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

3. 65 - 94

Read Walker Of The Worlds - Chapter 65 - Reaching The Mid Stage Of The Qi Refining Realm online free - NovelFull

Chapter 65: Reaching The Mid Stage Of The Qi Refining Realm

Yan Zhong took a deep breath before speaking again.

"The elite team of the Ashen Cloak mercenary company was not like the other elite teams. It was bigger, much bigger." Yan Zhong spoke.

Lin Mu was getting tense upon hearing this, thus he gulped before asking.

"How many were there in the team?"

"Eighty mercenaries." Yan Zhong replied.

"All cultivators?" Lin Mu inquired.

"Yes, all cultivators." Yan Zhong answered while nodding his head.

Lin Mu went silent for a bit as he contemplated about the situation.

"How were they found?" Lin Mu asked.

Lin Mu understood that the more he knew about the situation, the better it would be for him. He had been hunting spirit beasts in the forest all this time, but now that there was a strong and ferocious spirit beast on the prowl, he may have to change his plans.

"The Ashen Cloak mercenaries sent out a search party later at night when the elite team did not return. They searched the entire night but still could not find them. It was only around four hours ago that they found them, or rather their remains." Yan Zhong answered.

"Remains? You mean there were no bodies?" Lin Mu asked.

"Yes, all that they found there was splattered blood and chunks of flesh along with the bits and pieces of their armor, which helped to identify them." Yan Zhong replied with a heavy voice.

Lin Mu was shocked by this, as he could not think of any beast that could do this. Sure, a beast would be able to kill such a large number of mercenaries, but it certainly could not eat them all. Still, from Yan Zhong's words, he could sense the hint of truth and dread.

If all that Yan Zhong said was true, then the Northern town had a huge problem at its hands. If such a beast wandered out of the forest, it would spell doom for the town.

"Where were the remains exactly found?" Lin Mu questioned.

"About Eight kilometers deep, in the northwestern side of the forest. Yan Zhong answered.

Lin Mu secretly took a breath of relief, as it was still very far from the town. He knew about the area Yan Zhong had spoken about. The Northwestern part of the forest was accessible from the western exit of the town. It was the same exit where the mercenaries and hunters had set up their camp.

If one went further in the northwestern part of the forest, they would found mountains surrounded by ridges. It was a dangerous area that was very difficult to cross, as the mountains and ridges acted as a natural barrier. This not only prevented people from crossing it, but it also stopped the stronger spirit beasts from crossing over.

The only way to cross this region was to travel through the frontier bridge or to use the smaller passes and tunnels. The frontier bridge was far towards the west, so the mercenaries had most likely used the smaller passes to cross this region.

Lin Mu did not think they would take the risk of traveling through the tunnels, as they were notorious for collapsing. Some beasts would also reside within them and use them as their nests or dens.

"Do they have any idea what kind of beast it was?" Lin Mu asked.

"They don't know much about the beast except that it is likely to be very large in size and has four limbs with sharp claws." Yan Zhong replied.

Lin Mu could not do much with such a vague description, so just decided to look out for any large beast. There were far too many beasts that would fit this description, as the region beyond the mountains and ridges was filled with them.

Lin Mu bid farewell to Yan Zhong and went to eat his breakfast. After quickly finishing his breakfast, he then went to the hunting shack. While Lin Mu was no longer living in the hunting shack, he still cultivated near it.

It was the perfect location that was hidden and granted him privacy. Now that the winter had started it was even safer for him as not even the local hunters would come near there. The only problem would be the beasts, but Lin Mu was strong enough to handle most of them, and if he encountered a stronger beast, he could just run away.

The two skills that were imparted by the ring, not only allowed him to dodge strikes, it also gave him the ability to escape easily. Though that kind of situation has not occurred yet, and Lin Mu was hoping to keep it that way.

Another thing Lin Mu had done in these three weeks was to find out information about Gan Ma. He had not forgotten about the test that senior Xukong had given him and was intending to complete it as fast as possible.

But Lin Mu had reached a wall in his search for Gan Ma, as he has somehow disappeared off the face of the earth. He had tried asking around, but the answers he got were all different. He had asked the hunters as well as the taverns which Gan Ma frequented, but to no avail.

Lin Mu then tried finding the hunters who were part of his group, but found out that they had disappeared as well. Some people said that he had gone to the forest to hunt, but now that winter had started, he should have returned.

Lin Mu also heard that Gan Ma had instead gone to Wu Lim city for some reason. He had thought about it but could not figure out any reason for it.

The sun was hidden behind the clouds as the chilling wind blew. It was a little later than noon when a change could be observed in Lin Mu. A faint wave of energy emanated from his body as it slowly disappeared.

Lin Mu opened his eyes, which were glowing with joy. He had just reached the mid-stage of the Qi refining realm. He observed his dantian and saw that half of it was now filled with spirit qi. But the thing that surprised him was the actual quantity of the spirit qi wisps.

Lin Mu counted the number of spirit qi wisps and found that instead of a 1000 wisps there were actually 1112 wisps of spirit qi in his dantian. Earlier when he had started cultivating, he had estimated the maximum capacity of his dantian to be of 2000 wisps, the half of which would be a 1000 wisps.

Somehow along the way, the maximum capacity of Lin Mu's dantian had increased. He tried to sense the entirety of his dantian, but found that it seemed to be of the same size as before. Thinking that he may have just made a mistake back then, Lin Mu pushed this thought to the back of his mind.

Xukong was closely observing Lin Mu's progress and knew exactly what was happening with him. He had already known that the ring was subtly affecting the growth of Lin Mu's physique, but did not know to what extent.

Lin Mu breaking through to the mid-stage of the Qi refining realm had given him a measure. If Lin Mu kept on cultivating at this pace, Xukong estimated that when he reached the late stage of the qi refining realm, the maximum capacity of his dantian was likely to increase beyond 3000 spirit qi wisps.

The increase in the size of his dantian would slow down Lin Mu's cultivation progress, but it would also increase his overall qi. Xukong guessed that when Lin Mu finally reaches the core condensation realm, he would probably have the same amount of spirit qi as that of a Nascent Soul realm cultivator.

Lin Mu sensed the vital energy coursing through his body and saw that it had reached a breaking point. He estimated that he would probably break through to the 11th stage of the body tempering realm at any moment.

Lin Mu focused on his spirit sense and spread it around. Over the three weeks, Lin Mu's spirit sense had increased to a range of five meters. He had been cultivating and refining his spirit sense every day. Perhaps if he had not refined his spirit sense, Lin Mu would have reached the mid-stage of the qi refining much earlier.

Even though Lin Mu knew that he could break through to the next stage faster by stopping his refining of spirit sense, he chose not to. He was determined to increase the range of his spirit qi to at least ten meters, which was also the maximum teleportation range of the second skill Blink.

Senior Xukong had also told Lin Mu that, by stabilizing his pace of cultivation, he was only helping his future progress. His foundation would become more stable, as his body acclimatized to the increased amount of spirit qi.

Lin Mu cultivated all the way to midnight and only stopped when his spirit qi was reduced to 200 wisps. After this, he returned to the town and went to the inn to eat his dinner. But while he was walking towards the inn, a pair of eyes were hidden in the darkness, watching him.

