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

2. 33

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Chapter 33: Mutant Beast

Lin Mu had seen Duan Ke multiple times, but this was the first time he had seen her break her composure and show such a surprised expression. For this very reason, he felt that something was wrong or he may have done something wrong.

"Is there something wrong?" Lin Mu asked cautiously.

Duan Mu came to her senses and realised that she had shown a surprised expression. When she saw Lin Mu's concerned face, she understood that he had noticed it this time. She forcibly controlled her emotions and spoke,

"How did you kill this high tier beast?" Duan Ke asked, trying to covertly justify the reason for her expression.

If Lin Mu was first confused because of Duan Ke's expression, now he was confused due to her words.

"What do you mean high tier beast?" questioned Lin Mu.

"This beast, it's a high tier beast of at least 9th stage body tempering realm." Replied Duan Ke.

Lin Mu's expression slowly changed from confusion to that of fear, once the words of Duan Ke sank in. He had avoided hunting a high tier beast, the Razor-maw Ox, which was also equivalent to a 9th stage body tempering realm expert. But somehow had ended up hunting and killing another beast of the same strength.

Lin Mu could not understand how he was able to do this daunting task successfully. He then remembered how the Steel-back wolf's skull was crushed in his one hit, but the coyote beast's didn't. But he still could not understand why the beast did not react when he attacked. If it really was a high-tier beast, it should have detected him the moment he exposed himself.

The only reason he was able to kill the steel-back wolf back then, was because the beast was focused on the mercenaries, along with it being injured and exhausted. There was no way the same tactic would have worked on it, if it was in its optimum condition, not to mention a beast even stronger than it.

Cold sweat covered Lin Mu's forehead and back. Duan Ke could see the dread and fear on Lin Mu's face.

'Don't tell me this boy did not even know the strength of this beast before hunting it.' Thought Duan Ke.

"Did you not know the strength of this beast beforehand?" asked Duan Ke.

Lin Mu, who seemed to have become a mute, finally came to his senses upon hearing Duan Ke's question.

"No, I don't even know the name of the beast." Replied Lin Mu.

Duan Ke just kept on staring at the beast corpse after hearing Lin Mu's reply and did not speak anything. Seeing that she was not replying Lin Mu asked,

"What… what's the name of the beast?" Lin Mu asked.

"It does not have a name, at least not until now." Duan Ke spoke without moving her gaze from the beast corpse.

"What do you mean, why does it not have a name?" asked Lin Mu, while wiping the cold sweat from his forehead.

Duan Ke stayed silent for a minute before shifting her gaze from the beast corpse.

"This beast… it's a mutant. This is not its natural form." Replied Duan Ke.

"A mutant? What's that?" asked Lin Mu curiously.

"Some beasts, if they consume or come in contact with certain substances, can change their nature and physique under the influence of that substance. Though more often than not, these beasts cannot reproduce and thus end up becoming a unique specimen; the only member of their species." Explained Duan Ke.

This was completely new information to Lin Mu. He had never heard of such a thing, not even from his father, who was rather very knowledgeable about beasts and was also a hunter himself. Seeing that Lin Mu was engrossed in digesting the information she had just said, Duan Ke waited for a minute before speaking.

"So, how did you defeat a beast that was much stronger than you?" Duan Ke asked.

"The beast did not react as it should have. I ambushed it and was able to kill it in two moves." Explained Lin Mu.

"Care to explain more?" replied Duan Ke.

"I set some bait and waited for the beast. I was hiding the entire time and only attacked when the beast was in the right position and could not see me. My first hit stunned the beast, making it fall to the ground, and with the next attack I slashed its neck." Lin Mu explained thoroughly.

"Did the beast not finish its mutation completely? But this aura, it's very similar to that 'thing'" muttered Duan Ke.

"Umm, sorry what?" Lin Mu asked upon hearing Duan Ke mutter.

Duan Ke stopped and looked at Lin Mu, before she spoke curtly,

"It's nothing of your concern."

Lin Mu was a little surprised with Duan Ke's curt tone, but did not mind it.

"So you want to sell this beast corpse?" Duan Ke asked, changing the topic.

"Ah no, not the entire beast. I want to keep the meat." Lin Mu replied.

"Why didn't you prepare it before coming here then?" Duan Ke asked with annoyance in her voice.

"I… I did not know what parts of it can be sold. So… I kept it whole." Said Lin Mu embarrassingly.

"Hmm, okay then. You can come to collect the money and the meat three hours later. And I'm charging you extra for dissecting the corpse." Spoke Duan Ke with a straight face.

Lin Mu was a little taken aback at the last part of the sentence, but nodded anyway and left the shop. He did not even ask how much money he would be getting, as he understood that the fierce woman was already annoyed with him.

After Lin Mu left the shop, Duan Ke's eyes suddenly turned fierce. She waved her hand and numerous runes materialised on the door of the shop. If a person looked at the shop right now from the outside, they would only find a plain wall. There was no sign of the shop ever existing in the desolate alley.

Duan Ke gestured with her hand and made the beast's corpse float. She walked through the door behind the counter, which automatically opened for her. The beast corpse floated behind her and followed her inside the door.

Duan Ke entered a small room that was illuminated by a lamp hanging on the roof. There was no other entrance or exit to that room except for the one Duan Ke had come in from. She then snapped her fingers and the lamp illuminating the room was extinguished. But instead of turning dark, the room started to fade into a white background, Duan Ke disappearing along with it.

Duan Ke soon appeared in what looked to be an enormous courtyard. There were elaborate ponds, rivers, streams, and fake mountains. Intricately designed bridges spanned over the rivers and streams. Beautiful and charming fishes could be seen swimming in the water.

On the other end of the courtyard, one could see a manor that was adorned with exquisite decorations consisting of statues, paintings, and calligraphy. Just in front of the manor was a small pavilion surrounded by hundreds of spirit flowers, which were emanating a pleasant fragrance.

An old man was currently sitting in the pavilion. He was drinking a cup of tea that was emitting an aroma that calmed one's senses. This old man was none other than the owner of Jing Wei's emporium, Jing Wei himself, and also the grandfather of Duan Ke.

Duan Ke gently walked towards the pagoda and arrived behind Jing Wei. The old man was facing away from Duan Ke and was currently enjoying his cup of tea.

"Grandfather" Duan Ke called out affectionately.

The old man finished his cup of tea in one gulp and turned around to face his granddaughter.

"You're back from the shop. Was it that boy Lin Mu again?" Jing Wei asked, as he enjoyed the taste of the tea with his eyes closed.

"Yes, grandfather. He… he brought something unusual." Replied Duan Ke with a little uncertainty in her voice.

Jing Wei opened his eyes upon hearing Duan Ke's words.

"Why, what did he bring?" He asked with a reassuring tone.

Duan Ke gestured with her fingers, and the corpse of the coyote beast came in front of her and rested on the ground. She pointed at the corpse and spoke,

"This beast corpse."

Jing Wei's gaze focused on the beast's corpse.

"Hmm, a mutant. That too having a strength of a high tier beast." Jing Wei spoke to himself.

"He killed this beast himself?" Jing Wei asked Duan Ke.

"Yes, that's what he said, and it did not seem like he was lying either." Duan Ke replied.

"It shouldn't be possible for him to kill this beast." Said Jing Wei.

"That's not what's bothering me, grandfather. The beast did not complete its mutation, it could not react to the boy's attack in time." Explained Duan Ke.

She then took a pause and continued,

"This beast's aura, it's very similar to that 'thing' from last year."

"I thought you cleared all of its traces back then, even the ones that could not be cleared by the disciples of Tri-cauldron peony sect." Jing Wei spoke with a questioning tone.

"I did, but now this beast appeared. I think it probably mutated due to the influence of that 'thing'." Duan Ke spoke with a lost expression on her face.

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Chapter 34: Booking A Room And Buying More Weapons

Duan Ke went silent, and Jing Wei was lost in thought as well. Both of them stayed the same for an incense sticks worth of time until Jing Wei spoke.

"What did he want to do with the beast corpse?" asked Jing Wei.

Duan Ke broke her silence and looked up at her grandfather.

"He wants to sell the materials from the beast corpse and keep the meat for himself." Duan Ke replied.

"Hmm, you can't give him the meat, we don't know what effect it could have. Besides, if it is as you say, we have to investigate further." Jing Wei spoke.

"So what should I do grandfather?" Duan Ke asked.

Jing Wei thought for a moment before replying,

"Find a beast of equivalent strength and give its meat to him. As for the cost of the materials, you can decide that yourself."

"Yes, grandfather. I'll do as you say." Duan Ke replied.

Jing Wei turned back and walked towards the manor. As he reached the door of the manor he stopped and spoke,

"Refine the beast corpse and use it to investigate any new traces that may turn up. We don't want a repeat of last year's incident."

Duan Ke did not speak and only nodded her head in acceptance. Jing Wei had entered the manor and disappeared from her view. Knowing what she had to do, Duan Ke waved her hand to make the beast's corpse float. She then gestured and a small formation array appeared over the beast's corpse.

Slowly flames bloomed on the corpse and the formation array started to turn.

"Refine!" Duan Ke spoke out loud.

The beast's corpse was being reduced to a pool of blood. Once the entire corpse turned to blood, Duan Ke threw four small stones the size of pearls, which started to revolve around the pool of blood. The stones spun faster and faster, making the pool of blood to swirl as well.

After five minutes the four stones had stopped revolving and the pool of blood was converted into a small dark red marble. Duan Ke withdrew the four small stones and picked up the dark red marble floating in the air.

Done with the refining process, Duan Ke snapped her fingers and appeared in the small room behind the shop. She walked out of the door and waved her hand to remove the formations placed on the shop's door. She then exited the shop and saw the crude-looking sled kept at the side. Ignoring the sled, she looked around for people. Seeing that there was no person nearby, she withdrew a paper talisman and tore it.

As soon as the paper talisman was torn in half, Duan Ke turned translucent and eventually invisible. The Invisible Duan Ke withdrew a sword that floated in front of her. She jumped onto the sword and flew away towards the Northern forest.

Duan Ke flew at such a speed, that if she was visible, she would only appear as a blur to the human eyes. She reached the depths of the forest in a couple of minutes. This was the region where spirit beasts were in abundance. No Hunters would ever dare to come this far, only a handful of cultivators would be able to survive in this region of the forest. One could hear the roars and howls of a myriad of beasts. The forest was dark and dense, sunlight could barely penetrate its canopy.

Duan Ke hovered over the forest and sent out her spirit sense to search for a suitable beast of the 9th stage body tempering realm. It was but a second later that she found one. She did not even descend on the ground and only gestured with her fingers, and a spirit qi dagger the size of palm was condensed in the air.

She pointed to the location where the beast was located and the spirit qi dagger shot forward. No cries of the beasts could be heard the moment Duan Ke released the spirit qi dagger. It was as if they were all too frightened to utter a single sound. The spirit qi dagger returned after five seconds, and along with it the corpse of a beast that was around the same size as the coyote beast.

Duan Ke waved her hand and the beast corpse was dissected in a second. She stored the meat in her spatial treasure and took out a wooden disc. The wooden disc had a circular groove at its center.

Duan Ke then withdrew the dark red marble she had refined from the coyote beast's corpse and put it in the groove that was present on the wooden disc.

Once the dark red marble was slotted into the wooden disc, it started to glow. The wooden disc floated from Duan Ke's hand and then flew towards a direction, with Duan Ke flying behind it.

Lin Mu was unaware of all this and was currently checking out the inns in the town. He had inquired in nearly half of the inns and had still not found a single one to stay at. He was standing in front of another inn right now. This inn was located close to the exit of the town and was of a lower quality than the previous ones.

"Let's see if I can find a room here." Lin Mu spoke to himself as he entered through the door of the inn.

He walked up to the front desk and spoke to the clerk sitting there.

"Do you have a room available for the winter?" Lin Mu asked.

The clerk looked towards Lin Mu with a polite smile on his face and replied,

"Yes, we have a room available. But you will need to pay in advance and then you'll be able to stay in that room in five days from today." The clerk replied.

Lin Mu had expected for the clerk to reject, so he was a little joyful upon hearing his words. He did not mind that he would have to wait five days to stay in the room, nor that he would have to pay in advance.

"I would like to book that room then, for the entire winter." Said Lin Mu with a pep in his voice.

The clerk nodded and took out a register.

"Please pay three gold coins and I'll add your name to the register." The clerk said.

Lin Mu took out 3 gold coins which he had prepared beforehand and passed them to the clerk.

"What's your name?" asked the clerk as he dipped a brush into the inkwell.

"My name is Lin Mu."

The clerk took out a small wooden plate on which the name of the inn was carved. It spelled 'Northwind inn'. Lin Mu took the wooden plate and stored it in his pouch.

"Come back five days later and show this to whoever is sitting here on the counter, they will take you to your room." The clerk explained.

Lin Mu nodded to the clerk and turned around to leave the inn.

'I should return to the shop, it's been around three and a half hours since I left it. Duan Ke said to return in three hours, so she should be ready now.' Lin Mu thought.

Lin Mu walked back to the shop and reached there in 10 minutes. He saw that his sled was still kept at the side of the shop.

"Guess no one would even bother to steal such a crudely made sled." Lin Mu spoke to himself with a little mirth in his voice.

He then opened the creaky door of the shop and entered the shop. He walked up to the counter and was about to ring the bell when the door of the shop opened. Lin Mu turned around to look and saw Duan Ke entering the shop.

'Huh, why was she outside?' Lin Mu questioned himself.

"I'll bring the meat, wait here." Duan Ke spoke to Lin Mu as she passed by him and entered the door behind the counter.

She returned a minute later with a sack that seemed like it was completely full. She put the sack on the counter, gestured to Lin Mu, and spoke.

"Here's you beast meat. As for the money…" But before she could complete her sentence, Lin Mu interrupted her.

"Umm, instead of coins, I want some weapons." Lin Mu spoke.

"You want more weapons? Are you not satisfied with the short sword?" Duan Ke asked.

"No, I like the short sword. I just want more weapons in case I lose the short sword in a fight or something. And I also want to learn to use more kinds of weapons." Lin Mu Explained.

Duan Ke nodded and said, "As you wish, look around the shop and pick whatever you want. But if you want to get a proper appraisal, it will cost you extra."

Lin Mu went around the shop and picked up whatever caught his fancy. In the end, he had chosen 12 items from the shop. He brought them all and placed them on the counter. The total weight of all the weapons was nothing to Lin Mu, now that he had reached the 6th stage of the body tempering realm.

The weapons he had chosen were of multiple types. He had chosen a pair of battle gauntlets, a long sword, a slim and flexible sword, a normal broad sword, a large axe, a small hatchet, a buckler, a large shield, a spear, and three different types of daggers.

Duan Ke was a little surprised by the varied choice of weapons but did not show it on her face.

"Is that all?" Duan Ke asked.

"Yes, how much would this all cost?" Lin Mu questioned.

"It should be around the same price as the cost of the materials of that beast." Duan Ke replied.

Lin Mu nodded happily and piled all the weapons on the large shield before putting it on the sled outside the shop. He then carried out the sack of meat and left the shop. Duan Ke watched him leave.

'He's a little dumb, isn't he? He didn't even ask how much the materials exactly cost.' Duan Ke spoke to herself before waving her hand and sealing the door with formations.

She then entered the door behind the counter and left the shop.

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Chapter 35: 8th Stage Of The Body Tempering Realm

Duan Ke appeared in the elaborate and large courtyard. She crossed the streams and rivers to reach the manor that was standing at the end of the courtyard. Her eyes looked around for her grandfather but could not find him nearby.

Finding that her grandfather was not outside, she went up the steps of the manor and entered through the large twin doors. The inside of the manor was so luxuriously decorated that it would even put a king's palace to shame.

Duan Ke walked towards the left and entered an enormous library. There were more books than one could count in the library, along with a multitude of scrolls, bamboo slips, and jade slips kept on different shelves.

At the centre of the library, one could see a table and a few chairs. Unlike the rest of the manor, the table and chairs did not look luxurious or expensive, rather they looked very simple and could be found at any commoner's house. Duan Ke walked up to the table and saw her grandfather sitting at it on a chair.

The old man was reading a book that looked like it would wither and break any moment. The book was old and damaged, yet the old man was able to flip its pages with no problem. Once Duan Ke came up to the side of her grandfather, Jing Wei spoke without moving his eyes from the book.

"Did you find anything?"

Duan Ke waved her hand in response to her grandfather's words, making twelve corpses appear. These corpses belonged to both fierce beasts as well as spirit beasts. Even though the corpses belonged to different types of beasts and had different physiologies, they all had one thing in common. They were all pitch black in colour and emitted an unnerving aura.

Duan Ke then carefully withdrew a box that looked to be made of glass. In that box, a pitch-black blob the size of an orange was kept. The pitch-black blob was emitting an even greater unnerving aura, it was at least 10 times the intensity of the aura emitted by the strongest beast corpse.

Jing Wei turned to look towards the glass box in Duan Ke's hand.

"So, it was that 'thing' indeed." Jing Wei said.

"I found these twelve beasts in the northern forest. They were mostly spread around the deeper regions of the forest, but some of them were even present at the outer parts of the forest, with one wandering around near the edge of the forest." Duan Ke said.

Duan Ke stayed silent and let her grandfather examine all the beast corpses. Jing Wei looked around at the corpses for half an hour, after which he finally came up to the glass box.

"Where did you find this piece of that 'Thing'?" Jing Wei asked Duan Ke.

"I found it near the centre of the northern forest. It was lying inside a small pond and had tainted the water." Duan Ke replied.

"That pond was the source of the mutations then, no other traces anywhere?" Jing Wei questioned.

"Yes, that's likely it. I could not find any more traces of it, only this." Duan Ke answered.

Jing Wei nodded upon hearing Duan Ke's answer.

"Destroy it." Jing Wei declared.

Duan Ke did not speak a word before pointing to the black blob inside the glass box, which then started to burn. It burned for a minute, after which not even ashes were left behind.

Once the black blob was destroyed he turned to his granddaughter and spoke,

"Did that boy come back?"

"He came back just before me. I passed the meat of a 9th stage body tempering realm beast to him. Though he did not ask for money in exchange for the materials." Duan Ke replied and took a pause.

Jing Wei raised his eyebrows in question.

"He wanted more weapons in exchange for the materials. I let him choose some weapons from the shop. He picked a large variety of them." Duan Ke added.

Jing Wei sat down on the chair and placed his hand on his chin. He thought for a minute before asking,

"Did he not like the short sword?"

"He liked the sword. He said he wanted the weapons in case he ever lost the short sword during a fight." Duan Ke replied.

"And how did he come to that reasoning?" Jing Wei asked curiously.

Duan Ke had a slight smile on her face as she spoke this sentence.

"Your old short sword has tasted a man's blood once again, after decades."

"Oh, so he had his first kill. That was faster than I thought, but still, it's good for him that he experienced it early on and even learned a lesson from it." Jing Wei spoke with nostalgia in his eyes.

Lin Mu was currently pulling the sled that had the weapons, and meat placed on it. It took him 20 minutes to exit the town before he could store everything in the ring. Once everything was stored in the ring, Lin Mu sprinted all the way to the hunting shack.

Once he was at the shack, he withdrew all the new weapons he had bought. He wanted to wield all of them, to get a feel for them.

'I need to practice them too now.' Lin Mu thought as he swung an axe.

He practiced using the weapons for three hours until it was time for sunset. Even though Lin Mu did not have proper training methods for each of the weapons, he still tried whatever he had seen other people do before, whether it be the town guards or the hunters.

Lin Mu then started practicing the boulder collapsing fist before cooking the new beast meat he had got today. The aroma of the 9th stage body tempering beast meat was richer than the other meats he had eaten before. Once it was completely cooked he ate it deliciously.

Done with the meal, Lin Mu sat down cross-legged to chant the calming heart sutra. He could feel the dense, vital energy being spread from his stomach. The energy was slowly spreading over his body and assimilating into his skin and muscles, with a minuscule amount assimilating into his blood vessels.

45 minutes later the vital energy had not stooped being assimilated and Lin Mu felt like his skin was completely saturated with vital energy.

'This is it my skin can't assimilate any more vital energy, it's time for me to enter the 8th stage of the body tempering realm.' Lin Mu decided.

Lin Mu focused on the small trickle of vital energy that was entering his blood vessels. The vital energy was giving off very faint waves. He focused on these very faint waves and tried to amplify them. He tried applying his experience from learning the Boulder collapsing fist and willed for the vital energy to increase.

He did not succeed in the first try. Lin Mu repeated the same procedure over and over until finally, it was like a dam had broken. A large surge of vital energy that was stored in his stomach surged out all at once and was assimilated into his blood vessels. An electrifying feeling passed through his blood vessels and he broke through to the 8th stage of the body tempering realm.

"Yes, finally success!" Lin Mu exclaimed and jumped up in joy.

The 8th stage of the body tempering realm was a bottleneck. After breaking through it, a qualitative changed happened in the body. The muscles that are tempered in the early stage of the body tempering realm become stronger and tougher, but they can't exert their full potential as they don't have the required supply of blood.

A similar situation occurs with the skin during the middle stage of the body tempering realm, but when a person finally enters the 8th stage of the body tempering realm, his vessels can finally provide the blood required to the muscles and skin.

A person who enters the late stage of the body tempering realm can exert greater strength, has increased speed and agility.

'Let's see what I can do.' Lin Mu thought.

Lin Mu started sprinting and found that he could run twice as fast as before. He then withdrew the large rock from the ring and let it fall on the ground. He tried lifting it but could not; it was still too heavy for him. Lin Mu then tried pushing it and was able to push it with some effort.

"At least I can push it now." Lin Mu thought out loud as he wiped the sweat on his brow.

'Now to try the boulder collapsing fist.' Thought Lin Mu.

Lin Mu entered the horse stance and used the breathing technique. Once his breath harmonized he started the fist routine. As soon as he reached the perfect coordination, he executed the boulder collapsing fist. A stream of energy entered his right arm and started spinning, forming a stable spiral. Lin Mu willed it and punched forward. A powerful gust of wind shot forward, shaking the trees and bushes. Leaves fell down from the trees and a whistling sound could be heard.

Lin Mu had finally mastered the boulder collapsing fist.

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Chapter 36: Consuming The Spirit Fruit

After he executed the boulder collapsing fist, the energy that was coursing through Lin Mu's body faded away and was replaced by numbing fatigue. Lin Mu slumped down on the ground in exhaustion. He did not expect that a severe exhaustion of energy would be accompanying the successful use of the boulder collapsing fist.

'Why is the exhaustion of vital energy harsher than before?' Lin Mu wondered as he laid down on the ground.

Lin Mu thought that the exhaustion of energy was due to the boulder collapsing fist not being mastered and losing energy in the process. He did not know that once he mastered it, the exhaustion would only increase.

Before he mastered the martial technique, he was able to execute it twice. But now that he had completely mastered the martial technique, he was only able to use it once before being nearly incapacitated.

'I will have to use the boulder collapsing fist only in the situations when I'm sure of my victory or when I have no other choice left.' Lin Mu thought.

Lin Mu laid on the ground for half an hour before he was able to recover some part of his stamina. He then stood up and decided to hunt. He returned later in the evening just before the sunset. He had been able to hunt a Hook-winged swan and a Six-pronged stag.

Lin Mu would never have been able to catch up with an adult Six-pronged stag had it not been for the increase in his speed after reaching the 8th stage of the body tempering realm. He was able to outrun the Six-pronged stag with ease and swiftly ended its life with one swing of his short sword.

After coming back, he cleaned and prepared both of the beasts before eating some dinner. Lin Mu then continued his practice with the different weapons he had bought yesterday till midnight when the spatial rift finally opened. He found a torn piece of a silk ribbon in the spatial rift this time.

Lin Mu examined the torn piece of silk but found it to be ordinary, so he kept it in the ring. He then went to sleep and entered the Sleepscape. In the Sleepscape he practiced the boulder collapsing fist. Now that he had mastered the boulder collapsing fist, he didn't find practicing it to be of much use, as he did not know where he could improve more.

'The booklet mentioned that the advanced stages of the boulder collapsing fist involved increasing the number of energy spirals when using the technique.' Lin Mu remembered.

Lin Mu could not practice the martial technique fully in the Sleepscape, as he could not use the vital energy in his body. He could only practice the form and coordination.

'I wish I could practice using the weapons at least.' Lin Mu complained to himself.

Lin Mu had no more things he could do in the Sleepscape anymore, unless he could find a new technique to learn. After understanding that he couldn't do much about it, Lin Mu just sat down and thought about things that he can improve on. By the time he had woken up from sleep, Lin Mu had made an entire mental list of goals he wanted to complete.

First of all, he wanted to become a qi cultivator. Second, he wanted to obtain enough money to buy back his property that was seized from him. Lastly, he wanted to explore and experience the world.

Lin Mu's desire for exploring the world came from his mother, who used to tell him stories from the travelogues and books she had read. She told him of breath-taking places, ferocious beasts, dazzling kingdoms, and beautiful princesses. Though the stories that caught Lin Mu's attention the most were the ones about immortal cultivators and their legends.

All of his goals were linked and completing one goal would beget others. Becoming a cultivator would allow him to obtain a lot of money, which would allow him to buy his property back. He would be fulfilling his filial duty of taking care of his ancestral property and also the familial graves that were located there.

Once Lin Mu completed these two goals, he would be free to wander and explore the world. He was looking forward to seeing the places he had heard in the stories.

After waking up, Lin Mu started preparing his breakfast and practiced the Boulder collapsing fist. He tried forming two spirals while using the technique, but could not as the vital energy would dissipate as soon as he tried pulling another strand to form the second spiral.

Lin Mu stopped practicing the martial technique after multiple failures and ate his breakfast. He chanted the calming heart sutra and assimilated the vital energy as always. He could tell that the rate of absorption had gone up by at least twenty percent, and he could absorb even more vital energy.

After he was done with the assimilation of vital energy, he practiced using the different weapons. While practicing Lin Mu came to the conclusion that he was more comfortable with swords, daggers, and the spear. He practiced with the axes but found them to be awkward to use and the shields did not matter much, as all he could do with them was defend.

While with the gauntlets, he found that he could use them in tandem with the boulder collapsing fist. The gauntlets were made of tough and hardened leather that was studded and reinforced with metal plates. They were okay to wear during a fight, but Lin Mu couldn't bring himself to wear them all the time, like he was doing with the leather armour he had looted from the thief.

While Lin Mu was training he was reminded of something now that he was in the 8th stage of the body tempering realm. He stopped and withdrew the grape-sized purple spirit fruit he had obtained by risking his life. As soon as he withdrew it, he could feel the dense spirit qi stored in it. The spirit qi was much denser than the spirit apples and was comparable with the spirit stones.

'It should be fine for me to eat it now.' Lin Mu thought.

Lin Mu had been waiting to enter the 8th stage of the body tempering realm so that he could become a cultivator. Even though he would need a cultivation manual to become an official cultivator, he could still eat a spirit fruit now.

Lin Mu made up his mind and proceeded ahead. He took a deep breath and popped the small fruit into his mouth. He bit the fruit in his mouth and felt a pleasant sweetness spreading in his mouth. After savouring the fruit for a moment, he swallowed it. Since the fruit was only the size of a grape, it was gone in one bite and gulp.

For the first minute after eating the fruit, Lin Mu did not feel anything, making him think whether he was mistaken, and it was a fake spirit fruit that he just ate. But after a minute passed, it was time for him to be in agony.

A scorching pain rose from his stomach and spread through his body. It coursed through his blood vessels, muscles, and skin until it reached the bones and touched his marrow. That was when he screamed out in pain.

"AAGHHHH!"

Lin Mu's agony filled scream echoed through the forest, scaring the birds into flying away. The spirit qi spread into what Lin Mu thought were his blood vessels until he determined they were something else completely. These vessels were similar to blood vessels and were located along with them side by side, with some spreading away from them as well.

Lin Mu finally understood what these vessels were. They were none other than the spirit meridians he had heard about from the stories and other people. The pain coursed through his meridians and reached his abdomen where it settled for a moment before rising up again, forming a cycle.

