on the back of the panther. A pain-filled cry came out of the panther's mouth, yet it kept its poise and sank its fangs into the knee of the ape. A sickening crunch could be heard as the panther ripped out the kneecap of the ape.

The ape wailed in agony as its eyes turned bloodshot with rage. The beast lost all inhibitions and tangled together with the panther in a mindless fight.

By the end of the fight, the ape beast had lost an eye, with multiple chunks of flesh ripped from its body, and was unable to move due to its injured knee. The panther beast was also heavily injured, having broken multiple ribs and a foreleg, which it was dragging along now.

Both the beasts seemed to be at their last breaths, but the panther was still faring better. The panther was crouching and looking for an opportunity to deliver the final blow. Lin Mu had witnessed the entire battle and was also waiting for an opportunity to strike.

Observing that the ape would not be alive for much longer, Lin Mu approached from the blind spot of the panther. The ape was already blinded in one eye and had become weary due to blood loss. The panther saw the ape swaying and made its move. It tackled the ape to the ground and bit down on its throat.

It held on tight while the ape was blindly raining blows on the panther. Grasping this opportunity, Lin Mu sprinted forward and reached the panther in a couple of breaths. The panther finally heard Lin Mu approaching and had let go of the ape's throat to get ready for him, but the ape gripped the limbs of the panther like a vice.

The panther released a loud roar while trying to break free of the ape's grip. Lin Mu reached the side of the panther and slashed the short sword at its neck, but missed and cut its back instead, as the beast shifted.

The panther attacked Lin Mu with its hind limbs, which were free and nearly injured him, but Lin Mu could dodge it by sidestepping. The ape's grip on one forelimb of the panther weakened, and the panther pried it free.

Lin Mu slashed again and completely missed as the panther was able to twist and turn to dodge his attack. Noticing that the panther was about to break free, Lin Mu held the short sword with both his hands and jumped at it, ignoring the idea of getting injured. The beast clawed at Lin Mu in response which missed his torso and grazed his left arm leaving a shallow cut on it.

Lin Mu put all his weight in and stabbed the panther all the way through its chest. Lin Mu then rolled away, escaping another strike of the panther, leaving the short sword stuck in the panther. Seeing that he was successful in stabbing the panther beast, Lin Mu put distance between him and the panther.

The panther wailed in anguish but could not do much to remove the sword. Now that the ape was dead and had let go of the panther it tried dragging itself towards Lin Mu in a final attempt to attack him, but was too weak and collapsed after not even three steps.

Lin Mu waited for 5 minutes before approaching the panther. He carefully poked the panther with a stick and checked whether it was still alive. Confirming that it was dead, Lin Mu pulled out the short sword from the chest of the beast. A stream of blood then started flowing from the hole in the panther's chest.

Lin Mu put the corpse of the panther into the ring and did the same with the corpse of the ape as well. He then approached the spirit herb and plucked the fruit hanging from it. He was about to pull out the stalk from the ground as well when it withered in an instant and turned to dust. This surprised Lin Mu as he was not expecting this to happen.

Lin Mu examined the small grape-sized purple fruit in his hand. No wisps of spirit qi could be seen rising from the fruit anymore after it was plucked from the stalk. Lin Mu stored the fruit in the ring and prepared to leave the forest.

Lin Mu was lucky enough to not only acquire the fruit of the spirit herb today but was also able to obtain two corpses of possibly high tier beasts. He was lucky that the merchants would be arriving at the town tomorrow and he would be able to sell the corpses along with the box made of fragrant wood. He will definitely be making a lot of money tomorrow, which will hopefully last him the entire winter.

When Lin Mu reached the hunting shack 3 hours later, the first thing that came to his mind was to build a sled so that he would be able to carry the beast corpses to town. He could not let anyone see his usage of the ring, thus could only use this method.

He chopped down some suitable trees and tied them with some tough vines to form a flat sled. He then wove the vines together and attached them to the ends of a wooden pole he made from a sapling, to make a handle with which he could pull the sled.

By the time he was done with all this, it was nighttime. Lin Mu had already set up some meat and rice to cook, so could eat as soon as he finished building the sled.

After eating dinner, Lin Mu immersed himself in practicing the boulder collapsing fist. He practiced all the way until midnight when his concentration finally broke, and he sat down to chant the calming heart sutra.

With the practice that he did in the morning, Lin Mu already sensed that he was close to a breakthrough and thus was not surprised when he finally did, after assimilating all the vital energy from the meat. He felt his skin tingle and itch when he broke through to the 6th stage of the body tempering stage.

He was about to stand up when he felt the ring buzz and lost his balance as a spatial rift appeared right where he was sitting.

"Oh, F*ck." Cursed Lin Mu as he shifted to the side to prevent himself from falling into the rift.

His arm was completely sucked into the spatial rift, leaving him stuck in an awkward position on the ground. If another person was to see Lin Mu in this position, they would probably burst out in laughter.

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Chapter 23: Shocking The Merchants

Lin Mu searched around in the spatial rift, wanting to find whatever was in there so that he could stand up. It took him over 15 minutes, after which he was able to find the item. He pulled his hand out and withdrew the item from the ring. But upon seeing the item, Lin Mu became a little dumbfounded.

"Is this just dirt?" Said Lin Mu, on seeing the clump of dirt in his hand.

Lin Mu touched and smelled the clump of dirt and could not find anything special about it, but still stored it in the ring. He stood up and entered the hunting shack to sleep. As Lin Mu was already tired, he fell into a deep sleep within two minutes and entered the dark place.

Lin Mu appeared in the dark place and looked around. He felt like it was a little different this time. Somehow the darkness seemed to have reduced a minuscule amount. He still could not see anything, but the 'Darkness' did not seem as dark as before. It was hard to explain, but that's what he felt like.

'Since I appear here every time I sleep, I should probably give this place a name.'

'Hmm, I'll name this place the Sleepscape.' Thought Lin Mu, and felt a little proud of his naming sense.

Lin Mu then sat down to recall and practice the boulder collapsing fist. He found out that now that he had memorised the entire martial technique, he could practice it here. Even though he could not feel the vital energy within his body, he could still improve his coordination between the fist routine and breathing technique.

'If I practice here, I'll have twice the gains in half the time.' Thought Lin Mu as realisation dawned on him about the benefits of the Sleepscape.

Others could only sleep and dream while Lin Mu could enter the Sleepscape to practice and still wake up feeling refreshed. Thus Lin Mu continued practising the technique until he woke up.

Upon waking, Lin Mu set some meat on the stove to cook while he practiced the martial technique and see how much he had improved after practicing in the Sleepscape. He could see some improvement in his coordination, but his vital energy still had difficulty in finding the right path to flow.

As soon as the breakfast was ready Lin Mu stopped to eat it and then sat down to chant the calming heart sutra. Lin Mu noticed that the rate of assimilation had increased, as before it took him 30 minutes to completely assimilate the vital energy, but now it took him 25 minutes.

'Looks like my assimilation rate increased after the breakthrough, or it could be that I can assimilate more vital energy than before, perhaps. I'll have to test it out after coming back from the town.' Thought Lin Mu.

Lin Mu stored the sled he had made into the ring, as he would be walking most of the way to the town, and only when he is close enough will he use the sled to pull the corpses. He also withdrew the sack which he slung on his back and a coin pouch that he tied to his waist.

Ensuring that everything was ready, Lin Mu set out on the path to the town. It was around 8 am right now, and most of the merchants should be reaching the town by noon. Lin Mu had plenty of time to do all the tasks today. If he is able to get a substantial amount of money, Lin Mu should be able to book a room in an inn for at least a month.

Lin Mu was about one-quarter of the way away from the town when he finally saw some people on the path. He then waited for the people to go far enough for him to not be visible. Once there were no people nearby Lin Mu took out the sled and put the corpses on it.

He then started to pull it along, when he suddenly got the idea that he should probably not let the beast corpses be exposed and cover them. The only thing that he had that could somewhat cover the beast corpses was the large sack that he had. So he covered them with the sack, leaving some parts of the corpses exposed but not so much that it would invite the people's interest.

While walking he came in contact with some people, but they only paid him a momentary glance before turning away. Lin Mu reached the Northern town in 30 minutes, during which he saw some merchant carriages that were also entering the town.

The view of the town had completely changed due to the large number of merchants who had set up their stalls and shops everywhere. There were a ton of people browsing and buying the goods the merchants had brought. While some hunters could be seen selling some beast materials to the merchants.

Even the peasants working in the spirit apple orchards were given two days off, as this would be their only chance in buying whatever goods they needed from the merchants before winter comes. Once winter officially starts, the next time the merchants would be coming to the town would be at the start of spring, next year.

The trade route that the merchants followed was to enter the four towns and then head towards Wu Lim city where they would be selling off their most expensive goods and buying the shipments of spirit apples as well as some miscellaneous goods.

After completing their trades in the city they would all exit through the southern town and then head towards the various villages, towns, and cities towards the south. The things which attracted most merchants to Wu Lim city were the spirit apples and the occasional rare spirit beast materials.

Lin Mu took the road towards the town square where the bigger merchants set up their shops. He wanted to sell the beast corpses to a merchant who specialised in them. Also, if he wanted to sell the fragrant wood box, he will have to find a merchant who dabbled in luxury goods.

He reached the town square 20 minutes later as there were many people and carriages on the street which he had to carefully wade through. Lin Mu let his sight wander and saw a myriad of people and a cacophony of sounds.

There were merchants and shopkeepers shouting out their wares, people bargaining with the merchants, and some people arguing with each other on who spotted the item first and had the right to buy it.

One could see people from all walks of life in this square. Some were hunters with sinister appearances, some merchants who had cunning eyes, and of course some naïve commoners.

Lin Mu's sight eventually stopped on a group of merchants who were surrounded by a large crowd of people. Their carriages were parked behind them and on the side, one could spot some live beasts in cages as well as beast corpses which were currently being skinned by some men.