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Chapter 66: Disappearance Of The Mercenaries

Lin Mu stepped inside the inn, and the eyes that were watching him disappeared. Completely unaware of this occurrence, Lin Mu went to eat dinner. After an hour he returned to his room and recuperated the remaining amount of spirit qi.

After he was done Lin Mu lied down on the bed and entered the Sleepscape. As soon as he appeared in the Sleepscape, he saw the spirit apple tree in front of him. He looked at it and saw a change in it. There were three spirit apples hanging on it, one ripe and two unripe.

Over the weeks, Lin Mu had been plucking the ripened spirit apples from the tree and had stored them in the ring. He had stockpiled a sufficient quantity of spirit apples and would be ready for most emergencies.

Lin Mu could only think of one reason why the number of spirit apples had increased, him breaking through to the mid-stage of the Qi condensation realm. Senior Xukong had already told him that the garden of karma would develop along with its owner. Thus, with this knowledge, he only had more things to look forward to in the future.

Lin Mu then started practicing with the Thousand Armament Blade scripture and engrossed himself in it. A few hours later he heard senior Xukong's voice in his mind, which prompted him to stop. He then let senior Xukong out of the ring.

As soon as Xukong appeared in the Sleepscape, he flew away to observe it. He returned a few seconds later, having completed his survey. He floated in front of Lin Mu and spoke.

"So it has started developing a little now."

"Yes it has, the number of spirit apples has grown by one." Lin Mu replied.

"That's not all, its area has also increased by a minute amount." Xukong added.

Lin Mu was a little surprised but understood. Senior Xukong's senses were much stronger than his and could even find microscopic changes that were hidden from him. He then sat down and waited for senior Xukong to start his lesson.

Lin Mu had been learning Dao script from senior Xukong every day in the Sleepscape. Although he studied every day, it was still difficult for him to learn the Dao script. Senior Xukong had explained to him that Dao script was not just about reading the characters, the characters also contained more intent and meaning in them than he understood. Thus for him to learn even one character took him a long time.

Until now he had barely learned seven characters, and even the understanding of those characters was still kind of shaky for him. He was able to read them and understood some part of its meaning, but the intent was still fuzzy. There were far too many variables that influenced the use of the Dao script, which was why it was so difficult for him to learn it.

Senior Xukong had told him that Dao script was the only universal writing script that was could be understood by every species in the cosmos. Lin Mu was fascinated by this and asked senior Xukong how this was possible if there was no one to teach them.

Senior Xukong explained that Dao script was actually not created by a person but was rather a natural creation of the Heavenly Dao. He told Lin Mu that any species would be able to read it once they reached a sufficiently high cultivation realm.

Dao script was often present on natural treasures and precious materials. It was the imprint of the Dao itself, thus would enable a person to learn it if they spent a sufficient amount of time comprehending and learning it.

Dao script's direct relation to the Heavenly Dao was what made it so important in the construction of formations, refinement of alchemical pills, forging of spirit tools, and creation of techniques. It would still take Lin Mu a long time till he learned enough Dao script to learn from the legacy of the lost immortal.

More time passed by and Lin Mu woke up. He stood up and looked out of the window. It was snowing outside, and the town was covered in a thick sheet of snow. Looking at the people walking outside, Lin Mu could estimate that the snow was at least six inches deep.

While this kind of snow would not bother him, the same could not be said about the commoners as they did not have the same resistance to cold and higher strength as him. A minute later he saw the team of snow cleaners pass by.

The snow cleaners were equipped with shoves and other equipment, which helped them clear out the snow from the streets. Though the most eye-catching were the snowploughs, which were pulled by horses. Although it could not cover the entire street, it still reduced the workload of the snow cleaners.

Having watched enough, Lin Mu went down to cook and eat his breakfast. He walked into the hall and saw that it was surprisingly empty. Most of the mercenaries that should be present here at this time had disappeared to heaven knows where. The only people that were currently sitting there were the other hunters and regulars.

A clerk saw Lin Mu and approached him.

"Do you need anything, sir?" the clerk asked.

Every clerk in the inn now knew about Lin Mu and also knew that he was a cultivator, thus they were always respectful and courteous to him. The other patrons of the inn used to be surprised at this, but had become pretty used to it by now.

"Why is the hall so empty?" Lin Mu questioned.

"The mercenaries were called in for an emergency meeting after what happened last night." The clerk answered.

Lin Mu felt a depressing feeling rising from the pit of his stomach upon hearing the clerk's words.

"What happened last night?" Lin Mu asked.

"You didn't hear? The entire town was in an uproar last night. Two teams of mercenaries disappeared from their camp last night." The clerk replied.

"Two teams? How many people were there in total?" Lin Mu impatiently questioned.

"Around fifteen people." The clerk answered.

"Did no one see them? There are hundreds of people in the camp." Lin Mu stated.

"That's the reason why all the people are scared. They somehow disappeared in the midst of so many people and no one knows how or why. Another thing was that, out of the fifteen mercenaries, three were cultivators." The clerk replied.

"People are scared, hence the town head has advised everyone to be careful and stay inside their homes as long as possible." The clerk added.

Lin Mu was lost in thought after hearing this. An uneasy feeling kept on prodding Lin Mu's mind, as if it was warning him. He was also a little worried, as even cultivators had disappeared. If there was someone or something capable of doing this, they must be very strong.

Lin Mu quickly finished his breakfast and left the inn. There was one big task that he was intending to do today. The task was none other than buying back his house. Two weeks ago he had gone to the town center and had asked the staff working there about his house. They had informed him that while he could indeed buy it back, he would still need to wait until the town head returned from Wu Lim city.

Apparently, all the town heads were ordered by the mayor to present themselves at the city hall as soon as possible. The town head had thus been absent for the past two weeks. Even the workers at the town center felt strange when the town head did not return for so long.

Now that Lin Mu knew that the town head had returned, he wanted to go there as fast as possible. The town center was located in the center of the town, as its name suggested. It was close to where the merchants had set up the market when they had visited the town a month ago.

Lin Mu reached the town center after fifteen minutes and looked up at the tall building. It was the tallest building in the town and also the oldest. He walked in through the main door, at the sides of which two guards were standing.

The guards looked at him and blocked his path. Lin Mu informed them of his purpose here, and they let him inside after asking him to leave his sword outside. He had already known about this, thus did not mind.

Lin Mu walked up to a staffer that was working at a desk.

"What are you here for?" The staffer asked.

"I'm here to buy back my confiscated property." Lin Mu spoke with determination.

The staffer showed a surprised expression but soon became calm.

"And what property is that?" The staffer questioned.

Lin Mu then informed the staffer about his name and the location of the property.

"Please wait here while I go inform the town head." The staffer spoke.

The staffer then stood up from his seat and went up the stairs. Lin Mu had to wait thirty minutes before the staffer returned.

"The town head has given his permission. You can claim your property as long as you pay the fine of 1200 gold coins." The staffer informed.