Lin Mu was too exhausted to even scream now. He was covered in sweat from head to toe and his grey clothes were drenched wet. After a few minutes of agony, he could sense the vital energy that was stored in his body multiplying. The spirit qi from the fruit was being absorbed by his body and used as a fuel to generate vital energy.

At this point, Lin Mu was finally able to gather some of his will and chanted the calming heart sutra. Inside the mysterious ring, there existed the ethereal altar that was made of mystical runes. The altar had been glowing ever since Lin Mu had eaten the spirit fruit and was becoming brighter and brighter by the minute.

When Lin Mu chanted the calming heart sutra, the ethereal altar started resonating and gave out its own pulses of energy. Suddenly Lin Mu could heart thundering chants of a thousand monks in his head. The esoteric chants were incomprehensible to Lin Mu, yet he could somehow understand their underlying meaning.

Under the influence of the thunderous chanting, the rampaging spirit qi was finally tamed and stabilised. The spirit qi stopped being unruly and settled down in Lin Mu's abdomen. He felt that the place it settled down was two inches above his navel and felt like it was intangible. Lin Mu was able to determine that the place was his dantian.

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Chapter 37: A Shocking Series Of Events

The grueling process was finally completed after an hour, at the end of which Lin Mu could not maintain his consciousness anymore and was pulled into the Sleepscape.

Once he was in the Sleepscape, he could not feel the fatigue and was free. Though as soon as he entered the Sleepscape he was in for another storm. Currently, the Sleepscape was undergoing a great upheaval.

The ethereal altar within the mysterious ring was still pulsating with energy. This time the energy was rising from the ring and reaching the Sleepscape. The Sleepscape was no longer dark, instead a dazzling blue sky had replaced the pitch-black sky and grass had sprouted on the ground.

Lin Mu was left in awe upon witnessing all the events. The grass was spreading around from where Lin Mu was standing, and so was the blue sky. Lin Mu started walking towards the front as he saw a sapling grow into a tree within the blink of an eye.

He got closer and examined it, as he found it to be rather familiar. It was but a moment later that he understood why. This was the very same apple tree he had been playing around since he was a child, had fallen asleep under when he left the town, and found the mysterious ring on.

The same tree had somehow grown in the Sleepscape. He went ahead and touched the trunk. The rough bark of the tree felt real, and so did the rustling of the leaves. Lin Mu walked around the tree and tried to get a measure of the place.

He touched the grass and tried pulling it out. The grass was pulled out but soon disappeared from his hand. Even the place from where the grass was pulled out from returned back to as it was before.

"Huh, so I can't change the environment here." Lin Mu thought out loud.

As he wandered and explored, he figured out the characteristics of the Sleepscape. He found that the radius of the entire Sleepscape was roughly around 200 meters. If he kept on walking ahead, he would just end up in front of the apple tree. He took the apple tree as the centre and mapped the place in multiple directions, but found the result to be the same.

'I end up in the same place after walking straight. So this place should be a circle, ah no, a sphere to be more accurate.' Lin Mu concluded.

Only after he had explored the entire place, did he realise the biggest distinction that existed between the Sleepscape and the actual world. He looked up and noticed the absence of the sun in the sky. There were no clouds in the sky either, yet somehow the sky was still blue.

'Will there be night in here?' Lin Mu wondered to himself.

The only way he could figure out if the night would fall, would be to just wait and observe. Lin Mu waited and waited, but still could not see the day turn into night. Eventually, his consciousness disappeared from the Sleepscape and returned to his body.

Lin Mu woke up in a daze and looked around to check his whereabouts. He was still at the same place he had passed out from exhaustion. He looked at the half-moon that was staring him in the face and broke out in a light laugh.

"Things just get more and more exciting for me, don't they?" Lin Mu spoke to himself.

He tried to stand up and found that his entire body felt sore. Lin Mu was drenched in sweat before and felt sticky, so he wanted to clean up. He stumbled down to the stream and took a bath that felt comfortable to him, even though the water was icy cold, a sign of the approaching winter. While bathing, his gaze wandered to the apple tree.

'So it's still there. I guess the tree in the Sleepscape is just a replica.' Lin Mu thought.

After he was done bathing, he walked up to the apple tree just to verify his claims. He touched the tree and plucked some leaves and apples. Unlike before, these did not disappear and stayed with him.

After he had verified his claims, Lin Mu walked back to the hunting shack. He was no longer stumbling like before, even though he still felt sore. After he reached the hunting shack, he set some meat to cook on the stove as he was starving.

While he waited Lin Mu tried to remember the distinct sensations, he experienced after eating the purple spirit fruit. He was able to remember the different paths the spirit qi had taken, which helped him figure out the pathways of his meridians.

He focused on his abdomen and sensed the faint wisps of spirit qi floating inside his dantian. Lin Mu tried to see If he could control them or not. In the early attempts, Lin Mu could not even make the wisps of spirit qi twitch, but later on, he was able to command them to move within his dantian.

Only now was he able to understand the size of his dantian. If he considered the wisps of spirit qi as locks of hair then his dantian was roughly comparable to the size of the hunting shack. Lin Mu did not know if this was considered as large or small, as he had no one else to compare it with. Neither did he have proper information about the subject.

His dinner was ready while he was playing around with the spirit qi. As Lin Mu felt like he was starving before, he ate his dinner with gusto and devoured all the meat he had prepared. After he was done with the dinner he followed his usual routine and started chanting the calming heart sutra to assimilate the vital energy.

It was now time that Lin Mu experienced the next shock of the day. The vital energy that was absorbed from his stomach assimilated entirely within ten minutes. The process which used to take him 45 minutes now only took him 10. Only when all the vital energy was absorbed did he figure out the reason for it.

Lin Mu's blood vessels had expanded a little bit and had become way tougher than before. He examined the density of vital energy within his body and found it to be nearly twice as dense as before.

"I… I… I'm in the 9th stage of the body tempering realm! That too at the very peak!" Lin Mu exclaimed out loud.

The vital energy in his blood vessels was saturated to the very limit. Signaling his imminent progress to the 10th stage of the body tempering realm. He didn't know how long it would it take for him to enter the 10th stage, but he knew that he will surely be entering it.

Before Lin Mu ate the spirit fruit, the only expectation he had was to enter the 9th stage of the body tempering realm and never higher than that, as he would focus on finding a cultivation manual. But now that he was already in it and was even close to the 10th stage, he could not believe his fortune.

An hour later Lin Mu calmed down and was able to think straight again.

'I can try and see if the calming heart sutra can help me control the spirit qi wisps.' Lin Mu thought.

Acting on his thoughts, Lin Mu sat down cross-legged to chant the calming heart sutra and focused on his dantian. The calming heart sutra helped him focus and gain clarity. After a few more failures, Lin Mu was able to pull out a single wisp of spirit qi out of his dantian.

But as soon as Lin Mu pulled the wisp of spirit qi out, he lost control and the wisp travelled into his right arm and was sucked by the ring. The mysterious ring hummed and before Lin Mu could think of anything, he disappeared from the shack.

When Lin Mu's vision returned, he found himself staring at a dark sky that was filled with flickering streaks of silver and grey colour. In the far distance, he could see a familiar glow.

'I'm back in the ring?' Lin Mu questioned himself.

He walked towards the glowing light and reached the ethereal altar that was made out of mystical runes. The altar was thrumming with power, as if it was beckoning Lin Mu to come and touch it. Lin Mu responded to the altar's yearning and walked closer. As he progressed step by step, Lin Mu could see the altar glow more and more as if it was responding to Lin Mu's presence.

Soon Lin Mu was in the very front of the altar, which had turned nearly corporeal due to the intense glow it was emitting. But as soon as Lin Mu touched the altar, it stopped pulsating and became silent. In the very next moment, it glowed with an even more intense light and a cacophony of chants sounded within Lin Mu's mind.

"Sharpen thy will as a blade, slay your mortal bindings and become unyielding in the face of worldly tribulations – Behold the Severing Heart Sutra."

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Chapter 38: Testing The New Skills

The second part of the Nine divine heart sutras was finally unlocked. The esoteric chants of the Severing heart sutra were currently being carved in Lin Mu's mind. As the chants resounded within his head, a sharp stabbing pain accompanied them.

For Lin Mu, it was as if every passing second was equal to a day. When the entire process was complete Lin Mu could not figure out how much time had passed, for the intense pain had robbed him of his sense of time.

When the pain subsided, Lin Mu could see that the ethereal altar had dimmed down considerably. It was still pulsing, but not as intensely as before. He once again felt like he needed to touch the altar, and that's what he did.

Lin Mu had braced for the next bout of pain that could be arriving, but it did not. Instead, a very gentle stream of energy was released from the altar that travelled to the mysterious ring and then to Lin Mu's head. Once the energy entered his head, additional new information appeared in his mind.

There were only two things that were transmitted to him, and these two were skills. They were called 'Flicker' and 'Blink'. Lin Mu understood that the mysterious ring had transmitted the information about these skills to him and had told him that these were some of the innate skills that originated from itself.

"Why would I receive these skills only now and not before? Could it be because of spirit qi?" Lin Mu wondered.

After receiving the skills, the ring hummed again, expelling Lin Mu into the hunting shack. He looked around and confirmed his location. Lin Mu had experienced too many shocks today, thus he sat down to chant the calming heart sutra again to get his thoughts in order.

After half an hour, Lin Mu was able to make the heads and tails of the entire situation.

"I unlocked the Severing heart sutra, and the ring imparted the two skills called Flicker and Blink to me." Lin Mu concluded in one sentence.

The first thing Lin Mu wanted to test was the Severing heart sutra. He wanted to see how it compared to the calming heart sutra and if it could help him in his cultivation. So, in order to test it, Lin Mu sat down cross-legged and began chanting the severing heart sutra.

The chants of the severing heart sutra were different from the calming heart sutra. While the calming heart sutra made one feel tranquil, the severing heart sutra made one empty.

The closest way Lin Mu could describe his feelings was as, nothing. He felt completely devoid of everything. He did not feel any desire, nor did he feel any emotions. He focused on the vital energy within his body and found it to be the same as before. It did not enhance his perception as it did with the calming hear sutra.

Lin Mu then tried sensing the spirit qi within his dantian. Before he was able to control a single wisp of spirit qi with the help of the calming heart sutra, but he could not exactly measure how much spirit qi he had in his dantian. But once he used the severing heart sutra, he found that he only had around five percent of his dantian filled with spirit qi.

He tried to count the number of spirit qi wisps he had and estimated them to be around 100. He could not get an exact number as the spirit qi mixed and melded together.

'If only five percent of my dantian is filled then, it means that I can store nearly 2000 wisps of spirit qi.' Lin Mu thought.

After this, he tried to control a wisp of spirit qi and was able to do it successfully. He tried going further and controlled the spirit qi to move towards the meridians. He willed it, and the wisp of spirit qi entered the first meridian.

Getting the spirit qi into the meridians was the hard part for Lin Mu. Now that it was in the meridians, it only had one path to follow. Soon under the control of Lin Mu, the wisp of spirit qi completed its first complete circulation cycle.

After Lin Mu successfully completed the first cycle of qi circulation, he could feel his body's pores open, as a tiny amount of energy was absorbed from the air and refined into a new wisp of spirit qi that settled down in his dantian.

'Is this how a person is supposed to cultivate?' Lin Mu questioned himself.

Lin Mu did not know, but what he had just accomplished would have shocked any other cultivator if they knew about it. He had successfully refined spirit qi without the use of a cultivation manual. Even though it was a minuscule amount and was not comparable to the efficiency of an actual cultivation manual, this single feat of his was still earth shaking.

Lin Mu stopped chanting the severing heart sutra and stood up. Once the effects of the sutra wore off, all his emotions returned. Only now did he understand how disturbing it felt to be devoid of emotions.

'This feeling, or the absence of it, is unexplainable.' Lin Mu thought to himself with a perplexed expression on his face.

The next thing Lin Mu wanted to test was the two new skills he was imparted by the ring. He instinctively knew how to use these skills. The first skill Lin Mu tested was the skill called Flicker'.

He knew how to use it but did not know what it actually did. He would have to experience it himself, to understand it. Thus Lin Mu took a deep breath and triggered the skill. Automatically a small wisp of spirit qi rose from his dantian and entered the ring.

After the spirit qi was consumed by the ring nothing happened, which made Lin Mu confused about whether he was making a mistake or not. He tried again and another wisp of spirit qi was consumed, with no results. He tried again and again with no sign of success until he noticed his hands when he used the skill.

Lin Mu observed that whenever he used Flicker, his hands would turn blurry for a moment. To test his hypothesis, he tried it again and indeed found it to be true. In his later attempts, he found that not only were his hands turning blurry, but his entire body was also turning blurry.

A stroke of insight struck Lin Mu, and he remembered his first fight with the two thieves. A similar thing had happened then, and the attacks of the two men had passed through his body as if it was made of air.

"So it was this skill that saved my life then." Lin Mu exclaimed.

He wanted to test the skill out further, so he held the table with his hand while he used Flicker. As soon as he used the skill Lin Mu's hand passed through the table as if it were air. Lin Mu was awestruck and stared at his hand. He tested it out with many things and found it to work the same.

But while testing, he also found the limitations of the skill. The skill only turned his body immaterial for a second, after which it solidified. While it was possible for his hand to pass through thinner objects such as the table, it could not pass through the wall of the shack, or of course the ground itself. A handful of soil and small stones could fall through his hands when he used the skill, but he could not push his hand through the earth.

'But if the limitation of the skill depends on the thickness of the objects, how was I able to dodge the axe of that thief?' Lin Mu wondered with a puzzled look.

Lin Mu thought for a bit and understood that there may be more factors that influenced the skill. He withdrew the short sword and held it in his hand while he used Flicker. He had expected it to fall through his hand, but it did not. He then held it flat against his left hand and swung at it. This time it passed through his left hand but was still held in his right hand.

'So the thickness of an object, as well as the speed at which my body moves through it, decides whether the skill would work or not.' Lin Mu concluded and felt proud of himself inwardly.

At only this point did he notice that he had depleted nearly all of the spirit qi in his dantian. This also gave him an idea of how many times he could use the skill 'Flicker'. He consumed one wisp of spirit qi to use the skill once, thus could use it at least a hundred times before stopping.

'Guess I'll have to test the second skill tomorrow then.' Lin Mu thought.

After all the experiments, Lin Mu had once again become tired and sleepy. He laid down on the bed and fell asleep. This time though, Lin Mu did not enter the Sleepscape but instead fell asleep normally.

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Chapter 39: First Cultivation Session

When Lin Mu woke up, it was already the afternoon. He felt much better as this was the first time he had slept normally in a long time. He stretched to relieve the stiffness and walked out of the hunting shack.

The bright sunlight blinded him for a moment, making him cover his eyes. A moment later, when his eyes got used to the brightness, he was able to see the difference in his vision. Everything he looked at, whether it be trees, clouds, flowers, or the grass, looked vivid to him. Lin Mu also found out that he could look at faraway objects much more clearly now.

"Is this the effect of spirit qi? It enhanced my vision too. Wait, that's not it. My sense of smell is enhanced as well." Lin Mu spoke out loud.

Lin Mu was able to smell the fragrance of flowers that were far away in the forest. He could even smell the very faint smell of the grass beneath his feet. It was a completely surreal experience for him.

Lin Mu then started his morning routine, but instead of training, he sat down to sense his dantian. He saw that nearly half of his spirit qi has been restored.

'A part of my spirit qi is restored every time I sleep, it seems.' Lin Mu thought.

Lin Mu wanted to restore as much spirit qi as he could before he tested out the second skill he got from the ring. Thus he sat down and chanted the severing heart sutra. The loss of all emotions made Lin Mu feel empty, but it also made his perception sharper.

His consciousness entered his dantian and took control of a wisp of spirit qi. Lin Mu guided it into the meridians and circulated it according to the path he had discovered. The first cycle was completed in two minutes. The single wisp that he had circulated had become more refined, and another wisp of spirit qi had been absorbed from the air and condensed into his dantian.

'So not only does circulating the spirit qi condense more wisps, but it also refines the previously existing spirit qi.' Understood Lin Mu.

In the qi refining realm, a cultivator primarily increases the amount of spirit qi they have and then refine it to make it more pure and condensed. The qi refining realm is divided into four stages- early-stage, mid-stage, late-stage, and peak-stage.

In the early stage of the qi refining realm, a cultivator condenses spirit qi and fills up half of their dantian. In the mid-stage, their entire dantian is filled with wisps of spirit qi. In the late stage, a cultivator starts to refine the spirit qi wisps into liquid form, while in the peak stage they would completely fill their dantian with liquid spirit qi.

Lin Mu completed multiple circulation cycles and found out that the more he circulated, the faster he got. An hour after he started, his efficiency had nearly doubled. He continued cultivating for another hour, after which he had completely recovered his spirit qi and had actually exceeded it by a small amount.

Lin Mu stopped at this point and let out a breath of foul qi, ending his first proper cultivation session. He could feel his improvement and understood that this was the path he had to follow.

Lin Mu heard his stomach rumble and went to eat his breakfast. After eating breakfast, he chanted the calming heart sutra and assimilated the vital energy from the meat he had eaten. Another thing he noticed was that in addition to vital energy, a minuscule amount of qi was also being absorbed into his body.

'Does beast meat have spirit qi in it too? Or is it because I'm eating the meat of a 9th stage body tempering beast?' Lin Mu pondered.

Now that he had eaten his breakfast and his qi was replenished, Lin Mu was ready to test out the second skill he had obtained from the ring.

The second skill was called 'Blink'. Lin Mu triggered the skill and in an instant, ten percent of his entire qi reserve was consumed, but nothing happened. He looked at his body to see if there was a change or not, but could not deduce anything.

Lin Mu used the skill again, consuming another ten percent of his qi. This time he focused on his body to see if there was anything different. He could not sense anything different from his body again.

He used the skill for the third time but focused on the environment. In this attempt, he was successful and found out that his vision turned hazy for a moment when the skill was triggered.

'Why did my vision turn hazy? But it did not do that when I looked at my body, though.' Lin Mu questioned himself.

In the quest to find out the function of the skill, Lin Mu used it multiple times until his entire dantian was empty and exhaustion filled his body. He stopped as he was out of qi and rested for an hour. Lin Mu chanted the severing heart sutra once again to cultivate more qi, but discovered that the vital energy in his body was being converted to spirit qi.

He focused deeper and sensed that the ratio of conversion between vital energy and spirit qi was highly unequal. It took a large amount of vital energy to produce a single wisp of spirit qi. Around half of Lin Mu's vital energy was depleted before it stopped being consumed.

'This means that once I deplete my spirit qi, my vital energy will be consumed to produce it.' Lin Mu learned.

For Cultivators who were in the qi refining realm, it was difficult to recover spirit qi once it was entirely depleted. They needed at least a single wisp to be able to produce more spirit qi. Thus in order to recover spirit qi, a cultivator's body would consume its own vital energy to replenish it. Only when a cultivator entered the core condensation realm, could he freely absorb spirit qi from the air.

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Chapter 40: Discovery

Upon gaining knowledge about the aspects of spirit qi, Lin Mu was enlightened. He understood that he cannot deplete his entire store of spirit qi or it will debilitate him in a battle. Now that he had some spirit qi in his dantian, Lin Mu continued chanting the severing heart sutra and circulated the spirit qi.

After two hours, Lin Mu had nearly replenished his spirit qi up to the previous capacity. He opened his eyes and saw the darkness had descended. The sky had turned black, with the clouds hiding the stars and the moon.

"It's already night, and I did not even notice. Is this what the legends mean when they say 'time is but dust to cultivators, can't notice it until it settles down.'" Lin Mu spoke to himself.

Lin Mu stood up and felt his stomach groan with hunger. He had consumed half of his vital energy to regenerate spirit qi, thus he was feeling quite ravenous. He took out the remaining portion of the 9th stage body tempering beast's meat and slathered it with spices and condiments. Then he set it on the big stove outside the shack and let it roast.

In fifteen minutes the meat was ready, and Lin Mu could not hold back anymore. He ate it like a beast and did not even notice when he had consumed all the meat. There were no bones in the meat, thus it was very easy for him to eat the meat.

Once he was done with his meal, he sat down to assimilate the vital energy within it. While he was chanting the calming heart sutra, Lin Mu heard a rustling sound coming from behind him. The sound came from far, yet it was as if he had heard it right beside him. Spirit qi had enhanced his hearing as well.

Lin Mu stopped mid-way and opened his eyes. He snapped back in a flash and glared at the source of the sound. He was able to see much better in the dark due to spirit qi and observed that there was a silhouette of a small four-legged beast standing amongst the bushes. He rushed forward, but the beast had noticed him the moment he had turned around and had run away.

'If it ran away due to me looking at it, then it should not be a strong beast.' Lin Mu figured.

Pushing the disturbance to the back of his mind, Lin Mu continued chanting the calming heart sutra. His speed of assimilating vital energy had increased by a large margin ever since he broke through to the 9th stage of the body tempering realm, thus he was done after 15 minutes.

All the vital energy that he had depleted was replenished, and the total capacity was also increased by a small amount. It would not take him much longer to break through to the 10th stage of the body tempering realm.

By now the clouds had been blown away by the wind, and Lin Mu could see the half-moon in the sky. He observed its position and estimated that it should be around 8 pm.

'I didn't get the chance to go hunting today and I've finished the 9th stage body tempering beast's meat as well. I still have the steel-back wolf's meat left so I can eat that, but I'll have to complete testing the skills before it's finished too.' Lin Mu thought.

Lin Mu wanted to gain a complete understanding of his skills before he enters the forest, as he wanted to be prepared for any unexpected situation. He had already become slightly paranoid ever since he saw the Razor-maw Ox and killed the coyote beast. He knew that he would not be this fortunate every time. If he encountered a spirit beast by any chance, it was likely that it would spell doom for him.

Lin Mu withdrew his short sword and started practicing with it. After the short sword, he practiced with the other weapons he had bought as well. He practiced all the way until midnight when he suddenly remembered something.

'The spatial rift, it has been more than a day. Why has it not opened yet? This has not happened before.' Lin Mu wondered.

Ever since Lin Mu obtained the mysterious ring, the spatial rift has opened every day. Sure, it opened at different times, but it was never more than a day. Lin Mu was confused and did not know the reason for this.

'Could it be? Is it because of spirit qi, that the condition for it to open changed?' Lin Mu questioned.

As Lin Mu thought about the spatial rift, he lifted his right hand and observed the ring on his middle finger. But as he was observing it, he noticed a small black dot hovering in front of him. Lin Mu was surprised and focused his attention on it.

When Lin Mu focused on it, the small dot started expanding. But along with the expansion of the dot, Lin Mu's spirit qi was also being consumed. When almost five wisps of sprit qi were consumed, the small black dot had turned into a spatial rift.

Lin Mu's eyes were wide open, as he saw the newly formed spatial rift. He noticed the difference this time, though. Unlike before his hand was not pulled towards the spatial rift, neither was it sucked into it. He did not feel any compulsion to touch it either.

'Why is it different this time?' Lin Mu thought as he approached the spatial rift.

Lin Mu put his hand inside the spatial rift and searched around for whatever object that was hiding inside the spatial rift. He had searched for nearly 10 minutes when the spatial rift started to destabilise. After the rift started shrinking Lin Mu pulled his hand back in defeat. For the first time ever, he was unsuccessful in finding anything inside the spatial rift.

'The spatial rift has never closed like this before. It only closed when I found the object hiding inside it.' Lin Mu thought.

Reeling from his failure, Lin Mu was about to return to his practice, when he saw another black dot floating in the distance. The black dot was hard to spot due to the flickering of the flames from the stove. Thus Lin Mu picked up a burning branch and used it as a torch.

He walked towards the flickering black dot with the torch in his hand and gasped.

"Can it be?" Lin Mu whispered as he extended his right hand towards the black dot.

Lin Mu's guess was right, as the black dot started expanding into a spatial rift. Another five wisps of his spirit qi were also consumed in the process. He put his hand inside the rift and tried finding something inside it again. Five minutes later his hand touched something small, and the item was stored in the ring.

Lin Mu pulled his hand out and observed the spatial rift. Usually, the spatial rift would stay open until he found something and then immediately close. But right now the spatial rift was still stable and showed no signs of closing. Lin Mu decided to wait and see, for how much time would it stay open.

It was not until five minutes later that the spatial rift started to close up.

'It seems that the spatial rift will now stay open for around ten minutes, whether I find something in it or not.' Lin Mu assumed.

After the spatial rift had closed Lin Mu withdrew the object he had found inside the rift. The object he had found was a small nail that looked very mundane and normal. Observing that it was another useless item, Lin Mu stored it back into the ring.

'I seem to be finding more and more useless items.' Lin Mu thought as he continued practicing with the weapons.

While practicing he had moved a little farther away from where he had started. Lin Mu was thrusting the spear when he saw another black dot in front of him. He was surprised by this and got closer. By now, Lin Mu had gotten an idea about how to open the spatial rift after doing it twice.

But he did not open the spatial rift as his attention was pulled towards another black dot that was floating to his right. An idea struck his mind, and he pulled out a branch from the ring and lit it up. With the help of the light from the burning branch, Lin Mu searched around for more black dots in the surroundings.

Lin Mu must have scoured a radius of around 100 meters, within which he found seven floating black dots. He could actually see more of them in the distance but did not bother checking them as he had already understood the situation well.

'So the ring now allows me to see the spots where I can open spatial rifts. Though it does not seem like I will be able to find objects hidden in every spatial rift.' Lin Mu concluded.

Lin Mu had the idea of opening every spatial rift he could find, but then rejected that idea as it would require him to consume his spirit qi. Right now Lin Mu's first priority was to gain an understanding of the new skills, and for doing that, having sufficient spirit qi was a must.

While Lin Mu had discovered another new function of his ring, the disciples of the Star catching peak of the sky precepts sect were currently in shock once again.

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Chapter 41: Success With The Second Skill

In the Star catching peak, disciples could be seen rushing around with anxiety on their faces. They had detected multiple spatial disturbances a little while ago and were currently trying to pinpoint its location.

A black-robed elder with the insignia of star catching peak embroidered on their chest could be seen standing at the head of a large formation array. A hundred other disciples could also be seen sitting in their respective positions on the formation array.

Sweat could be seen on the faces of all the disciples, and even the black-robed elder seemed to be distressed.

"Elder Feng the disciples can't hold on much longer. We need to ask the other elders to support the formation." The Head disciple who was sitting near the black-robed elder spoke.

A hint of annoyance along with helplessness could be seen on the black-robed elder's face upon hearing the head disciple's words. The black-robed elder faced towards the head disciple and spoke,

"You think I don't know that? I would have already contacted the other elders if it was possible."

The head disciple was not the least bit bothered by the black-robed elder's chiding and still had a staunch look on his face. Elder Feng noticed this and let out a long sigh.

"The other elders are currently in the trial grounds and cannot be contacted. The communication jades don't work across different spatial planes. Though I have contacted an elder to enter the trial grounds and personally inform the other elders of our peak." Elder Feng revealed.

The head disciple nodded in acceptance and returned his attention towards the formation array while muttering,

'Let's hope they are able to return before we lose the trace of the spatial disturbance."

The black-robed elder heard the head disciple's mutterings and let out another sigh.

Back at the hunting shack, Lin Mu was currently lying down on the bed. He was waiting to fall asleep and enter the Sleepscape. He had a few ideas that he wanted to try out in the Sleepscape, now that he had spirit qi.

A few minutes later Lin Mu fell asleep and appeared in the Sleepscape. The sight of the blue sky, green flowing grass, and the apple tree in the distance made Lin Mu feel a sense of belonging. He walked up to the tree and observed that it was different than before.

An apple could actually be seen hanging from one of the branches. The apple's colour was a mix of red and green, with green being the more prominent. The fruit looked juicy and succulent to Lin Mu's eyes, making him desire to pluck it.

Lin Mu jumped up and easily plucked the apple, the height of the tree no longer a restriction to him. But as soon as Lin Mu had the apple in his hand, it disappeared. Thinking that it was probably returned to where it was, Lin Mu looked at the place from where the apple previously hung.