Lin Mu dragged the sled towards that group of merchants. He bumped into some people and had to also push some people aside so that he could pull the sled in order to reach the merchants.

Once he reached the merchants, one of the young men that were skinning the beast corpses spotted him and gestured him to bring his sled there. The young man looked to be in his early twenties and was wearing a tough traveler's robe.

"You're here to sell some beast corpses, I presume?" asked the young man to Lin Mu.

"Yes, I have two beast corpses that I'm looking to sell." Replied Lin Mu.

The young man gazed at the sled and said,

"We're currently only buying larger beasts, so if you have any other smaller beast corpses, I'm afraid you'll have to look elsewhere."

Lin Mu nodded to the young man and turned the sled around to show him the beast corpses. But when he lifted the sack and exposed the corpses, the young man's eyes went wide and his jaw fell.

"This… This is a long-armed Heimao ape, and that's a Yellow-tufted panther." Shouted the young man in shock.

Hearing the young man's shout, the other merchants and the people standing around also turned their focus towards him and then towards the beast corpses. Surprise could be seen in the eyes of people who knew what those beasts were, and confusion in the eyes of those who didn't.

The older merchant who seemed to be the leader of the group approached the sled to check on the beast's corpses. His experienced eyes scanned the corpses and then turned towards Lin Mu.

"A long-armed Heimao ape corpse at the peak of the mid-tier and a Yellow-tufted panther corpse at the High-tier; you've been very lucky, boy." Spoke the merchant.

Lin Mu was a little confused when the young man was shocked, but when he heard the words of the older merchant, he finally understood his reaction. If not for the scenario where the two beasts had already heavily injured each other, there was no chance that Lin Mu could hunt them; even escaping from them would be pushing his luck.

The other people who were watching were gossiping and muttering amongst themselves. The older merchant seeing the crowd's condition gestured towards a burly man that was skinning a beast corpse at the side. That burly man came close and dispersed the crowd. Some people in the crowd were unwilling at first, but then scattered under the threatening eyes of the burly man.

Once most of the people dispersed and only the people who were actually trading with the merchants were left, the older merchant spoke,

"Though the pelts of both the beasts are damaged, I can still pay you for their materials and the meat."

Lin Mu nodded as he knew that the pelts were beyond saving and the beast corpses were only worth their materials.

"Yes, I want to sell these beast corpses, so how much will you pay me for these?" asked Lin Mu.

"2 gold coins for the long-armed Heimao ape and 4 gold coins for the Yellow-tufted panther." Stated the older merchant.

This time it was Lin Mu's turn to be shocked.

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Chapter 24: A Large Transaction

It was true that Lin Mu did not know what those two beasts were, and neither did he know how strong they were, but he never expected to get 6 gold coins total for both the beast corpses. Another point Lin Mu understood was that he was in extreme danger the whole time he was in the presence of the beasts.

The one thing he did not have to worry about anymore was about affording a room at an inn. With the 6 gold coins he got, he would be able to easily spend the rest of the winter in the inn. A single gold coin is enough to rent a decent inn for an entire month.

'I was pinning my hopes on the fragrant wood box to get enough money to last the winter, but these two corpses are already more than enough.' Thought Lin Mu.

The older merchant was staring at the shocked Lin Mu. Seeing that he was not answering, the merchant questioned,

"So will you take the offer?"

"YES, yes I'll take it." Said Lin Mu hurriedly after he snapped out upon hearing the merchant's question.

The older merchant asked the young man standing at the side to take the beast corpses away while he took out 6 gold coins and passed them to Lin Mu, who took them with shaky hands. The older merchant smiled a little upon seeing Lin Mu's shaky hands.

Lin Mu pretended to put the coins in his pouch, but he actually stored them in the ring. Lin Mu had never handled such a large amount of money, so he wanted to keep it safe and the safest place would be the ring.

Lin Mu was also grateful to the older merchant as he had dispersed the crowd before offering him the money or an incident such as the one with the snow veiled hare would have happened again today.

Even though Lin Mu was stronger than before, being in the 6th stage of the body tempering realm, he still would not be able to defend himself against multiple people.

After completing the transaction, Lin Mu turned around to leave. Now he only needed to find a merchant that would buy the fragrant wood box. Lin Mu browsed around the square until he found a rich merchant who seemed like he would buy the box.

The rich merchant was a middle-aged man wearing a long yellow robe and had his hair tucked in a hat. There were many items that were set for sale in the makeshift shop. Though most people were only watching them, never actually buying them.

There were goods of different types- amulets, pendants, bracelets, earrings, bejeweled daggers and blades, vases, and pots of exquisite quality along with a multitude of luxuries.

Lin Mu approached the shop and looked around. Seeing all the items he felt like the merchant would probably accept the fragrant wood box.

Lin Mu turned his gaze to the merchant, who was sitting and drinking a cup of tea in silence.

"Sir Merchant, do you buy things here?" asked Lin Mu respectfully.

The merchant, who was engrossed in enjoying his cup of tea, opened his eyes and gazed at Lin Mu.

"Depending on the item, I may or may not buy it. But know this, that I only buy high-end or rare items." Answered the middle-aged merchant expressionlessly.

Lin Mu pulled out the fragrant wood box from the sack, which he had withdrawn from the ring beforehand. He then presented it to the middle-aged merchant.

The middle-aged merchant narrowed his eyes upon seeing the fragrant wood box.

"A fragrant Agarwood box and hmm, what's this?" The middle-aged merchant muttered as he saw the pattern engraved on the box.

The merchant seemed to have identified the pattern on the box, as his interest in the box rose.

"How did you get this pill storage box from the Tri-cauldron peony sect?" asked the merchant.

Lin Mu was a little surprised as the merchant was able to guess the use of the box with just one look. He also confirmed his suspicion that this box and the Four vessels restoration pills were indeed from the Tri-cauldron peony sect.

"A man pawned it off to my father in exchange for some money." Answered Lin Mu.

He had long thought of what excuse he was going to give, in case anyone asked.

The middle-aged merchant had a slightly confused look upon hearing Lin Mu, but then had a change of expression, as if he had some kind of realisation.

"Ah, you must've gotten it after last year's plague. Of course, the Tri-cauldron peony sect were the ones who supplied the cure for it." Said the merchant with an affirming tone.

This was news to Lin Mu. He did not know that the Tri-cauldron peony sect supplied the medicine for curing the plague.

The plague that spread last year was devastating for the Northern and the Eastern town. Around thirty percent of the population of both towns died due to it. It was not until a month later, after it started to spread, that the mayor of Wu Lim city requested the sect for help. The medicine arrived two days later, but it was already late for Lin Mu's parents as they had long succumbed to the disease.

Lin Mu pushed his thoughts aside for now and spoke,

"Will you buy this box then?"

"Let me test it first." Said the merchant as he took the box from Lin Mu's hands.

The merchant tapped his finger on top of the pattern, and suddenly it lit up. Various runes appeared floating on the engraved pattern. Lin Mu's eyes went wide as he saw the sight.

The merchant noticed Lin Mu's shock as he said,

"It seems you did not know that it had a preservation formation placed on it."

Lin Mu nodded in affirmation to the merchant's words.

"Of course you are not a cultivator, so there was no way you could know." Said the merchant to himself.

"Wait, that means you are a cultivator?" asked Lin Mu curiously.

"Yes, I am a cultivator indeed." The middle-aged merchant answered.

The merchant then switched his gaze towards the box and stayed silent as if in thought. He had his hand under his chin as he spoke,

"It's a fragrant agarwood pill storage box from the Tri-cauldron peony sect with a preservation formation placed on it. So for it, I'll give you a price of… hmm, a 100 gold coins."

Lin Mu was too shocked to even express it. He even secretly pinched himself to ensure that he was not in a dream, heaven knows that he has not had a dream for a few days now; he could have just started to daydream without even realising it.

Lin Mu was not the only person who was shocked upon hearing the price. While there was no one else at the shop, there were two men standing a little farther from him that also heard it. The two men were standing with their backs to Lin Mu. They did not turn around to look right away, instead they walked a little farther from the shop and then turned around to look.

The day had been going amazing for Lin Mu. He already felt lucky upon getting 6 gold coins for the two beast corpses, but now that he was getting a 100 gold coins in exchange for the fragrant wood box, he was on top of the world.

Understanding Lin Mu's acceptance, the middle-aged merchant turned his left palm up and a small pouch appeared on it out of thin air. Lin Mu looked closer at the merchant's hand, and indeed there was a ring on the middle finger of the merchant. The merchant was also wearing a spatial storage ring.

It was the first spatial storage ring he had seen, except for the one that he had. The ring that the merchant was wearing was vastly different from Lin Mu's. While Lin Mu's ring was a dull grey with five small protrusions on it, the merchant's was golden with a small blue gemstone embedded in it.

After the small pouch appeared in the merchant's palm, he opened it and counted 100 gold coins before putting them on the counter. Lin Mu hastily picked them up and stored them in his own coin pouch.

He could not store them in the ring right away as the amount was too much to hide and also the merchant in front of him was a cultivator, who could notice it.

While this all happened the two men were closely watching the entire transaction. Greed could be seen igniting in the eyes of both men. The men seemed to have said something to each other before they disappeared in the crowd of people.

While Lin Mu had wanted to prevent a similar situation as before, by hiding and being as secretive as he could be with the transactions, the thing that he feared still happened, and right now he did not even know that he was in danger.

Done with the transaction, Lin Mu walked away from the merchant and went towards the deserted alley where Jing Wei's Emporium was located, as he still had other items he wanted to sell. While he was walking, he was completely unaware that two men were following him from afar.

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Chapter 25: Finding An Inn

Lin Mu was standing in front of Jing Wei's Emporium, staring at the shop.