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Chapter 67: Buying The House Back

Lin Mu was dumbstruck by the price the staffer had just quoted. There was no chance that the fine could be this high. Even though the loss caused due to the damaged spirit apples was high, it was still less than a thousand gold coins.

The price that the staffer had told Lin Mu was enough to buy a completely new house if that was possible. Ever since a restriction on the expansion of the towns was placed by the city mayor five years ago, the prices of houses and property had shot up.

The mayor had instead ordered the town to increase the size of their respective specialty. The Northern town was ordered to expand their spirit apple orchards, the eastern their crop fields, the western their merchant site, and the south their army camp.

Even though the order could be considered to be Draconian, no one dared to question the city mayor's words. This restriction was also the reason why hunters had a hard time saving money, as they would just end up spending it in the winters.

Lin Mu could not just accept this and decided to ask the staffer.

"Why is the fine so high? Even the actual price of the property is not this high." Lin Mu complained.

"Due to undisclosed reasons, the city mayor has doubled all the taxes. This also includes the fines paid for crimes and law-breaking. The town head was also called for this specific reason by the city mayor." The staffer replied calmly.

"But still, you can't just do this." Lin Mu protested.

"There is nothing I can do. If you want your property back, pay the fine, otherwise, there are other people ready to buy it." The staffer explained.

'I have to get it now or I won't be able to buy it later.' Lin Mu thought.

Because of the scarcity of houses, the cost of properties was already inflated, yet there were still people who would be willing to buy it for such a high price. Lin Mu knew that if he waited too long, others may get to know of a vacant house and buy it. He was already lucky that no one had bought it yet in the past two months.

Lin Mu gritted his teeth and decided to pay the price.

"Fine. I'll take it." Lin Mu spoke through clenched teeth.

Lin Mu then put his hand in the sack he was carrying on his back and withdrew the exact amount of coins. He then placed them on the counter and let the staffer see it. The reaction of the staffer was worth watching as Lin Mu saw his jaw drop.

The staffer had frankly not expected this to happen. He had originally thought that Lin Mu would just be put-off by the fine and walk away. Even he himself had not expected for the fine to be so high. He could not think why the city mayor would double the taxes.

But now that he had seen Lin Mu put out such a large amount of coins, he'll definitely have to inform the town head.

Lin Mu saw the change in the staffer's expression and knew what he was thinking. He guessed that he may have some problems in the future, so decided to end it before they started.

"Take care of those coins, you wouldn't want to get into trouble would you." Lin Mu said with a stern tone.

And as Lin Mu said that, he grasped the edge of the desk and crushed it in his hands. The staffer saw this and immediately became silent. Lin Mu could even see the speck of fear in his eyes. Feeling a little satisfied, he took the deed of the property from the staffer, and walked away. It was good that there were few people in the hall, so no one noticed this.

The staffer waited until Lin Mu walked away and watched his back. Once he was gone, the staffer gathered the coins in a pouch and walked upstairs to the town head's office. The staffer stood in front of a door and knocked.

"Who is it?" A voice asked from behind the door.

"It's me Kun Ming, town head." The staffer spoke.

"Come in." the Town head replied.

The staffer opened the door and walked into the office. The town head was sitting behind a desk and was drinking a cup of wine. The town head was old and his head was nearly bare. With a thin mustache and a small beard, he looked sly.

The staffer walked up to the desk and placed the pouch on it. He looked up at the town head and waited for him to speak.

"What's this?" The town head said as he looked at the pouch that was kept on the desk.

"The fine sir. That boy Lin Mu paid it in full." Kun Ming answered.

The town head looked a little surprised as he placed his cup down and picked up the pouch. He weighed it in his hand for a bit before pouring it out on the desk. A small pile of gold coins was soon formed on the desk.

"I've already counted it, sir. It's a total of 1200 gold coins." Kun Ming spoke.

"And he paid it all at once?" The Town head asked.

"Yes sir. It seemed he was ready for it somehow." Kun Ming replied.

A complex expression appeared on the face of the town head and he appeared to be thinking. Kun Ming seemed to understand the town head's thoughts, thus spoke.

"That boy Lin Mu's a cultivator, sir. He gave me a little warning before he left." Kun Ming spoke.

"Are you sure?" The town head asked.

"Yes sir. He was able to crush my desk with little effort." Kun Ming answered.

A perplexing expression appeared on the town head's face and he waved his hand, gesturing for Kun Ming to leave. After the staffer left the office, the town head opened a drawer and withdrew a sheet of paper. He picked up a brush from the side of the desk and started to write on the paper.

Outside the town center, Lin Mu was walking towards the location of his house. His house was located towards the eastern part of the town. It was the most densely populated area in the town and was also the area with the most houses.

Lin Mu reached his house in thirty minutes and stood in front of its gate. There was a lock on the gate along with a sheet of parchment that read 'sealed'. Lin Mu took out a small key that he got along with the deed and opened the lock.

He then tore the parchment from the gate and walked in. Lin Mu's house consisted of a courtyard in which the living quarters were located, along with three bedrooms and a kitchen. It was an old-style house that was common in this region.

There were some trees and plants in the yard, along with enough space for Lin Mu to practice his skills. He looked around with nostalgia in his eyes and felt somber. It had only been a little over two months, yet he felt as if years had gone by. The place looked familiar to him, yet a little different, perhaps because he had gone through so many life-altering changes.

Lin Mu saw the yard, which was littered with dead leaves and the dust that had settled on the doors. He opened the door to his room and saw the dust floating in the air. Looking around, he saw the nearly empty room.

Most of the valuables had already been sold off when his mother had fallen sick during the plague last year. Thus he did not have a lot of furniture in the house. There were only some beds, tables, and chairs. There wasn't anything else left.

Though the most valuable thing to Lin Mu was the graves of his parents and those of his ancestors. He walked to the backyard of his house and kneeled at the graves. There were eight graves marked on the land. Two of them belonged to his parents, while the rest belonged to his grandparents and the ancestors that came before them.

Lin Mu's family has always had only one child in each generation, thus there weren't many graves. Usually, the woman who married into the clan would not have a grave in the cemetery, she would instead be sent back to her own clan when she died. But because Lin Mu's mother was an orphan, she was buried in the clan's cemetery.

Lin Mu kneeled at the graves until it was sunset and prayed to his ancestor. In the end, he kowtowed to the graves, which represented the seven generations of his clan one last time, and stood up. He walked out of the house and went to the Northwind inn.

Lin Mu walked up to the clerk that was sitting at the desk and spoke.

"I'm checking out of the inn." He said.

The clerk looked a little perplexed, but nodded. He asked Lin Mu to return the wooden plate and then refunded two gold coins to him. Lin Mu took the coins and stored them in his pouch before leaving the inn behind.

"Now it's time for you to properly cultivate." Xukong suddenly spoke.

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Chapter 68: Seven Days Of Enlightenment

Lin Mu stopped in his tracks upon hearing senior Xukong's words.

"Now that your filial duty is complete, you can now focus on your cultivation. As for the test that I gave you, you can complete it whenever you can, as it seems like your target has disappeared." Xukong spoke.