'It's not there? Where did it go?' Lin Mu wondered.

The last time Lin Mu had come to the Sleepscape, he had tested out its characteristics. The main thing that he found out was that any change he made to this place would automatically be restored to the state it was before. Seeing that the apple did not return to the tree, he wondered if there was something he missed.

Lin Mu remembered how the items from spatial rifts would be automatically stored in the ring when he touched them and wondered if it was the same in this case too. He thus willed the apple to be withdrawn from the ring, and it appeared in his hand.

"Seems like I was right." Lin Mu spoke to himself.

Lin Mu studied the apple and did not find anything wrong with it. He then tried to eat it, but the moment he took a bite out of it, the apple disappeared and was then restored to its original form in his hand.

'So I can't eat it. Maybe it's only because I'm in the Sleepscape, and I'll need to be awake to eat it.' Lin Mu thought.

"But wait, if the apple can be stored in the ring, can I withdraw other items as well?" Lin Mu speculated.

Desiring to verify his hypothesis, Lin Mu willed for his short-sword to appear in his hand. In the next moment, the short sword had materialised in his hand. Excited at this discovery, Lin Mu tried the same with the other items from the ring.

"I can now practice in the Sleepscape as well." Lin Mu said with an optimistic tone.

Thus Lin Mu continued his weapons practice in the Sleepscape. He practiced all the way until he felt mentally tired and wanted to sleep normally. When Lin Mu thought this, his body faded away from the Sleepscape but did not appear in the actual world. Lin Mu was now sleeping normally. He had just discovered another function of the Sleepscape.

A few hours later, the sun had risen, and Lin Mu had just woken up. He was feeling refreshed and clearly remembered the practice he had done in the Sleepscape.

'I now have more time to practice and improve my weapon skill.' Lin Mu thought.

He then stood up and prepared his breakfast. He had consumed the 9th stage body tempering realm beast's meat and was now using the steel-back wolf meat as it was the next better option. While the meat cooked, he tried whether he could withdraw the apple from the Sleepscape.

Lin Mu willed it, and indeed the apple appeared in his hand. He then brought it close to his mouth and took a bite. The rich juices from the apple spread in his mouth, giving rise to a sweet and sour taste. He savored the taste and then felt a warmth spread from his abdomen.

Lin Mu was surprised by the warmth as he could tell it was spirit qi.

'Is that tree in the Sleepscape a spirit apple tree?' Lin Mu wondered.

He then finished the entire spirit apple and sat down to chant the severing heart sutra. He guided the spirit qi through his meridians into the dantian. Once all the spirit qi was stored into his dantian, Lin Mu estimated that he had obtained nearly twenty wisps of spirit qi from the fruit.

Lin Mu was delighted by this result and figured that if he could get more of these spirit apples from the Sleepscape, he could very well use them to recover his spirit qi if it was ever completely depleted. The only problem in this equation was that Lin Mu did not know if or how long it would take for another spirit apple to be formed in the Sleepscape.

It had been around fifteen minutes, the meat was now fully cooked and emitted a delicious aroma. Lin Mu ate the roast meat and then sat down to assimilate the vital energy. With his improved speed of assimilation, he had completed the entire process within 10 minutes.

Lin Mu then looked within his dantian and sensed the spirit qi present within it. He found that the quantity of spirit qi had increased to nearly 150 wisps. His dantian was now at 7.5 percent of its total capacity. This was the result of the spirit qi from his yesterday's cultivation session combined with the spirit apple he ate today.

"I should continue testing out the second skill 'Blink'" Lin Mu muttered to himself.

Lin Mu stood up and triggered the skill. He focused all his attention on his body for any change that would be happening. He found that his body did turn blurry for a moment when the skill was used, but could not find the reason for it.

Lin Mu continued using the skill multiple times and in different conditions. After ten more tries, he had nearly depleted all of his spirit qi, thus he sat down and chanted the severing heart sutra to refine more spirit qi.

Three hours later, Lin Mu had restored all of his spirit qi. He had a capacity of 150 spirit qi wisps and could use 'Blink' fourteen times before needing to rest and replenish it back again. By now the sun had reached the top of Lin Mu's head, showing that it was noontime.

"I'll try it a few more times before eating lunch." Lin Mu decided.

Lin Mu had to try it a few more times until he learned a bit more about the skill. He found out that his body only turned blurry when he was out in the open and not in a restricted space like the hunting shack. But if he used the skill in the hunting shack with its door open, his body still turned blurry.

It was not until the 23rd try that Lin Mu was able to successfully use the skill. When Lin Mu used the skill in that attempt, he gazed at a location a few meters away from him and found himself suddenly appearing there.

Because of the sudden movement Lin Mu lost his orientation and fell down, but he did not wince in pain but rather laughed out loud.

"Hahaha, I've got it." Lin Mu exclaimed.

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Chapter 42: Full Potential Of The Boulder Collapsing Fist

Lin Mu could be seen disappearing from one place to another. He would fade from one location and materialize a few meters away from the previous location. 'Blink' the second skill that Lin Mu had obtained allowed him to teleport over short distances.

He discovered that he could teleport up to a maximum distance of 10 meters in a single use of the skill. He also learned that he could only teleport to a place that he was able to see with his eyes. For example, he could not teleport to a place behind him, but if he turned his neck and gazed at the location, he could teleport there.

Another Limitation he discovered was that if there was a large object present between Lin Mu and the location he wanted to teleport to, he could not teleport. He needed to have a clear sight of the location he wanted to teleport to. Otherwise, the skill would fail to activate, even though the spirit qi would still be consumed.

Lin Mu had to unwittingly stop as he had nearly run out of spirit qi. He had been enjoying the feeling of using the skill as it was the fastest Lin Mu had ever moved.

"I shouldn't get carried away, I still need to check out some things." Lin Mu said to himself.

Lin Mu prepared some meat to cook and cultivated until it got ready. He had learned that the more he depleted his spirit qi the faster he could cultivate and recover it. Sleeping also helped him recover some spirit qi passively, but the process was slow as only half of his qi was replenished after eight hours of sleep. Thus compared to actively cultivating spirit qi, it was inefficient.

Lin Mu also found that the maximum amount of spirit qi he could recover by sleeping was the total amount he had when he actively cultivated. He could not exceed it and had to actively cultivate if he wanted to increase the total capacity.

Soon his lunch was ready, and Lin Mu started eating it. While eating he had the idea about testing out the strength of the boulder collapsing fist. It was mentioned in the booklet that boulder collapsing fist was compatible with many energies and they could also be freely combined.

Lin Mu wanted to see the true might of the martial technique once he combined vital energy along with spirit qi. Though he was a little apprehensive as the martial technique would completely drain his vital energy in one use, he did not know if it would be the same with spirit qi.

A few minutes later, Lin Mu was done with his lunch and was ready to test out the capabilities of boulder collapsing fist.

'Let's see how this goes.' Lin Mu thought to himself.

Lin Mu stood in the horse stance and harmonized his breathing with the fist technique. But instead of vital energy, he controlled the spirit qi to form an energy spiral in his right arm. He carefully guided the spirit qi from his dantian into the meridians of his right arm and let it swirl.

Soon a vortex was formed, but the spirit qi did not stop being absorbed. Once the spiral was created Lin Mu did not need to consciously guide the spirit qi, as it moved into his right arm automatically. It was only when he had consumed half of his entire store that the spirit qi spiral stabilised.

Lin Mu then braced himself and executed the technique.

"Boulder collapsing fist!"

~Whoosh

A strong jet of air was shot forward and a sharp whistling sound could be heard, which hurt one's ears. The jet of air stuck a tree that was in front of Lin Mu with a huge impact. The bark that covered it was directly stripped away, and a shallow fist imprint was left on the tree's bare trunk. The tree started swaying as the jet of air split into two and impacted more trees, making them shake as well.

Lin Mu took a deep breath and relaxed his body. He was shocked by the effect of the boulder collapsing fist.

"If it's already this strong when I just hit the air, what would happen if I directly hit a person with it?" Lin Mu wondered.

'And what if I combine spirit qi with vital energy, how strong it would be then?' Lin Mu thought.

The thought about combining spirit qi with vital energy kept on repeating in Lin Mu's mind. He had only tested the technique on air, but not on a solid object yet. He wanted to witness the power of the entire potential of the technique, as he did not know if he would ever fall into a dire situation where this technique would be his only way out.

Lin Mu could no longer hold himself back and wanted to try out the technique that instant. But as he wanted to test the true potential of the technique, he had to find a suitable target to test it on. He could not test it on a person or on a beast, thus he decided to find a large boulder.

"What better way to test the martial technique, rather than to see if it actually lives up to its name." Lin Mu said with a chuckle.

Lin Mu walked to the small stream, as he knew that there was a boulder located a short distance away from it. He reached the spot 10 minutes later, after which he checked the surroundings for any people or beasts that could disturb him. He especially did not want to expose the technique to other people.

Once Lin Mu confirmed that there was no person nearby, he stood in front of the boulder which towered over him, being more than three meters tall. He then entered the horse stance and harmonized his breathing with the fist technique.

Now came the hard part. Lin Mu had to combine the spirit qi with the vital energy. He had not done this before, so did not know if he would be successful in the first try.

Lin Mu first allowed the vital energy within his body to form an energy spiral within his left arm. He chose his left arm, as it was his non-dominant arm, and would not bother him too much if it was injured. He knew that he would get slightly injured whenever he used it on a person or a beast. Though he would soon recover in a few hours after that.

Soon most of his vital energy had started spinning within his left arm. He then guided the spirit qi through the meridians into his left arm. He had originally thought that it would be a difficult process and he would not succeed in the first try. But reality showed him that he was wrong, as the spirit qi merged with the vital energy with ease and assimilated into the energy spiral.

Lin Mu observed that the energy spiral within his arm had started to undergo a certain kind of metamorphosis. The energy spiral was getting more and more condensed. Soon, from a gaseous form, the energy spiral had turned into a liquid form.

Lin Mu could sense the raw power that was stored within the liquid energy spiral. It was completely unlike he had ever felt before. When the energy spiral finally stabilised, Lin Mu had depleted all of his vital energy as well as his spirit qi.

He knew he only had this one chance, thus he took a deep breath and executed the technique.

"Boulder collapsing fist!"

~phew ~~~~~KABOOOM!!

This time there was no whistling sound, no jet of air, only raw power that was shot forward. The moment Lin Mu's fist connected with the surface of the boulder, the energy spiral within his left arm transferred into it.

It was as if the world had turned still, but in the next instant, the boulder that was in front of Lin Mu disappeared along with a large exploding sound. The sound of the explosion spread through the sky and could be heard far away. The boulder had turned into small stone fragments and had pelted the entire area that was behind it.

The impact of the stone fragments broke the trees that were close directly, while those that were far had been embedded with the fragments. Some unrecognisable masses of meat could also be seen lying around; these were the unfortunate birds and small animals that had borne the impact of the fragments.

The noise of the exploding boulder had drowned out the sounds of the forest as it continued echoing.

A few kilometers away, deep in the forest, a group of people were currently fighting a spirit beast that looked like an oversized pangolin. They were moving with great agility, and their every attack had immense power within it. One could clearly tell that all of them were qi cultivators from an elite mercenary team.

They were engrossed in fighting the spirit beast when suddenly the sound of an explosion echoed from afar. The sound of the explosion made the mercenaries as well as the spirit beast wary. The spirit beast halted for a moment, as if it had sensed something terrifying. The pangolin spirit beast could not bear it and curled up, rolling away with extreme speed, leaving the mercenaries behind.

"What was that sound, why did it scare the spirit beast away?" one of the men asked.

"It was not just the sound, there was spirit qi contained within it; extremely strong spirit qi." A woman that was wielding a whip spoke.

"Estimating the distance the sound travelled, and the spirit qi that was contained within it, I would say it was a cultivator at the peak of the qi refining realm; if not the core condensation realm." Spoke a man that looked to be the leader of the team.

"Should we investigate it, leader?" Another man asked.

"No, it is not our job. Leave it." The leader spoke with apprehension in his eyes.

Back at the site of the explosion, Lin Mu was writhing on the ground, holding his left arm. The noise of the explosion had not only suppressed the sounds of the forest, but it had also drowned out the screams of Lin Mu.

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Chapter 43: Injury

It was not until a minute later that Lin Mu's screams became audible. By now the echoing sound of the explosion had faded away and the forest had become silent once again. Clearly the explosion had scared most of the beasts of the forest, thus one could not hear any more sounds.

Lin Mu was screaming in pain, but he could still think. His left hand was severely injured, with his fingers broken and his arm bones popping out of his elbow. Blood could be seen dripping out of his lacerated flesh.

The force exerted by the combination of vital energy and spirit Qi was too much for his body to handle, which resulted in his current predicament.

Lin Mu forcefully gained a semblance of his sanity and instinctively withdrew the bottle that contained the Four vessels restoration pills. He then used his mouth to pull open the cork and popped a single pill into his mouth.

As soon as the Four vessels restoration pill touched Lin Mu's tongue, it melted and was swallowed by him. When the liquefied pill entered his stomach, a cooling feeling spread all over his body relieving him of his anguish.

The pain faded away as if it was never there. The flesh of Lin Mu's left hand started wiggling and itching. The bones that were popping out of his elbow were slowly being pulled back into their correct place.

Lin Mu's fingers that were broken in multiple places were also being mended. His flesh that was torn and cut slowly started healing. After ten minutes, Lin Mu's hand was completely healed and as good as new.

"Heavens! I can never do that again. I don't want to feel that kind of pain ever again." Lin Mu said out loud.

If another person saw Lin Mu right now, they would see that he was drenched in sweat and was panting heavily.

'The effect of the Four vessels restoration pill is even more amazing than I guessed it would be.' Lin Mu thought.

Suddenly, Lin Mu felt a scorching feeling spreading throughout his blood vessels and meridians.

"Aargh! What is this? Why has the pain not stopped?" Lin Mu shouted.

Lin Mu felt as if his blood vessels and meridians were being scraped and pulled apart. This scorching feeling lasted for a few minutes, after which a comfortable warmth replaced it.

Lin Mu could sense spirit Qi flowing through his meridians. He sat down and chanted the severing heart sutra so that he could clearly sense the condition of his body. Lin Mu peered into his dantian and found out that his depleted spirit Qi was replenished, and even increased by a large amount.

Lin Mu observed his spirit Qi and estimated it to be around 500 wisps.

'My spirit Qi increased by such an enormous amount. This is definitely the effect of the Four vessels restoration pill.' Lin Mu thought.

'But the man in the restaurant never mentioned that the pill also has the effect of increasing one's cultivation.' Lin Mu wondered.

Pushing the unwanted thoughts to the back of his mind, Lin Mu instead chose to just take joy in the benefit that he had just gained. He then walked back to the hunting shack, as he had depleted the vital energy within his body.

Lin Mu reached the hunting shack after ten minutes and withdrew a large amount of beast meat, which he then set on the stove to cook. He was feeling very tired so did not even bother to season the meat with spices.

After the beast meat was cooked, Lin Mu first ate it slowly and then increased his speed as he gained more of his vital energy back. All the meat was soon consumed by Lin Mu and was being digested by his body.

Lin Mu had sat down to chant the calming heart sutra, so that he could restore his vital energy. While he was assimilating the vital energy, Lin Mu finally saw the changes within his blood vessels. They had expanded and looked much more tough than before.

'Did I break through to the 10th stage of the body tempering realm as well?' Lin Mu wondered to himself.

Only after Lin Mu had completed assimilating all the vital energy from the beast meat, did he confirm that he had entered the 10th stage of the body tempering realm.

"So not only did the Four vessels restoration pill increase my spirit Qi, but it also pushed me into the 10th stage." Lin Mu muttered to himself.

Now that Lin Mu was back to his optimum condition, or rather one could say better than before, he finally pondered on his previous misfortune.

Lin Mu understood that he had managed to obtain benefits through his misfortune and that he was incredibly lucky to have the four vessels restoration pills with him. If he did not find them in the spatial rift that day, he may not have been alive today.

"I can't use the combination of vital energy and spirit Qi again. At least not until I can figure out a solution for it." Lin Mu concluded.

'Even the normal form of the boulder collapsing fist is very strong for me to use in most situations.' Lin Mu thought.

After Lin Mu had organized his thoughts, his attention was pulled towards the black dots that were floating around.

'Since I have more than enough spirit Qi, I may as well open and check all these spatial rifts.' Lin Mu thought.

Lin Mu then stood up and walked towards a black dot that was a few feet away from him. He reached out with his right hand, as the black dot expanded into a spatial rift. He put his hand inside the rift and tried to find something.

Lin Mu's first attempt resulted in failure, as he did not find anything inside the spatial rift. He did not lose hope and went towards another spatial rift. This time he found something inside the spatial rift.

Lin Mu withdrew the item from his spatial ring and found it to be a small broken piece of metal. It seemed like it was part of something bigger, but could not be determined what.

Lin Mu checked all the black dots in his surroundings and only stopped when he could not find any more of them. He had opened a total of 17 spatial rifts that had used up around a hundred wisps of spirit qi.

Lin Mu discovered that some of the spatial rifts took more than 5 wisps of spirit Qi to open. After he had checked all the spatial rifts he was left with eight objects. Although all of them were useless to Lin Mu, some of them looked interesting to him.

The most peculiar item he had found in a spatial rift was a fully preserved bolster.

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Chapter 44: Black Crack

Lin Mu was currently in the Sleepscape practicing with his short sword. He had decided that while he was in the actual world, he would cultivate and train his skills, and once he entered the Sleepscape, he would train with the weapons. This was the most optimal way, he figured out, that made the best use of his time.

The first thing Lin Mu checked was the spirit apple tree in the Sleepscape. He scanned it and saw that another spirit apple growing on one of the branches. But this spirit apple was still small and did not look ready, thus Lin Mu left it on the tree to ripen.

His practice with the weapons was going well for Lin Mu, but he still thought it was lacking something. He felt like he needed a proper weapons manual or a teacher who could teach him the proper way to use the weapons.

'Perhaps I can buy the manuals from Jing Wei's emporium. Though they will probably be expensive.' Lin Mu thought.

After Lin Mu felt mentally tired, he thought about leaving the Sleepscape and left it. He had understood that if he left the Sleepscape, he will just sleep normally. While Lin Mu is in the Sleepscape, he does not feel physically tired, but if he trains for a while in there he will become mentally tired.

A few hours later, Lin Mu woke up feeling refreshed. He lifted his head from the soft and comfortable bolster which he had found yesterday. Although at first he thought all the items he found were useless, but later, while he was about to sleep, he figured that he could at least use the bolster as it was originally intended to.

The bolster was one of the best quality items Lin Mu had found in the spatial rifts. It was soft, white coloured and its cloth seemed as if it was made from high quality silk of the eastern lands. Using the bolster as a pillow to rest his head on, made his sleep even better.

After Lin Mu woke up, he cooked his breakfast and cultivated using the severing heart sutra. By the time the breakfast was ready, his spirit Qi had increased by 25 wisps for a total of 525 wisps. Yesterday, Lin Mu was only able to restore his spirit Qi back to its previous amount and could not cultivate it further on.

Lin Mu ate his breakfast and then sat down again to chant the calming heart sutra. While assimilating the vital energy, he sensed that the ability of his body to store vital energy had increased by a large amount.

He could not even estimate how much vital energy he would have to absorb and assimilate, in order to progress to the next stage of the body tempering realm.

Although it was no longer necessary for Lin Mu to continue training in the body tempering realm, because he was already considered a cultivator; he still wanted to continue training it, while he could as vital energy was still usable for the boulder collapsing fist.

But he would not be using the combination of vital energy and spirit Qi anytime soon, though.

'I should go hunt some beasts. Now that I'm in the 10th stage of the body tempering realm and also a cultivator, I should be able to hunt some high tier beasts with little problems. As long as I take some precautions, of course.' Lin Mu thought.

Lin Mu then walked towards the trail where he had set up some traps. He got some thorn tailed rats from the snares, which he would be using as bait now. After this he changed his route and walked towards the deeper parts of the forest.

While he was on the way to the depths of the forest, Lin Mu observed that the population of animals and beasts seemed to have returned.

In the past few hunting trips Lin Mu had taken to the forest, he had a little difficulty hunting due to the lack of prey. The population of the beasts was reduced because of some unknown reason, but now it seemed to be back to normal.

"If there was something scaring the beasts, it seems to be gone now." Lin Mu muttered to himself.

Lin Mu started searching for some beasts to hunt once he reached a suitable place. He wanted to hunt mid tier beasts if not high tier, as the meat of any beasts lower than that would not fill his belly. Also, hunting higher tier beasts would only yield him more money in the form of beast materials.

Soon enough, Lin Mu found his first prey, which was a stone hoofed deer. He had seen some stone hoofed deers before, but did not dare hunt them as they lived in herds. If he somehow spooked the entire herd, they would mercilessly trample him beneath their hooves that were as hard as stones.

But now that he was in the 10th stage of the body tempering realm, along with being a cultivator, it would be very easy for him.

Lin Mu chose a beast that was relatively far from the herd and silently approached it. When he was only two meters away from the beast, he withdrew the spear from the ring.

Lin Mu stimulated the spirit Qi in his dantian and guided it into the meridians within his legs. Once the spirit Qi reached his legs, it boosted the strength of his leg muscles, thus improving his speed.

Lin Mu gathered strength within his legs and shot forward. He aimed the tip of the spear at the head of the beast. With the increased strength from the spirit Qi, Lin Mu easily ended the life of the stone hoofed deer.

In the next instant, he touched the corpse of the beast and stored it in the ring, so that the scent of the blood does not spread.

Lin Mu looked around and found that the beast herd was not alerted.

'I may as well hunt more of them.' Lin Mu thought.

Thirty minutes minutes later, Lin Mu had hunted three more stone hoofed deers. But when he was about to hunt the fifth one, the other beasts finally saw him and ran away.

'The four pelts should net me at least a gold coin.' Lin Mu guessed.

Now that the stone hoofed deers had run away, Lin Mu started his search for the next prey. It took him an hour before he was able to find his next prey.

The prey this time was a beast that looked like a lynx. It had three tails with a small horn sprouting from the middle of its forehead. This was the first time Lin Mu had seen this type of beast and thus did not know its name.

Lin Mu saw how easily the lynx beast killed a Red snouted boar, thus he estimated it to be at the 8th stage of the body tempering realm. Lin Mu followed the beast for a while until he was sure that it was the right location for him to hunt it. He did not want the beast to run away, even though he doubted the beast would do that.

Lin Mu reached a narrow, small path that funneled towards a cave. He guessed that this was most likely the den of the beast. Lin Mu pulled out the spear and strengthened his legs with spirit Qi. He then pounced on the lynx beast and managed to stab it in the leg.

The lynx beast had smelled his scent thus was able to avoid getting stabbed in the head. The beast cried out in pain and retreated. Lin Mu approached the beast and attacked once again. This time Lin Mu missed the beast, but did not mind it. He instead left the spear stuck in the ground and rolled to the side of the beast.

As soon as he was at the side of the beast Lin Mu withdrew the short sword and stabbed it in the beast's ribs. The short sword passed through the ribs and pierced the heart of the beast, killing it.

~phew

Lin Mu let out a breath as he wiped the sweat off his forehead.

Lin Mu continued his search for more beasts and only stopped after four hours. He had hunted three mid tier beasts and two high tier beasts in this time span. Lin Mu peeked through the canopy of the forest and spotted the sun. He guessed it to be around 3 pm.

Lin Mu returned to the hunting shack. He then went towards the stream, so that he could dissect and prepare the beasts. He was done in an hour and walked back to the hunting shack, after storing the carcasses and materials in the ring.

While he was walking back, he noticed the black dots that had returned. He counted seven of them just on the way back, and once he reached the shack; he saw even more of them floating around. In fact, he found that their numbers had nearly doubled.

"Let's see what I find today." Lin Mu said with a chuckle.

Lin Mu opened every spatial rift one by one and searched for the items hidden within. After three hours he had searched all the spatial rifts. He counted that he had opened 28 spatial rifts today. Though he actually only obtained three items from all of them!

'Why are there so few items today?' Lin Mu wondered.

The three items he found were- an old shoe, a broken staff and a roof tile. All of them seemed useless to Lin Mu again. While he was examining the three items, he felt that the air had suddenly changed direction.

He looked around and saw that the wind was moving towards one direction, as it was carrying dried leaves and dust along with it.

Lin Mu curiously looked further and suddenly saw the leaves and dust swirling around something. He went to check and found that the leaves and dust were swirling around a black crack that was about the length of his palm.

"What is this now?" Lin Mu said out loud.

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Chapter 45: Gaze Of The Golden Eyes

Lin Mu was circling the black crack with curiosity. It was completely unlike anything he had seen before. The wind which brought along leaves and dust spun around the black crack and then disappeared after a few seconds, depositing the leaves and dust below it.

Lin Mu watched the black crack for thirty minutes and observed that a few gusts of wind would come every few seconds and disappear after swirling around the black crack a few times. After 30 minutes he saw that a small pile of dust and leaves was created below the black crack.

'This is rather peculiar.' Lin Mu thought.

Lin Mu then searched the surrounding area to see if there are any more black cracks. He searched a radius of 200 meters yet could not find any more of them. He was intrigued by the black crack and was lost in thought.

'I'll wait and observe this black crack for some more time. I want to gain a certain level of understanding before I try to do anything to it.' Lin Mu decided.

Lin Mu then returned to the hunting shack and sat down to chant the severing heart sutra. Lin Mu cultivated for four hours, during which he first restored the spirit Qi that he had depleted in opening the spatial rifts and then increased his overall store of spirit Qi.

At the end of his cultivation session, Lin Mu measured the spirit Qi within his dantian and estimated that it had increased to around 600 wisps.

Lin Mu then cooked some meat for his dinner and ate it. While eating his dinner, Lin Mu once again saw the small four-legged silhouette spying on him from the bushes.

Determined to catch the silhouette this time, Lin Mu strengthened his legs with spirit Qi and shot towards the small silhouette. It only took Lin Mu three seconds to cross a distance of 100 meters, yet to his surprise, the small silhouette seemed to react much faster than him and disappeared into the forest.

"That beast is very fast for its size. Though it doesn't look much strong." Lin Mu muttered to himself.

Lin Mu then returned back to the shack to continue eating his dinner. After he was done with that, he sat down and chanted the calming heart sutra. This time it only took him ten minutes to assimilate all the vital energy from the beast meat, even though he had increased the meal's portion.

Lin Mu did not feel much difference in the vital energy within his body. It was as if he had finally reached a bottleneck and would need a long time to progress any further.

After Lin Mu was done assimilating vital energy, he thought about how he could increase his proficiency with the new skills. Although he knew how to use them instinctively, he still won't be able to use them at the right time during a battle.

'I need to make a training regimen, to increase the proficiency of my skills.' Lin Mu thought.

"The primary use for the first skill 'Flicker' is to dodge attacks. So I need to somehow simulate attacks." Lin Mu spoke to himself.

After tackling some ideas, Lin Mu finally decided upon a method he could use to train the skill. The first thing he needed to improve upon was to get the timing of the activation right. As the skill only lasted for a second, it was absolutely necessary that Lin Mu triggers it at the right moment.

The idea Lin Mu thought upon was that he could make a few swinging dummies that would simulate attacks by slamming into him. He would then have to avoid them by activating the skill at the right time.

After figuring out what he was going to do tomorrow, Lin Mu felt tired and decided to sleep. He laid down on the bed and rested his head on the soft bolster.

'This bolster is proving to be pretty useful.' Lin Mu thought.

After a few minutes, Lin Mu fell asleep and entered the Sleepscape. When Lin Mu appeared in the Sleepscape, he was facing the spirit apple tree. He observed the spirit apple hanging on it and saw that it had fully grown.

'So it takes around two days for a single spirit apple to mature.' Lin Mu thought.

Lin Mu jumped up and plucked the spirit apple, storing it into the ring. He then withdrew his weapons and started his training. He trained with the ten weapons he had bought. He left out the two shields, as he would need a partner to practice using them.