Before entering, he withdrew all the materials he was going to sell, as well as withdrawing a sufficient amount of money to be kept in the coin pouch.

He currently had four materials he wanted to sell. They were the pelt and tusks of the Red-snouted boar, the pelt of the Two-tailed wood lizard, and the feathers of the Hook-winged swan.

The gains from these materials would not compare to the number of coins he received from today's previous trades, but it will net him some silvers at least. Because for Lin Mu every little copper counted.

Once Lin Mu ensured that everything was ready, he took a deep breath and pushed open the door of the shop. The door was still hard to push and creaked loudly when it swung open.

The shop was still the same as he had left it before, with the only exception being that the counter was clean from dust and the woman, Duan Ke, was already at the counter.

Duan Ke was sitting at the counter while reading a book. She was wearing a light green dress today and her hair was tied in a bun with the help of an ornate hairpin in the shape of a poplar leaf.

Duan Ke turned her sight away from the book and looked towards Lin Mu, who had just walked in. But as she looked at him closely, she felt that he looked different from before. Only when he came in front of her, could she perceive the reason.

'He broke through to the 6th stage of the body tempering already? It has not even been a week since he was in the 4th stage of the body tempering realm.' Thought Duan Ke with a little surprise on her face.

Lin Mu was thinking about what he was going to say to Duan Ke, so did not notice the slight surprise on her face. He stood in front of her and spoke in a friendly tone,

"I'm here to sell more materials."

"Show me what you've brought." Said Duan Ke curtly.

Lin Mu opened the sack and pulled out the materials one by one. He first placed the bundle of feathers from the Hook-winged swan on one side, along with the tusks of the Red-snouted boar. Then took out the rolled-up pelts of the Red-snouted boar and the Two-tailed wood lizard.

Duan Ke unrolled the pelts and inspected them. Finding nothing wrong with them, she placed them down and then inspected the tusks for cracks and counted the number of feathers.

After she was done inspecting all the materials, Duan Ke turned her eyes towards Lin Mu and spoke,

"I'll pay you 1 silver for the Two-tailed wood lizard's pelt, 5 silvers for the Red-snouted boar's pelt, 2 silvers and 50 coppers for the feathers of the Hook-winged swan and 2 silvers for the tusks of the Red-snouted boar."

"That's fine for me, I accept." Said Lin Mu.

"Do you want to buy something?" Asked Duan Ke with a questioning tone, as if she was displeased with Lin Mu for only selling and not buying anything.

"Nothing right now." Said Lin Mu, oblivious to her tone.

Seeing that Lin Mu was not looking to buy anything, Duan Ke took out a coin pouch from the counter and counted 10 silver and 50 copper coins before passing them to Lin Mu who took them.

Lin Mu was about to turn around when Duan Ke spoke,

"How's the sword treating you?"

Lin Mu stopped upon hearing her and spoke,

"The sword is excellent and has been a great help to me. It did not become even slightly dull after I chopped some trees with it." Said Lin Mu with an impressed tone.

The corner of Duan Ke's mouth could be seen twitching after hearing that Lin Mu used the short sword to chop wood.

'If grandfather was here, he would definitely teach him a lesson. Using his sword to chop wood, what disrespect.' Thought Duan Ke

"You should buy an actual axe to chop wood then. It's not right to use the sword for that." Suggested Duan Ke.

"Also, perhaps for skinning the pelts, you should also get a proper skinning knife. It would make the task much more efficient." Further spoke Duan Ke after seeing that Lin Mu was contemplating on her previous suggestion.

Lin Mu thought of Duan Ke's suggestions and indeed felt that he should get a chopping axe and a skinning knife. If not for their intended use as tools, they could be used as extra weapons in case of an emergency.

"You're right, I'll get them both. Can you show me some?" asked Lin Mu.

Duan Ke nodded and came out from behind the counter and went towards a shelf towards the right. She checked the top of the shelf and pulled out a short knife that was kept in a leather sheath. The knife was 10 centimeters long and had a curved blade.

After taking out the knife, she went towards the other corner of the shelf and picked up an axe that was hung on its side. The axe looked very common and unassuming.

She brought both items to the counter and showed them to Lin Mu, who checked them out. Finding them acceptable, he spoke,

"How much for them?"

"A total of 5 silver coins, 2 for the axe, and 3 for the skinning knife." Said Duan Ke.

Lin Mu was a little surprised that the knife cost more than the axe, but then understood that the knife was of a much higher quality than the axe.

Lin Mu took out 5 silver coins from his pouch and passed them to Duan Ke, who promptly stored them in the counter. Lin Mu took the two tools and stored them in the empty sack.

He then walked out of the shop and went towards the main street.

After Lin Mu was gone, Duan Ke was still staring at the door for a while, until the door behind her opened and the old man Jing Wei walked out.

"Was it the boy?" asked Jing Wei to Duan Ke.

"Yes, it was that boy Lin Mu. He came to sell more materials." Answered Duan Ke.

Jing Wei looked closely at his granddaughter's expression and asked,

"Was something different with the boy?"

"You were right before grandfather." Spoke Duan Ke.

Jing Wei raised his brows in question.

"The boy is in the 6th stage of the body tempering realm." Explained Duan Ke upon seeing her grandfather's questioning gaze.

Jing Wei too was a little surprised, like Duan Ke upon knowing this.

"The boy definitely has some secrets. There is no other way he could reach the 6th stage of the body tempering realm this fast. I'm even thinking someone may be backing him." Said Jing Wei, after thinking a little.

"Grandfather, if someone is backing him and is able to hide themselves from you, they must have a high level of cultivation. We need to find out and verify this, or it could be problematic for us." Said Duan Ke.

"No, wait for a while. We have been hiding here for all these years now. If we expose ourselves this early, all our plans could go to waste." Said Jing Wei with a firm tone.

Duan Ke was a little taken aback from her grandfather's reaction but did not question it.

Back on the main street, Lin Mu was looking for an inn. He wanted to see if he could get a room in one of the inns. He knew that it could be a little difficult as the other hunters who did not have houses in the town must have already booked the inns beforehand for the winter.

He reached the first inn and walked in through the door. There were already many people standing around in the lobby, most of them looked like they were merchants with some hunters and common folk mixed in.

Lin Mu went up to the person sitting at the front desk and asked,

"Do you have rooms available?"

"No, sorry we are already booked for three days from today and if you were asking to stay for the duration of the winter then you'll have to come back three days later to inquire." Said the person sitting at the desk in a practiced manner, as if he had already repeated the same sentence many times.

Upon hearing the man's answer, Lin Mu walked out of the inn and went ahead to check the other inns on the street.

He ended up checking all the inns in the street and got a similar answer. They either told him to come back in three days as the merchants had booked them all, or that they were completely booked for the winter.

'I guess I must come back three days later then. Worse that could happen is that I can't find a room and I'll have to rent a small house instead. At least I have plenty of money now.' Thought Lin Mu.

Failing in his search for an inn, Lin Mu went back to the main square where all the merchants had set up their stalls and shops. He had left behind the sled that he had made, with the merchant who had bought the two beast corpses from him.

He did not want to pull the sled around the town, so he thought to get it later on if he could not find a room today. He reached the square 10 minutes later and talked to the young man who had taken the beast corpses with him.

The young man pointed him towards the cages, at the side of which his handmade sled was kept. Lin Mu thanked the young man and started pulling the sled out of the town. Now that there was no weight on the sled, it was much easier for Lin Mu to pull it.

He exited the town after 15 minutes, unaware that two men had followed him the entire time. They stayed far from him, so he did not notice them at all.

He had to travel about halfway to the hunting shack before he could store the sled in the ring as there were more travelers and hunters who were going towards the town now than in the morning.

When he finally reached a remote enough place, he stored the sled in the ring. But this time there were two men who were hiding behind a knoll, who had seen the sled disappear.

The two men were shocked but then remembered what they had seen before in the morning and understood that Lin Mu had a spatial storage treasure as well.

The greed in their eyes was blazing now. They were already thinking about how rich they were going to be after they kill Lin Mu and take away his belongings.

The two men took out their weapons and held them in their hands before approaching Lin Mu.

"Stop right there brat." Spoke one of the men.

"Ah, not again." Was the only thought that Lin Mu had upon hearing the voice that came from behind him.

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Chapter 26: First Kill

Lin Mu quickly turned around to face the people that called him from behind. He saw two men standing before him, one of them was muscular and the other was thin but tall. The muscular one was holding a club in his hand and was wearing some light leather armour, while the tall one was holding an axe in his hand and was wearing rough hunting clothes.

The one who had called Lin Mu was the muscular man. He was looking at Lin Mu with eyes that were dripping with greed. As soon as Lin Mu saw the man's look he understood that they were here to rob him.

Lin Mu sighed inwardly with relief as he had already stored everything valuable on him, into the ring. So even if the men searched him, they will not find anything. Though Lin Mu did not know whether these men were some common thieves that targeted him randomly or if they knew he had a lot of money with him.

"What do you want?" Lin Mu asked with a neutral tone, not wanting to outright offend them.

"Give us all your money and belongings brat." Said the muscular man with a rough accent.

Lin Mu's eyes narrowed upon hearing the man's accent. He could not place where he had heard it before, but it definitely was not from this region. That means the men probably came here with the merchants. It also did not seem like they belonged to a mercenary group, they were far too ill-equipped.

Not wanting to argue with the men, Lin Mu took the coin pouch that only had a silver and few copper coins in it, and threw it to the men.

"There take it, that's all I have." Said Lin Mu.

The tall man picked it up and emptied it out. Both the men saw that the coin pouch had a meagre amount of money in it and knew that Lin Mu must have stored it all in a spatial treasure. The only thing they did not know was where Lin Mu had hidden the spatial treasure. They could not see him wearing any spatial treasure like a ring or bracelet.