Lin Mu nodded inwardly and agreed with senior Xukong's words. After paying his respects to his parents and ancestors, he was indeed feeling much lighter than before. An invisible burden was lifted from his mind, making him feel free.

Lin Mu returned to his house and sat down in his room. Sitting down, he started his cultivation session. Chanting the severing heart sutra emptied his emotions, allowing him to sense things he would not be able to normally.

Lin Mu could observe the difference in his sensitivity to spirit qi. It had increased by a little bit once again. He understood that the reason for it was the fulfillment of his filial duty, but he could not understand why.

'Is this perhaps why the disciples of the cultivation sects are ordered to sever their ties to the secular world when entering the sects.' Lin Mu muttered to himself.

Senior Xukong seemed to have heard his muttering, as he spoke in his mind.

"You are correct in this aspect. The secular ties of a cultivator weigh down on their mind, dampening the progress of their cultivation. Severing them is a necessity in order to be eligible to walk on the myriad paths of the Grand Dao." Xukong explained.

Lin Mu was deeply affected by senior Xukong's words. It was as if there was something inside him that was resonating with his thoughts. He then thought about the feeling of liberation he experienced after fulfilling his filial duty and linked it with senior Xukong's words.

Lin Mu felt that the feeling of liberation was a little similar to something he had felt before. Unknowingly as he went on this train of thought, he had stopped chanting the severing heart sutra. Instead of it, he had started chanting the calming heart sutra.

What Lin Mu grasped now was the tranquillity offered by the calming heart sutra. He correlated it with the liberating feeling and the calmness that occurred after that. Hours went by as Lin Mu pondered on his thoughts.

Slowly but steadily, Lin Mu was sinking into a state of trance. His breath had harmonized, while his mind had stilled. A bout of enlightenment filled Lin Mu's entire being as the chants of a thousand monks filled his mind.

Their esoteric and obscure chants started to make sense to him, and he started to grasp their meanings. His mind returned to the time when he first obtained the calming heart sutra. He started to remember the words he had seen imprinting in his mind, the same ones that he had forgotten.

While Lin Mu was lost in his enlightenment, Xukong was experiencing a different scenario. He saw a blinding light arising from the altar that was located in the ring. He did not dare approach the altar and stayed where he was, as after his last encounter, he did not want to suffer again.

In a surprising revelation to Xukong, it wasn't a peerless sword intent that had risen from the altar. Instead, it was the soothing and tranquilizing Buddhist aura. He felt as if an eminent Buddhist monk was chanting the sacred scriptures while banishing foul demons of the mind.

A similar effect was currently occurring in the northern town as well. The waves of Buddhist aura that were spreading from Lin Mu's body had covered the entire town and had even spread beyond it.

The residents of the town felt as if their struggles did not seem as awful as before. The earthly sufferings that a mortal suffered from, became gentle for the residents. The aggression and fights that were common once, had become rare now.

Tranquil expressions could be seen on the faces of the residents. Even the hunters and mercenaries who had recently suffered from losses came to terms with them. The mourning and acceptance, which would take a person weeks or months, was completed in a day.

The Northern forest had also become silent. Last time it had been intimated into being silent by the peerless sword intent, but this time it had become silent because of the absolute tranquillity granted by the Buddhist aura.

In an elaborate courtyard there existed a luxurious mansion. Two people were currently sitting in this mansion, recuperating from their injuries. These two people were none other than the pair of grandfather and granddaughter, Jing Wei and Duan Ke.

While no physical injury could be seen on their bodies, their pale and weak appearance said otherwise. Both of them had suffered from internal injuries caused by the ward that was placed on Lin Mu by senior Xukong.

They had been recovering from their injuries for a month now. Yet their injuries were only healed by fifty percent. Even though they were using a formation that assisted in healing, their rate of healing was still slow.

Along with the physical injuries, they had also suffered from mental trauma, which was also inhibiting their cultivation base, which in turn restricted their speed of healing.

During their encounter with Lin Mu a month ago, they had experienced the presence of a being so strong that its mere imprint had shaken their cultivation bases and had destabilized their foundations. There was also a high chance that they would end up developing mental demons because of it.

Between the two of them, Jing Wei had borne the full brunt of the impact, in an effort to protect his granddaughter. His own cultivation base was sealed, thus he had ended up using the heirloom that was passed down in his clan.

In that situation, he had originally intended to break the seal on his cultivation base but knew that he did not have enough time to do that. Hence he was left with only one solution, which was to use the heirloom treasure.

Jing Wei had also seen the partial appearance of the being that had put its imprint on Lin Mu. The ten golden yellow eyes that he had seen had terrified him to his very core. Those eyed looked at him as if he was worth less than dirt. Its mere gaze had made him aware of his own mortality.

Having learned from this, he had chosen to distance himself from the boy named Lin Mu and thus had retreated into seclusion along with his granddaughter.

Suddenly a wave of tranquillity spread over the courtyard and penetrated into the mansion. The waves covered the bodies of Jing Wei and Duan Ke, permeating into their minds. They felt as if a great burden of theirs was relieved and all their stress disappeared.

The mental demons that were in the foetal stage were smothered. The waves of Buddhist aura culled their existence and brought forward peace in their minds. The wounds that were unable to heal had suddenly started healing at a great pace. With the assistance of the healing formation, Jing Wei and Duan Ke were soon returning to their optimum condition.

Below the city mayor's manor in Wu Lim city, there existed a large cave. Inside this very cave, an emaciated man was sitting cross-legged in a large blood pool. The blood in the pool reached all the way up to his neck, leaving only his head exposed.

Outside of the blood pool, four large troughs could be seen. These troughs were carrying more blood into the blood pool. The supply of the blood seemed to be endless, yet the blood pool never overflowed, making one think where it went.

Currently, the emaciated man had an expression of pain on his face. He seemed to be trying his best to resist it, yet a few stray grunts still escaped his mouth. With each pain-filled grunt, the blood in the pool rippled.

Suddenly the wave of tranquillity penetrated the cave and started to spread into it. The waves eventually reached the emaciated man and his expression became peaceful. The pain that had been bothering him all this while had now been banished.

A few minutes later the blood in the pool stared reducing at a visible pace and the flow of blood in the troughs increased accordingly, in order to keep a stable level of blood in the pool. A few minutes later the blood in the pool stopped reducing and the flow of blood in the troughs also slowed down.

Sometime later, in the dim space of the cave, a pair of red eyes slowly opened and a peal of faint laughter echoed.

Back in the Northern Town, five days had passed since Lin Mu had entered the state of enlightenment. He had been sitting in the same posture without moving, which had caused a faint layer of dust to settle on his body.

Xukong had been patiently waiting for Lin Mu to wake up from his trance. During this period even he had an acceleration in the speed of his cultivation. Back when he had created this avatar, he had not given it any of his cultivation base. He had been intending to use this avatar to only absorb the absolutely pure and refined spatial energy present in the ring.

Xukong's main body had long since exhausted its potential. He did not have any growth in his cultivation base for the past ten thousand years. His encounter with Lin Mu had renewed his hope, thus he had created this avatar to absorb the spatial energy and also to assist Lin Mu in the process.