"Wait, I can use the swinging dummies for practicing with the shields." Lin Mu spoke out loud.

Lin Mu continued his practice for a few hours until he felt mentally tired. He was just about to leave the Sleepscape and enter normal sleep when his gaze wandered over to the spirit apple tree.

Lin Mu walked over and saw that another spirit apple had already started growing on one of the branches. The spirit apple was completely green and quarter the size of a fully grown spirit apple.

'That was fast.' Lin Mu said with raised eyebrows.

After this Lin Mu thought about leaving the Sleepscape and slept normally. In the morning Lin Mu was woken up by a chilly wind that had risen out of nowhere. He rose from the bed and saw that the door of the hunting shack was completely open and the wind was blowing in from it.

"Did I forget to close it last night?" Lin Mu wondered.

Lin Mu stood up and walked outside to a frosty morning. Although it was not snowing yet, the temperature had fallen a few notches and the dew on the grass was frozen.

'I guess winter will be here any day now.' Lin Mu thought.

Just as Lin Mu was about to turn around to cook his breakfast, he saw a sight that left his jaw wide open. An enormous pile of leaves and dust along with some small twigs and feathers could be seen below the black crack.

The pile was two meters tall and around four meters in diameter. It was almost touching the floating black crack too.

'How did the pile increase so much in just one night?' Lin Mu wondered to himself.

Lin Mu first set some meat to cook before going to check the black crack. He observed the floating black crack and saw that it was the same size as before. It did not change its location either.

As he was looking at the black crack, Lin Mu noticed that he could not see any black dots nearby.

'Where did all the black dots go?' Lin Mu wondered.

By now the breakfast was ready, thus Lin Mu went back to eat it first. After finishing the breakfast, Lin Mu assimilated the vital energy and then went on to search for the black dots.

Lin Mu searched around a radius of 200 meters and did not find any black dots. Thinking that they had just not regenerated again, Lin Mu walked towards a direction in a straight line. He kept searching for the black dots, yet could not find one, even after walking for a thousand meters.

"Is it because of the black crack that all the black dots disappeared?" Lin Mu pondered.

Wanting to investigate further, Lin Mu walked up to the floating black crack. He got a similar feeling to that of a black dot, from the black crack. He understood that it was the ring telling him that he can expand the black crack into a spatial rift.

Lin Mu moved the pile of dust and leaves from below the black crack and extended his right hand. Then the spirit Qi started draining from his dantian but didn't stop after 10 wisps like normal.

"What's happening?" said Lin Mu with confusion.

Ten wisps, twenty wisps, fifty wisps, hundred wisps, two hundred wisps, the spirit Qi kept on being consumed. With every wisp of spirit Qi that was consumed, Lin Mu got more and more nervous.

When five hundred wisps of spirit Qi were depleted, the mysterious ring shone and the black crack suddenly started expanding. The sound of air being torn could be heard by Lin Mu. It was a shocking sound for him and hurt his ears a little.

The black crack kept expanding and was soon five times bigger than Lin Mu in size. Unlike the spatial rifts, which were about one meter in diameter and circular or oval in shape; the expanded black crack was of an irregular shape and could be described as a hole in a broken window.

Suddenly a massive suction force came from the expanded black crack and sucked Lin Mu inside it, along with a ton of dirt and debris from the surrounding.

"NOOOOOOO!!!" Screamed Lin Mu, as the expanded black crack swallowed him.

Lin Mu fainted and woke up after an unknown amount of time. He stood up and looked around, trying to get a sense of things.

"Where am I? What is this?" Lin Mu questioned himself in confusion.

Lin Mu looked at the floor and saw that it seemed to be made out of a certain kind of translucent substance. He looked up and saw silvery grey streaks of light flickering in the sky. If one could call it 'sky' as the rest of it was pitch black.

Even below his feet, he could still see the silvery grey streaks of light through the translucent floor.

'Those streaks of light look similar to the ones I saw inside the ring. But these ones are much smaller.' Lin Mu thought.

Lin Mu looked ahead of him and saw countless white pillars of different thicknesses crisscrossed across the entire area.

The thinnest ones were smaller than a hair, and the thickest ones were as thick as a hundred men combined. Lin Mu touched the pillars and found them to be soft at first, but then the pillars turned translucent and his hand passed through them.

Lin Mu withdrew his hand in alarm and saw that the pillars returned to solid after a few moments.

"Bizarre." was the only word that came to Lin Mu's mind.

Lin Mu continued forward on the path and observed that the white pillars only got more dense and complex as he walked further.

While walking, he suddenly felt a gaze on him and looked around for the source but could not find it. A frightening idea abruptly struck him, and his face turned pale.

With great courage and dread, he looked up, only to find ten golden yellow eyes staring at him. The ten eyes were of different sizes, but even the smallest was thrice as big as Lin Mu.

Lin Mu swallowed his saliva as he cursed the heavens.

"F*CK."

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Chapter 46: The Void Weaver Spider

Lin Mu felt as if his heart was about to jump out of his chest, because of the immense fear he was feeling. He could not bring himself to stop staring at the ten golden yellow eyes. The fear had rendered him frozen and unable to move at all.

Lin Mu was stuck in a limbo and only snapped out of it when he heard the voice. The voice seemed ancient and rumbled inside of his head.

"You've been staring for an awful long time, human." The creature said.

"You… You… You what are you?" Lin Mu asked while stuttering.

"Hmm, you're the one who came here, and you ask me what I am." The creature replied.

"I… I… I don't know, what you are and I don't know how I came here either." Lin Mu said.

"There is no chance that you don't know how you came here. Especially you, a human who's barely a cultivator. Even celestials would not dare come here." The creature spoke with an emotionless tone.

Lin Mu could sense the crushing raw power emanating from the creature above him. Knowing that there was no use hiding anything from a being this powerful, Lin Mu decided to tell the complete story.

"I came here through some kind of spatial rift. It originally appeared as a black crack and sucked me in, when it expanded later on." Lin Mu answered.

Upon hearing Lin Mu's answer, the creature hummed, as if it was thinking. After a couple of minutes, the voice spoke again.

"The most likely reason for your arrival here seems to be an artifact. That too an immensely strong artifact, as only those would be able to open a spatial rift to the Grand Void." The creature said.

Upon hearing the creature's words, Lin Mu subconsciously stared at the mysterious ring on his right hand and then the mysterious ring buzzed, as if it reciprocated with his thoughts. This action of Lin Mu's did not go unnoticed. The ten golden yellow eyes were studying Lin Mu's every move.

"Ah, so I was right. That ring on your right hand seems to be the real cause." The creature spoke but then suddenly stopped.

"What is this? Such pure and strong spatial energy." The creature muttered.

Suddenly Lin Mu felt as if the pressure on his body was doubled and a stabbing pain arose in his head. He felt as if he was being covered with some kind of veil. But when the veil reached the mysterious ring, it reacted violently and a burst of qi repelled the veil. When the veil was completely repelled, the pressure on Lin Mu disappeared and the pain stopped as well.

"Oh, it's much stronger than I thought and it's even bound to your soul." The creature said.

Lin Mu was lost at the creature's words and did not understand what they meant.

"What do you mean?" Lin Mu ask.

"Seems like you had a fortunate encounter. That ring you're wearing, it's a very strong artifact. The likes of which I've never seen before." The creature answered.

"Yes I know that, it's a magical artifact." Lin Mu naively answered.

"Hahaha, perhaps you're the only person, who would call it a magical artifact. It's much more than that. Just the pure spatial energy its emanating is enough to make millions of cultivators covet it." The creature said.

"However the ring had been bound to your soul and cannot be removed or transferred to another person. It's likely that even if you die, the ring will just disappear and search for another owner." The creature continued.

Perhaps because Lin Mu had talked with the creature for a while, he no longer felt as terrified as before and had calmed down. Curiosity arose in his mind and he asked what was bugging him the most.

"What are you? I don't know of any creature like you that looks like ten floating eyes." Lin Mu asked.

"You can't even see me? Ah, you have not refined your spirit sense yet." The creature replied.

After listening to the creature's words, Lin Mu was finally able to see its true form as it revealed itself to him. The creature's body was the size of a mountain and the ten golden eyes were located on its head. Lin Mu had to turn his head from one side to another to get a complete view of the creature.

The more Lin Mu looked, the greater the shock he received. After observing for a minute, Lin Mu was able to perceive that the creature was a humongous spider. It had eight legs that were so long that he could not see where they ended. Its entire body was bony white, except for its ten eyes that shined like lanterns.

"I am what you humans call, a Void Weaver Spider." The creature answered.

"My name is Lin Mu."

An awkward silence descended when Lin Mu cut in and gave out his name. Both of them stayed silent until Lin Mu spoke again after he could not bear the silence.

"Can you tell me how to get back to my home?" Lin Mu asked.

"I can, but what can you give me in exchange?" The Void weaver spider replied.

Lin Mu was at a loss for words upon hearing the Void weaver spider's answer. He did not know what he could offer to the spider. He did have a lot of stuff in his ring but he did not think it would be worth anything to the spider.

"I don't know what to offer you. I have some pills and spirit stones if you would accept them." Lin Mu said.

"Those things are only of use to humans, not to beings like me." The Void weaver spider replied.

"Then can you tell me what would be acceptable?" Lin Mu asked.

"Yes, we can make a deal. What I want is the ring or more specifically the spatial energy from that ring." The void weaver spider answered.

"But you said that the ring is bound to me, so how will you take the spatial energy?" Lin Mu questioned.

"It's simple, I'll live inside the ring and absorb the energy there." The void weaver spider answered.

Lin Mu was stumped, as he did not even know if the ring had enough space to fit the mountain sized body of the void weaver spider.

"I don't think you will fit in the ring, besides there is no air in the ring so you'll suffocate." Lin Mu replied.

"Hahaha, do you think I need air to live. Beside there's no air here either, normally." The Void Weaver spider spoke with a chuckle.

Lin Mu felt weird upon hearing such an enormous being laughing and chuckling. It just felt unbecoming to him.

"But how am I able to breath here then?" Lin Mu asked with raised brows.

"What you're breathing is the air that leaked in from the spatial crack. I don't think it'll last long, so you better make your decision quick." The Void weaver spider answered teasingly.

The Void weaver spider's revelation made Lin Mu even tenser. He didn't think he would be running out of time.

"Ok I accept, but how will your huge body enter the ring?" Lin Mu asked.

"My body will not be leaving this place, my duty here is not over yet." The void weaver spider answered enigmatically.

Lin Mu tilted his head in confusion, but did not question further when he saw what the Void weaver spider did. A fissure appeared between the eyes of the void weaver spider and from within it, a small orb shot down. The orb gently descended and then floated in front of Lin Mu. The orb then faded away and left behind a tiny spider. The spider was small enough to fit on the tip of a pinkie finger.

"Now, before we leave let me tell you some things. That ring is a unique artifact and if you don't hide it you will be courting death. The ring has been emanating spatial energy, which can be sensed by high level cultivators." The tiny Void weaver spider spoke.

"Huh, but no one has been able to see the ring until now. Not even cultivators, you're the first to be able to see it." Lin Mu answered.

"Is that so? Hmm, so the ring can mask its presence, but it seems to be limited by your own cultivation. Anyway you won't have to worry about it as I'll be restricting any spatial energy that leaks from the ring." The tiny spider confidently answered.

"Oh, and before we leave. Here's a gift for you." The tiny void weaver spider spoke.

"What gif…" before Lin Mu could complete his sentence a vast energy doused him. The energy was released by the main body of the void weaver spider. The energy seemed as if it covered Lin Mu and formed an invisible shell on his body.

"What was that?" Lin Mu asked while gasping.

"Something to keep you safe. It will warn any strong beings that come near you, at least for a while during which I hope you get strong enough to handle them yourself." The tiny Void weaver spider answered.

"Now, allow me inside the ring."

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Chapter 47: Upheaval

When Lin Mu opened the Spatial crack that lead into the Grand void, the entire cultivation world of the Great Zhou Empire was thrown into upheaval. From the top sects to the myriad of kingdoms, every cultivator that was at the nascent soul stage and above was able to sense it.

Sky precepts sect, Star catching peak.

A large pool of blood could be seen, within which hundreds of disciples were lying on the ground; their life or death unknown. The seven orifices of all the disciples could be seen bleeding profusely. The blood from all their bodies had accumulated to form the large blood pool. This place was the formation array of the star catching peak.

For the past two days, the disciples of the star catching peak had been trying to trace the location of the multiple spatial disturbance that had risen. The spatial disturbances had been increasing in frequency because of which the elders of the peak had called in more disciples to help operate the formation array.

But the elders did not know that their actions of calling more disciples would soon lead them to their deaths. Two black-robed elders could be seen standing at the head of the formation array. They too were bleeding from their seven orifices, but they were conscious and were currently gritting their teeth in anger.

"The Star catching peak can't bear such an enormous loss." The black-robed elder named Feng said to the other black-robed elder.

"We had no idea this would be happening Elder Feng. We only increased the number of disciples because we were ordered to do so. The sect patriarch will definitely understand." The other Black-robed elder replied.

"You haven't seen the patriarch when he gets desperate, Elder Geng. He will blame the peak for our inability to find out that a hidden cultivator was about to ascend." Elder Feng spoke with sorrow in his voice.

"But we don't know for sure that it was a cultivator that ascended, and not just another anomaly." Elder Geng replied.

"There is no other cause for a backlash as bad as this. The peak has old records which especially warn that the Star catching formation is to be shut down whenever a cultivator is about to ascend. The other warning stated that if that was not done, there be a loss of life due to the backlash, and even the formation array will be destroyed." Elder Feng Explained with cold eyes.

The other black-robed elder did not speak further and just held his silence in understanding. Elder Feng looked at Elder Geng who was staring in the distance and let out a sigh.

"Besides it's not just us who sensed it. The entire cultivation world will soon know that another cultivator from our world has ascended to become an immortal, after thousands of years." Elder Feng Said.

An hour ago,

In the grand palace of the Sky precepts sect, a meeting was currently underway. Tens of black-robed elders could be seen sitting on the chairs located along the hall. The sect patriarch was sitting on the head of the hall on a luxurious throne. The patriarch seemed to be lost in thought and was hearing the elders discuss the affairs of the sect.

"The arrangements for the trial grounds are complete and the disciples have been allocated their spots." An elder spoke after reading a scroll in his head.

"The emergency request for assistance that was issued by the Star catching peak has also been fulfilled." Head Elder Han spoke.

The sect patriarch raised his head upon hearing the report of Head Elder Han. He had been hearing a lot of reports from the star catching peak every day and had become interested in the whole situation involving the spatial disturbances.

"Did the Star catching peak have any success in narrowing down the location of the spatial rift?" A purple-robed elder that was sitting at the right side of the sect patriarch asked.

"Yes, first Supreme elder. They had been successful in narrowing the location down to three Northern Kingdoms; they are the Black Dawn kingdom, the Eastern Ming dynasty, and the Shuang Qian kingdom." Head elder Feng replied respectfully.

The purple-robed elder was the first Supreme elder of the sky precepts. He was one of the three Dao Treading realm experts of the sect, and his authority was second only to the sect patriarch.

"Any updates about the crown prince?" The sect patriarch asked.

Elder Han was just about to reply to the sect patriarch, when a wave of spatial energy spread over the entire Great Zhou Empire. Every person sitting in the hall became extremely alert and a grim expression could be seen on the faces of the sect patriarch and the first Supreme elder.

"Patriarch!" Elder Han exclaimed.

The sect patriarch stood up and a regal aura started emanating from his body. He waved his hand in the air, making a formation materialize in the air. The patriarch observed the formation on which the runes were jumping and changing every second.

"Seal the Sect and alert every disciple of the sect. A hidden expert is currently ascending, and there will be an upheaval in the Heavenly Dao. Order all elders to stop their seclusion. We will be having an emergency meeting." The Sect patriarch ordered.

"Also send help to the Star catching peak, they have suffered the backlash." The patriarch continued after pausing for a moment.

Horror could be seen in the eyes of Head elder Han once he realized the implications of the patriarch's words. He then hurried out of the hall and flew away towards the Star catching peak. Not a single sound could be heard in the hall as all the remaining elders were silent. Even the First supreme elder was lost in thought.

In the Rainbow pill sect,

In a large garden, there were millions of flowers blooming and swaying with the wind. In the sky, one could see clouds of spirit qi floating gently. In the center of the garden there existed a small pergola, within which an old man was currently sitting. The old man was holding a pill with his left hand and controlling a pill furnace with the right.

Suddenly a spatial wave covered the Rainbow pill sect and reacted with a formation. An extremely large formation array was revealed, which covered the entirety of the Rainbow pill sect. As soon as the formation array appeared, sounds of explosions could be heard coming from the many peaks of the sect.

The old man sitting in the enormous garden dropped what he was doing in a moment's notice and stood up before slamming his palm in the Ground.

"SUPPRESS!!!" the old man shouted, after which the formation array calmed down and the sounds of the explosions also stopped.

Tens of lights can be seen flying towards the large garden, before landing in front of the old man. The lights faded away and revealed the many elders of the sect that had just arrived. A man came forward from the group and was about to speak to the old man, but was interrupted.

"I already know. Don't waste time and start repairing the stabilization formation." The old man ordered.

"YES ANCESTOR." All the elders replied in unison, before flying away.

Situations similar to the Sky precepts sect and the Rainbow pill sect could be seen in all the top sects as well as the common sects of the Great Zhou Empire.

In the Tri-Cauldron Peony sect,

Thousands of disciples could be seen standing in a large field. They had been called to address the phenomena that had just occurred. A few men could be seen standing on the large platform in front of the field. All the disciples were facing the platform and were waiting for the announcement.

One of the persons standing on the platform came forward.

"Like you all must have seen, the security level of the sect was increased an hour ago. The reason for that is a unique phenomenon that was sensed by the elders of the sect. The phenomenon may be dangerous to all the disciples, thus everyone is ordered to stay within the confines of the sect, until further instructions are given." The man standing on the platform ordered.

Some sounds of protest could be heard coming from the disciples, but they were soon quelled after an elder standing on the platform exerted some pressure, silencing all the disciples.

Wu Lim City, The City Mayor's mansion,

Located deep below the mansion was a hidden cave. Only one person in the entire city knew that such a cave existed below the mansion, and that person was the city mayor. Expansive tunnels could be seen spreading from the cave, leading to unknown paths.

Within the cave, a large blood pool was situated. Multiple troughs connected to the blood pool, supplying more blood to the pool. If one looked at the roof of the cave, they would see thousands of inscriptions carved into the stone. The inscriptions spread from the roof all the way to the walls and finally submerged into the blood pool.

Inside the Blood pool, an emaciated man was currently sitting cross-legged with only his head exposed above the blood. An eerie aura was floating around the emaciated man. Suddenly the emaciated man showed a pained look and coughed out blood. The sound of the coughing echoed inside the cave and spread out in all the tunnels.

A man dressed in luxurious clothes soon appeared from one of the tunnels. The man had an anxious look on his face, upon hearing the coughing sound. He hurried towards the blood pool and looked at the face of the emaciated man.

"Elder brother!" The Luxuriously dressed man spoke.

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Chapter 48: Returning From The Grand Void

The emaciated man opened his eyes with great difficulty and looked at the luxuriously dressed man, who had called out to him.

"I'm fine, Wu Xun. I just received some backlash because I overexerted my senses." The emaciated man said.

This luxuriously dressed man was none other than Wu Lim city's mayor, Wu Xun who was anxiously looking at the emaciated man's body. He was looking at the grievous wounds that were present on the torso of the emaciated man. The wounds seemed to be trying to heal but were being corroded by a black substance.

"But Elder brother, why are you exerting yourself when you're still not healed?" Wu Xun asked.

The emaciated man's eyes wandered over to the inscriptions that were carved all over the cave and then went towards the troughs that were carrying blood. He stared at the troughs for a bit and then scrunched his brows.

"You need to increases the blood sacrifices, we may need to make some changes to our plan soon." The emaciated man spoke.

"Yes brother, I have already commissioned more mercenaries to hunt the spirit beasts. But why do we need to make changes at this stage? It will set our progress back by months." Wu Xun asked.

"Our progress has already been set back by months now. What I sensed just now was someone ascending." The emaciated man answered with a grim tone.

A shocked expression could be seen on Wu Xun's face upon hearing his brother's words. He clenched his fists before asking,

"How did no one know of this? At least the top sects should have known if someone was about to ascend after thousands of years."

"Whoever it was, they were able to hide themselves very well. To escape the eyes and ears of the top sects, they must have been planning this for an extremely long time." The emaciated man answered.

Wu Xun held his chin and thought for a moment before speaking,

"To hide for this long, could they be from the forbidden continent?"

"I doubt it. If they were, we would have been informed by the clan and our plan would have also become much easier. Rather, I have my suspicions on the Eastern Ming dynasty. They have long been opposed to the rule of the Great Zhou Empire and have begun moving against them in the shadows." The emaciated man answered.

Wu Xun nodded his head in acceptance and was about to bid farewell when his brother interrupted him.

"And Wu Xun, spirit beasts are no longer enough if we want to speed up the pace of our plan. I need cultivators." The emaciated man spoke with an emotionless tone.

A vicious glint could be seen sparking in Wu Xun's eyes as he said,

"It will be done."

Back in the Grand Void, Lin Mu was listening to the Void Weaver spider speak.

"How will we be leaving this place?" Lin Mu asked.

"The same way you came in here." The tiny Void Weaver spider answered.

Lin Mu then lifted his right hand and was about to put the tiny Void Weaver spider inside the ring, when it spoke again.

"Wait, I'll enter the ring once we reach the exit. That way I can ensure that we reach the same location you came from and prevent you from getting lost."

Lin Mu nodded his head in acceptance and walked back on the path he came, along with the tiny Void Weaver spider floating beside him. While walking he thought about the giant white pillars and how this place did not seem to have an actual ground.

"Umm, what are those white pillars? If you don't mind me asking." Lin Mu questioned.

"Those are my threads, we are inside my nest." The tiny Void Weaver spider curtly answered.

Lin Mu was awed at the sheer size of the threads.

'If those are just threads, then how big is the entire web? I can't even imagine.' Lin Mu thought.

Lin Mu was looking all around the space, trying to get a feel for the place. He could not comprehend the existence of a place like this. His attention was then pulled towards the slivery grey streaks of light that flickered all around the place.

"Senior, what are those streaks of light? I've seen them before, but they were much bigger and brighter." Lin Mu asked.

"Those are the strands of chaotic spatial energy. When there is a sufficiently high density of spatial energy present in a location, it will condense into streaks such as those. I guess you've seen them in your ring before?" The tiny Void Weaver spider replied.

"Yes senior, but how did you know." Lin Mu said.

"As I said before, I sensed the pure spatial energy being emitted from the ring." The tiny Void Weaver spider answered.

Soon Lin Mu and the tiny Void Weaver spider reached the location where Lin Mu first arrived.

"Now, stand back." The tiny Void Weaver spider ordered.

Lin Mu promptly obeyed its words and moved to stand behind it. Numerous threads materialized in front of the tiny Void Weaver spider and attached to the space in front of it. The threads then pulled back, and the space started stretching. After a certain limit, the space could no longer be stretched and was suddenly torn apart.

A White crack was created that expanded into a large opening. The tiny Void Weaver spider floated in front of Lin Mu, then spoke,

"Put me in the ring and then walk through the portal. Though be warned that the journey will be a little rough."

Lin Mu gulped after hearing the tiny Void Weaver Spider's words and lifted his hand to put it inside the ring. The tiny Void Weaver spider lowered itself into Lin Mu's palm and then disappeared into the ring, but not before saying, "You can call me Senior Xukong from now on."

After storing the tiny Void Weaver spider inside the ring, Lin Mu gritted his teeth and jumped into the white portal. For a moment Lin Mu could see millions of stars, galaxies, and planets flashing by his side, but soon he fell unconscious.

After an unknown amount of time, a large spatial rift appeared near the hunting shack and spat Lin Mu out. He let out a groan as he was awakened by the pain caused by falling on the ground. Lin Mu opened his eyes, but then suddenly closed them because of the bright light shining on them.

He squinted his eyes and then slowly opened them after they had adapted to the brightness. Lin Mu stood up and looked around. Once he spotted the hunting shack, he let out a sigh of relief.

Till the very last second, Lin Mu was doubtful whether he will return to his home or not, but now that he was finally here, he felt as if a large burden was lifted off his back.

"Hmm, this is certainly not what I expected." Xukong's spoke inside Lin Mu's head.

Lin Mu was surprised for a second, but then recognized the voice.

"What do you mean by that senior Xukong?" Lin Mu asked.

"This is a very low-level world. How did you come upon the ring in such a backward place?" Xukong replied with confusion in his voice.

"A low-level world? Does that mean there are more worlds than just this?" Lin Mu questioned with wonder in his voice.

"Indeed, there are countless other worlds and multiple realms in this cosmos." Xukong replied.

"But what did you mean by a low-level world?" Lin Mu probed.

"Depending on certain factors such as the density of qi, the progress of cultivators, the heavenly laws, and the Grand Dao; a world can be divided into different levels." Xukong explained.

Upon hearing senior Xukong's explanation, hundreds of questions appeared inside Lin Mu's mind. But before he could ask them, it was as if senior Xukong was able to read Lin Mu's mind because he interrupted him before that.

"I can't tell you what the different levels of worlds or what the heavenly laws are. The restrictions of this world will not allow you to understand them." Xukong spoke.

"How is that possible?" Lin Mu asked while tilting his head.

"Let me demonstrate it." Xukong replied.

Suddenly Lin Mu heard some words in his mind. He could hear the words clearly but realized that he did not understand them and neither could he remember them after that one moment. Sensing the immense confusion in Lin Mu's mind, senior Xukong spoke again,

"This is what I meant. The restrictions on this world will simply not allow those words to exist. That is unless of course, you have a high enough cultivation to ignore the restrictions of this world."

"So, how strong would I have to be, before I would be able to do that?" Lin Mu asked.

"Possibly the highest cultivation realm that exists in this world. From what I can assume, you would have to reach the Immortal ascension realm or at least the Dao treading realm before you can even think of doing that." Xukong answered.

Immense confusion could be seen on Lin Mu's face as he asked,

"Umm, what are those two realms?"

Lin Mu could hear a loud sigh as Senior Xukong spoke with a helpless tone,

"Seems like you have a lot to learn."

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Chapter 49: Gaining A Teacher

Xukong never expected that the boy who had the fortune of obtaining such a powerful artifact barely had any knowledge about the cultivation world. Xukong wondered how the boy managed to even enter the Qi refining realm.

"Tell me Lin Mu, what do you know about the cultivation realms?" Xukong asked.

Lin Mu was unfazed by senior Xukong's words and answered to the best of his ability.

"I know that the cultivation realms start with the Qi refining realm and the next realm after this is the Core condensation realm. As for the cultivation realms above this, I don't know, as the strongest cultivator in this region is of the Core condensation realm." Lin Mu answered.

Xukong was a little disappointed and sad upon hearing Lin Mu's words. He did not think that such a great treasure would be lost in a backward place like this. But he knew that since the artifact had chosen the boy, the only way for him to take advantage of the ring was to ensure that the boy stayed alive.

'If I want to keep absorbing the spatial energy for a long time, I must teach this boy. If I don't, he'll easily succumb to the ruthless cultivation world and die before I'm even able to overcome my bottleneck.' Xukong deeply thought.

After thinking for a while, Xukong had begun planning out how he would be teaching Lin Mu. The one good thing that came out of Lin Mu being uninformed about the cultivation world is that he won't have any biases. This is one of the disadvantages of a low-level cultivation world. Most of the cultivators end up following certain concepts that are wrong or are only applicable to that world.

"Lin Mu, would you be willing to learn about the world of cultivation?" Xukong asked.

Senior Xukong's words surprised Lin Mu and rendered him speechless. Joy bloomed on Lin Mu's face after he comprehended what it would mean if he learned from senior Xukong. He knew that his biggest drawback was that he knew next to nothing about the cultivation world, and all that he knew was figured out by stumbling and struggling. If he got a proper teacher, everything would become much easier and his progress would improve by leaps and bounds.