"Don't try to fool us you worthless brat, give us everything you have." Said the muscular man with a threatening tone.

"We know you have a spatial treasure. So spill everything out, don't try to act smart." Added the tall man.

As soon as Lin Mu heard the tall man's sentence, a mix of emotions could be seen colliding in his eyes. It would have been fine if they pestered him for his sword or money, he could have just run away like before, but now that they knew his secrets, there was no way Lin Mu could let this go.

Lin Mu unsheathed his short sword and looked at the men with a fierce expression. The two men were a little taken aback by his sudden change from meek to fierce.

"Oh, so you're gonna resist. Let's see if you can take this blow from daddy!" said the muscular man as he stepped forward to swing the club at Lin Mu.

Lin Mu sidestepped to dodge the blow and swung the short sword at the muscular man's waist. The man saw the slash and dodged it easily.

The tall man also joined the fight and swung the axe at Lin Mu's arm. Lin Mu was able to parry it with the short sword, but felt a strong shock that made his arm hurt. The tall man was stronger than Lin Mu and the muscular man. He was in the 7th stage of the body tempering realm.

"Watch out second brother, this brat is in the 6th stage of the body tempering realm." Said the tall man to the muscular man.

The muscular man was surprised on hearing that this boy, who was still wet behind the ears, was as strong as him, an adult who had been training for years.

"So, you have confidence in your strength brat, that's why you're so arrogant. It's a shame that I will break it today." Taunted the muscular man.

Both the men attacked together in an effort to swiftly finish Lin Mu, but he rolled away and all their weapons could hit was the earth.

"Dammit, you slippery loach." Cursed the tall man.

This time the two men approached Lin Mu from opposite sides, leaving him with a tiny area for movement. The tall man slashed his axe first, which Lin Mu blocked with his short sword, but felt the impact of the blow in his wrist.

The muscular man, seeing that Lin Mu was stuck defending against the tall man, attacked his head with the club. Lin Mu sensed the movement of the muscular man and quickly withdrew the skinning knife he had bought and threw it at the face of the tall man.

The tall man had to move aside to dodge the skinning knife that was flying at him. He was surprised as he could not see where Lin Mu had pulled the knife from, thus could not completely dodge the knife, and his ear was cut at the lobe.

"You dare hurt first brother, brat." Shouted the muscular man while swinging the club.

Lin Mu grasped the moment when the muscular man paused for a moment to look at the tall man and swiftly cut the club in the man's hand. The club's head was made of metal, but the handle was still made of wood.

The muscular man was now unarmed, and only a piece of wood was left in his hand.

'I can't keep on blocking the axe with my sword, his swinging force is much stronger than mine.' Thought Lin Mu.

Seeing that his club got cut, the muscular man was enraged even more. He dropped the piece of handle left in his hand and swung his fist at Lin Mu.

This time Lin Mu could not completely dodge the attack. He was hit by the muscular man's punch in the back and dropped his sword, which was blocking the tall man's axe.

Lin Mu forcefully pushed back and did a side roll, so that the axe would not hit his head. But the muscular man was already ready to deliver the next blow and with the axe approaching him, Lin mu could not do much.

"Hahaha, now he's done for." Said the muscular man.

"DIE!!" shouted the tall man.

Lin Mu thought that this was the end for him when suddenly his body turned blurry. The two men thought that they imagined this, but when the blade of the axe was about to hit Lin Mu, it just passed through Lin Mu as if he was made of air.

Similarly, the muscular man's punch too passed through his body unobstructed. Lin Mu could not think of anything at that moment and spun around to escape from between the men. In the same spinning motion, he seamlessly withdrew the wood chopping axe from his ring and buried it in the base of the muscular man's skull.

Lin Mu left the axe stuck in the muscular man's skull and instead entered the stance of the boulder collapsing fist. His breath melded with his movement and agitated the vital energy within his body.

At that moment he reached a level of harmony and a small string of energy spun inside his right hand and formed a small spiral, which looked unstable and felt like it would dissipate any moment.

The tall man was frozen at the sight of the bloodied axe, which was stuck in the head of his second brother. Lin Mu saw this and grasped this golden opportunity. He gathered every ounce of his strength and stuck the tall man at the very centre of his chest.

The tall man felt his ribs crack and his breath was knocked out of his lungs. Lin Mu broke the stance and suppressed the pulsating pain in his right hand. He picked up the short sword that was lying on the ground, with his left arm and swiftly slashed the neck of the tall man, decapitating him.

Lin Mu was now laying down on the ground, exhausted. He did not know why, but after the attacks of the two men passed through him; he felt as if half of his energy reserves were drained and using the axe, and boulder collapsing fist depleted the rest, leaving him with a bare smidgen of energy, which he used to decapitate the tall man.

He was out of breath and his hand was throbbing with pain, leaving him unable to move. He was completely unguarded, and anyone could kill him right now with no effort. Lin Mu must've lied on the ground for more than an hour, as the sun in the sky had moved a significant distance.

After he felt a slight reduction in his fatigue and some energy being recovered, Lin Mu stood up and finally saw the entirety of his handiwork. He saw the muscular man who had the wood chopping axe stuck in his head, lying dead behind him and the now-headless, tall man beside him.

Lin Mu swallowed the sickening feeling that was rising from his throat and collected his wits. He first stored the short sword in the ring, not bothering to put it in the sheath. Then he pulled out the axe from the muscular man's head and left a pool of blood behind.

An idea then came to his mind, and he stored the corpses of the men in his ring as well. He could not just leave them lying in the middle of the path and have someone discover them. He would be incriminated if someone was able to link these two men to him.

He also searched for the skinning knife and found it lying a little farther than the decapitated head of the tall man. He picked up the head and stored it in the ring as well, along with the knife.

Now the only evidence that was left behind was the pools of blood on the ground. He spent some time covering it with mud and soil. Once the blood was hidden beneath the dirt, he looked around for anyone spying on him.

He confirmed that no one had witnessed him by checking any footprints around the area. He did not find any fresh footprints in an area of 100 meters. Knowing that he could only leave the rest to luck, Lin Mu broke into a sprint and ran all the way to the small stream beside the apple tree.

Once he reached the stream, he washed up and changed out of the soiled clothes, which had traces of blood on them. He rested for a while, soaking his sore feet in the cold water and massaging his right hand, which was now aching less than before.

He was incredibly hungry and felt like he could eat until his stomach would burst. Lin Mu stood up and walked to the hunting shack. Once at the hunting shack, Lin Mu took out the remaining meat of the Red-snouted boar and skewered it with a stick and hung it on the large stove outside the shack.

While the meat roasted, he put some rice in the pot to cook. He sprinkled the spices on the roasting meat and watched it cook. Soon enough an intense aroma rose from the meat, which made it irresistible to Lin Mu.

Ignoring the scalding heat, Lin Mu tore off an entire leg and devoured it like a barbarian.

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Chapter 27: Progress In The Martial Technique

After Lin Mu was done eating he could not even believe, that he had eaten half of an entire boar by himself. He looked at his belly and found it to be stretched taut, but there was still no way that all that meat could fit inside there.

Since he could not figure it out, he just dropped the thought. He had more important things to do for now. Lin Mu could feel a massive amount of energy being absorbed from the meat in his stomach.

He sat down cross-legged to chant the calming heart sutra. He felt the energy being assimilated in his muscles and in his skin. This time he could focus even deeper and could sense a slight trickle of energy permeating his blood vessels.

'Is this the next tier of the body tempering realm? But isn't it only after reaching the 8th stage, that one can temper their blood vessels, so why can I feel them strengthening very slightly?' thought Lin Mu.

The hypothesis that Lin Mu had in the morning about being able to assimilate more vital energy, proved to be true. Even though he still had around forty percent of energy still being stored in the body, he still assimilated more vital energy than ever before.

It also took him around 45 minutes before he stopped chanting the calming heart sutra and could not assimilate any more vital energy. He looked up at the sun and guessed it should be around 5 pm.

Now that he had completely finished the entire boar, he needed to get more meat. Lin Mu wondered if he should not have sold the meat of the two beasts, those two beasts were much stronger than the Red-snouted boar and would have had an even greater amount of vital energy in them.

Lin Mu first decided to check the traps and then go further into the forest, if he did not catch anything in them. He also needed to dispose of the two corpses of the men and what better way than to dump them in the forest and let the beasts deal with them.

He reached the trail where he had set up the traps after 10 minutes. He checked the first three snares and found nothing caught in them. The next one he checked had a Thorn-tailed rat caught in it, which he could not eat. He broke the neck of the Thorn-tailed rat and kept it in the ring to use it as a bait.

He then checked the remaining two traps and found them to be empty as well. Getting unsatisfactory results with the traps, Lin Mu decided to just abandon them and only check them for bait in the future.

Lin Mu switched the path and walked deeper into the forest. He found a larger trail where there were tracks of larger beasts and dumped the dead bodies of the two men near it for the beasts to eat.

He also checked their bodies for valuables and found 22 silvers combined on both the men. He also took the light leather armour from the muscular man. He tried it on and found it to be too big for him. He could only tighten it and bind it roughly to be able to wear it. He still put it on as some protection is still better than none.

Lin Mu searched for fresh tracks of beasts to hunt. It took him half an hour to find some hoof tracks. He guessed them to be of a juvenile Six-pronged stag that had probably been separated from its herd.

Lin Mu followed the tracks for a few hundred meters, after which he found the juvenile Six-pronged stag grazing at some grass behind a thicket. He silently approached the beast, making sure not to step on any sticks and avoid making any noise. It was Lin Mu's luck that there was headwind blowing, which prevented the beast from smelling his scent.

Once Lin Mu was a few steps away from the beast, he focused his strength on his legs and lunged at the beast who was completely unaware. The short sword was able to slash the neck of the beast, who started to bleed profusely.