In the blink of an eye, another two days passed by and now it had been a week since Lin Mu had entered his trance. Finally, on the morning of the eighth day, Lin Mu opened his eyes.

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Chapter 69: Awakening From The Trance

Upon opening, Lin Mu's eyes looked dull and empty, but slowly they lit-up and gained their vigor back. Lin Mu looked around and remembered where he was. He stood up and shook off the dust that had settled on his body.

He opened the door of the room and walked outside. Lin Mu was feeling uncomfortable because of the dust, so decided to take a bath. He walked to the small well in the yard and drew up some water for a bath.

A few minutes later Lin Mu was refreshed, but then suddenly his stomach started groaning. A severe pang of hunger struck him, as he realized that he had probably not eaten for a while. He withdrew the beast meat from the ring and started to cook it.

Meanwhile, in the ring, Xukong was engrossed in absorbing the spatial energy. His progress had been great, and he had increased his cultivation base by a significant amount. The effect of the Buddhist aura on him was much greater than he thought.

Xukong's gains in these seven days were more than the entire month. He reckoned that if he was able to somehow maintain this pace, he'll probably be able to exceed his previous cultivation level in less than a million years.

While a million years would be an unimaginable amount of time for most people, it was but a mere fraction of his lifespan. For beings of his standing, it was immensely difficult to progress in cultivation. Their pace could even be considered to be slower than that of a snail.

Xukong still felt nice that his decision to start over by creating an avatar was correct. He wondered if that old monster knew an artifact like the ring existed, would he turn green with envy.

A few thousand years ago, in the Grand Void.

A colossal platform could be seen floating in the space. It was black in color and its size was immeasurable. The borders of the platform could not be seen, making one wonder about its actual size.

On this colossal platform, an old ruined temple existed. The walls of the temple were mottled and degraded. It seemed as if they would collapse at any moment, yet it did not happen and they stood tall and unyielding. Hundreds of sky-piercing pillars held up the ceiling of the temple, which was glowing with a faint light.

A giant figure was approaching the colossal platform from above. The figure soon landed on the platform and walked towards the temple. The figure had a pale white body, eight legs, and ten golden yellow eyes. This was none other than the Void Weaver spider, Xukong.

Xukong walked towards the gate of the temple and entered through them. Even though Xukong's body was colossal, it had no problem passing through the gates, as they were even more massive. The inside of the temple looked similar to the outside, except for a large number of statues and sculptures placed inside of it.

Some of the statues and sculptures looked lifelike while others looked esoteric, making one lose themselves in its origins. The statues were made of a variety of materials and depicted beasts, demons, devils, plants, ghosts, humans, gods, buddhas, immortals, and a myriad of weapons.

The more Xukong walked forward, the more the number of statues increased. At a certain point, paintings also started appearing on the walls. The paintings were of various beings, landscapes, and mystical things.

Xukong kept on walking, and after an unknown amount of time, he finally reached the end of the temple. At the very end of the temple, a massive stone throne was erected. The throne was empty, yet a presence could be felt from it.

Xukong looked up at the throne and spoke,

"I'm here, old monster."

Xukong's deep voice echoed in the temple, making the statues shake. A faint silhouette appeared on the throne and then slowly materialized.

A person was now sitting on the throne. Compared to the throne, the person could be considered to be tiny. The person was wearing long and pitch-black robes, which had twinkling stars depicted on it. The stars would move and fade, thus making them look alive.

The person was wearing a hood over their head and one could not see their face as it was hidden by darkness. The person gently lifted its head towards Xukong and spoke.

"I see that."

"My duty is complete." Xukong spoke.

"Hmm, that could be said to be true and false." The hooded person replied.

"Stop with your word games and speak straight with me." Xukong said with a hint of annoyance.

"In terms of that place your duty is complete, but overall it is not." The hooded person spoke.

"Just tell me the new coordinates then." Xukong spoke with a sigh.

A surge of qi was released from the hooded person, which was then absorbed by Xukong. Having heard the coordinates, Xukong turned around to leave.

"Hmm, perhaps you should get a disciple." The hooded figure mysteriously spoke.

Xukong stopped in his tracks and replied without turning around.

"A disciple? As if I want that. Besides, how would I even get one, if I'm stuck performing my duty." Xukong replied.

"Teaching a disciple would help you learn. It will give you a new perspective of yourself and you may finally be able to exceed the limitations of your kind." The hooded person spoke.

"I'm sure you'll figure it out sometime." The hooded person added.

Xukong did not reply and swiftly left the temple. The hooded person was still there, sitting on the massive throne in silence.

"The time of upheaval is nigh, the heir of cosmos should be born soon." The hooded person muttered and then disappeared.

Back at the northern town, Lin Mu had just finished eating. He had ravenously devoured all the meat that he had stored in the ring. He barely had any beast meat left, thus would have to hunt more today.

Lin Mu wondered how much time had passed, considering the kind of hunger he just experienced. Not being able to estimate the time or the day, Lin Mu decided to ask senior Xukong.

This time it was Xukong's turn to be woken from his reverie. Lin Mu spoke out in his mind, and Xukong heard it, which made him stop his cultivation session.

"Senior Xukong, How many days has it been?" Lin Mu asked.

"Hmm, it should be a week since you entered your state of enlightenment, this is the eighth day." Xukong answered.

Lin Mu was a little shocked by this revelation. He had expected it to be a couple of days, but never a week.

"So, what did you gain from the enlightenment? If you stayed in that state for such a long time, you should have some really great gains." Xukong spoke enthusiastically.

Lin Mu nodded and spoke,

"Yes senior, I ended up learning a lot of things. My comprehension of the calming heart sutra has also progressed to the next stage. It is now in the second stage of external comprehension."

"You should test out the effects of both the calming heart sutra and severing heart sutra on other people now." Xukong spoke.

Lin Mu agreed with senior Xukong's words. Originally he had been averse to the idea of testing out the severing heart sutra on other people, as he did not know how severe the effect would be. But now that the calming heart sutra was in the second stage of external comprehension as well, he should be able to use it on other people with no problem.

Lin Mu then remembered the condition of his beast meat stock. Wanting to get enough meat for at least the dinner, he left the house for the forest. While walking on the streets, Lin Mu saw a few scenes that made him feel strange.

He walked past a tavern that was usually boisterous even in the morning, yet today it was silent. The patrons within were sitting in silence, calmly drinking their choice of intoxicating liquid. He then passed the market and saw that it was also eerily silent. The people shopping were neither haggling nor arguing with the vendors.

Everywhere he walked by, he witnessed similar scenes. He started to wonder if the city mayor had declared a ban on noise or something.

"Umm senior, something seems wrong." Lin Mu muttered.

"Indeed. These signs are very strange." Xukong said.

'Seems like the Buddhist aura was much stronger than I thought, it was able to affect the entire town or perhaps even more.' Xukong thought.

Lin Mu randomly chose a person for his experiment. He started to chant the calming heart sutra and let its effect spread to that person. Now that he was in the second stage of external comprehension, he inherently knew how to do this.