"YES! Senior, please teach me." Lin Mu exclaimed.

"Let me inform you before this, I won't be able to give you any qi cultivation technique nor any martial techniques. The ones that I know are incompatible with humans or are only usable if you have a high enough cultivation." Xukong said.

Lin Mu was not bothered by Senior Xukong's words and accepted him wholeheartedly.

"It does not matter, senior Xukong. I'm still grateful that you are willing to teach me." Lin Mu respectfully replied.

Xukong inwardly chucked at the boy's response and thought that he may be able to mold the boy into a peerless cultivator.

"I have some conditions that you will need to absolutely follow if you are to learn from me." Xukong spoke.

Lin Mu nodded to show his acceptance and listened to senior Xukong's words.

"First, you need to strictly follow my words and ignore whatever others tell you about cultivation if I disagree with them. People in this world simply don't know about many aspects of cultivation.

Second, the world of cultivation is ruthless. Thus you will have to become ruthless as well if you want to survive.

Third, I want you to become patient and steady. Cultivation itself is going against the heavens, thus you need to know when to progress and when to retreat. Countless people have lost themselves to their cultivation because they could not judge well." Xukong spoke with an authoritative voice.

Lin Mu carefully listened to senior Xukong's each and every word. He pondered over them and made sure that he understood everything before speaking.

"I understand and accept all of your conditions senior Xukong." Lin Mu answered with a firm voice.

Xukong inwardly nodded and was content with Lin Mu's decisiveness.

"Now for your first lesson, I'll teach you about the cultivation realms." Xukong said.

Xukong then explained to Lin Mu about the different cultivations realms. The Cultivation realms started from the Qi refining realm in which a cultivator would refine and store spirit qi within their dantian. They would refine spirit qi by the use of a cultivation technique.

The second realm was the Core condensation realm. In the Core condensation realm, a cultivator would further refine the liquid spirit qi within their dantian and condense it into a solid core. This solidified core was also known as the golden elixir or the gold core. In order to progress further in the Core condensation realm, a cultivator would have to increase the size of their core.

The cultivation realms that came after that were the Nascent Soul realm, Dao shell realm, Dao treading realm, and finally the immortal ascension realm. Xukong did not explain these cultivation realms in detail as they would only become a hindrance to Lin Mu and would impede his cultivation.

After Lin Mu finished listening to senior Xukong's words he felt enlightened. He also asked some questions such as how to progress in the Qi refining realm. Xukong was unsure what Lin Mu meant by that.

"Your cultivation technique should already have an explanation about it." Xukong spoke.

Lin Mu was confused as he did get any explanation when received the Nine divine heart sutras from the ring. He was also confused about how the technique did not explain which meridians to be used for circulating the spirit qi.

The meridian pathway that he was using right now was devised by himself and was not learned from a manual. Lin Mu wondered if he had made a mistake when choosing the meridian pathways.

"But senior, I did not get any explanation about that when the ring imparted me my cultivation technique." Lin Mu replied.

"Imparted by the ring? Is it a legacy artifact?" Xukong inwardly spoke.

"What cultivation technique are you practicing?" Xukong inquired.

"It's called the Nine divine heart sutras. Though I only know the first two parts of it." Lin Mu answered.

"Demonstrate it for me." Xukong said.

Nodding in answer, Lin Mu sat down cross-legged and chanted the calming heart sutra. After this, he chanted the severing heart sutra. Xukong was impassive at first, but as Lin Mu continued chanting, confusion appeared in his mind, which then turned into shock.

'Aura of the Buddhist path and the Sword path? Two different cultivation paths in one technique. How is this possible?' Xukong inwardly thought.

In order to resolve his thoughts, Xukong asked Lin Mu about the meridian pathways that he was using. Lin Mu then explained that he had figured out the meridian pathways on his own when he ate the grape-sized purple spirit fruit.

'The boy was able to successfully able to figure out the meridian pathways on his own. Though he may be ignorant of the ways of the cultivation world, but he can be considered a genius to be able to do this.

Unknowingly, this boy has comprehended the path of primordials. If those old monsters ever learned of this, I wonder if they will start another war just to accept him as a disciple.' Xukong thought.

'Though eating an unknown spirit fruit was a reckless decision that he made. It was lucky that he survived and did not implode.' Xukong further thought.

Lin Mu was getting nervous as senior Xukong had not replied to him in a while, and he was starting to wonder if he had indeed made a mistake.

"I don't think the nine divine sutras is a cultivation technique, or rather it's not a full-fledged cultivation technique." Xukong said.

"Then what kind of technique is it?" Lin Mu impatiently asked.

"My best guess is that it is an auxiliary cultivation technique. Auxiliary cultivation techniques are supportive techniques and usually help in covering the flaws and drawbacks of an actual cultivation technique." Xukong explained.

"As you said, the calming heart sutra enhances your perception, while the severing heart sutra stills your mind, suppressing your emotions in the process. Both of these are helpful for cultivators who practice overbearing cultivation techniques." Xukong elaborated.

Lin Mu was at a loss upon hearing senior Xukong's explanation.

"Then do I need to obtain a new cultivation technique?" Lin Mu questioned with a heavy heart.

"No, rather you should continue practicing as you are right now. You won't understand it right now, but the method you are using right now will be advantageous to you in the future, even though your progress may be slow right now." Xukong replied.

Wanting to confirm if the ring was indeed a legacy artifact, Xukong asked him a few more questions.

"What else did you obtain from the ring?" Xukong asked.

After hearing senior Xukong's question, Lin Mu went on to explain about the two skills he received from the ring after he broke through to the Qi refining realm and also the rings' ability to open spatial rifts. He then told him, how he found the booklet for the boulder collapsing fist and many other items from the spatial rifts.

'This boy is just filled with surprises.' Xukong thought with a chuckle.

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Chapter 50: Refining The Spirit Sense

Xukong was impressed by the skills that Lin Mu had received from the ring. Just the two skills 'Flicker' and 'Blink' were already enough for any person in this world to become powerful in their own right.

Although the two skills seemed simple, but they actually were not. Those two skills employed the high-level concepts from the spatial laws. A cultivator could only comprehend the preliminary laws once they reached the Dao treading realm and formed a Dao embryo.

But it was nearly impossible for a cultivator to comprehend even a sliver of spatial laws, as they were one of the most complex and top-level Daos.

By now Xukong had an idea of how the mysterious ring worked. The ring worked as a conduit and a catalyst that helped Lin Mu manipulate the spatial laws. He also felt that the ring was sentient and was tailoring the skills according to Lin Mu's caliber.

As for the ability to open spatial rifts, Xukong only understood it when he started absorbing the pure spatial energy from the ring. For an artifact that could produce such pure spatial energy, it was a child's play to exploit the weak points in the space. It was even easier for the ring to tap into a teleportation channel and hijack it.

When Lin Mu was telling senior Xukong about how some spatial rifts felt different from others, he explained why.

The spatial rifts which felt like still water were just gates into the lesser void. But the ones which felt like a flowing river were actually teleportation channels created by teleportation formations.

Teleportation formations were used for long-distance movement and transportation. Objects as well as people could be moved a long distance within a short time with the help of such formations.

Though the ones that Lin Mu accessed were minor teleportation formations used for transporting objects. when Lin Mu accessed the two before he had basically stolen the four vessels restoration pills and the spirit stones from someone unknown.

The good thing was the person who used the formation to send the items would not know that they were stolen either.

"Will the person whose items I took come after me?" Lin Mu asked with a wary tone.

"That would be impossible. While sending items through teleportation formations is a safe method, it is not flawless. Any accident or disturbance in the spatial channel would cause the object to be lost in the void." Xukong answered.

Lin Mu felt relieved that he won't have to keep looking over his back for the owner of the items coming back for payback.

"Demonstrate the two skills you got from the ring for me. I want to see your proficiency in it." Xukong ordered.

Lin Mu nodded in response and demonstrated the first skill 'Flicker'. He first executed it while standing normally and then showed its ability to turn his body immaterial. He held his short sword and demonstrated his control over the technique.

"Next one." Xukong spoke.

Lin Mu took a deep breath and used the second skill 'Blink'. He disappeared from the place he was standing and then appeared in a location 10 meters away from there.

"Enough." Xukong said.

"Yes senior." Lin Mu promptly responded.

Xukong went silent for a minute as he thought and then spoke again.

"You will need to increase your accuracy while using Flicker. If you are to use it for dodging strikes, you will need to judge the exact moment to use the skill or you will just hurt yourself." Xukong spoke and then took a pause.

"As for the second skill Blink, you are highly inefficient in its use. You will need to understand the skill's true potential and from what I can see, you can only teleport to a location in your field of vision. This is the first flaw you need to amend." Xukong chided.

Lin Mu already knew that he had to learn to judge the timing of the activation of Flicker, but did not expect that he was this bad with the second skill Blink.

"How can I resolve the flaw, senior?" Lin Mu asked.

"The reason you can't teleport to a location behind you is that you haven't learned one of the most basic abilities of a cultivator. You haven't refined your spirit sense." Xukong answered.

Lin Mu had heard about spirit sense before when senior Xukong asked him if he could see his body. senior Xukong then mentioned that he could not see it as he did not have spirit sense.

"You can think of spirit sense as an additional organ. You can use it to touch and feel your environment. You can 'see' without actually seeing, with the help of spirit sense. Though I do not blame you for not knowing how to use it. You would have innately understood it if you were using an orthodox cultivation technique, but your unique situation changes things a bit." Xukong said.

Xukong waited until Lin Mu fully understood his words and then continued.

"Now I want you to listen to my words with your complete attention.

First, close your eyes and focus on the spirit Qi within your dantian.

Now guide a wisp of spirit qi to leave your body and let it float around your body." After speaking till here, Xukong stopped and let Lin Mu practice.

It took Lin Mu a few tries before he grasped it and was able to control spirit Qi to hover around his body. After a few minutes, Lin Mu found it to be as easy as lifting his finger. While he was practicing Senior Xukong was observing Lin Mu's closely, and once he found that he had learned this step, he continued his explanation.

"Slowly extend that wisp of spirit qi as far as you can, then stop and hold it when you can't push it any further. After that revolve that wisp of spirit qi in a circle around your body." Xukong spoke.

Lin Mu extended the wisp of spirit qi and stopped after it reached a distance of one meter. He then let the wisp rotate around his body. It took Lin Mu half an hour after which, he felt that his connection with the wisp had stabilized and did not take much of his effort to control it.

Xukong inwardly nodded after seeing Lin Mu's minor success.

'He already has an advantage in terms of refining his spirit sense. It seems that I made the right decision about not telling him to wait till he liquefied his spirit qi.' Xukong thought.

'Though if I did, it would take him a long time, especially since his dantian is already twice the size of a normal cultivator and I don't think it has stopped expanding either.' Xukong contemplated.

Xukong then taught Lin Mu the next step in refining his spirit sense.

"Now, maintain your connection with that wisp of spirit qi and guide another wisp out of your dantian. Once you have it hovering outside your body, repeat the steps you had followed before, but at the very end I want you to link the two wisps of spirit qi together." Xukong said.

Lin Mu was able to replicate the process, but when it was the moment to link the two wisps of spirit qi, he was overwhelmed and lost control. The two wisps of spirit qi disappeared into the air, leaving Lin Mu breathless.

"Rest for a bit and try again." Xukong consoled.

Suddenly Lin Mu felt his stomach rumble and remembered that he had not eaten for a while now. Actually, ever since he returned from the Grand Void, he could not tell what the time was. When he looked at the sun, he saw that it was lower than it was before he left, prompting him to think that he had spent an entire day in the Grand Void.

Lin Mu then withdrew the beast meat from the ring and set it to cook on the stove. Senior Xukong saw the sizeable amount that he cooked but did not mind it at first. Only when senior Xukong saw that he could actually finish it all, did he became surprised.

'It seems that his abnormally high appetite is linked with the growth of his dantian. I wonder if he knows about this.' Xukong thought.

"Lin Mu, do you eat the same quantity of food every time?" Xukong curiously asked.

"No senior, I used to eat a normal quantity of food back when I was in the 2nd stage of the body tempering realm. But ever since I found the ring and progressed to higher stages, my appetite has kept on growing." Lin Mu explained.

'Hmm, so my suspicion was correct. The ring has been subtly changing his constitution as well.' Xukong confirmed.

After Lin Mu was done with his meal, he assimilated the vital energy and restarted his training. This time he was able to link the two wisps of spirit qi together. After linking, the two wisps turned into a small thread of spirit qi.

"Now that you've understood these steps, what you have to do next is to keep adding more and more wisps of spirit qi until they form a long thread that connects to your body." Xukong spoke.

Lin Mu was overwhelmed when he heard senior Xukong's words, but then reinforced his resolve. Determination flashed in Lin Mu's eyes as he drowned himself in the process.

The sky had turned dark, and the moon was peeking from behind the clouds. Lin Mu was currently drenched with sweat, but instead of looking tired, elation could be seen on his face. After countless tries and ten hours, Lin Mu had finally succeeded in linking all the wisps of spirit qi.

The spirit qi no longer looked like a thin thread; it had instead turned into a tendril. Lin Mu had just accomplished another feat that would even shock the top sects!

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Chapter 51: Sudden Enlightenment

Xukong was happy with the progress Lin Mu had done in the past day. Not only was he able to freely manipulate the wisps of spirit qi and link them, but he was also able to completely connect them into a tendril of spirit sense.

'The boy has talent in Spirit qi control, but I can't tell if it is innate or if this is the work of the ring as well.' Xukong thought.

Lin Mu was sitting on the ground cross-legged and was using his newly refined spirit sense to feel his environment. The new sensations felt novel to Lin Mu. He felt that he was able to see in a 360-degree angle with the help of the spirit sense.

Lin Mu wanted to test the second skill Blink and see if he could teleport to a location outside his field of vision, but decided against it as he had exhausted nearly all of his spirit qi. Every time he failed during the process of refining the spirit sense, he would lose the wisps of spirit qi that he was manipulating.

The spirit sense tendril that he had refined was one meter long and was refined by linking twenty wisps of spirit qi. Over the multiple attempts, Lin Mu had lost nearly five hundred wisps of spirit qi, leaving him with a meager 35 wisps of spirit qi in his dantian.

'I need to replenish my spirit qi and I also need to eat something, I'm starving.' Lin Mu thought.

"You can continue your practice tomorrow, for now, you need to rest." Xukong ordered.

"Yes, senior." Lin Mu responded.

Lin Mu cooked some dinner for himself, ate it, and then laid down on the bed. He rested his head on the soft bolster and slipped into a deep sleep. Perhaps because Lin Mu was extremely exhausted both physically and mentally, he did not appear inside the Sleepscape and just slept normally.

While Lin Mu was sleeping, Xukong was continually absorbing the spatial energy within the ring.

'There seems to be no end to the spatial energy in here. I had originally thought it would be depleted after I absorbed it and would take some time to be replenished. But the ring seems to be producing it at a much higher rate than I can absorb.' Xukong thought.

'Although the boy has talent, he is still lacking in resources. Without resources, it would be extremely difficult for him to progress in his cultivation. I need to figure out a way so that he can gain some resources. Till then, I guess he'll have to depend on the forest.' Xukong pondered.

Several hours passed, and the sun rose up in the sky. Lin Mu woke up and stretched his body, but found that it was surprisingly not stiff. He felt refreshed and his body felt as if it was new.

Lin Mu started his morning routine and cooked some beast meat. While the meat cooked, he sat down to cultivate and replenish his spirit qi. His body had already replenished a hundred wisps of spirit qi while he slept, thus he had a sufficiently large amount of spirit qi to start cultivation.

Although Lin Mu only cultivated for 15 minutes, he found out that the speed of absorbing spirit qi had increased again and he was able to absorb 50 wisps of spirit qi.

"How did my speed of absorption increase again?" Lin Mu muttered to himself, but senior Xukong heard him.

"That would be because of your spirit sense. Spirit sense not only allows you to sense your surroundings, but it also has other effects as well. One of them being an increase in sensitivity to spirit qi." Xukong spoke.

"What are the other functions and effects of spirit qi then, senior?" Lin Mu asked.

"Spirit qi is highly versatile and is used in things such as controlling spirit weapons and tools, creating formations and refining alchemical pills." Xukong answered.

Lin Mu's had heard about spirit weapons before. He knew that they were much stronger than normal weapons and even had some special effects. He wondered if he should obtain one somehow. While Lin Mu was lost in his thoughts, his breakfast was ready.

He then finished his breakfast and assimilated the vital energy. When he was about to start cultivating, he noticed that the black dots had returned. He was able to spot several of them in the area.

"Senior, the black dots have returned." Lin Mu spoke.

"Black dots? Ah, you mean the spatial gates. Hmm, I can sense them too, but there are far too many of them here." Xukong replied.

"Too many? But I see them wherever I go. Is this abnormal?" Lin Mu inquired.

"Yes, those black dots you see are actually the weak points that exist in the space. Normally they should be rare, but it seems that the mere presence of your ring is enough to destabilize the space." Xukong answered.

Having satisfied his curiosity, Lin Mu sat down cross-legged to replenish his spirit qi. He cultivated for two hours and was able to replenish his spirit qi up to his previous levels. Lin Mu slowly extended the tendril of spirit sense and analyzed the surrounding area.

He could sense each and every blade of grass and the tiny insects that were crawling on it. If Lin Mu used the severing heart sutra and focused even more, he could observe the specs of dust floating in the air.

Lin Mu tried to sense the area underground beneath him and found that he was only able to probe a few inches in. If he tried to go any deeper his spirit sense was just blocked, as if there was an iron wall in front of it. Stumped at this problem, Lin Mu decided to ask senior Xukong for guidance.

"Your spirit sense won't be able to pierce through solid objects for now. You will have to increase its range and strengthen it further to be able to do that. Right now you should just focus on increasing its range and leave the rest for the future." Xukong advised.

Lin Mu nodded and decided to finally test out Blink. He stood up and extended his spirit sense behind him. He locked on to a location and activated the skill. In the next instant, Lin Mu disappeared from his previous location and appeared in the location he had chosen.

"Well done." Xukong commended.

"Thank you senior, it is all due to your guidance." Lin Mu politely acknowledged.

He then continued to test out Blink in different manners. Since the range of Lin Mu's spirit sense was only one meter, he was only able to teleport that far behind. If he wanted to increase the distance of teleportation, he would have to increase the range of his spirit sense.

While using spirit sense, he found out that he could actually teleport in mid-air. But it was only possible if he used his spirit sense and not by just using his eyes. Lin Mu could think of multiple situations where he could use this method for an ambush.

Suddenly, Lin Mu remembered that tomorrow would be the day when he had to return to the town. It had been five days since he had booked the room at the inn. So he will have to return tomorrow.

"Senior, I will be returning to the town tomorrow, to live in a room at the inn." Lin Mu said to senior Xukong.

When Xukong first saw that Lin Mu was living in an old and mottled shack, he did not think much of it. For a being such as him, who has lived for countless years, he had seen people from all walks of life. Also, because he was a beast himself, he could not be bothered with humans and had a different mind-set.

"Why have you been living here in that shack and not in a human town?" Xukong finally asked.

Lin Mu then went on to narrate the story of how he was punished and his house was seized. Xukong silently listened to the story and let Lin Mu speak. Only after Lin Mu had finished speaking did Xukong respond.

"So I guess you want to buy back your property?" Xukong asked.

"Yes senior, and once I do that, I'll pay my respects at the grave of my parents and ancestors, before leaving the town to start my journey." Lin Mu answered with determination in his voice.

"Good. A true cultivator can only progress when he experiences the worldly tribulations. Your choice of leaving the town behind and journeying will only bring you benefits in the long run." Xukong spoke with a sagely voice.

Lin Mu was lost in thought after listening to senior Xukong's words. He then remembered the esoteric chants that he heard while receiving the severing heart sutra. A sudden wave of enlightenment spread in his mind and he was washed away in it.

Seeing that Lin Mu had closed his eyes and seemed to be lost in his thoughts, Xukong called out for him. But suddenly alarm bells started ringing within his mind and he became apprehensive. Then Xukong saw a blinding glow appear in front of his eyes and felt a feeling he had not felt for millenniums, Terror.

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Chapter 52: The Day Of The Fallen

The altar within the mysterious ring was currently glowing with a blinding light. A peculiar energy was being emitted by the altar, which was leaking out of the ring. Even the barrier created by Xukong could not stop it. The energy was so strong that it had spread out in an area of hundred kilometers.

Xukong, who was inside the ring and also the closest to the altar, was bearing the full brunt of the impact. The feeling of terror filled every speck of his body and paralyzed him. Especially since his current body was only an avatar and did not have the cultivation base of the main body, he felt much worse than normal.

'What is this aura? Even those old monsters would not come close to this level.' Xukong thought.

A minute later, the aura changed from being cold and overwhelming to sharp and deadly. Xukong now felt as if he was in the presence of a peerless sword immortal. He had to use every bit of his will to resist the sharp aura, otherwise he felt as if his soul would be severed in an instant.

In the Northern town, there was a large courtyard that was hidden from the eyes of mortals. Within this courtyard, a manor existed, in the front of which a beautiful garden full of fragrant spirit flowers was spread. In this garden, two people were currently sitting inside a pergola.

These two were none other than the pair of grandfather and granddaughter, Jing Wei and Duan Ke. Jing Wei was drinking a cup of aromatic tea while Duan Ke was reading a jade scroll. Suddenly both of them felt as if freezing water was poured over them and they dropped the items in their hands. The elegant cup fell from Jing Wei's hand and shattered, while the jade scroll dropped on the table and made a clinking sound.

Once the freezing feeling passed, it morphed into a sharp and deadly aura. They felt as if thousands of swords were pointed at them and would be cutting them into a million pieces in the next instant. This overwhelming feeling lasted for a minute, after which it disappeared.

Duan Ke collapsed on the ground and was left breathless. Blood could be seen dripping out of the edge of her lips. Jing Wei was no good either. He was able to hold on to the table and plopped down onto a chair.

"Grand… father… what… was… that?" Duan Ke uttered between her breaths.

Jing Wei stayed silent for five minutes before he was able to gather his wits. He let out a breath of foul qi and spoke,

"That was sword intent. A hidden cultivator ascended two days ago, and now this; I don't even know what to make of this anymore."

"That was sword intent! Is there even a single expert in any of the top sects that can have such an overbearing sword intent?" Duan Ke exclaimed out loud.

"No, I'm afraid not. Even the sword intent of the previous ancestor of the Centennial Sword sect cannot compare to this." Jing Wei said.

In Wu Lim city, a shocking phenomenon could be witnessed. The commoners saw one cultivator after another collapsing on the ground. Some could even be seen bleeding from the seven orifices.

Inside the mayor's mansion, Wu Xun was also struggling to stand. He could not understand what was happening right now either.

After the overwhelming aura vanished, he immediately popped a pill into his mouth and rushed through a hidden entrance. He later appeared inside a cave deep underground. Wu Xun walked into the cave with the blood pool and saw that the inscriptions carved into the roof and the walls had crumbled into dust.

Wu Xun walked over to the blood pool with an anxious expression and saw his elder brother sitting there safely. Seeing that his elder brother was fine, he let out a breath of relief.

"If you are fine, then everything will be fine." Wu Xun muttered.

This day would later be called as the day of the fallen.

Back at the hunting shack, Lin Mu was still sitting on the ground cross-legged. A tranquil expression could be seen on his face, completely unaware of the phenomenon that had happened. The day had turned into night when Lin Mu finally woke up.

"So there's more to Severing heart sutra than just enhanced spirit qi control." Lin Mu muttered.

"You're finally awake." Xukong spoke.

"How long was I out for?" Lin Mu asked.

"Look around. You've been in a state of enlightenment for the past twelve hours." Xukong informed.

Lin Mu looked at the sky and found that it was indeed late. He had not expected that time would pass so fast. For him, it was only a few minutes. While for others, hours had gone by.

"What did you gain from your enlightenment?" Xukong curiously asked.

This question had been picking at Xukong's mind ever since the overwhelming aura had disappeared. He wondered what kind of concept could it be, that it would cause such a massive impact. From the aura that he experienced, Xukong could tell that it was similar to sword intent yet different. One thing was sure though, that it was related to the sword path.

Lin Mu thought for a moment and recalled all that he had learned.

"The severing heart sutra, it's not as simple as it appears. It has numerous methods of application, and I've only been using one. It also has different stages of comprehension from what I understood." Lin Mu answered.

'Hmm, so that aura was from Lin Mu gaining enlightenment about the severing heart sutra. I already knew that it was related to the sword path, but now I'm sure it's some kind of immortal inheritance.' Xukong thought.

"So, what are these different stages of comprehension that you've understood?" Xukong questioned.

"The stage I'm in right now is the second stage of external comprehension. But this is for the severing heart sutra only. For the calming heart sutra, I'm still in the first stage of external comprehension." Lin Mu answered.

"In the first stage of external comprehension, I'm only able to use the nine divine heart sutras on myself. While in the second stage of external comprehension, I'm able to use it on others as well. As for the stages beyond this, I will only know them when I progress further." Lin Mu further explained.

Seeing that senior Xukong was not speaking anymore, Lin Mu just decided to continue training. He estimated it to be midnight, thus he first cooked some dinner and ate it. Then he cultivated for a while and then decided to sleep.

Lin Mu appeared in the Sleepscape in front of the spirit apple tree. He saw that there wasn't only one spirit apple on the tree, but rather three of them. Two of those apples were ripe and one was still growing.

"Wait, two spirit apples? Oh no! I think I spent much longer in the Grand Void than I thought." Lin Mu exclaimed.

"Well, I've already paid for the room in advance, so it shouldn't cause much of a problem for me." Lin Mu thought out loud.

Lin Mu then plucked the two spirit apples and stored them in the ring.

'Can I bring out senior Xukong in the Sleepscape?' Lin Mu wondered.

When he was in the real world, senior Xukong had informed him that he will not be able to come out of the ring, as the world's restrictions would not allow him to exist there. To test this out, Lin Mu actually tried it and indeed found it to be true. No matter how much effort he put, he could not pull out senior Xukong from the ring.

To satisfy his curiosity Lin Mu willed it and the tiny body of senior Xukong appeared on his hand.

Xukong seemed dumbstruck when he suddenly found himself in a different place. He saw that he was on Lin Mu's hand, and the place that they were in seemed unnatural. He did not speak and looked around for a bit before speaking.

"Where are we?" Xukong asked.

"In my Sleepscape, Senior." Lin Mu informed.

"Your Sleepscape?" Xukong muttered.

Lin Mu then realized that in all that happened, he had completely forgotten to tell senior Xukong about the Sleepscape. Even yesterday because he was extremely tired, he did not enter the Sleepscape. Thus he did not get the chance to speak about it beforehand.

Seeing that Senior Xukong was waiting for his explanation, Lin Mu described the circumstances behind the Sleepscape and what its characteristics were. He told him how it was originally a dark and gloomy place and how it later turned into this. He told him about the spirit apple tree and the size of the entire location.

Xukong digested the entire information and searched his own memories, as well as his bloodline memories for an answer to this enigma of a place. After a few minutes of searching, he was able to reach a conclusion.

'For a place that exists within a person, can accommodate my avatar and seems to be able to support some rudimentary laws, there's only one answer that comes to my mind.' Xukong concluded.

"A Garden Of Karma." Xukong uttered.

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Chapter 53: The Garden Of Karma

Lin Mu became interested in what senior Xukong had just spoken. However, he could perceive that senior Xukong was still in thoughts, thus he did not interrupt him and waited till he was done.

But Lin Mu did not expect that he would get no answer even after thirty minutes, thus he returned Senior Xukong to the ring and started practicing with his weapons.

After nearly four hours, Lin Mu heard the voice of senior Xukong in his mind prompting to bring him out of the ring. He heeded senior Xukong's words and brought him out of the ring.

After being brought out of the ring senior Xukong floated up from his hand and flew away at great speed, only to return after ten seconds.