Because of the intense pain, the beast instantly collapsed on the ground, unable to run. Lin Mu quickly touched the beast and put it inside the ring, as he did not want the cries of the beast and the scent of the blood to attract other beasts.

Done with his hunt, Lin Mu turned back, as the sun had already started to set. He reached the hunting shack after 50 minutes and then went towards the stream to skin and prepare the beast.

He drained the remaining blood and then started to skin the juvenile Six-pronged stag. While he was skinning the beast with the new skinning knife he had bought, a thought appeared in his mind.

When he had thrown the knife at the tall man, only the knife had appeared without its sheath. But now when he withdrew the knife to skin the beast, the knife appeared with its sheath.

He was intrigued and wanted to test it out, so he stored the knife back in the ring and then withdrew it. The knife appeared in its sheath. He then tried it another time, this time only wanting to withdraw the knife and not the sheath. He succeeded, and only the knife appeared in his hand.

'It seems like I can control what I want to withdraw, even if the two objects are attached.' Lin Mu concluded.

Amazed by this new discovery, Lin Mu continued his task of skinning the beast. After he was done completely skinning the beast, he put the meat and other materials away in the ring.

From the juvenile Six-pronged stag, he obtained its pelt and small undeveloped horns. Even though the beast was only a juvenile, it was still roughly in the 4th stage of the body tempering realm.

'Humans and beasts simply cannot be compared. Even a juvenile is strong enough to compare to an average adult man.' Thought Lin Mu.

After he was done with the beast, Lin Mu started to practice the boulder collapsing fist. Since he had experienced some success after using it during the fight, Lin Mu was optimistic in progressing further.

Lin Mu stood in the stance, regulated his breathing according to the breathing technique, and then started to practice the fist routine. He felt like his coordination had indeed increased than before. Though he could not perform the same as he did during the fight. The vital energy in his body did get agitated, but it still got stuck and could not find the right path.

He focused on the feeling he got during the fight, on the spiral of energy that had formed in his hand. Lin Mu continued practicing until it was midnight and stars were painted across the night sky. Eventually, after countless tries, he felt the same spiral of energy forming in his hand. As soon as the spiral formed in his hand, it stayed stable for a few breaths, before starting to dissipate.

Sensing that the energy spiral was getting unstable, Lin Mu executed the technique and threw a punch. This time he could properly see with his eyes the effect of the technique. The punch that stuck the air generated, a small gust of wind that made the leaves on the tree four meters away from him shake and fall down.

Lin Mu collapsed on the ground after executing the technique, as he felt all the energy he had obtained from the previous meal depleted. He struggled to sit cross-legged but was able to sit and chant the calming heart sutra.

Lin Mu finally felt the remaining vital energy that was stored in the body, assimilating into his muscles and skin. After thirty minutes he had completely assimilated all the energy and was hungry once more.

He went back to the hunting shack to prepare his dinner. Lin Mu ate with gusto and replenished his stamina. After he was done eating, he laid down on the wooden bed and soon fell asleep. Lin Mu appeared in the Sleepscape and continued his practice.

After some time, he felt like he could not progress anymore as he needed to feel the vital energy within his body to be able to execute the technique. So Lin Mu decided to sit down and recall the memories of the fight. Lin Mu did not understand some aspects of the fight, thus wanted to analyse every part of it.

In the Sleepscape, Lin Mu was able to clearly recall his memories. He went over them again and again, analysing his mistakes and finding possible solutions to them. In the end, he was able to understand all aspects of his fight except for one big mystery.

Lin Mu could not understand how he was able to dodge the pincer attacks of the two men. He did not understand how the attacks simply passed through his body as if it was made of air.

Now that he closely recalled it, he remembered that at that moment, a fuzzy feeling spread throughout his body. He felt as if a thin invisible sheet of some kind had wrapped his body in its entirety.

The next thing that happened after it was that he felt a great drain on his energy. About half of his entire store was depleted. He could not find the reason for that, and in the end, reached the conclusion that it was related to the mysterious ring. Somehow the ring had enabled him to dodge those attacks.

'I wonder if I can replicate that again. If I can, it would be a major skill I can use in future battles that I'll have.' Thought Lin Mu, before he left the Sleepscape and woke up.

Lin Mu stood up and the first thing he did was to set up some meat to cook on the stove. He found himself thinking more and more about food, as he trained each day. After he was done with that, he went outside to practice the boulder collapsing fist.

From the minor success he had obtained last night, he was able to build on that experience. He continued training until he was sweaty and tired. The breakfast was long ready for him to eat. Once he was done with the meal, he followed the routine and sat down to chant the calming heart sutra to assimilate the vital energy.

He could feel that he had progressed a little further in his training and was on his way to the 7th stage of the body tempering realm. Suddenly Lin Mu felt like he had forgotten something and remembered the reason why he had put himself in danger two days ago.

He withdrew the purple grape-sized fruit and stared at it while thinking,

"Should I eat it?"

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Chapter 28: Rescue

Lin Mu was contemplating whether this would be the right time to eat the spirit fruit or if he should wait till he reaches the 7th stage of the body tempering realm.

'The beasts were fighting to eat this fruit, and the ape beast was in the 7th stage. Maybe I should wait until I'm at least at the 7th stage of the body tempering stage as well.' Though Lin Mu.

He did not know what kind of effect the fruit would have on him, so Lin Mu felt like it would be better if he gets a little stronger before eating it. Lin Mu thus put the grape-sized purple fruit away.

Lin Mu stood up and decided to go hunt some beasts in the forest. He needed more and more meat if he wanted to keep up with the requirements of his training. Hence he entered the forest and searched for some beasts.

By the time Lin Mu returned to the hunting shack, it was already dark. He had been able to kill two beasts this time. One was a black-horned rabbit, and another was a Red-snouted boar's piglet. These two beasts would not provide him with much meat, but should last for at least two meals.

Lin Mu continued his practice with the Boulder collapsing fist and found himself steadily improving at the end of the training session. He then ate his dinner and chanted the calming heart sutra. Soon after he finished chanted the calming heart sutra and was about to sleep, he felt a spatial rift about to open.

The spatial rift opened just a few feet away from the hunting shack, thus he did not have to worry about entering the forest at night. Lin Mu searched inside the spatial rift and found a small pebble this time. He observed it closely but could not find anything peculiar about it.

Lin Mu was utterly tired and went to sleep. In the Sleepscape he recalled today's training and analysed it and tried to identify his mistakes. He continued his practice in the Sleepscape and improved his coordination between the breathing technique and the fist routine.

After waking up, he wanted to take a bath as he did not take one yesterday due to feeling too lazy and tired. The water in the stream had become colder, a sign of the approaching winter. Lin Mu also picked some sour apples while he was there. He had an idea that he wanted to try out.

In the hunting shack, he added the black-horned rabbit's meat along with some spices and condiments. But this time he also chopped up one of the sour apples finely and added it to the stew. He trained while the stew got ready. A different aroma could be smelled coming from the pot.

The stew had a little tartness that balanced the spices and cut the excess fat in the meat. It tasted refreshing to Lin Mu, and he thought he should cook with this method more often.

Lin Mu went to the forest again to hunt some beasts. While in the forest, he heard the sounds of fighting. He had taken his regular route, but this was the first time he had seen people on it. He followed the sounds and reached a clearing, which seemed like it was manmade. The trees were cleared in a radius.

He had come here a couple of days ago and the trees were still there. He continued towards the source of the sound and reached it after a minute. Lin Mu peaked from behind a bush and saw a group of men fighting three steel-back wolves.

There were four corpses of steel-back wolves lying on the ground, probably killed by the men. He took a closer look at their armour and spotted a symbol on each person. It was the symbol for 'Fierce Blood' mercenaries.

They were probably a part of the mercenary groups that had come to the town this week. There were five people fighting the steel-back wolves. Two of which were injured in multiple places and were dripping blood as they fought.

The remaining three mercenaries did not look to be injured, but one could see the numerous claw marks and scratches on their armour. Lin Mu decided to stand back and not interfere in their fight. One of the basic etiquettes of hunters was to not get involved in other hunter's fights unless asked or if they were in immediate danger.

Lin Mu could only guess that it was the same for mercenaries as well. He watched the mercenaries fight for 5 minutes, until another mercenary had gotten injured and was bleeding as well. They had also managed to kill one of the remaining steel-back wolves.

But it still looked like the steel-back wolves had the upper hand and the mercenaries had become tired. Lin Mu could see that they were getting slow and making mistakes.

"Keep it up brothers, we just have these two beasts left and then we can rest for the entire month." Spoke one of the mercenaries who was injured.

"Dammit, I knew we should have retreated beforehand, now we don't even have enough stamina left for that." Complained the mercenary who had just gotten injured.

"Shut it, you two, and focus on the beasts." Shouted the man who seemed to be their leader.

While fighting, one of the mercenaries missed his step while dodging and fell down. Taking this opportunity, one of the wolves lunged at the fallen man.

"NOOO! hold the beast back." Shouted the leader as he tried to block the beast but could not as the beast was much faster and the other steel-back wolf had also interrupted the mercenaries.

The injured mercenary who had fallen was still reeling from the impact of falling and could not respond in time. All the mercenaries were tense and had already accepted that they were going to lose one of their brothers-in-arms.

But as they continued watching in shock, the steel-back wolf who was in mid-air was suddenly hit with an immense force and was knocked into a tree. When the mercenaries looked at the steel-back wolf that was knocked away, they found it to be missing a major part of its skull.

The mercenaries who had fallen opened his eyes and found Lin Mu standing over him in a horse stance with his right arm extended. He could see the gory remains of the steel-back wolf stuck to his fist and his face.

The other steel-back wolf was startled by the sudden demise of its companion. The mercenaries took advantage of this and killed the beast with a coordinated pincer attack, which it could not dodge.

All the mercenaries exhaled with relief, now that the danger had passed. After his nerves had calmed down, the leader turned to face the person who had saved their companion.