Though a few moments later, Lin Mu could not see any change in the person. The person was still doing his previous task and was shopping. Unhindered by this failure, he tried using it on a variety of people. Yet in the end, the effects were the same, in that there were no effects.

"What am I doing wrong?" Lin Mu muttered to himself.

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Chapter 70: Testing The Effects Of The Sutras

Xukong was a little lost upon seeing that Lin Mu was unable to affect any people. He could not figure out the reason for that either. Even if they had been affected by the Buddhist aura, they should still show some signs.

Understanding that this may not work, he decided to tell Lin Mu to try something else.

"Try using the Severing heart sutra on them." Xukong said.

"But senior…" Lin Mu spoke.

"Trust me. I think the reason why they are not affected by the calming heart sutra is that they are already under its effects." Xukong spoke, interrupting his sentence.

"Already under its effects? What do you mean senior?" Lin Mu questioned.

"While you were gaining enlightenment, the aura of the Buddhist path was being released from you. At first, I didn't know its reach, but now that I've seen these people, I can say that it was very strong." Xukong answered.

Lin Mu gently nodded and decided to go ahead. He took a deep breath and started chanting the severing heart sutra. He had chosen another man who seemed to be shopping. The effects of the severing heart sutra spread to the man and in an instant, the effects could be seen.

The man's eyes turned dull and his face became expressionless. It was as if he was a puppet whose strings were cut off. The man was currently standing in front of a vegetable vendor and holding some vegetables.

When the severing heart sutra affected him, he held onto the vegetables and just walked away without paying the vendor. The vendor noticed this and went after him to demand his payment.

"Hey! You can't just walk away without paying." The vendor shouted.

Seeing the vendor agitated, Lin Mu was a little surprised as the effect of the Buddhist aura had stopped. But a few seconds later, the vendor became calm again. The man who had taken the vegetables was still walking away. He had not responded when the vendor called out to him.

The vendor sighed seeing this and just went back to his shop without bothering to chase after the man.

"Hmm… this is interesting." Xukong spoke.

"Try using the calming heart sutra on that man now." Xukong ordered.

Lin Mu nodded and started chanting the calming heart sutra. The effects of the calming heart sutra spread to the man and his expression changed. Instead of the expressionless face and the dull eyes, a tranquil look appeared on him. A certain glint of intelligence returned to his eyes along with the glamor on his face.

"The effects are rather quick and abrupt, other people may notice it." Lin Mu spoke.

"That is true, but I think it's more of a question of practice. You just need more practice and then you should be able to control it better." Xukong advised.

"Yes senior." Lin Mu affirmed.

Lin Mu then set out to test the other aspects of the two sutras. He tested out its duration and range. He found out that the range of the sutras was currently limited to a range of ten meters, while the duration of its effectiveness was fifteen minutes. Though, if he kept on chanting, the effects would continue on.

Lin Mu also found out that the more he used the two sutras on other people, the more tired he got. This fatigue was not physical, but rather mental. If he continued using it despite his fatigue, a splitting headache would soon stop him.

It took him four hours to test it all out, and he even had to change his "Test subjects" as he could not just randomly follow people for that long without raising suspicion. Also, the people who he tested the sutras on started to feel strange as their emotions were going haywire. Lin Mu did not want to push his luck and harm innocent people, hence he stopped his experiment.

Lin Mu then walked out of the town and went towards the forest to hunt. He reached the forest after ten minutes and looked around for changes. The forest also felt a little calmer than normal. Though it was not completely silent, the noise was lower than normal.

"Did the effect spread to the forest as well?" Lin Mu questioned himself.

"It does seem like it, though I think the intensity was much less. The effect of the sutras on beasts should be different than humans. Most beasts have a distinct set of emotions than humans, thus you'll have to test out the specific effect yourself." Xukong replied.

"I'll have to capture some beasts then." Lin Mu muttered.

Lin Mu walked into the forest and went towards the depths of the forest. He wanted to hunt some spirit beasts, or at least some high tier beasts, as he did not feel satiated by lower-tier beasts. He soon found a beast, but it was a mid-tier beast. Not wanting to waste the time, Lin Mu swiftly killed it and stored it in the ring.

A few minutes later, he encountered a high tier beast. The beast had grey and green spotted skin with short limbs. It was the size of a calf and looked like a mix between a leopard and a bull. The beast had a screeching voice that disoriented Lin Mu for a bit.

While Lin Mu was disoriented, the beast pounced on him which he had to dodge by using the skill Flicker. After dodging, he twisted around and slashed at the beast, killing it. He stored the corpse and continued his hunt.

Lin Mu hunted four high tier beasts and nine mid-tier beasts over four hours, but he still could not find any spirit beasts. Only when the sun was about to set did he encounter a spirit beast. The spirit beast was the same kind of spirit beast that he had hunted before.

The beast was hiding on the top of a tree and was stalking him. Lin Mu had to use his spirit sense to get its exact location. The beast was around four meters away from him. Having confirmed this, Lin Mu used the second skill Blink, and appeared on the branch. The beast seemed startled by this and could not react.

Lin Mu stabbed his short sword through its back and ended its life. He then stored the corpse and decided to return to the town.

'Increasing the range of my spirit sense was definitely a good decision.' Lin Mu thought.

The sky had turned dark, and it had started snowing. The cries of the beasts had faded away, only to be replaced by the silence of freezing snow.

While on the way to the town, Lin Mu saw a small group of people standing on the side of the road. They were all wearing dark grey clothes and had their faces covered.

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Chapter 71: An Unexpected Fight

Lin Mu looked at the six darkly dressed individuals who were standing a hundred meters away from him. They noticed him at the same moment Lin Mu noticed them. They tensed up and then placed their hands on the hilts of the swords they were carrying.

It looked like the men were hiding something as they were trying to cover something behind them. Even Lin Mu became nervous upon seeing the men, as he could tell that something was definitely wrong.

"I thought the routes were already blocked. What do we do now first brother?" One of the darkly dressed men spoke.

"Dammit! those guys can't even do a single task correctly," Another man said.

"Silence! It's just a kid, we'll take him as well. Master will be fine with some extra goods, anyway." The man named the first brother grimly spoke.

The first person to react among the six was the man to the very right. He walked towards Lin Mu and then started running as he drew his sword from its sheath.

"Focus and brace yourself. Use your spirit sense there may be cultivators." Xukong spoke in a firm tone.

Lin Mu instinctively started chanting the calming heart sutra. His mind tranquilized and he could think clearly. The movement of the man approaching him slowed down by a notch and he could see the man's tracks.

As soon as the man got in the range of Lin Mu's spirit sense, he detected that the man was not a cultivator and was instead at the 9th stage of the body tempering realm. Felling assured Lin Mu drew his sword, set his hand straight, and entered a stance.

Lin Mu bent to the side in an effort to dodge the man's blade and barely scraped by.

"That was close." Lin Mu muttered.

"You're not gonna avoid the next one." The man spoke.

The man approached Lin Mu again and slashed at him, which he blocked with his short sword. Lin Mu then pushed back and deflected the sword.

"How?" The man exclaimed upon seeing Lin Mu's strength.

Lin Mu had an advantage over the man as he was already in the 10th stage of the body tempering realm, along with being a cultivator at the Mid-stage of the Qi refining realm.