Xukong had heard about the characteristics of the Sleepscape from Lin Mu's mouth, but he still wanted to see it with his own eyes. After observing the entire place, he came to the conclusion that this place was indeed a 'Garden of karma'. Though it had some differences compared to the information, he had in his memories.

The biggest difference was in the rudimentary laws. From the information he had in his memories, he knew that a Garden of karma was a fully stable spatial realm with its own Dao laws. But in the case of Lin Mu, there wasn't even a sun in the sky and there was no night either. And from the ability of the space to return to its initial conditions, he could tell that this place was not fully developed yet.

Though the fact that strengthened his belief in this being a Garden of karma was the spirit apple tree that was growing in the middle of the Sleepscape. It was the only thing in this place that allowed 'change', the change being able to pick its fruits.

"What do you know about Sleepscape, Senior Xukong?" Lin Mu asked.

"This place that you call Sleepscape is actually a spatial realm called as Garden of Karma. It was difficult for me to identify it because of its rarity and also because of its characteristics being different from the ones I know." Xukong answered.

"Why is this place different?" Lin Mu questioned.

"Well, even the information I have in my memories is not complete. It is not known whether the creation of a Garden of Karma is linked to a person's physique or something else. Even the existence of a single Garden of Karma is incredibly rare, such that there are known records of only four people in the entire cosmos." Xukong replied with uncertainty in his voice.

"Because there have only been four owners in the past, the information about the Garden of karma is very limited. Even the past owners had differences between the characteristics of their respective Gardens of karma. But I can say one thing for sure, your Garden of Karma is not developed yet. And even after it is developed, it will still keep on growing. For example, you are not able to use vital energy here, but you should be able to use spirit qi." Xukong explained.

Lin Mu felt a little happy that there were other people who had a similar condition to him before. He felt that he may be able to resolve a lot of his questions if he got to know them. He also tried guiding the spirit qi and found that he was indeed able to control spirit qi in the Sleepscape now.

"These people who had a Garden of karma, where are they?" Lin Mu asked with a hint of anticipation on his face.

"Three of them died before I was born and the one that I knew of also died some years ago." Xukong answered.

Disappointment could be seen on Lin Mu's face after hearing senior Xukong's answer. However, he was able to snap out of it and returned to his weapons practice. Senior Xukong stayed there, floating in the air. He was observing Lin Mu's weapon skills.

Xukong saw that Lin Mu was using multiple weapons instead of focusing on one weapon, thus was intrigued by this. He had seen some experts use multiple weapons before but those experts were much much stronger than Lin Mu.

"Why do you use multiple weapons instead of focusing on only one?" Xukong curiously asked.

Lin Mu stopped his spear thrust mid-way and turned around to answer senior Xukong.

"I prefer using multiple weapons, as I want to be ready if there ever comes a situation where I've lost all my weapons and I don't have a choice. I want to be able to use any weapon that's available in that situation." Lin Mu answered.

"If you are going to follow this path, then you need to learn from a proper weapons manual that teaches the use of multiple weapons." Xukong advised.

"I know that senior. I've been intending to buy a weapons manual once I return to the town." Lin Mu answered.

Senior Xukong hummed in approval and spoke,

"You probably won't be able to find a Spirit weapon manual in that town though I expect."

"Spirit weapon manual? But I will first need a spirit weapon before that, senior." Lin Mu replied with slight confusion.

"You already have one. Your short sword is a spirit weapon. Don't tell me you didn't know that." Xukong spoke with a puzzled voice.

Lin Mu was shocked by this revelation. He never expected that the short sword he had been using all this time had been a spirit weapon.

"I… I did not know that. But I don't think a spirit weapon should so cheap that it is worth less than even a gold coin." Lin Mu said with an embarrassed face.

Seeing that senior Xukong did not understand him, Lin Mu explained to him how he bought the short sword from the old store and how he was suspecting that the owner and his granddaughter were cultivators.

"Hmm, I don't know why that old man gave you the short sword for cheap, but I can tell that he is definitely a cultivator." Xukong said.

'Everything will be revealed when we get to the town, anyway.' Xukong said inwardly.

"How do I use a spirit weapon then, senior?" Lin Mu asked with excitement on his face.

"Use it the same way you strengthen your body with qi. Spirit weapons are conductive to spirit qi, thus you will be able to guide it into it the same way you do with your body." Xukong explained.

Lin Mu withdrew the short sword and held it in his hand. He guided a wisp of spirit qi from his dantian and guided it into his hand, and from his hand he let it flow into the short sword. He had thought there may be a slight difficulty in doing this but did not expect the short sword to freely accept his spirit qi.

As soon as spirit qi entered the short sword, it hummed and a faint glow could be seen in it. A few runes appeared on the blade and soon faded away. Lin Mu then slashed at the air and could see a faint outline cutting out in the air. Senior Xukong saw this and spoke,

"Hmm, surprisingly that short sword is a high-grade spirit weapon." Xukong spoke.

Lin Mu looked at senior Xukong with a question expression, which he understood and explained.

"Spirit weapons are divided into four grades depending on their quality. They are- low grade, mid-grade, high grade, and top-grade spirit weapon."

"That old man was very generous if he gave you a high-grade spirit weapon. He even sealed it so that other cultivators won't be able to detect it. But now that you've activated the short sword and released the seal, you'll need to be careful." Xukong said.

Lin Mu could not help but wonder why that old man would give him such a precious item.

"Also, you won't be able to use the full potential of the short sword yet. If you want to be able to fly with it, you will have to reach the core condensation realm or at the very least the peak of the qi refining realm. You will also need to refine your spirit sense to a much higher level as well, as you need spirit sense for the more complex control of spirit weapons." Xukong elaborated.

Lin Mu felt elated at the aspect of flying. He had heard the stories of immortals who would fly using their swords, clouds, beast, and countless other items. Being able to fly was one of the dreams that everyone had as a child.

When he slashed using the short sword, he had only used a single wisp of spirit qi. Back then, he was able to feel that it was not the limit and he can actually amplify the strength of the short sword even more. To test out the maximum power of the short sword he withdrew the large heavy rock that he had found in the spatial rift.

Lin Mu had tested the rock before and knew that the rock was unusually strong and hard. It would be the perfect target to test the power of the short sword on. He thus channeled spirit qi into the short sword and kept on doing it, till he felt that he was going to lose control over it. Once it was filled with 200 wisps of spirit qi, Lin Mu raised the blade and slashed the rock with all his might.

In the next moment, the blade passed through the rock with ease, as if a hot knife through butter. The part that was cut fell down, revealing a smooth surface at the site of the cut.

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Chapter 54: Teachings About The Void

Lin Mu took a deep breath when he saw the outcome of his slash. He had expected it to cut a certain part of the rock. But did not think the sword would end up smoothly cleaving through the rock. He looked closer at the cut and found that the surface was smooth and shiny.

Lin Mu then relaxed and let the spirit qi return back to his dantian. He sensed that he had consumed fifty wisps out of the 200 that he had reinforced the short sword with.

'I'll be able to use four strikes of equal to this strength after amplifying the short sword to the maximum once.' Lin Mu thought.

While Lin Mu was focused on the short sword, Senior Xukong's focus was on the large rock. Xukong felt a little confused at the large rock. He was able to identify the material it was made out of.

'Why is there such a large chunk of Heavy depths Iron ore here? It shouldn't be present in this world.' Xukong thought.

"Where did you get this Heavy depths iron ore from Lin Mu?" Xukong questioned.

Lin Mu stopped his thoughts upon listening to senior Xukong question and turned towards him.

"Heavy depths Iron ore? You mean this large rock?" Lin Mu counter asked.

"Yes, that's what it is called." Xukong answered.

"Oh, I found it in a spatial rift. Is it something rare and special?" Lin Mu spoke.

'Is there a collapsed oceanic world somewhere nearby?' Xukong pondered to himself.

"Not specifically. Except for it being heavy and hard, there isn't much special about it. Although it is not rare, but such a large chunk is usually only formed is special conditions. In a world such as this, only smaller chunks of it would be found." Xukong answered.

Heavy depths iron was a type of metal that was formed under the heavy pressure of a large water body. It could be found in any world that had seas or ocean, but the size of its ore would depend on the size of the ocean. The chunk of ore that Lin Mu found was too large for it to belong to this world. The only place it could be formed would be in an oceanic world.

Oceanic worlds were large planets that had nearly no landmass and were completely covered with water. Such worlds were dominated by monstrous Aquatic beasts and were often uninhabitable for cultivators. However, oceanic worlds also had magical treasures and unique materials that were only found within them. Thus they were the targets of many large cultivator sects and organizations.

Since Lin Mu was able to find such a large chunk of Heavy depths iron ore, it meant that there was quite likely a collapsed oceanic world nearby this world. It also meant that there were precious treasures that were lost in the void, waiting to be found. And if someone was able to find the original location of the oceanic world, they may even be able to find something priceless, a world essence crystal.

Stopping his train of thought Xukong, saw that Lin Mu was asking him something.

"Senior is this Heavy depths Iron ore useful for making weapons or armors and can it be sold?" Lin Mu asked with expectation on his face.

"It is unsuitable for making weapons and armor because of its properties. It would be fine if it was just hard and heavy, but because it also obstructs the flow of spirit qi, it is not used to make them. Instead, it is used in the construction of defensive fortifications for castles and forts, so you can sell it." Xukong answered.

Lin Mu's eyes lit up with the glint of gold. Now that he had the support of senior Xukong, he would not have to be as cautious as before and would be able to ask him for advice. The quicker he bought back his house, the quicker he would be able to start his journey into the cultivation world.

While Lin Mu was thinking about his future prospects, Xukong was thinking about the situation of this world. He was wondering if there were more collapsed worlds near Lin Mu's world. He thought of a way to confirm his doubts.

"What other items have you found in the spatial rifts? Show me all of them." Xukong ordered.

Realization dawned on Lin Mu's mind. If the large rock which looked useless was precious, then who knows what other things he found were rare and perhaps priceless. Lin Mu hurriedly started taking out one item after the other from the ring. Soon enough there were five piles of items lying haphazardly on the ground inside of the Sleepscape.

Lin Mu had separated the items which he found useful, such as the booklet which contained the martial technique 'boulder collapsing fist' and the four vessels restoration pills in different piles and useless items like the old shoe and clump of soil into a different pile.

Senior Xukong closely scrutinized every item and then came to float in front of Lin Mu. He then instructed Lin Mu to separate the items into two different piles from the five piles. Senior Xukong then came to float in front of a pile and spoke,

"This is garbage."

"This is useful." Xukong said after floating over to the other pile.

Lin Mu looked at the garbage pile and sure enough, most of the items he thought were useless were just that, useless. But he was a little surprised looking at the pile of useful items. There were some items which he did not think would be useful.

For example, the clump of soil that he had found was now in the pile of useful items and the small shard of metal was too. Lin Mu could not understand the reasoning behind this, thus he asked senior Xukong.

"That clump of soil is not what you think it is. It is actually the dried blood of a spirit beast. While that metal shard is quite possibly part of an immortal tool. Even though it's only a small shard, it is still linked to the immortal tool and you may be able to find it with the help of it." Xukong explained.

Lin Mu was shocked upon hearing about an immortal tool. He could tell that it was something that was above spirit weapons and was much stronger than them. But he could not help but wonder how these items ended up in the spatial rifts.

"Senior there is one thing I could not understand. How do these items end up inside of spatial rifts?" Lin Mu asked apprehensively.

"There are many reasons for that. But the most common reasons are either the destruction of a spatial treasure or the collapse of a world. Depending on the reason, the item will be lost in a different layer of the void." Xukong answered.

Lin Mu had heard the two words Grand Void and lesser void from senior Xukong before, but could not understand the difference between them. Thus he asked him to explain.

"Senior, could you explain to me about the void?" Lin Mu asked.

"While you will not understand the actual characteristics of the void, I'll give you a simplified explanation. The Void can be broadly divided into four layers- the lesser void, the great void, the greater void, and the Grand void." Xukong spoke and took a pause until he was sure that Lin Mu had digested this information.

"The lesser void is a place that exists parallel to the real world and is separate for each of the worlds. The great void is the layer which contains minor worlds and spatial dimensions, your Sleepscape could be considered as an example of a spatial dimension.

While the Greater Void contains all the worlds in a specific realm. Finally, the Grand Void is the layer that separates the different major realms and contains all the layers below it. Also, every higher layer in the void contains multiples of the layer below it. For example, the great void has multiple layers of the lesser void contained within it." Xukong explained.

Lin Mu was a little overwhelmed by all the information that senior Xukong had just spoken. It took him a few minutes before he was able to analyze and integrate all the information into his mind. He also felt minuscule at the immensity of the entire universe. He could not even imagine the sheer size of the worlds that existed, not to speak of entire realms.

Xukong saw that Lin Mu was astounded at his explanation, thus he spoke,

"Don't be overwhelmed by my explanation. Even if you don't understand it right now, it won't matter. You will eventually understand it in the future."

Lin Mu felt a little better after hearing senior Xukong's encouraging words. His attention was then redirected towards the useful pile of items. There were some items in it that he knew were useful, but he could not tell what their use could be. One such item was the high-quality wooden slip he had found.

Lin Mu picked up the wooden slip from the pile and showed it to senior Xukong while asking,

"Senior, what it this wooden slip, why is there nothing written in it?"

Xukong looked at the exquisite wooden slip in Lin Mu's hand and let out a chuckle before speaking,

"That is the most useful item out of all of them, its worth exceeds all the items combined. That wooden slip is a Legacy treasure."

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Chapter 55: Legacy Of The Lost Immortal

Xukong himself was a little surprised upon finding a legacy treasure in the pile of random items. He was getting more and more interested in this world. He could not tell what the legacy treasure would contain, but he was sure that the legacy treasure was not from this world.

The craftsmanship of the legacy treasure belonged to a higher realm and with how complex the formations placed on it were, Xukong knew that it contained a complete legacy. The only question remaining was that whether it will deem Lin Mu worthy of it.

While senior Xukong was in his thoughts, Lin Mu was staring at the wooden slip, trying to figure out how to use it. He even tried observing it with his spirit sense, but was unable to find anything. Finally, giving up after a few tries, Lin Mu turned to senior Xukong for answers.

"What does this wooden slip contain?" Lin Mu asked.

"Every legacy treasure is different. Some contain the entire inheritance of an expert while some may only contain minor inheritances. Some contain martial techniques or cultivation techniques while others may contain the life experiences of a cultivator." Xukong answered.

"Now then, to activate the legacy treasure you need to put a drop of your blood on it." Xukong explained.

Lin Mu followed senior Xukong's words and used the short sword to prick his finger. He then let a drop of blood fall on the wooden slip. As soon as the blood touched the wooden slip, it was absorbed and numerous runes appeared.

The runes spread from the wooden slip on to Lin Mu's hands and then onto his chest. Unbeknownst to Lin Mu, an obscure pattern was formed on his abdomen which then sunk in and disappeared. A few seconds later the runes disappeared, and a connection was formed between Lin Mu and the wooden slip.

Lin Mu then opened the wooden slip and saw words appearing on it. The entire wooden slip when opened was fifty centimeters long and was made of twenty five individual wooden strips. Lin Mu started reading the words one by one.

"I was called as the Lost Immortal and this is my final legacy.

This legacy that I am leaving behind was the work of my life. I suffered many setbacks in my life, some because of my enemies, some due to my miscalculations, and some due to the heaven's will.

While I was staunch and stable in the early part of my life, later on, after suffering one misfortune after another I developed heart demons.

I could be considered to have had below-average talent in cultivation, and all that I had was gained through sheer dedication and hard work. The heart demon I developed was because of a problem that usually belonged to the mortals, starvation.

In the tens of thousands of years that I lived, I often found myself in conditions where I was heavily injured, stripped of qi, and trapped in deadly situations.

While the commoners think that immortals don't know the sufferings of mortals they are wrong. They think that immortals no longer feel hungry, nor do they need to breathe. While this is correct to a certain extent, it is only so when you are in an optimum condition. Even immortals when they deplete their qi and vital energy need to eat in order to survive.

For cultivators who have lived as long as me, all have gone through similar situations such as mine. But their suffering cannot be compared to mine. They may have been in one, two, five, or even ten situations, but it still would not compare to mine.

While most would not survive after their luck ran out, I do not know whether it was my fortune or misfortune that I have survived one hundred and seven such tribulations.

I often thought if it would have been better if I perished early on and did not suffer these tribulations. But every time I did that, my heart demon grew.

Slowly, over the years, I developed an obsession. I would no longer suffer the tribulation of starvation ever again. I knew that the heavens were against me and would pit me against a grim tribulation again, thus my obsession grew.

Eventually, all I could think of was my obsession and my progress in cultivation plummeted. I knew that this could not go on any longer, so I started my journey to find a solution. I journeyed through countless worlds and a multitude of realms.

I researched techniques that would help me in relieving starvation forever. I observed beasts that were known for their hunger, their ability to devour, and beasts that were long-lived and seldom ate. I hunted down unique races that did not consume material food as sustenance but rather obscure types of energies.

I found some beasts that were once thought to be myths and legends. I even discovered beasts that were never seen before. I went after creatures that were a hundred times stronger than me and came out alive. My obsession was now somehow fuelling my strength.

I now knew what I had to do, I was going to create a technique that would absolve one of their hunger. I gathered precious materials and unique treasures while using the knowledge that I had gained to forge my creation.

But alas, I failed. I was still lacking.

I began my journey again and wandered the universe. It was during this time that I was given the title 'Lost Immortal'. I had long forgotten my own name in my obsession, thus I just accepted it.

After a few years, I had an epiphany and my cultivation started growing once again.

But with the growth of my cultivation, the heaven's fury returned as well. I survived more of those cursed conditions and let my heart demon grew. I did not know why, but my heart demon never harmed me even though it had existed for a long time. Others would have suffered a qi deviation or a Dao collapse, but miraculously I did not.

More years passed and I could feel that I was slipping into insanity, one year at a time. I knew that once I was completely drowned in insanity, I would never resolve my obsession. Thus I staked all I had and revisited all the places I had been to, just to gain any small smidgen of inspiration I could grasp.

This time, I could not find some of the beasts that I had originally discovered, but I was still able to find the beasts such as The Golden roc, The Taotie, The Realm eater worm, The Sky swallowing wolf, The Immortal Kun Peng, and many more. I stripped their secrets and gained an understanding of their physiology and cultivation.

By now I was at the very edge of insanity and knew that I would fall into its abyss as soon as I lost control, even for a moment.

Knowing that I had no time left, I ended my research and started to reforge my creation.

I never intended to come out of this alive, thus I used everything I had, including my very life.

I ignited my Dao laws with my obsession and used the flames to temper all the precious materials I had gathered. I spent years working on it, yet I still felt that I was far from perfect.

Then suddenly, I was enlightened when I heard a voice in my mind. It was my heart demon; it had finally awakened.

It knew what I wanted, thus my heart demon offered me a solution which I gladly accepted, for I knew I had nothing to lose. I sacrificed my cultivation base and my body, using them as the metal, and fused it into my creation. Then finally, using my soul as the last ember, I let my heart demon perfect my creation.

Even at the very end, I knew that while my creation was perfect; it was still incomplete. Of course, unless a person cultivated it, it will be deemed incomplete. Thus, with my last wisp of consciousness, I finished my legacy and sealed the technique I had created into this wooden slip.

I recorded my life's experiences and tribulations for my inheritor to learn and as a final gift or you could say my last wish; I want my inheritor to name this technique after learning it. I hope that you will not suffer the tribulations that I did and are able to benefit from my experiences."

After an hour, Lin Mu had completed reading the entire wooden slip. As soon as he read the last word, all the words written on the wooden slip faded away and new words appeared on the wooden slip.

Lin Mu read these words and found that these words were describing the unique technique that the Lost Immortal had created. He read them and was slowly lost in them. Unknown to him, senior Xukong was closely observing him.

Xukong felt that everything was normal at the start, but after a while, he saw tears coming out of Lin Mu's eyes. He tried calling out to him but received no answer, as if he was lost in enlightenment.

'What kind of legacy did he receive?' Xukong thought.

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Chapter 56: Returning To The Northwind Inn

Lin Mu had been reading the wooden slip for the past few hours, but still had not finished it. Senior Xukong had tried calling out to him multiple times, but he never responded, thus senior Xukong gave up and waited for him to normalize.

In the blink of an eye, it was morning, and the sun had risen. Lin Mu was shaken from his trance after his consciousness disappeared from the Sleepscape and returned to his body. He slowly opened his eyes in a daze and looked around. After seeing that he had returned to the hunting shack, Lin Mu took a deep breath.

"That was a really unique experience." Lin Mu muttered as he remembered the information recorded in the wooden slip.

After Lin Mu had finished reading the introduction, he saw the technique that was created by the Lost immortal. It took him a long time to read it, and he still could not understand it. The technique was complex, very complex; so much so that he could not even identify some of the words that were mentioned in it.

After the technique, the next thing that was recorded in the wooden slip was the life experiences of the Lost immortal. When Lin Mu read them he felt as if he was there and was experiencing them firsthand. He could not tell if it was an illusion or not, but everything that he saw looked extremely real.

'Guess, I'll have to ask senior Xukong for an explanation.' Lin Mu thought.

Lin Mu then called out to senior Xukong and received a reply instantly.

Xukong had been a little worried after seeing that Lin Mu was in a trance. He knew it was due to the legacy treasure, but could not tell if it was good or not. When Xukong had told Lin Mu about the legacy treasures, he had left out some information. Some Legacy treasures had powerful seals on them, which when released would bind to the first person who came in contact with it.

While this was fine, if the Legacy contained was suitable for that person, but if it was not so, this would become extremely troublesome. Xukong had observed and scanned the wooden slip before allowing Lin Mu to use it; but when he saw that Lin Mu was stuck in a trance and could not respond, he became wary.

The only reason Xukong could not find the cause for this would be if the legacy treasure was created by someone from the higher realms. Another reason why he easily let Lin Mu use the legacy treasure was that he was sure that there wasn't much chance that it could be difficult for him.

While Xukong was thinking of possible scenarios, Lin Mu suddenly disappeared and his vision turned black for a moment. Then he felt the familiar spatial energy in his surroundings and realized that he had returned to the ring. A few seconds later, he sensed Lin Mu's voice and responded to it.

"What did you gain from the Legacy treasure, Lin Mu?" Xukong asked.

Lin Mu then started to explain everything that he had found out from the wooden slip. He told him about the Lost immortal and how he created the nameless technique. He told him about the technique itself, how it was very complex, and about the words, he was unable to read. Finally, he told him about the life experiences of the Lost Immortal that were recorded in the wooden slip.

The first thing that shocked Xukong was the circumstances of the Lost Immortal. He was able to identify the reason for his misfortunes and the unending streak of tribulations. The person titled as the Lost Immortal actually had a special type of physique called as the 'Broken Fate physique'.

It was an extremely rare physique and could be ranked along with the people who were the owners of the Garden of Karma. Though its rarity did not mean that the physique was beneficial to its bearer. Rather, the person who was born with this physique would suffer endless misfortunes and tribulations. They would then perish and be removed from the wheel of fate. This was the reason this physique was named as the 'Broken Fate physique'.

Xukong could not tell how an expert like the Lost Immortal, who had traveled countless worlds, did not identify his own physique. He should have been knowledgeable enough to identify it. It was only when Lin Mu was telling Xukong about the mythical beasts that the Lost Immortal encountered, that he understood the reason for his ignorance towards his physique.

The mythical beast that caught Xukong's attention was the 'Realm eater worm'.

'It's impossible that the Lost Immortal encountered a Realm eater worm. Their clan was eradicated millions of years ago and the last of their bloodlines were also extinguished by the heavenly Dao for accumulating unforgivable amounts of negative karma.' Xukong thought.

"Unless the Lost Immortal encountered the Realm eater worms before their extinction." Xukong muttered.

'This would explain why he did not know about his physique. He was probably one of the earliest owners of the Broken Fate physique. There simply was no information about this physique back then.' Xukong inferred.

Xukong was also wary about the nameless technique that was created by the Lost Immortal. He could not tell what effect the technique would have on Lin Mu, as it was deemed incomplete by its creator himself. Considering the state in which the Lost Immortal created the technique, Xukong had all the reasons to be wary of it.

But Xukong would not be prohibiting Lin Mu from learning the technique. He will only explain to Lin Mu what he thought about the technique and leave the final decision up to him. If he wanted Lin Mu to become a peerless cultivator, he could not keep on interfering in his life. It was up to Lin Mu, to decipher his fate and wade through his karma.

Lin Mu then asked senior Xukong about the words which he was unable to understand. He felt that the words were from a different language and did not seem to belong there. After explaining to senior Xukong, he got the reply that while senior Xukong knew what language the words belonged to, he would not be able to tell him what the words meant, until he drew them.

Lin Mu thus tried to draw them on the ground, but found that he could not. It was as if his mind went blank as soon as he thought of drawing them.

"Hmm, it's the world's restrictions prohibiting you from drawing them. Wait till tonight when you return to the Sleepscape. There you should be able to draw them with no problems." Xukong told Lin Mu.

"But what language are these words from, Senior?" Lin Mu asked.

"It's not exactly a language but rather a different script of writing. Those words are most likely from the Dao script. It is a universal script that every language can use and can be understood by all intelligent races." Xukong answered.

"It is also necessary for many things such as making formations, forging spirit weapons, refining alchemical pills, and of course creation of various techniques." Xukong further explained.

Lin Mu's curiosity in learning the Dao script was ignited, hence he asked senior Xukong to teach him about it. Senior Xukong accepted Lin Mu's request and told him that he would teach him some lessons every day. Then he reminded Lin Mu what he was supposed to be doing today.

'Oh no! I need to get to the town soon.' Lin Mu thought.

Lin Mu skipped his breakfast and started storing everything that he thought to be of use. Before leaving, he made sure he had everything one last time. He then started his journey back to the town. But for Lin Mu, who had become a cultivator, such distance was a stone's throw away.

Lin Mu strengthened his legs with spirit qi and broke into a sprint. His speed was incomparable than before, and within five minutes he was already at the town. Some people spotted him running towards the town, but all they could see was a trail of dust.

Before entering the town, he saw the peasants working in the spirit apple orchards. This made him reminisce about the time when he was still weak and was working in the orchards. Although it had only been a few weeks, he still felt as if ages had gone by.

Pushing his thoughts to the back, Lin Mu continued on to the inn. Because the Northwind inn was close to the entrance of the town, it did not take him much time to reach it. When Lin Mu was standing outside the inn's entrance, he heard the sounds of someone arguing and shouting, coming from inside the inn.

He walked in and found a group of ten hunters arguing with the three people at the desk. Lin Mu identified one of the three people at the desk as the clerk who had booked the room for him. But he could not tell who the other two were. He also identified the ten hunters rather easily. These ten hunters belonged to one of the two hunter groups in the town, whose leader was a cultivator.

The Leader of the hunter group was a man called Gan Ma. He was a cultivator, thus had some influence in the town. Lin Mu had seen the man before and also had heard about him. Gan Ma was a rather crude man, who was selfish and ruthless. He would often forcefully take over good hunting areas from common hunters, and if they resisted, all that waited for them was a harsh beating.

Lin Mu's father especially did not like Gan Mu and had warned him to stay away from the man. Who knew that Lin Mu would have to defy his father's warning today.

Suddenly the clerk who had booked the room for Lin Mu spotted him and pointed at him while shouting, "There he is, that's the boy who booked the last room."

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Chapter 57: A Small Conflict

Lin Mu would have never expected that he would be facing such a scenario just because he was one day late. There were currently thirteen pairs of eyes staring at him, some with helplessness and others with anger.

At first, he could not figure out why these people were looking at him with such eyes, but as soon as they all started speaking, he knew he was in another troubling situation. The ten hunters soon surrounded him in three directions.

"Boy, give up the room that you booked." One of the hunters spoke.

"Yeah, since you did not come yesterday to claim it, you don't need it anymore." A short hunter spoke.

Confusion could be seen on Lin Mu's face as he could not understand why these hunters were speaking to him like that. Only when the clerk came forward and explained did he understand.