The person in question was still standing in the horse stance and had his eyes closed. Lin Mu was currently trying to carve the feeling he got when he executed the boulder collapsing fist into his mind. He had nearly been able to perfectly execute the technique just now, but it was still lacking in the proper utilization of vital energy. The spiral of energy that formed in his hand collapsed before it could be released properly.

Lin Mu heard someone calling him and opened his eyes.

"Thank you for saving our companion boy." Said the leader of the group who was standing in front of Lin Mu.

"Huh, ah yes, it's fine." Said Lin Mu awkwardly.

Lin Mu was expecting them to be a little angry, but it was completely different than he thought. Since Lin Mu was so focused on memorising the feeling of the martial technique, he did not realise that his face was bloodied and when he talked, some blood entered his mouth and made him spit it out in disgust.

~Ptui~ 'That was disgusting.' Thought Lin Mu.

The leader of the mercenaries was also a little stunned by Lin Mu's awkward response and the subsequent act of spitting. The other mercenaries had also gathered to pick up and support their injured companion.

They brought him towards Lin Mu and spoke,

"We give our heartfelt thanks to you." Said the men in unison.

"We would like to reward you for saving our companion." Said the Leader.

Lin Mu was a little surprised by the mercenaries' offer and thought for a moment before answering,

"Can I have the meat of the steel-back wolf?"

"That's all?" questioned the leader with raised brows.

"Yeah, that's not enough for the help you provided us. You at least have to take an entire beast corpse." Said the mercenary who was nearly killed by the beast.

"No, right now I only have the need for beast meat." Replied Lin Mu while shaking his head.

"But for a person of your standing, you deserve more than that." Said the leader.

Lin Mu's brows were wrinkled in confusion of the leader's words. He did not understand what the leader meant by 'A person of your standing'.

"Yes, as a disciple of a martial sect, you can rightfully demand more. We won't mind it." Said another mercenary.

Lin Mu finally understood why the mercenaries were being so generous and courteous. They had mistaken him for a disciple of a martial sect. With the power, Lin Mu had displayed and his young age, it was no wonder they had mistakenly assumed he was a disciple of a martial sect. As even a person in the 8th stage of the body tempering realm would find it nearly impossible to split the tough skull of a steel-back wolf.

"Okay then, I'll take as much meat as you can spare." Replied Lin Mu after thinking for a moment.

Lin Mu thought that now that he had this free opportunity to get the meat of a strong beast, he may as well take it and not correct the mercenaries' assumption.

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Chapter 29: Making An Acquaintance

On Hearing Lin Mu's answer, the Leader ordered two of the mercenaries to prepare the Steel-Back wolves. While the remaining two took care of their injuries. The leader of the mercenaries asked Lin Mu to wait for a little while and offered him a wine gourd, which he politely refused.

While waiting for the mercenaries to finish their task, Lin Mu decided to ask the leader some questions and gather some information.

"What mercenary company are you from?" asked Lin Mu.

"I'm Yan Zhong from the Fierce Blood mercenary company, and brother, may I ask what your name is?" said Yan Zhong.

Lin Mu did not know if he should tell the man his real name or not. But then after a moment of thinking decided to tell him his real name. Even if he tried to somehow verify his identity as a disciple of a sect, it would not matter as his name was rather common.

"My name is Lin Mu."

"Ah, so its brother Lin Mu. Please accept my formal greetings." Replied Yan Zhong with cupped hands.

Lin Mu was once again surprised by the level of courtesy shown by Yan Zhong. In fact, this was the most courteous anyone has ever been to him. This reminded him of the prestige of a cultivator, that too of one that belonged to a sect, even if it was just a martial sect and not a cultivator sect.

Martial sects were considered inferior to cultivation sects and many of them were usually subordinate to cultivation sects. Martial sects trained disciples in the body tempering realm and the most talented ones would go further on to join a cultivation sect. Many martial sects also trained elite soldiers for the armies of cities. The elite city guards of Wu Lim city were also trained by some martial sects.

"What city are you people from?" asked Lin Mu.

"We are from Xiangwei city in the south. It's a large city that has many mercenary companies located in it." Answered Yan Zhong.

Lin Mu had heard of Xiangwei city before. It was larger than Wu Lim city and also more prosperous than it. It took one 15 days to reach it by carriage. Lin Mu then thought of the many mercenary groups that had entered the town and wondered about the reason.

"Do you know why so many mercenary groups are coming to the Northern town?" asked Lin Mu with a curious expression.

"From what I know, the mayor of the Wu Lim city has commissioned multiple mercenary companies to hunt beasts for him." Replied Yan Zhong.

"What kind of beasts?" Lin Mu asked, as he did not understand why the mayor would spend so much money on mercenary companies when he could just order the hunters to do the same,

"We were asked to hunt as many beasts as we can, the only requirement being that they should be above the 5th stage of the body tempering realm." Answered Yan Zhong with a thoughtful expression.

That kind of answered Lin Mu's question as common hunters would barely be able to hunt a single beast of the 7th stage of the body tempering realm. If the mayor wanted a large number of beasts, only mercenary companies could hunt that many strong beasts.

"So, you have been hunting here all this while?" said Lin Mu.

"Yes, we have been hunting here for a week now, while the elite groups have been hunting in the deeper parts of the forest for more than a month now. We were divided into multiple groups depending on our strength and allotted different regions of the forest to hunt in." Yan Zhong elaborated.

Lin Mu did not know that mercenaries have been hunting in the forest for more than a month. He wondered, why he did not see any when he was still living in the town. His mind then moved towards the steel-back wolves, how were they this far out in the forest. They lived much deeper than this.

"How did you come upon steel-back wolves here?" asked Lin Mu.

"We spotted this small pack, some distance from here. We were resting nearby when one of my companions heard their howls. We went to check and accidentally alerted them." Replied Yan Zhong.

"But, don't they live much deeper than this?" questioned Lin Mu.

Yan Zhong also seemed a little confused and stayed silent for a minute before answering.

"We heard from the other mercenary groups that a spirit beast has been scaring many fierce beasts away from their territories."

Lin Mu had guessed that it was some strong fierce beast that had been scaring the other beasts, but did not think that it would be a spirit beast.

"Do they know what kind of spirit beast it is?" asked Lin Mu.

"No, they have not seen it yet, they have only heard its roars till now." Answered Yan Zhong.

Lin Mu remembered the group of crimson fang mercenaries that were attacked by a spirit beast.

"Could it be the same spirit beast that attacked the group of crimson fang mercenaries?" thought Lin Mu out loud.

Yan Zhong's eyes widened upon hearing Lin Mu's words.

"Oh, you know of that?" questioned Yan Zhong.

"Ah, yes, I saw the injured mercenaries in the town a few days ago." Replied Lin Mu.

At this time one of the other mercenaries came back and spoke,

"The crimson fang mercenary, who was heavily injured, died two days ago."

Lin Mu and Yan Zhong turned their heads towards the man who had come and sat down on the side. It was one of the mercenaries who was injured in the fight against the Steel-back wolves. He was now bandaged and looked a little better than before.

"This is little Hao." Yan Zhong introduced the man to Lin Mu.

Lin Mu nodded and spoke,

"He did have very severe injuries when I saw him."

"Yes, the crimson fang mercenaries have been very pissed-off because of that. They have asked their elite teams to search and kill the spirit beast." Spoke Yan Zhong.

"Did they have any luck in finding it?" asked Lin Mu.

"No, they are still searching for it." Replied Yan Zhong.

Lin Mu and the other two men soon fell silent, and he just waited for the beasts to be skinned. 10 minutes later the mercenaries, who were asked to skin the beasts, brought the meat to Lin Mu. The men had removed the pelt and gutted the beasts. They had also chopped the meat into smaller parts, so that it could be carried with ease.

The total weight of the meat of the three steel-back wolves added to a little over 80 kilograms. Lin Mu was in the 6th stage of the body tempering stage, so it was not that difficult for him to carry that much weight and he only had to carry the meat for some distance away before storing it in the ring.

"Goodbye, Brother Lin Mu. May we meet again." Said Yan Zhong

Lin Mu bade farewell to the entire group before returning to the hunting shack.

'I obtained a lot of meat today, I can't wait to taste it. Not to mention the steel-back wolves are in the 7th stage of the body tempering realm, so they will be very rich in vital energy.' Lin Mu thought with excitement.

There was still some time until the sunset, so Lin Mu decided to continue practicing the Boulder collapsing fist. He had already had a little more progress and thus wanted to experience it again.

Lin Mu stood in the stance and executed the martial technique. He kept on practicing until a few hours after sunset. By now, his punches were able to create short gusts of wind that made the surrounding leaves sway.

After another hour of practice, he stopped to eat dinner. He had roasted the steel-back wolf meat, which was emanating an amazing aroma. He ate the meat and instantly felt the difference in vital energy, compared to the Red-snouted boar.

The density of vital energy was almost twice that of the Red-snouted boar and made him feel stuffed, even though he had not even finished half of the meat that he had cooked. Understanding that he would not be able to finish it right away, Lin Mu sat cross-legged to chant the calming heart sutra.

He only stopped when around seventy percent of the vital energy was assimilated. Then he tried to finish eating the remaining portion of meat. Lin Mu ate it all and felt extremely bloated after that. He continued practicing the boulder collapsing fist until midnight, when he felt the spatial rift about to open.

Lin Mu stopped practicing and waited for the spatial rift to open. He moved a few feet away, and the rift opened in front of him. His hand was sucked inside it as always, and thus he started the search for today's item.

He spent five minutes searching inside the spatial rift, after which he touched something which felt like cloth. Lin Mu pulled his hand out of the spatial rift and withdrew the item that he had found. The item this time was a piece of cloth, which looked ragged and damaged.