The companions of the man noticed this and were just about to warn him when…

"AAARGH!!" the man shouted as he was stabbed through his heart.

Lin Mu took advantage of the moment when the man was shocked and stabbed through his heart. The man collapsed in the next moment, freeing Lin Mu's attention.

"Fourth brother! No!" Shouted the darkly dressed man who had spoken the first time.

"He's strong, we have to be careful. Fifth, sixth, pull his attention, third attack him from the back." First brother spoke.

"Second brother, wait for the right moment to strike. This boy is not simple." First brother spoke again.

The men named fifth and sixth advanced towards Lin Mu from the opposite side, while the man named third circled around Lin Mu. The remaining two men were glaring at Lin Mu, looking out for an opportunity.

Knowing that it will be difficult for him to go against three people at once, Lin Mu decided to split them up, beforehand. Lin Mu withdrew the hatchet from his ring and strengthened his arms with spirit qi.

Seeing that a hatchet had appeared in Lin Mu's hand out of thin, the three approaching men were a little stunned. Grasping this chance, Lin Mu hurled the hatchet at the man named as the sixth brother with all his strength.

A whirling sound could be heard as the hatched spun through the air and then buried itself in the chest of the man. Unable to utter even a single word, the man crashed to the ground; his life or death unknown.

"RETREAT! He's a cultivator, he has a spatial treasure!" The second brother yelled.

"Quick." First brother spoke, as he tensed his jaw.

Now that the battle was tilting in his favor, Lin Mu did not want to slow down and let go of the lead. He instinctively chanted the severing heart sutra and targeted the two men, fifth and third brother.

The two men slowed down as their eyes turned dull. Lin Mu 'blinked' forward and appeared at the sides of the two men. Amplifying his short sword with spirit qi, Lin Mu slashed through the two men in a single smooth stroke.

The defenses of the two men could not resist the sharpness of a spirit weapon, thus they were split into halves.

Horrified and furious at the development, the remaining two men shouted and sprinted towards Lin Mu. Rage burned in their eyes, as they regretted underestimating Lin Mu.

The man named first brother reached Lin Mu in the next moment and struck him with his sword. Lin Mu sensed his cultivation and estimated it to be at the mid-stage of the Qi refining realm. Blocking the strike with a buckler, Lin Mu twisted to the side. Suddenly Lin Mu's spirit sense detected something coming at him from the back.

Unable to dodge the incoming object, Lin Mu 'Flickered' and then the object passed through his back. He saw the object and found it to be a small dagger that was dripping with a black liquid.

"Careful! He has some mysterious martial techniques." The second brother warned.

Lin Mu blinked to the back of the man named first brother and cut at it. Second brother noticed this and jumped forward to block it.

"Dammit." Lin Mu cursed.

Lin Mu stored the short sword in the ring and seamlessly withdrew the spear from it. Having lost the force from the short sword, second brother's sword went straight ahead, through which Lin Mu flickered and moved away.

Then, using his legs as a pivot, Lin Mu twirled and pierced the spear through second brother's jaw. The spear entered at the base of his jaw and went straight through the top of its skull.

"YOU!!!" First brother said with great rage in his voice.

Not bothering with the man's words, Lin Mu lunged at him. The man's eyes flared as he bit on his tongue and spit out some blood. Gesturing with his left hand, the man drew some pattern in the air. In the next moment, veins appeared on his face as his eyes turned red.

"He's using a sacrificial technique, you need to end it quickly." Xukong spoke with urgency.

Lin Mu blocked an attack with his short sword, which made him recoil in pain. The man's strength had nearly tripled as Lin Mu was barely able to dodge it.

'I won't be able to win against him in a straight fight, I have to find some other way.' Lin Mu thought.

Lin Mu then chopped at the man's arm, which he blocked with his own sword. But at this moment Lin Mu used the skill 'Flicker' and the short sword passed through the man's sword. He then canceled the skill at the very last moment, making a deep cut appeared on the man's arm and shoulder, making him wince with pain.

Now, with his short sword stuck in the man's arm, Lin Mu was unable to withdraw it. Choosing to leave his sword behind, Lin Mu blinked to the back of the man.

Entering the stance for the Boulder collapsing fist, Lin Mu coiled his hand back. His breath melded with the stance, as the spirit qi formed a spiral in his hand. Putting all his bets on this final attack, Lin Mu executed it.

"Boulder Collapsing Fist!"

~whew~

A whistling sound could be heard as a jet of air shot forward, which made the man's clothes flutter and tear. Then, a sickening sound could be heard as Lin Mu's fist made contact with his back.

~Crack… floosh~

Lin Mu's fist broke through the man's back while turning his insides to mush. The fist then punctured through the chest and sprayed out the man's pulverized innards.

The now-dead man was stuck standing on the ground, with Lin Mu elbow deep in him.

Lin Mu then slowly withdrew his blood-drenched hand and sat down on the ground, breathless. Looking at what he had just done made him feel sick, but then the effects of the calming heart sutra resolved it for him.

"That was horrifying." Lin Mu spoke.

"You'll get used to it soon." Xukong spoke.

"At least you kept your wits. Good job defeating those men, I can certainly see the improvement." Xukong then spoke with a chuckle.

"It was all due to senior's guidance." Lin Mu politely replied.

Senior Xukong had been giving him pointers whenever he trained, which had helped him improve. Although senior Xukong himself had a completely different fighting style, he was still experienced enough to give pointers to him. Perhaps if he ever started giving lectures to the public, even immortals would attend to take benefit of it.

"Now won't you take a look at your spoils?" Xukong spoke

"Ah yes!" Lin Mu replied as he stood up.

The first thing Lin Mu did was to store the bodies inside the ring. After this, he went to the place where the six men were originally standing. There was a large rock placed at this location which seemed to be hiding something.

Lin Mu gazed at the rock and saw a small pool of blood near it. He looked behind it and saw something that shocked him.

"Gan Ma!?"

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Chapter 72: Conspiracy

Lin Mu would have never expected that the man he was looking for the past few weeks would turn up in front of him, dead. Indeed, the dead body that he found behind the rock was none other than Gan Ma, the leader of the hunter group, and also one of the only five cultivators in the town.

Lin Mu could not understand why he would turn up dead here. It was obvious that it was the six men that had killed Gan Ma and but the question was why?

Lin Mu looked around and did not notice any specific signs of struggle, which made him think that Gan Ma was killed rather quickly. He checked Gan Ma's body and found that the only wound he had was on his neck. Though weirdly, it was bandaged, and it seemed as if it was done after his death.

"Why would they bandage his neck after his death?" Lin Mu muttered.

"Check the other men, maybe you'll get some hints." Xukong spoke.

Lin Mu nodded and withdrew every dead body that he had stored in the ring and checked them. Out of the six people, two were cultivators while the rest of them were in the 9th stage of the body tempering realm. One of the cultivators was at the mid-stage of the Qi refining realm, while the other was at the early stage of the qi refining realm.