"These hunters want the room that you booked. They came today for a room but I told them we did not have any available, they said they were willing to pay double and asked if any rooms were unoccupied. They then saw that one room was still unoccupied, thus they forced me to give it to them." The clerk hurriedly spoke.

"Take your refund and leave, brat." The hunter in front of Lin Mu ordered.

An annoyed expression could be seen on Lin Mu's face. There was no chance that he was going to accept these hunter's orders. He had booked the room well ahead and had also paid in advance. These men had no right to order him.

"These men are paying double the price right, so I'll just pay triple." Lin Mu said smugly.

Right now Lin Mu had plenty of gold coins, so he was not worried. He would be able to earn those back rather easily once he starts hunting again.

Upon hearing Lin Mu's words, the hunters became confused at first but then became angrier. But the man who was with the clerk looked happy instead. Looking closer at the man's clothing, which seemed to be of higher quality than that of a commoner, Lin Mu guessed that he was the owner of this inn.

"You think you can just disrespect us like that." The short hunter spoke with fire in his eyes.

Looking at the short man's expression, Lin Mu guessed that he was the one who wanted the room while others were just here to back him up. The Hunters belonging to Gan Ma's group were well-known bullies. They submitted to the strong while oppressing the weak.

If it was the Lin Mu of the past, he would have never dared to go against these men. But with the strength that he had right now, the only person who could give him trouble would be Gan Mu himself.

Suddenly one of the hunters seemed to have recognized Lin Mu as he pointed at him and whispered in the ear of his companion, who then told the rest of the hunters.

"So, you're the boy who had his property seized by the supervisor of the orchard." Said the hunter standing in front of Lin Mu.

"Weren't you also banished from the town?" another hunter added.

"No wonder he was willing to pay triple the cost for the room. The money doesn't belong to him, he stole it." Said the short hunter, straight away accusing Lin Mu.

Lin Mu saw the situation turning worse and worse by the second. Thus he spoke up.

"I wasn't banished, I was only thrown out of the town. These are the words of the supervisor himself. And I didn't steal the money, I made it by hunting beasts." Lin Mu countered.

"As if a scrawny brat like you could kill beasts that would be worth that much." A long-faced hunter spoke.

"Don't listen to him, he's only lying to save his skin. Catch him, we'll hand him off to the guards." The hunter in front of Lin Mu spoke.

"Search him for the coins too. He's definitely has them on his body." The short man spoke with greed in his eyes.

Seeing that there was no chance that this situation will be resolved. Lin Mu readied himself for a fight. He could sense their strength and found them to be much weaker compared to him. The strongest hunter was in the 8th stage of the body tempering realm.

While Lin Mu could sense the hunter's strength, they could not do the same as he was a cultivator now. Because they did not sense Lin Mu's strength, they made the mistake of thinking that he was much weaker than them.

The first to approach Lin Mu were the three hunters on his left. One of them tried to grab his arm, but Lin Mu was able to push him away effortlessly. Then the four hunters on the right lunged at him and grabbed his shoulder and wrist.

Lin Mu used his left hand, which was free, and smashed it on the hands of the men that were holding his shoulder and hand. A snapping could be heard as the arms of the four men were broken in one hit.

"Aaargh" The four hunters on the right shouted in pain.

"Careful, he's been hiding his strength somehow. Use all your force." The leading hunter shouted.

Lin Mu did not want to straightaway kill the men in the town, as it was prohibited. Thus he did not use his sword or the spirit qi to strengthen his body. All he had used was just his body's raw strength.

The hunters did not hold back a bit and drew their weapons. Two of them were using swords, three were using axes, and two were using maces, leaving behind the four with broken hands. All of them attacked Lin Mu together, but he was able to dodge it with his superior speed.

Lin Mu flitted between their bodies and rained blows upon them. The short hunter managed to slip behind Lin Mu and slashed with his axe at Lin Mu's back. Lin Mu saw this with his spirit sense and reacted. He moved his right fist back without even seeing and slammed it on the side of the axe.

~Klink~ Crack crack crack~

A cracking sound could be heard, as the blade of the axe shattered into pieces. The hunters were now shocked and fear could be seen in the eyes of the leading hunter as he guessed Lin Mu's strength.

"Run, leave him, he's a cultivator." The leader of the hunters shouted.

Fear spread to all of the hunters, and in the next second, they ran away. Lin Mu did not bother to stop them and let them leave, as he knew that if he used any more force, he may just kill them. While he may be able to get off scot-free, even if the guards found out that he killed the hunters in self-defense; what he did not want was Gan Ma to target him. Especially not before he was able to find out his cultivation base.

If Gan Ma was weaker than him, it would not be a problem, but if he was stronger, then Lin Mu will have to plan for it. Though Lin Mu was sure that he will be able to escape with the help of the two skills he got from the ring.

Once the hunters left the inn, Lin Mu walked up to the desk and spoke.

"Now that they're gone, I don't need to pay any more money right." Lin Mu spoke with a little chuckle.

After witnessing Lin Mu's strength, the owner did not want to antagonize him, as he thought it would not end well for him. The owner gulped and spoke,

"Yes, yes. You don't have to pay anything. You already paid in advance, please go on in." The owner spoke and gestured to the clerk.

The clerk then guided Lin Mu up the stairs and into a corridor. He walked all the way to the end and stood in front of a door. He then took out a small key out of his pocket and opened the door, while gesturing with his hand.

"This is the room you booked, sir." The clerk spoke respectfully.

Lin Mu was not surprised by the sudden respectful attitude of the clerk. Cultivators were considered to be above commoners and thus were feared and respected. This was the first instance where Lin Mu felt the prestige of a cultivator.

"Please inform me if you need anything." The clerk said.

Lin Mu nodded and spoke.

"Is there a kitchen here?" Lin Mu asked.

"If you're asking about food, then you don't have to worry, as breakfast and dinner will be provided to you free of charge." The clerk answered.

"What if I want to cook it on my own?" Lin Mu questioned.

The clerk seemed confused by Lin Mu's question but did not probe further.

"Ah yes, you can use the kitchen if you want. I'll notify the cook beforehand." The clerk answered.

Lin Mu did not want to eat normal food anymore as it would not be of much use to him and even if he did eat it, the small portion would not satisfy his enormous appetite.

He could have also given the meat to the cook to prepare, but he did not want to take the risk of someone stealing parts from it. Even a small portion of high tier beast meat would sell for a few silvers in the town.

While Lin Mu was settling in the inn, the hunters had reached their leader's house.

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Chapter 58 – Xukong's First Test

Near the western exit of town, there existed an open ground. Many tents were currently pitched in that open ground. On some of the tents, banners or plates bearing the symbols of mercenary groups could be seen. While the other tents were just normal tents used by hunters.

The mercenaries could be seen sitting outside the tents, doing chores. Some were sharpening their weapons, some were taking an inventory while others were just talking to each other. Suddenly the mercenaries heard a commotion coming from the site where hunters had their tents set up.

Some of the mercenaries stood up and walked there to check. Upon reaching there, they saw a couple of broken tents as well as hunters that were currently being beaten. They looked at the aggressors and saw that they did not seem to care much as they continued their one-sided fight.

"We already told you to leave once, why don't you listen?" A short hunter said as he punched the face of a man lying on the ground.

"Do you dare to disrespect Gan Ma again? A long-faced man spoke as he stepped on the hand of another hunter lying on the ground.

These hunters were none other than the same hunters who had fought with Lin Mu before. Since they were unable to get a room at the inn, they had no choice but to pitch a tent with the other hunters at the western exit of the town.

Most of the hunters were not natives of Northern town. They usually came from the subordinate villages and lived at inns for the most part as they could not buy houses in the town. There were two reasons for this, the first being that there were few empty houses left in the town and the houses were expensive to buy as well.

Especially for hunters who barely made a few gold coins a year, it was impossible to buy a house. Though it was not like every hunter stayed at the inn during the winter. The hunters that came from the villages would return there during the winter and only return during the spring.

"Damn it, how did that kid become a cultivator?" The short hunter shouted as he punched an unconscious hunter.

He then stood up and then kicked the unconscious man one last time before leaving him. A couple of other hunters came by and picked up the unconscious man before taking him away.

"Don't think too much. Leader Gan Ma will take care of him soon." The long-faced hunter replied.

"I want to kill that kid with my own hands. Even leader took years to become a cultivator, who even taught him?" The short hunter spoke with frustration on his face.

A buff hunter that was standing at the side spoke,

"There aren't many cultivators in the town. It's definitely not someone from the town, thus it could only be someone from the mercenary companies."

"God dammed mercenaries, putting their noses where they don't belong. First, they take our hunting grounds, then our inns, and now they try to change our power structure. Trash like that brat should stay trash forever and know their place." The short man said.

Suddenly sounds of weapons being drawn can be heard.

"Try and say that again." A burly mercenary spoke with a rough voice.

The hunters became alarmed as they saw mercenaries standing behind them. One of the hunters with a long face came forward and passed a small pouch to the mercenary while whispering something to him. After hearing the hunter, the mercenary took the pouch and retreated along with the rest of them.

The hunter who had spoken with the mercenary came back and slapped the head of the short hunter.

"Watch your mouth. Look around before you wag your tongue. You nearly got us in trouble." The long-faced hunter spoke.

The short hunter did not protest and just stayed silent. While the rest of the hunters set up the tent.

Back at the Northwind inn, Lin Mu was looking around the room. The room was at least ten times bigger than the hunting shack. There were four beds, a table, and four chairs in the room. On the right of the room, there were two windows, through which one could see the street below.

Lin Mu had not expected for the room to be this big. The room was clearly made for accommodating four people, but right now he had occupied it all by himself.

'No wonder the hunters wanted this room, it is big enough for four of them.' Lin Mu thought.

Lin Mu was bothered by the attitude of the Inn's staff, but understood that it was something that they had to do. Gan Ma's hunters were forceful bullies, and if they had not given in, they probably would have done something worse to the staff.

"Gan Ma would probably come after me soon. I need to get a measure of his cultivation before that." Lin Mu muttered to himself.

"Hmm, so this is the place you will be staying at." Xukong spoke inside Lin Mu's mind.

"Yes senior." Lin Mu replied.

"Seems like you will have to return to the forest every time you want to train your skills though." Xukong said.

"That I will have to do indeed. I can't reveal them here, of course." Lin Mu spoke.

"And this man Gan Ma, I want you to eliminate him. This will be your first test." Xukong ordered.

Lin Mu was a little taken aback by senior Xukong's words, but then he further explained.

"You need to learn to eliminate a problem from the very roots. If you don't, they will only come to trouble you in the future." Xukong spoke with a stern tone.

Lin Mu nodded and accepted senior Xukong's test. He then left the room and went downstairs towards the desk. He went up to the clerk and asked where the kitchen was.

"Follow me, please." The clerk spoke.

Lin Mu then followed the clerk to the back of the inn from where they exited out into the yard. The kitchen of the inn was located in a small shed in the yard behind the inn. He took him to the shed where a fat and squat man was chopping some meat.

"Fatty Yuan, this sir will be using the kitchen to cook their food. Please ensure that he has whatever he needs." The clerk spoke to the cook.

The cook named Fatty Yuan did not speak and only grunted in response. The clerk was unnerved by this and looked at Lin Mu's face. Seeing that Lin Mu did not mind the cook's dismissive attitude, he took a breath of relief. He then left Lin Mu and went back to his work.

"Use whatever you want here." Fatty Yuan spoke curtly before resuming his work.

Lin Mu could not withdraw the meat from his ring, thus he just used the ingredients that were already there and cooked some breakfast for himself. Although it did not fill him up, it was enough for him to last awhile. He would have to withdraw the meat before coming to the inn next time.

After Lin Mu finished his breakfast, he left the inn and headed towards Jing Wei's emporium. He wanted to sell all the materials he had accumulated during these few days and also try to find a weapon manual.

Lin Mu looked around the town and observed that the people have started to wear thicker and warmer clothes. He himself had no need for such clothes as his body would resist the cold and keep his body at normal temperature.

A few minutes later he had reached the desolate alley. Lin Mu walked up to the shop and withdrew all the materials he had. Unknowingly, he had accumulated a rather large amount of materials. A problem now presented to Lin Mu. He could not justify bringing so many materials at once to the shop, as he would not be able to show how he carried them here.

Even the sled that Lin Mu made would not be enough to carry so many materials. He thus withdrew only half of the materials and placed the rest of them back into the ring. He then placed the sled at the side of the shop and opened the door of the shop.

Surprisingly, the door still felt hard to open, even though Lin Mu was much stronger than before. He did not mind this and picked up some of the items before walking in. He placed the items at the empty counter and went back to get the rest of them. After he had brought all of the items inside, he ringed the small bell kept on the counter.

A few minutes later Duan Ke walked out from the door behind the counter. She looked at the counter that was overflowing with beast materials and became annoyed. There were 21 beast pelts, beast horns, feathers, and many more bones lying on the counter.

Duan Ke then inwardly sighed.

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Chapter 59: Getting A Weapons Manual

Duan Ke had certainly not expected for Lin Mu to bring so many beast materials within a week. It seemed to her that Lin Mu had outdone himself this time, as looking at the materials she could tell that most of them were from high-tier beasts.

"I assume you are here to sell these materials?" Duan Ke spoke.

"And also to buy some things." Lin Mu hurriedly added.

After a few transactions, Lin Mu had understood that Duan Ke did not like it if he only sold and did not buy anything. Looking at her expression he could at least tell that she was probably not having a good day, thus he did not want to piss her off even more.

Lin Mu was indeed right about Duan Ke not having a good day. She had been searching for clues about the sword intent that was released two days ago. Her grandfather was also doing his best in scanning the library for any evidence of a hidden cultivator. Her grandfather's library had an enormous amount of materials, so much so that it could compare to that of the top sects.

If there was any clue about the hidden cultivator that ascended or the overbearing sword intent, it would be present in the library. There was no chance that a cultivator who had the aptitude of being able to ascend or having peerless sword intent would be able to hide every track of themselves. They must have had outstanding talent when they were younger, thus there should be some records of them.

Duan Ke felt a little better that Lin Mu would be buying something as well, hence her expression eased a bit. She went ahead and started checking the beast materials. Some of the materials were a little damaged, but most of them were fine.

After confirming the quality of the materials, Duan Ke calculated their value. There were some mid-tier beast materials mixed in, along with high-tier ones. Thus she took a few minutes. Five minutes later she had finished her calculations and concluded it to be 27 gold, 59 silver, and 11 copper coins.

To be honest, Duan Ke was a little surprised at Lin Mu's pace of making money. A month ago he had only 20 copper coins, and now he was making gold coins instead. She was also shocked by the growth of his strength. Just by looking at him, she could tell that he was already at the 9th stage of the body tempering realm at the very least.

"Your total would be 27 gold, 59 silver, and 11 copper coins." Duan Ke spoke.

Lin Mu nodded at this price, as he had already estimated it to be around this value.

"I would like to buy a weapons training manual for a sword." Lin Mu said.

"Very well, go to the fourth shelf from the right and pick out whatever one that you like." Duan Ke replied.

Lin Mu nodded and turned to the right and went towards the shelf. While he was looking at the old booklets and scrolls, senior Xukong spoke in his mind.

"Don't waste your effort here. None of these manuals are worth your time, you should instead ask that woman for a better one. She is hiding a lot of secrets, there are concealing and illusory formations placed all around this shop." Xukong spoke.

Lin Mu had suspected that Jing Wei and Duan Ke were cultivators, but now senior Xukong's words had just confirmed it. He wondered what their cultivation base could be.

"Do you know what their cultivation level is, senior Xukong?" Lin Mu asked silently.

"I would have to use my spirit sense to do that, but if I did, they would be alarmed and will know that I'm here. But from the formations, I can tell that at least one of them is a very high-level cultivator." Xukong answered.

"If you're this curious, why don't you try sensing it yourself?" Xukong spoke with a chuckle, as if he was looking forward to something fun.

Lin Mu felt a little strange upon hearing senior Xukong's tone, but did not think much of it. He returned to the counter and saw that Duan Ke was taking the materials to the back of the shop. Duan Ke saw that Lin Mu had returned, hence assumed that he had chosen a manual.

"Show me the manual that you want to buy." Duan Ke spoke.

"Oh, I don't want those weapon manuals, I want the ones better than that." Lin Mu spoke as he used his spirit sense to probe Duan Ke's cultivation base.

But Lin Mu was unsuccessful in finding her cultivation base. He felt as if there was a barrier stopping his spirit sense from getting close to her. Duan Ke was shocked by this but did not show it on her face.

"Is that so, please wait here for a bit then." Duan Ke replied.

Duan Ke then picked up the last of the materials all at once with ease and went into the door behind the counter. Lin Mu asked senior Xukong about the barrier that was surrounding Duan Ke.

"That was the effect of a defensive spirit tool. It was protecting her from spirit sense probes." Xukong spoke.

"Then what would her cultivation base be?" Lin Mu questioned.

"Well, just from her ability to use spirit tools, you can assume that she's above the Qi refining realm. As in order to use spirit tools, you have to be at the core condensation realm at the very minimum." Xukong explained.

Lin Mu gulped and became a little nervous as just Duan Ke was strong enough to defeat him alone. Who knows how strong her grandfather Jing Wei was. From senior Xukong's information, he already got that Jing Wei was the stronger one of the two and was the person who had set up these formations.

Five minutes later, Duan Ke walked out of the door with Jing Wei behind her. They came to stand at the counter when Jing Wei spoke.

"So, my granddaughter says you don't like the weapons manuals here and want better quality ones." Jing Wei spoke with an amused tone.

Lin Mu nodded and spoke, "Yes, Owner Jing Wei."

"Then let me see how strong you've become." Jing Wei spoke with a stern tone.

Before Lin Mu could say anything in reply, he felt a pricking pain in his head which he guessed to be Jing Wei's spirit sense. But in the next moment, he felt like a veil covered his body entirely and the pain in his head stopped.

Lin Mu then saw the pair of grandfather and granddaughter in front of him and became terrified. The condition of those two did not look good, their faces were drained of blood and became pale. Sweat could be seen on their foreheads, while Duan Ke was straight up shivering with fear.

A few seconds later senior Xukong chuckled in his mind once again. Suddenly, Jing Wei grasped the black-beaded bracelet on his wrist and broke it apart. In the next moment, he could see that Jing Wei and Duan Ke seemed to be free from whatever that was bothering them.

"Humph, and I was just starting to have fun." Xukong muttered.

The veil that Lin Mu felt was covering his body, slowly vanished. He then heard Jing Wei spoke.

"Okay, you satisfy my conditions. Now take this and please leave." Jing Wei hurriedly spoke.

A coin pouch appeared on the counter along with a booklet. This surprised Lin Mu, as Jing Wei had just used a spatial treasure. They had been concealing their capabilities all this time, but now they suddenly dropped all pretenses and revealed that they were a cultivator by using a spatial treasure.

Lin Mu took the coin pouch and booklet. He then turned around and left the old shop swiftly, as he felt like that was the right thing to do at that time. He touched the sled that was kept to the side and stored it in the ring.

Lin Mu walked out of the alley and left the old shop behind. He suddenly felt a fluctuation in qi, which made him turn around. Upon turning around, Lin Mu saw that the alley in which the old shop was located had vanished.

"How?" Lin Mu muttered to himself.

"That was the concealing formation being activated. And it's a high grade concealing formation as well." Xukong spoke.

"A high grade concealing formation?" Lin Mu questioned.

"It's strong enough to hide a place from the senses of a Dao shell realm cultivator." Xukong explained before Lin Mu could continue his question.

"Let's return to the forest. You should take a look at the weapons manual that the old man gave you." Xukong said.

"Yes, senior." Lin Mu responded.

After Lin Mu left the town, he thought about senior Xukong's strange behavior as well as the terrified pair of Grandfather and granddaughter. He wondered if he should ask senior Xukong or not, as it was picking at his mind.

While Lin Mu was out, he had no idea that what just happened in the shop had now terrified Jing Wei for a lifetime.

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Chapter 60: The Terrified Jing Wei And Duan Ke

Fifteen minutes ago, when Lin Mu had asked Duan Ke for a better quality weapons manual, she had actually not minded it. She would be open to selling him a higher quality manual if he was willing to pay the price for it.

But when Duan Ke felt her defensive spirit tool activate, she understood his underlying meaning. He did not just want a common weapons manual that's for body tempering realm experts, instead what he wanted was a weapons manual that's intended for a Qi refining realm cultivator.

Lin Mu's spirit sense had shocked Duan Ke, as she had never expected for him to become a cultivator this fast. It was only a month ago when he was in the 4th stage of the body tempering realm, and now he seemed to be a Qi refining realm cultivator. From what she observed, Duan Ke could tell that Lin Mu was at the 9th stage of the body tempering realm when he became a Qi refining realm expert.

Pushing all these thoughts to the back of her mind, Duan Ke decided to inform her grandfather first. She picked up the materials from the counter and walked to the back of the shop. She then blew out the lamp that was hanging from the ceiling and appeared in the enormous courtyard.

She stored the materials in her storage ring and went to the manor. Once inside the manor, Duan Ke looked for her grandfather who was currently in the massive library. She quickly found him standing near a shelf, reading from a book.

Jing Wei sensed his granddaughter's unease when she appeared in the library. At first, he thought that it was because she had found some clues, but when she spoke; it was not something he had expected.

"Grandfather, that boy Lin Mu came to sell beast materials and now he's asking for a high-grade weapons manual." Duan Ke spoke.

Jing Wei stopped reading the book he was holding and put it back onto the shelf before turning around.

"Hmm, so why does he think we have those manuals?" Jing Wei asked while stroking his beard.

"He has refined his spirit sense now. He tried to sense my cultivation base." Duan Ke replied.

"What stage?" Jing Wei shortly questioned.

"The 9th stage of the body tempering realm at least." Duan Ke answered.

"If he has the guts to ask you and even try to blatantly sense your cultivation base, I guess we can test him." Jing Wei spoke with an amused expression.

Jing Wei then left the manor and walked towards the entrance of the shop. Duan Ke was walking along with her grandfather, thinking about Lin Mu. She was wondering what kind of fortunate encounter he had, that allowed him to become a cultivator this fast.

Soon they reached the entrance of the shop and appeared in the back room. Duan Ke opened the door and entered the shop with Jing Wei behind her. Jing Wei silently gestured to Duan Ke and asked her to stand back, as he was intending to deal with this situation.

"So, my granddaughter says you don't like the weapons manuals here and want better quality ones." Jing Wei spoke with an amused tone.

Lin Mu nodded and spoke, "Yes, Owner Jing Wei."

"Then let me see how strong you've become." Jing Wei spoke with a stern tone.

Jing Wei had intended to gauge Lin Mu's cultivation base at first, thus he used his spirit sense. Jing Wei's own cultivation base was sealed, and hence he could not use his techniques or skills. Thus the method he had chosen to test Lin Mu was to directly exert pressure on Lin Mu's mind.

Jing Wei easily sensed Lin Mu's cultivation base, which was at the early stage of the Qi refining realm.

'He's progressed rather fast. He is already halfway through to the mid-stage of the qi refining realm.' Jing Wei thought.

Jing Wei then used his spirit sense and touched Lin Mu's head. He then saw Lin Mu slightly wince in pain, but in the next moment, he heard a thundering harrumph in his head. Suddenly a veil-like barrier covered Lin Mu and an imposing presence spread out from his body.

Jing Wei could even see the presence materializing. Bit by bit, the pressure was getting heavier. He was able to resist it but he did not think Duan Ke would be able it bear it for much longer. The presence got even denser and had now completely occupied his vision.

Neither Jing Wei nor Duan Ke could see anything anymore except for an empty black void in front of them. The shop and Lin Mu had disappeared from their vision. Suddenly Jing Wei saw a colossal figure appear in front of him. The figure was hidden in darkness, and only a faint silhouette of it could be observed.

Ten giant golden yellow eyes opened on the colossal silhouette. As soon as Jing Wei's eyes met those ten eyes, he experienced what true terror felt like. It was as if the presence was commanding him to cease existing. He could not even come close to imagining the strength of the being who could exert such pressure just by the virtue of their presence.

Jing Wei had fought against the invaders from the forbidden continent in the war that occurred a thousand years ago. During that war, he had destroyed the shrines that were made by the invaders. The function of these shrines was to aid in summoning an evil beast from another realm.

The invaders had once come close to summoning the evil beast and were able to partially open a summoning portal to a different realm. Jing Wei along with other experts of his time went to stop the summoning. It was then that they experienced the strength of a being that was above the Immortal ascension realm.

But even the full strength of that beast could not come close to the mere presence of this being. In the past couple of days, he had sensed a cultivator ascending and had also experienced the peerless sword intent of a hidden expert. He had thought that these two incidents were already shocking enough, but he never thought that he was soon going to face a being that was even stronger than that.

Duan Ke was in a worse condition than Jing Wei. There were no thoughts in her mind other than that of pure terror. She was shivering with fear and could not think of anything. She did not think of moving; she did not think of resisting; she did not think of dying. She had become a shell of her previous self that was only filled with terror now.

Duan Ke and Jing Wei were both drenched with sweat. Although only a few seconds had passed in the actual world, both of them felt as if years had gone by. Jing Wei was trying to think of a way to get out of this situation. He had one solution that was bound to work, but he did not want to use it as it could only be used once.

Jing Wei knew that he would not be able to survive this if it was the actual being, but this was just the presence of that being that was imprinted on Lin Mu. He could not think of any reason why such a tyrannically strong being chose Lin Mu, a boy who was rather unassuming.

Suddenly Jing Wei heard a chuckle. It came from the colossal being that was in front of him. He could sense the ridicule in that chuckle and knew that he deserved it. He also understood that it was the final warning given by the being, thus he gritted his teeth and used the trump card he was trying to save.

Jing Wei grasped the black beaded bracelet that was on his left wrist and broke it apart. The black beaded bracelet was a spirit tool that was made by an ancestor of his clan. This ancestor was at the immortal ascension stage and had created the spirit tool, with the intention to be passed down as an heirloom.

As soon as the black beaded bracelet was broken, the floating figure of an old man appeared in front of Jing Wei. The old man looked similar to Jing Wei, but appeared to be slightly younger than Jing Wei. The figure was sitting cross-legged and had placed his palms at his navel. The left palm of the figure was kept on the right palm and was facing upwards.

A small sphere was floating above the palms of the figure. The sphere was mostly blue with some green and brown parts on it. If one looked at it closely, it seemed like a planet. The figure raised his palms up to his chest along with the sphere. Then in the next moment, the figure moved his palms away and stretched out his arms. Suddenly he slammed his palms together in a praying gesture, with the small sphere stuck between the palms.

The sphere started glowing and turned into smoke, after which light filled the surroundings and banished the darkness. The light soon disappeared and Jing Wei was able to see once again. He saw that he had returned to the shop and saw Lin Mu standing in front of him with a confused expression.

Not wanting to spend any more time with the boy, Jing Wei swiftly took out a coin pouch along with a booklet. He did not even count how many coins he gave to the boy. He only knew that there were enough coins in the pouch for him to not return to the shop again.

The booklet Jing Wei had given to Lin Mu was also a top-grade sword manual that was in his clan for hundreds of years. Even he did not have the authority to practice the manual when he was in his clan, and now that he was old, he had no reason to practice it.

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Chapter 61: A Large Fortune

Lin Mu left the town and reached the forest after fifteen minutes. On the way to the forest, he had thought about asking senior Xukong what happened in the shop back there. He had finally made his mind up and was just waiting for the right moment to ask.

Near the edge of the forest, Lin Mu withdrew the weapons manual he had just bought. He opened the manual and saw its title. Confusion appeared on his face upon seeing the title of the weapons manual.

It was titled as the 'Thousand Armament Blade Scripture'. Lin Mu started reading the description and got even more confused. The manual did not even describe the use of a sword at first, instead it taught the use of multiple different weapons.

Wanting to understand it clearly, Lin Mu sat down and read the booklet with full focus. It took him over two hours before he was able to complete reading the booklet. After finishing the entire booklet, he finally understood the title and the reason why it taught multiple different weapons.