Lin Mu had gotten used to finding items such as this in the spatial rift, thus did not mind it and stored it in the ring. He then entered the shack to lie down to sleep. Sleep was just more time for Lin Mu to improve upon the martial technique.

'I think it would not be long until I would be able to perfectly execute the boulder collapsing fist.' Thought Lin Mu.

'I should also be breaking through to the 7th stage of the body tempering realm soon, I feel like I'm already half-way through the stage.' Pondered Lin Mu.

Lin Mu would never have imagined that he would be progressing through the stages of the body tempering realm this fast. Even the people who have a training technique, take years to reach the 7th stage. He did not know how lucky he was to have the calming heart sutra.

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Chapter 30: The Astonished Sky Precepts Sect

Sky Precepts sect, The Grand Palace.

The patriarch of the Sky Precepts sect was sitting in the throne at the head of the grand hall. Tens of men and women were also currently present in the hall. Some were seated in front, on elegant chairs, and some in the back on modest cushions. While the rest were all standing at the very back against the wall, behind their respective head elders.

This was the grand hall of the Sky precepts sect, where earth-shaking decisions were made every day. Every person who was currently present here had the authority to shake mountains and move seas.

There were elderly as well as youthful men and women in this hall. Some people who were seated at the front looked youthful while some were elderly, making one question who was the older among them.

The patriarch was wearing a plain and flawless white robe. He had his hair tied with the help of a plain wooden hairpin and was currently listening to a black-robed elder speaking. Even though the patriarch was sitting casually on the throne, no person in this hall would ever question his dignity.

The black-robed elder currently speaking was the head elder of the Armament Pavilion.

"We have successfully refined the Profundity carving shield and it will be deployed in the upcoming week." Said the Armament pavilion head elder.

"Excellent, next report." Said the patriarch, not saying any excessive word.

Another black-robed elder stood up from a chair and walked in front of the patriarch before cupping his hand in greeting. This elder was none other than Head elder Han.

"Greetings patriarch, all the preparation for the upcoming trials has been done and the spots will be allocated as before, with an elimination tournament." Said Head elder Han.

"Hmm, try and see if you can increase a few more spots this time." Said the patriarch.

"More spots patriarch? I'll see to it if it can be done, but I don't know if the trial grounds will be that accommodating." Replied the head elder Han.

The Second Grand elder has informed me that the formation of the trial ground is ready to accommodate more disciples this year." Said the patriarch.

Most of the people sitting in the hall were surprised upon hearing the patriarch's words, except for a few individuals. The Second Grand elder was in charge of all the trial grounds as well as the inheritance grounds of the sect. He was one of the three Dao treading realm experts of the sect. The second grand elder was a reclusive man, who considered his every word as gold. This was the first time he had communicated in a decade.

Head elder Han bowed in acceptance of the patriarch's words and spoke,

"If the Second Grand elder has spoken, then it will be done."

After Head elder Han was done speaking, he was about to turn around and return to the seat, when the patriarch spoke,

"How's the investigation of the spatial disturbance going?" asked the patriarch with a plain tone.

Head elder Han stopped in his tracks and straightened his posture before speaking,

"The disciples and elders who were assigned the mission have already departed from the sect, while the external elders who are located in their respective regions were informed of the matter as well." Said Head elder Han.

"Has there been any more spatial disturbances?" the patriarch questioned.

"Yes, the spatial disturbance has been detected every day, ever since the first incidence. The disciples at the star catching peak have been working hard at finding the source, but it is too short-lived and complex to trace." Replied the Head elder Han.

The patriarch had his chin in his palm as he spoke,

"You say it's too complex to trace?"

"Yes, at first the disciples were barely able to even detect a rough location of the spatial disturbance, and but later they could not determine the location. They then decided upon another route to identify it, by analysing its signature." Elder Han spoke before taking a pause.

"But they could not identify even a single source which could barely resemble one percent of the signal." Said the Head elder Han.

Except for a few people who knew what Head elder Han's words meant, the rest of the people looked on with questioning faces.

"So you mean to say, it is 'that'." Said the Patriarch with ambiguity in his voice.

"Yes, it is as you think patriarch, it is beyond the capability of the star catching grand formation to identify it. It… It most likely came from a higher world." Replied Head elder Han with slight dread in his voice.

Astonishment could be seen in the eyes of every person located in this hall, except for the patriarch and Head elder Han. Most of the people had been informed of this matter a few days ago, but they certainly did not expect for it to be so severe.

The patriarch closed his eyes and looked as if he was in deep thought. It was not until an hour later that he spoke, during which not a single person dared to speak, nor did the Head elder Han move from his position.

"Increase the disciples involved in the investigation and also inform the Supreme Grand Elder and the First Grand Elder." Declared the patriarch with might in his voice.

Back at the outskirts of the northern forest, Lin Mu was sleeping in the hunting shack, unaware of the chain of events that had been set off, ever since he obtained the mysterious ring.

The sun was hiding behind the hills, and the air was chilly. One could hear the morning call of the birds coming from the forest. Lin Mu had just woken up from sleep and was currently cooking some meat for his breakfast.

While the meal got ready, Lin Mu slipped into his routine and started his training for the day. He was getting better and more proficient with each training session. After he was done with his first training session of the day, Lin Mu ate his breakfast and then sat down to chant the calming heart sutra.

He had learned from yesterday and had prepared a lesser amount. It was just enough for him to finish and assimilate entirely. Lin Mu then prepared for today's hunt. He wanted to hunt some beasts today so that he could sell their materials tomorrow when he goes to the Northern town to inquire about a room at the inns.

Lin Mu put on the leather armour he had taken from the corpse of the thief he had killed and tightened it until it fit him snuggly. He wiped his short sword clean and returned it to its sheath.

Lin Mu had learned something from his first battle, and it was that he wanted more weapons. After analysing the battle multiple times, he came to the conclusion that one of the reasons he won, was that he had two extra tools that he used as weapons. He understood that if he did not have them, he would have lost, or worst died.

This made him determined to buy more weapons the next time he visited the town, which was tomorrow. Lin Mu decided that he should check up on the traps he had set up to get some bait, which he could use.

He wanted to make use of every opportunity he could get today, as it could be possible that once he was able to book a room to stay in for the winter tomorrow; he may not return here again for a long time.

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Chapter 31: A Unique Beast

With the idea of getting some bait, Lin Mu went towards the traps and checked them for any beasts that may have been caught in them. He checked all six traps and was able to find two Thorn-tailed rats. He killed them and stored them in the ring to be used as bait later on.

Lin Mu then changed his path and entered the deeper part of the forest. The forest seemed eerily silent today, and even the wind seemed to have stopped blowing. Lin Mu began his hunt for prey by first searching around clearings where some beasts lived.

He checked multiple clearings, but could not find anything near them. He then decided to check around the ponds in the area where the beasts came to drink water. He was able to find some small bird beasts, but they were not worth the effort to catch, so he left them.

Lin Mu had spent two hours searching for beasts but still could not find any. Coming to the conclusion that he may not be able to find them this way, he took out one of the Thorn-tailed rat corpses and slit its belly to spill its blood.

He spread the blood around, letting its scent spread, and dropped the corpse on the ground. Lin Mu then hid behind a large rock and waited for a beast to appear. He had to wait for an hour before he saw the beast appear.

The beast was a large ox with unnaturally long and sharp teeth. This was a Razor-maw Ox, a rather dangerous beast of the northern forest. It had large curved horns and its hooves were shiny as if made out of polished metal. Its blue and black patterned fur made it stand out very easily.

Lin Mu gulped his saliva upon seeing the beast. He knew that it would be a daunting task for him to hunt this beast. The Razor-maw Ox was the strongest beast he had tried hunting until now and was a high tier beast. It was stronger than the Steel-back wolves as well as the Yellow-tufted panther. Its strength was roughly equivalent to a 9th stage body tempering realm expert.

Even a 10th stage body tempering realm expert would find it nearly impossible to hunt it alone, so there was little chance Lin Mu could kill this beast. The charging attack of the beast was enough to split trees in half and its hooves could crush rocks.

Lin Mu wisely stayed silent and waited for the beast to eat the Thorn-tailed rat and leave. A few minutes later he could no longer hear any noises, so he peeked to take a look. Once he confirmed that the beast had left, he came out from behind the rock.

Lin Mu checked the direction the Razor-maw Ox had gone towards and went opposite to that, as he most definitely did not want to encounter it. He walked for a few minutes and found a good place that was good for ambushing an unsuspecting beast.

He once again slit the belly of a Thorn-tailed rat and let it bleed out on the ground. This time it did not take long for a beast to appear, after he had hidden behind a large tree. He peeked to take a look at the beast and found it to be a beast that resembled a coyote.

The beast largely resembled a normal coyote, except that it was pitch black and had bone spurs covering his body. They extended from the top of his head along the spine, all the way towards the end of its tail. Lin Mu did not know the name of this beast as this was the first time he had seen it.

He had never seen any hunter bring such a beast corpse to the town before.

'This could be a rare beast, and I can probably get quite a bit of money from selling its materials.' Thought Lin Mu.

Lin Mu waited for the beast to come closer to eat the Thorn-tailed rat. The position of Lin Mu was perpendicular to the beast, giving him the advantage to strike first before the beast could react. He wanted to use the boulder collapsing fist to kill the beast in a single strike.

Lin Mu waited for the wolf to come to the right position and entered the stance for the boulder collapsing fist. As soon as the beast was in the position, Lin Mu shot forward and executed the boulder collapsing fist, punching the beast on the side of its head.

The moment Lin Mu's fist connected to the beast's head, he could feel the intense recoil and pain travel along his hand. The beast's skull was tougher than the steel-back wolf and did not shatter. Lin Mu had expected to finish off the beast in one hit, but was surprised when he did not.

The beast let out a yelp filled with pain but did not die and was only dazed as it fell to the ground. Seeing that the beast was stunned, Lin Mu unsheathed the short sword and chopped at the beast's neck. The blade went through the flesh, only to be stopped by the beast's spine.

Lin Mu drew back the sword and jumped back. He waited for the beast to die before coming closer. Confirming that the beast was dead, Lin Mu stored it into the ring. He finally had something he could sell in the town tomorrow.

Lin Mu then went back to the hunting shack, as the sky would turn dark in an hour. He did not skin the beast as he did not know which materials could be used from the beast. Lin Mu intended to keep the beast whole and let the person who bought it, prepare it. He would sell all the materials and keep the meat for himself.

Lin Mu set some meat on the large stove outside the hunting shack to cook, while he continued his training. He practiced the boulder collapsing fist until the meat was done cooking. He then sat down to eat the meat. While eating he felt like someone was watching him, so he looked around for them. He did not find any person but found a small four-legged silhouette standing near a bush.

Lin Mu went closer to take a look, but the silhouette disappeared behind the bush when he came near it. After losing sight of the silhouette, Lin Mu went back to finish his dinner. After dinner, he continued his training until it was time for sleep.

While he was about to sleep he had a thought,

'Huh, the spatial rift hasn't opened today, is it not gonna appear today?' Thought Lin Mu with a slightly confused expression on his face.

He lied down on the bed and waited for the spatial rift to open. He must've waited for an hour before he eventually slipped into sleep, as it did not appear. Lin Mu appeared in the Sleepscape and continued his training. While he was training, he thought about the two unique beasts he had seen today.

'I don't think the Razor-maw Ox beasts live in that part of the forest. They are high-tier beasts and, from what I've heard from the hunters, they are found in the western part of the forest.' Thought Lin Mu.

'Even the coyote beast is something completely new that I've seen. I'm sure it's not native to this part of the forest either. Why are these beasts appearing in this part of the forest?' Lin Mu questioned himself.

Understanding that nothing would come out of pondering on these thoughts, Lin Mu pushed them to the back of his mind and continued his training. After a while, he suddenly felt a burst of pain in his head and then on his back.

'Why is pain suddenly arising in my body?' Was the last thought Lin Mu had before his consciousness disappeared from the Sleepscape and he woke up.

Lin Mu opened his eyes and found himself lying on the ground, with his head stuck to the door of the hunting shack. His right hand was extended upward against the door and was currently being pulled towards it, but was being obstructed by the door.

It took a moment before Lin Mu understood the situation.

'The spatial rift! it opened while I was asleep.' Thought Lin Mu.

He struggled to open the door, as his head was stuck against it, and made it awkward for him to move his other arm. With a little effort, Lin Mu was able to move the latch, opening the door. As soon as the door was opened, his hand was pulled outside and his body along with it.

He was able to clumsily stand and walk towards the location where the ring was pulling him to. Lin Mu had to walk along the edge of the forest for 100 meters before the spatial rift finally opened. When his hand entered the spatial rift, he felt that the rift differed from before.

Lin Mu felt as if his hand was dipped in a flowing river. It was the same feeling that he got when he obtained the Four vessels restoration pills along with the fragrant agarwood box. He now felt excited at the idea of finding something valuable again.

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Chapter 32: Spirit Stones

With excitement on his face, Lin Mu searched the spatial rift. He did not have to search for long as the object itself found him, or rather hit his hand. The object was quite hard and felt painful to him when it hit him. He pulled his hand out once the object was stored inside the ring.

Lin Mu withdrew the object to examine it. The object this time was a pouch that seemed to be made out of high-quality beast leather. The texture and feel of the pouch made Lin Mu think that it was something only nobles or rich merchants would use.

He opened the pouch to take a look inside. The first thing that caught his eyes was the glow that came from inside the pouch. As it was still nighttime and there was barely any light except for the stars, Lin Mu could not figure out what was inside the pouch as the glow covered the items inside it, making it hard to distinguish them.

Lin Mu went back to the hunting shack and lit a lamp to illuminate the place. Once there was sufficient light, Lin Mu poured the contents of the pouch on to the table that was inside the shack. Small stones started to pour out from the pouch and soon formed a pile on the table.

The stones were translucent and were glowing with a pale white light. There were nearly a hundred of them in the pile, with each stone being the size of a fingernail. Lin Mu's gaze was locked onto the pile of glowing stones. He picked one up and felt a comfortable feeling coming from his hand that was holding the stone.

"This is… this is a spirit stone!" Exclaimed Lin Mu.

"And… and there are so many of them." Thought Lin Mu out Loud.

Lin Mu had once seen a spirit stone before. It was two years ago when he had visited the Wu Lim city to watch the annual martial competition. The top three prizes of the martial competition were spirit stones. One of the top hunters of the northern town had participated in it at that time and won the third prize.

The third prize was a single spirit stone. The hunter who had won it back then showed it off to many people during the celebration party that was organised in the northern town. Lin Mu had the opportunity to observe it back then.

That hunter who had won the third prize became a cultivator six months later by obtaining a cultivation manual. Though no one knew where or from whom the hunter obtained the cultivation manual, as the hunter never answered those questions. That hunter is one of the only two hunters of the Northern town who are cultivators.

There were numerous thoughts that were going through Lin Mu's head, so much so that he had to chant the calming heart sutra to forcibly calm himself down. Once he calmed down, Lin Mu systematically went through the multiple points he had thought of before.

He first checked the pouch in which the spirit stones came, for any symbols or insignias which could tell where it came from or whom it belonged to. Lin Mu inspected the pouch inside out and could not find anything that could point to the ownership of the pouch.

Second, he thought about the origin of the spirit stones.

'The Four vessels restoration pills came from the Tri-cauldron peony sect, so could these spirit stones have come from there as well?' thought Lin Mu

'The only other place it could come from would be Wu Lim city, only the rich families or the mayor could own such a large amount of spirit stones.' He thought next.

Third, Lin Mu thought about the value of the spirit stones. He counted the spirit stones and found that there were 103 of them exactly. Even though he knew that there were at least a hundred of them, the sheer amount of them still shocked Lin Mu.

Even in the martial competition that Lin Mu watched, the first prize was only 5 spirit stones, which a person from the city had won. He could not imagine how many gold coins would be equivalent to the spirit stones he had now. The closest thing that could compare to their value would perhaps be the- four vessels restoration pills.

Fourth, Lin Mu thought about what would be the best way to utilize these spirit stones. The most obvious method would be to use them for his own cultivation, but for that, he would have to wait until he obtained a cultivation manual. The other straightforward method would be to sell them, but this method will definitely invite trouble on his head. Lin Mu directly discarded this thought.

Lin Mu then took a deep breath and stored the spirit stones in the pouch before storing it in the ring.

'Whatever I want to do with the spirit stones, first I'll have to be very careful. At the very least I need to reach the 8th stage of the body tempering realm before I think of anything further.' Concluded Lin Mu, ending his brainstorming session.

Lin Mu took a look at the sky and saw that it was still dark. So he lied down on the bed and went back to sleep. He later woke up three hours later when it was already bright outside. Lin Mu started his morning routine of training and eating breakfast.

Today was the day that he had to go to the town to inquire about a room at the inn. Lin Mu hoped that he will be able to find a room to stay in for the winter so that he can stop worrying and focus on his training.

After he was done with his morning routine, Lin Mu prepared for his trip to the town. He withdrew the sled he had made and put the corpse of the coyote beast on it and covered it with the large sack. He then started his trip to the town.

The journey to the town was uneventful, and he did not see many people. After the merchants had left the town, the number of travellers coming to the town had significantly decreased. When he passed by the spirit apple orchards, Lin Mu felt a little surprised as he sensed a familiar feeling coming from the spirit apples.

He tried to remember the feeling and found it to be of spirit qi. The spirit qi he had felt from the spirit stones was a little similar to the one that the spirit apples were giving off, the only difference being that it was much more concentrated in the spirit stones.

'I wonder how the small purple spirit fruit I found would compare to the spirit stones.' Thought Lin Mu.

Lin Mu entered the town and observed the absence of the merchants. All the stalls and shops that were present three days ago were nowhere to be found. The aura of the town had returned back to how it was before.

Lin Mu thought about where he should sell the corpse of the coyote beast. Now that the merchants had left the town, he would have to sell it to a shop in the town. He remembered the incident from last time and decided against it.

'If I try to sell it to a shop, many people will see it and some of them will definitely want to try to steal from me again.' Though Lin Mu.

As he was thinking about this, Lin Mu had unknowingly reached the main street of the town. An idea suddenly stuck his mind, and he determined where he could sell the beast corpse.

'That's it, I can sell it at Jing Wei's emporium. That woman and the old man will definitely not bother me, and I can also buy more weapons there.' Thought Lin Mu.

Thus he changed his path and walked towards the desolate alley which housed the dusty shop. Once he reached the shop, Lin Mu put the sled to a side and then opened the door of the shop, which was still hard to open, and creaked loudly on opening.

After the door was open, he picked up the beast corpse and walked inside the shop. He saw that there was no one at the counter, so he rang the small bell that was kept on it. Lin Mu waited for five minutes before the woman Duan Ke walked out of the door behind the counter.

Duan Ke was dressed in a light pink dress and had a small hairpin in the shape of a lily in her hair. Seeing this, Lin Mu wondered how many types of hairpins she owned. Duan Ke looked at him the same as before, with her signature poker face.

She walked up to the counter and asked,

"What do you want today?"

"I want to sell a beast corpse, I wonder if that's fine?" said Lin Mu with a polite smile on his face.

"That's fine. Show me the corpse." Replied Duan Ke.

Since Lin Mu had slung the corpse of the beast on his back, Duan Ke could not see it clearly. Lin Mu pulled the corpse from his back and put it on the counter. He then turned his eyes on Duan Ke's face and saw surprise on her face for the first time.

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