The manual first taught one to use multiple different weapons and only when they learned these, did it teach you how to use a sword. It combined the essence of a thousand different weapons and refined them to form a sword art.

Lin Mu let out a sigh after reading the manual. The teachings of the manual were complex and would need a long time for him to learn. He did not even have most of the required weapons that were needed to learn from the manual.

Seeing Lin Mu sigh, senior Xukong spoke in Lin Mu's mind.

"Is the weapons manual not to your liking?" Xukong asked.

"No, it's not that. Please take a look senior." Lin Mu replied.

Xukong scanned through the booklet and went silent for a minute before speaking.

"The quality of the weapons manual is very high, but so is its difficulty in learning. Even the requirements for learning it are many." Xukong spoke.

"Hmm, seems like you'll have to get all the weapons that are required for the manual. Though you could still attempt with the weapons, you already have." Xukong advised.

Lin Mu nodded and decided to start practicing with the weapons that he already had. He will have to buy the rest of the weapons later in the town.

Lin Mu then thought of checking the coins he had received from Jing Wei. He withdrew the coin pouch from the ring and took a look inside. The first strange thing he felt was that the weight of the pouch was very less compared to the amount of coins present in it.

The second thing he found strange was that all he could see inside the pouch were gold coins, there did not seem to be any silver or copper coins. To count how many coins were actually inside, Lin Mu poured out the contents of the pouch.

The second he started emptying the pouch, he found the third strange thing. Coins kept on pouring out of the pouch non-stop. Lin Mu's mouth was wide open in shock at this magical sight. It was only a minute later that the gold coins stopped coming out of the pouch.

A small mountain of gold coins was currently present in front of Lin Mu. He could not make sense of this situation as it had completely blown his mind. Lin Mu had to use the calming heart sutra in order to pacify his mind.

After he calmed down, Lin Mu started counting the gold coins. It took him thirty minutes before he was able to count all of the coins. The end total shocked him and also scared him a little bit. The total number of coins in that small mountain was 5000.

This was the largest amount of money Lin Mu had ever seen in his life. This amount was something that was unimaginable to him. Even the pouch that contained these coins was a spatial storage tool. Just the cost of that coin pouch was probably equal to that of the gold coins, or perhaps even more.

'But why would Jing Wei give me such a large fortune.' Lin Mu thought.

The only reason Lin Mu could think of was senior Xukong. It was probably something caused by the influence of senior Xukong.

"What did you do to Jing Wei, senior Xukong?" Lin Mu asked.

"I just had some fun," Xukong spoke with a nonchalant tone.

"What do you mean?" Lin Mu questioned.

"I scared him a little bit, or rather it was the ward that I placed on you." Xukong answered.

"What ward? Oh, is that what you meant by the gift?" Lin Mu inquired.

"Yes. Before we left my nest, I placed a ward on you. It is basically my imprint that will warn any cultivator that is excessively stronger than you." Xukong spoke.

"Though I think its effect may have been much more severe than I originally intended. It even made him waste a top grade defensive spirit tool. If he had endured for a little bit more, the pressure would have stopped by itself." Xukong explained.

Lin Mu was at a loss for words now. He did not think that something that senior Xukong made as a mere 'Warning' would end up terrifying Jing Wei.

"What do you think Jing Wei's cultivation base was then, senior Xukong?" Lin Mu asked curiously.

"It was strange. Since I don't have my main body, I could not exactly tell what his cultivation base was as it seemed to sealed." Xukong answered with uncertainty.

"Why would his cultivation base be sealed?" Lin Mu asked.

"There could be many reasons for that. But even though his cultivation base was sealed, his spirit sense is still active. From what I could tell from the strength of his spirit sense, he must be at the Nascent Soul stage at the very least, if not higher." Xukong answered.

Lin Mu wondered why Jing Wei's cultivation base was sealed. He wondered if that was the reason they were living in a dilapidated shop, were they perhaps hiding from someone?

Lin Mu could think of only a handful of things that could threaten a strong cultivator in this region. Even in Wu Lim city, where cultivators were more common, the strongest cultivators were only at the Core condensation realm.

For Jing Wei, who was probably at the nascent soul stage, Wu Lim city was just a small pond filled with weak little fishes. If he were to take over the city, there was no way that the city mayor would be able to resist.

Putting the thoughts about Jing Wei aside, Lin Mu thought about what he would do with these gold coins. He had more than enough gold to be able to buy his property back, which was one big load off his back. He will also be able to buy the weapons that will be required for learning the Thousand Armament Blade scripture.

Though there was another obstacle that could potentially prevent Lin Mu from buying his property back. Someone was bound to ask him where he got the money, and they will definitely suspect that he stole it from somewhere. He would have to think of a solution for that before he went to get his property back.

Lin Mu thus turned to senior Xukong for some advice.

"Why are you thinking of hiding it, did you forget that cultivators are above commoners? Why should they be questioning you? Instead, you should show them their place." Xukong said with an imposing tone.

Upon hearing senior Xukong's advice, the thoughts that were clouding Lin Mu's mind vanished. He realized that the best way to proceed was to be domineering and open. Even the incident with Gan Ma, he should just resolve it in a straightforward manner.

Even though killing was prohibited in the town, that rule did not completely apply to cultivators. Gan Ma had thrashed commoners before who later died due to the injuries. But he was still able to get away with little to no problems.

If cultivators had conflicts, they could resolve it amongst themselves, as long as they did not involve commoners. Once Lin Mu found out about the cultivation base of Gan Ma, depending on the level, he will either kill him in secret or in the city itself.

With his newfound determination, Lin Mu started his cultivation session. Perhaps because the burden of filial piety was lifted from Lin Mu's mind, his cultivation speed had slightly increased. He cultivated for four hours before he stopped and gauged the quantity of spirit qi within his dantian.

Lin Mu scanned his dantian and estimated that he had around 670 spirit qi wisps. Satisfied with this number, for now, he started to refine his spirit sense. Currently, his spirit sense was limited to a range of one meter, which largely restrained his sensing capabilities along with the range of the second skill 'Blink'.

Lin Mu continued refining his spirit sense till the night and only broke his concentration because he heard a faint roar coming from the forest. If it was just the roar of a normal beast it would not bother him, but this roar contained a slight amount of spirit qi within.

"A spirit Beast." Lin Mu muttered.

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Chapter 62: Hunting The First Spirit Beast

Lin Mu stood up and spread his spirit sense, which had now grown to one and a half meters long. He had depleted nearly half of his spirit qi in increasing the range of his spirit sense.

'I'll have to be a little careful as I only have half of my spirit qi stores left.' Lin Mu thought.

Lin Mu focused on the sound and estimated the location of the spirit beast. He guessed that the beast shouldn't be much farther from his location. He was also wondering why the beast wandered this far out.

Lin Mu entered the forest and swiftly moved through the trees. With his legs strengthened by spirit qi, he could run faster and made little sounds. The wind was blowing through the trees, rustling the leaves and masking the sounds of Lin Mu's steps.

A few minutes later Lin Mu reached the location which he had estimated as the site from where the roar came from. The claw marks and damaged trees confirmed his assumption. Lin Mu, therefore, kept his sense alert for any sign of movement.

He went closer and examined the claw marks that were on the trees and the ground. The marks were thin but long, making him unable to identify the beast that could have caused it. Lin Mu was not much knowledgeable about spirit beasts, except for the more common ones that the elite hunters killed and brought to the town.

Lin Mu looked at the footprints on the ground and found them to be rather shallow. The distance between the footprints was also narrow, making him think that this was a small spirit beast. Still, the claw marks made him wary of the beast.

Lin Mu looked at a corner where most of the trees were damaged and found a small pool of blood along with another different set of footprints. This made him think that it was a fight between two beasts, but the other beast was probably weaker than the spirit beast.

Lin Mu searched for any more tracks but could not find them. Suddenly he heard the sound of rustling coming from the trees. He looked up at the trees but could not find anything. He then probed with his spirit sense and found the perpetrator camouflaged in the tree.

The beast was about the size of a dog and had thin and long limbs. Each of its limbs had two sharp claws that looked like hooks. The beast had no fur and the color of its skin was dark brown, this along with the darkness of the night made it easy for the beast to camouflage.

Lin Mu saw the bloodstains on the beast's claws and determined that it was probably this beast that attacked the other beast and also made the roaring sound. He was also able to sense the spirit qi hidden within the beast. He found out that the spirit qi was concentrated in one spot within the beast's torso.

'That should be its beast core.' Lin Mu thought.

Lin Mu braced himself and studied the beast's behavior. It seemed to be biding its time and waiting for the right moment to attack. Lin Mu guessed that while he had discovered the beast, it did not realize that.

Wanting to take advantage of the beast's unawareness, Lin Mu formulated a plan. He turned around and looked in the other direction while extending his spirit sense towards his back. He then waited for the beast to react. Seemingly his plan worked, and he did not have to wait long, as the beast could not resist attacking his unguarded back.

The beast pounced from the tree towards Lin Mu's back with great speed. Its claws were extended and were aimed at his neck, intending to end him in one stroke. But as soon as the beast entered the range of Lin Mu's spirit sense, he triggered the first skill Flicker.

Lin Mu's body turned blurry and the beast simply passed through it. The beast fell on the ground five meters away and looked a little disoriented, as it had not expected this to happen. Lin Mu grasped this opportunity and used the second skill blink, teleporting to the side of the beast.

He drew the short sword and strengthened it with his spirit qi before slashing at the spirit beast's head. In the next second, the head was decapitated and the spirit beast was dead.

~Huu~

Lin Mu let out a breath that he did not even know he was holding in. He did not realize, but he was actually very nervous, as it was the very first spirit beast he had killed. He did not know how this entire thing would progress, thus he was nervous. Though in the end his confidence won over his anxiety and he successfully hunted the spirit beast.

Lin Mu touched the beast and stored its corpse into the ring. He then turned around and returned the way he came from. A few minutes later he had left the forest and was currently at the edge of the small stream. He was cleaning and preparing the spirit beast he had just killed.

Tonight Lin Mu wanted to taste what spirit beast meat tasted like. Though the beast he had hunted did not have much flesh and was rather bony. He cut open its ribs and found a small fingernail-sized brown marble in the center. This was the core of the spirit beast.

While spirit beasts had the same cultivation levels such as humans, the one difference they had was that they had spirit cores instead of a dantian. The spirit cores were usually located near the heart of a spirit beast, though some beasts had them in other parts as well.

There were also some rare beasts who had more than one spirit core. Spirit beasts of this kind were usually very strong and had a high level of cultivation.

Spirit beast cores were very useful for a cultivator, as they could be used in several different things. They were used as ingredients for alchemical pills; they were used as a power source for formations, as well as a component; they were used in the forging of spirit weapons and also for refining spirit tools.

Though there was another use for a spirit beast core, a use that could potentially multiply the strength of a cultivator. Spirit beast cores could be used to refine something called as 'Bloodline Essence'. This Bloodline essence was unique to the beast it was made from.

Bloodline essence could be assimilated by cultivators to gain new abilities and skills. Depending on the type of beast, they would get abilities that were unique to the beast. Bloodline essence would also strengthen the physique of a cultivator.

While there were multiple ways to refine Bloodline essence, using a spirit core was the most common method. Still, most cultivators would not assimilate just any bloodline essence. They would usually wait and chose a Bloodline essence that was suitable for them and complimented their cultivation base.

It was not as if there was a hundred percent chance that a cultivator would be able to assimilate a Bloodline essence. A cultivator's body could also reject the bloodline essence because of many reasons such as the bloodline essence being incompatible with the cultivator, it being impure or unstable, it could also be because of the bloodline essence being too domineering and powerful. Also, if a cultivator was weak, he could also fail to absorb the bloodline essence.

Though overall, there was always a certain percent chance of failure when assimilating a Bloodline essence. Another reason why cultivators waited to get a suitable bloodline essence was that, once they assimilated it, it would be very difficult for them to improve that bloodline.

If a cultivator wanted to improve the bloodline they had assimilated, they would have to find a higher grade bloodline that was compatible. Just finding a compatible bloodline was also not enough, most of the time, as they still needed precious materials and rare herbs to help the process.

The disciples of the sects had an advantage in this matter. Most of the sects had a repertoire of different bloodline essence along with their records. This made it convenient for the disciple to choose a bloodline essence.

Lin Mu had soon finished preparing the spirit beast. He had separated the meat and the materials such as the skin and claws. He stored everything in the ring and started his journey back to the town. After fifteen minutes, Lin Mu was very close to the town. Ensuring that no one was seeing him, he withdrew a large sack and put the beast meat he had into it.

He had put enough meat to last him for two meals, namely the dinner for now and the breakfast for tomorrow. Having done this, Lin Mu walked to the Northwind inn. As it was nighttime, there weren't many people out, except for the areas where the restaurant and eateries were located at.

Lin Mu stepped into the inn and looked at the entry desk. There was a different clerk than morning sitting at the desk. He walked up to the clerk and showed him the small wooden plate. The clerk seemed to already know him, thus he responded with respect and asked him if he wanted any assistance.

Lin Mu just told him he wanted to use the kitchen, to which the clerk nodded and gestured him to follow him.

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Chapter 63: A Letter

Lin Mu followed the clerk to the kitchen located in the backyard. There he saw the cook fatty Yuan sitting to the side and drinking from a gourd. He was taking large sips and already seemed to be drunk.

After speaking some words with Lin Mu, the clerk bade him farewell and left. Lin Mu approached the cooking area and took out the meat from the large sack. He washed the meat and chopped it up. He then took some vegetables and spices that were kept to the side and chopped them up as well.

Having done this, he took a large pot that was hanging from the wall and set it on the stove. Adding the meat along with the other ingredients, Lin Mu covered the pot. He saw that there were only embers left in the stove with no flames left, thus he added more wood and ignited the flames. He placed the bellows in front of the opening of the stove and started to blow air into the stove.

Soon the fire was blazing hot, and the pot started cooking. Lin Mu stopped blowing the bellows and sat down. He started chanting the severing heart sutra and recuperated the spirit qi he had consumed. While he was doing this, the cook fatty Yuan was watching him with hazy eyes.

The cook's face was red, and he seemed to be murmuring to himself. Thirty minutes later, a delicious aroma started arising from the pot. By now Lin Mu had replenished a small part of his spirit qi. Soon Lin Mu's stomach groaned after smelling the delicious aroma. Thus he stopped cultivating and stood up.

Even the cook seemed to have become a little sober after smelling the aroma. What Lin Mu had cooked just now was the meat from the spirit beast he had killed. Because the spirit beast had little meat and was rather bony, Lin Mu chose to make a stew instead of the roast he usually made.

Lin Mu removed the pot's lid and scooped out a large serving of stew into a bowl. He then sat down on the side and started eating the stew. The cook named Fatty Yuan stood up in a seemingly drunken stupor and walked up to the stew, while speaking to himself.

"How can this kid cooking be better than mine?"

The cook picked up a small tasting bowl and scooped up a small serving of the stew. Lin Mu did not react and waited. He wanted to see what the reaction of commoner would be upon eating spirit beast meat.

The cook brought the small bowl to his mouth and gulped down the savory and delightful stew. He enjoyed the taste of the stew for a moment and then turned extremely red in the next. His body started heating and he could not make a sense of it.

"What… what is this?" The cook spoke.

A small amount of blood started leaking out of the cook's nose and he fainted, seemingly due to the excess amount of energy raging through his body. Lin Mu was surprised by this. He did not expect that such a small serving would be enough to knock out a commoner.

Lin Mu sensed the cook's strength and placed him at the 6th stage of the body tempering realm. Wanting to gain a deeper understanding, Lin Mu used his spirit sense and observed the condition of the cook's body.

He saw that the small amount of spirit qi that was present in the stew permeated the cook's body and was wandering randomly, without a direction. Lin Mu looked closer and tried to find the cook's meridians. He found them after a few seconds and studied the difference between them and his own.

If the cook's meridians could be compared to the thickness of a hair, then Lin Mu's could compare to that of a chopstick. The difference between the wideness of the meridians was astounding. Lin Mu decided to ask senior Xukong.

"Your meridians should have been the same at first, but perhaps because of eating that purple spirit fruit they became wider." Xukong spoke.

Xukong did not say the complete truth to Lin Mu, though. Just a spirit fruit would not have been enough to widen the meridians by such a large margin. It was rather the subtle effect of the mysterious ring which had actually been changing Lin Mu's constitution.

Soon Lin Mu had emptied out the pot and had finished eating. He then sat down to chant the calming heart sutra and assimilated the vital energy. He sensed the overflowing vital energy present in the stew that he had eaten. He also sensed that the spirit qi that was present in the beast meat was readily absorbed by his body without needing much effort.

The spirit qi in the meat was enough for him to replenish his entire store. After assimilating all the spirit qi, Lin Mu stood up and walked up to his room. He sat down on his bed and continued his cultivation session. He cultivated for a couple of hours until he felt tired and sleepy.

Lin Mu soon fell asleep and appeared in the Sleepscape. It was finally time for Lin Mu to start practicing the Thousand Armament Blade scripture. There were many weapons that were described in the manual, and from those Lin Mu had a spear, axe, hatchet, and dagger, that he could practice with.

He started with the spear as it seemed to be the easiest to him. The manual described simple moves and stances for each weapon. Though they seemed to be simple to practice, what they contained was the pure essence of that weapon.

When Lin Mu started practicing, he found the process to be easy and simple, but the more he practiced, the more he became aware of the hidden complexities of the spear. He would thrust and experience that he thrusted, yet it did not feel right to him.

It was as if the manual was making him reveal his weaknesses. In a little while, Lin Mu was lost in the practice. He did not even realize as the hours passed by and morning came. His consciousness disappeared from the Sleepscape and returned to his body.

Lin Mu slowly opened his eyes and looked at the unfamiliar ceiling above him. Standing up to stretch, Lin Mu flexed his body. He then heard a knock on his door, which prompted him to open it. It was the clerk who had knocked.

"The breakfast is ready, sir, or would you prefer to cook yourself again?" The clerk asked.

"Both." Lin Mu shortly answered.

The clerk felt a little strange at Lin Mus answer but did not mind it for long and gestured Lin Mu to follow him. They went downstairs and walked to the left. They entered a small hall in which many people were currently sitting and eating their breakfast.

The clerk brought Lin Mu to an empty table and let him sit, while he brought him some breakfast. The breakfast was rather simple, consisting of some steamed buns, light soup, and vegetables. Lin Mu finished the meal in a few minutes, yet did not feel the least bit satisfied.

The Clerk was standing beside Lin Mu the entire time he was eating. The other patrons of the inn saw this and felt a little strange upon seeing the clerk standing beside Lin Mu. They wondered what could be the reason, but did not really mind it as much.

Most of the patrons of the inn were hunters with some other people like merchants, travelers, and mercenaries mixed in. Just as Lin Mu was about to get up, he saw someone familiar walk in from the entrance of the hall.

It was none other than the mercenary Yan Zhong from the Fierce Blood mercenary company. Along with him, the rest of his team members also walked in. He spotted Lin Mu and approached him.

"Greetings, Brother Lin Mu." Yan Zhong said.

"Ah, hello." Lin Mu awkwardly replied.

The other mercenaries also greeted Lin Mu next.

"Are you done with your breakfast brother Lin Mu?" Yan Zhong asked.

"No, not yet, I'm going to make more for myself." Lin Mu answered.

"Was the food here not to your liking?" the Yan Zhong asked.

"Oh, that's not it, I'm just used to something different." Lin Mu replied.

Yan Zhong nodded in response and did not ask any further. Lin Mu left the mercenaries and walked to the kitchen to prepare the meat for himself. In the kitchen, the cook Fatty Yuan was cooking food and seemed to be very energetic.

'Probably the effect of the stew from yesterday.' Lin Mu thought.

Lin Mu took out the remaining meat from the sack and covered it with spices before setting it to roast in a clay oven. The meat was cooked after fifteen minutes, thus Lin Mu did not have to wait long. After finishing his meal, Lin Mu left the inn and walked out of the town.

While he was on the way to the forest Lin Mu spotted many black dots appearing in the air. Though the one difference was that these black dots seemed to be aligned in a curving line. Lin Mu became intrigued upon seeing this, thus he decided to check and open the spatial rift.

Lin Mu looked around and ensured that there was no one watching him. He then extended his hand towards a black dot and willed it to open. In the next moment, the spatial rift opened and Lin Mu inserted his hand inside.

Once his hand went inside the spatial rift, Lin Mu sensed that it was not a normal spatial rift. It was instead a teleportation channel. Excited at the prospect of finding something valuable again, Lin Mu searched around for the object that was being transported.

Fifteen minutes later Lin Mu touched a small cylindrical object. After storing the object inside the ring, he pulled his hand out. Withdrawing the object from the ring, Lin Mu looked at it. The object in his hand was a rolled-up scroll, which had a wax seal placed on its opening.

"A letter?" Lin Mu muttered.

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Chapter 64: The Solemn Mercenaries

Lin Mu had not expected to find a letter in the teleportation channel. He had heard from senior Xukong that using a teleportation formation required spirit stones and sending even a small item required a sizable sum of spirit stones.

He determined that the letter was definitely valuable, as the sender considered it worthy enough to be sent by the teleportation channel. Lin Mu looked at the wax seal on the letter and found it to be familiar.

The wax seal on the letter depicted three cauldrons with a peony flower placed above it.

"The Tri-cauldron Peony sect?" Lin Mu muttered.

Suddenly something clicked in Lin Mu's mind, and he linked the events together. The four vessels restoration pill and the spirit stones, both of them were sent by the Tri-cauldron Peony sect. The only question left was why? Which would be answered once he opened the letter.

Lin Mu was about to break the wax seal and open the letter when the voice of senior Xukong rang in his head.

"Don't open the seal, it has an identification formation placed on it which would alert the sender and perhaps even the receiver. Place it in the ring, I'll open it." Xukong spoke.

Lin Mu instantly stopped and heeded senior Xukong's words. He stored the letter in the ring and waited for senior Xukong to reply, and a minute later he got it.

"You can take it now." Xukong spoke.

Lin Mu saw that the wax seal had been broken, and the letter could now be unrolled. He opened the letter and started reading it. The letter was addressed to the mayor of Wu Lim city, Wu Xun.

It read,

"Mayor Wu Xun, despite your incessant reports about the missing four vessels restoration pills, the peak master has rejected your demand for replacement. He is completely sure that the pills were sent and there is no conspiracy against you.

As for your report that we sent a stone instead of the pills, they are completely false and baseless. The peak master has warned that this is the last time he will tolerate this insolence, any further and the cooperation between us shall end forever.

The Tri-cauldron peony sect has been true to its words and has always provided the best quality pills. Your accusations paint us in a bad light and are unacceptable.

Since you have been doubtful about our services, we have decided to terminate our previous contract. We have returned the spirit stones you had remaining with us, as you should have noticed.

The peak master has instructed that you should cease your incessant messages. If any more messengers are found to have contacted the sect with the same reports, they shall be executed and our cooperation shall directly end.

Only contact us if you want to commission more pills or other services from the sect."

Lin Mu was a little dumbfounded after reading the entire letter. He knew that only a very rich person would be able to buy the four vessels restoration pills, but he had not expected for that person to be the mayor of Wu Lim City.

Lin Mu had also unknowingly created a conflict between the mayor and the Tri-cauldron peony sect. The result of this conflict also did not seem well to him. He could not imagine what would happen next. He had taken the one thing that would have prevented it from happening, the letter in his hands.

Seemingly in a dilemma, Lin Mu asked senior Xukong for advice. Who ended up giving him a rather quick and short answer.

"Don't bother." Xukong said.

"It is not your place to interfere. Let their destinies progress as it is, besides you don't have the capabilities to do so right now anyway, and if you do end up coming in contact with them, it won't bid well for you." Xukong further explained.

Lin Mu thought over his words and found them to be true. There was no chance that he will contact them, and if he does, it will probably end up harming him instead. He had unknowingly stolen two precious items from the mayor, so he should be hiding instead.

Lin Mu then thought about the reason for which the mayor could have bought the Four vessels restoration pills for. The obvious reason would be to heal someone, but the question was who?

From what he knew, the mayor did not have a big family, he only had a wife and two sons. This was something everyone knew and was common knowledge. If he bought such an expensive alchemical pill, then it should be for someone he cares about.

If anyone from his family was injured it would be public news and there would have been an uproar. But still, Lin Mu had his doubts. There could be a chance that someone from his family was injured, and this information was deliberately hidden.

The most likely person would be the eldest son of the mayor. Lin Mu did not know his name, but knew that he was part of the kingdom's army. If he got injured on a mission, perhaps that's why the mayor chose to hide it as it could be detrimental to him.

He also thought if it could be the second son, but doubted it, as there was not much known about the second son, except that he was a reclusive scholar who stayed cooped up at his own manor. People also did not know why he chose to live away from the mayor's manor instead of living together.

Unknowingly Lin Mu had reached the forest while he was lost in his thoughts. Putting his thoughts to rest, Lin Mu started his cultivation session. He cultivated for four hours, after which he observed his dantian and found that his maximum capacity of spirit qi had reached 750 wisps.

After this Lin Mu cooked some lunch and ate it. He then refined his spirit sense in an effort to increase its range. When it was night Lin Mu returned to the town and slept. While he was in the Sleepscape, he plucked the spirit apple that had matured. He had three spirit apples in his storage for emergencies now.

Lin Mu practiced according to the Thousand Armament Blades scripture and woke up in the morning. After eating his breakfast, Lin Mu decided to check out Jing Wei's emporium. But when he reached there, he found out that the alley it was located in was not there.

"Senior Xukong is the alley still hidden by the concealing formation." Lin Mu asked.

"No, it seems the protections have been increased. There seems to be a sealing formation placed on it as well now." Xukong spoke.

Unable to find the shop, Lin Mu returned to his routine.

Two weeks passed by in a flash, the temperature had fallen even more and light snowfall had also occurred. In these two weeks, Lin Mu would wake up in the morning, eat, cultivate, refine his spirit sense, and train with the weapons manual.

Occasionally he would go out to hunt if he got bored. He had also encountered two spirit beasts during his hunts, one of which he was able to hunt while the other he could not as there was a mercenary team already after it.

Overnight, the town would be covered in a thin layer of snow, while in the afternoon it would melt and vanish. People were wondering when the first wave of frost will start, for they were thinking of the preparations needed before it.

As soon as the frost wave hits, the entire demographic of the town changes. The hunters retreat to the town and the forest becomes a forbidden area. The rivers and streams freeze overnight, while the animals and beast of the forest retreat to the depths.

Only the strongest of fierce beasts and spirit beasts wander in the forest during this season, making it an extremely dangerous place. Lin Mu saw that while the hunters had stopped going to the forest, the mercenaries were the same and were still hunting with no rest.

Another week passed and the frost wave finally hit. The town was covered in ankle-deep snow and chilling winds blew. The people had stocked up on food and necessities, while the town head had officially designated the Northern forest as a forbidden area.

It was on this day that tragedy struck. Lin Mu had just woken up and had come down to eat breakfast in the hall when he saw the solemn faces of the mercenaries sitting within.

He saw the mercenary he was acquainted with, Yan Zhong, and approached him to inquire.

"Brother Yan Zhong, what happened, why does everyone seem so tense?" Lin Mu asked.

Yan Zhong who was lost in his thoughts looked up from his rice bowl and saw Lin Mu standing there.

"Something terrible has happened, a truly fearsome spirit beast has appeared." Yan Zhong spoke.

"But that's nothing new, spirit beasts become rather active during the winter and often wander around." Lin Mu replied.

"This was much worse. Yesterday an Elite Team of mercenaries composed entirely of cultivators disappeared. It belonged to the Ashen cloak mercenary company, which is considered as the strongest mercenary company in this region." Yan Zhong spoke and took a pause as if it was hard for him to speak.

Lin Mu felt a little lost seeing Yan Zhong like this. He wondered why the mercenaries would be so depressed at this because this was something that often occurred in their line of business. It was only when Yan Zhong resumed speaking that he understood why.

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