In a small town like the Northern town, any cultivator was a big deal and commanded great respect. For two unknown cultivators to just appear randomly was extremely strange. Even the other four men that were in the 9th stage of the body tempering realm could be considered to be at the top levels of strength in the town.

Lin Mu removed the cloth that was covering their faces and tried to identify them. He did not find any of them familiar, except for one person. It was the person named second brother that he found familiar. He could not place his finger on where exactly he saw that person, but knew that he must be influential.

Lin Mu also checked the bodies for other items and found many things on them. He took their swords and the thin chain mail armor that they were wearing under their clothes. He also found a set of throwing daggers on all of them. The total number of daggers was around 29.

Lin Mu then found a small vial that was filled with a black liquid that smelled sweet on the person called second brother.

"Careful, that's the Pulse cutting poison." Xukong sternly warned.

Lin Mu's eyes went wide as he hurriedly closed the small vial.

"That was close, but why does it smell so pleasant?" Lin Mu asked.

"So that people find it easy to drink, it's also sweet in taste. Though it does not have any effect unless it enters your body, either through a wound or your mouth." Xukong answered.

Lin Mu then remembered the small dagger that had nearly hit him before. That dagger seemed to be covered with a black liquid too. He went to the place where the dagger was lying and picked it up. He caught a whiff of the same sweet smell.

"It's covered in the pulse cutting poison. I was luckily saved by my spirit sense and skills." Lin Mu spoke.

"Indeed, having a spirit sense is a big advantage for you." Xukong replied.

Lin Mu then thought to the two cultivators and how they did not seem to be using spirit sense.

"Umm senior, why were the two men not using their spirit sense." Lin Mu questioned.

"Oh, that's simply because they couldn't use it. They were not at the stage where they could refine it." Xukong answered.

"But then how could I refine it? I was at the early stage of the Qi refining realm when I first started refining it." Lin Mu spoke with confusion on his face.

"Well, you are a rare case. Most Qi refining realm cultivators can't start refining their spirit sense until they reach the late stage of the qi refining realm, at the very least. They are either restricted by their cultivation technique or they just don't have the sufficient talent to do it on their own." Xukong answered.

Lin Mu nodded in acceptance and continued checking the bodies. He found another glass vial that was filled with some kind of translucent powder. He did not open the vial this time, as he had already learned his lesson and did not think he would be lucky every time.

"What is this senior?" Lin Mu asked.

"Hmm, this seems like Memory confounding powder. If someone inhales it, they will enter a confounded state and then lose their memories for up to an hour. The person affected by it will be incapacitated and will not respond to any stimulus, though it does not cause any physical harm other than that." Xukong replied.

'Could this have been used to kill Gan Ma?' Lin Mu thought.

Lin Mu had not found any signs of a struggle on Gan Ma, thus Lin Mu guessed that he did not resist much and was killed rather instantly. This hypothesis would work if the Memory Confounding powder was involved. The powder would incapacitate the victim while the killers would quickly slit their throat.

Now that Gan Ma was dead, Lin Mu wondered if he could consider senior Xukong's first test complete.

Senior Xukong seemed to have sensed Lin Mu's thoughts as he spoke in his mind. "You killed two cultivators, thus you can consider your first test complete, and anyway that man Gan Ma is already dead."

Lin Mu was about to store the bodies back into the ring when he saw a small piece of paper that had fallen to the side. It was stained with blood and was lying near the place where he had killed the first brother.

Lin Mu picked it up and opened it to read what was written inside.

"The town and the routes surrounding it will be blocked on account of a wandering spirit beast tonight.

Your orders are the same as before, capture the target but make sure that it does not lose too much blood. Master has specially told us to save the blood.

Once you are done with the task, deposit the target at the same location as before and return to your posts.

Though it should not happen, ensure that no one sees you. If someone does spot you, make sure that they don't live to tell the tale.

Three other teams are out doing the same tasks as you, so remember to tell the password before you talk to them. If they don't say the password kill them, you have my permission."

Lin Mu took a deep breath after reading the letter. He was shocked by the machinations that were happening.

"Seems like someone was targeting Gan Ma specifically. Is that the reason why he had disappeared from the town, these past weeks?" Lin Mu thought out loud.

"That's not all. According to the letter, there are three more teams out there. You need to be careful, Lin Mu." Xukong advised.

'Those fifteen mercenaries that disappeared from the campgrounds, could they too have been abducted by these men?' Xukong thought.

Lin Mu then walked back to the town and halted near the entrance after seeing some people there. He saw a couple of townsmen that were trying to enter the town but were currently being blocked by the guards.

"Halt! All entrances to the town and its roads are blocked. Where are you coming from?" The guards spoke to the townsmen.

"We were just returning from the fields." One of the townsmen replied.

"Why are the roads closed?" Another townsman asked.

The guards looked at the faces of the townsmen closely before answering.

"A warning was issued on account of a spirit beast. Someone spotted it wandering outside the forest." The guard spoke.

The townsmen looked visibly shocked and scared upon hearing the guard's words.

"We didn't know that, if we knew this we would have never gone out." The townsmen replied.

One of the guards gestured to the other and then nodded.

"Come with us, you need to show us your goods and let us examine them." The guard spoke.

The townsmen did not protest and went ahead with the guard's orders. The guards examined the satchels that they were carrying and then let them through after examining them.

Lin Mu was standing behind a tree in the darkness while watching all these events. After observing this, he was about to walk towards the entrance when senior Xukong spoke in his mind.

"Stop! Don't go there, something seems wrong. Go a little farther away and climb up the wall instead." Xukong ordered with a stern tone.

Lin Mu did not question senior Xukong's words and just obediently followed them. He walked a little distance from the entrance and found a suitable spot. He looked up at the tall wall and thought of a method to climb.

Lin Mu gauged the wall's height and estimated it to be a little more than ten meters. He then found a tree that was close to the wall and climbed it. The branch on which Lin Mu was standing was about halfway at the height of the wall, yet it was a little too far from it horizontally.

Lin Mu strengthened his legs and jumped towards the wall. While he was in mid-air, he extended his spirit sense and then used the second skill 'Blink' to teleport to the top of the wall. After reaching the top of the wall, he spied the other side and saw a guard following townsmen.

Lin Mu climbed down and followed the guard from afar. He suddenly saw a glint in the guard's hand and became alert.

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Chapter 73: The Conspiracy Unfolds

Lin Mu hid behind a wall and peeked out from the edge. He then saw the guard pull out a small metal contraption from his sleeves. Lin Mu could not see the contraption clearly except for the glint of light it reflected.

Lin Mu walked around the wall and used the alleyways to get close to the guard. The guard was pointing the contraption towards the townsmen and stalking behind them. The townsmen were completely unaware of the guard following behind them and were just conversing amongst themselves.

The townsmen soon reached the residential district and entered their houses. The guard saw this and waited for thirty minutes before leaving. Lin Mu took a breath of relief and went back to follow the guard.

The guard did not return to his post but instead went to a different location. He went towards the southern entrance which leads towards Wu Lim city and entered the guard's barracks there. Lin Mu could not enter the barracks without rousing suspicion, thus he just spied on it from the outside.

Lin Mu stood there for an hour and gave up after seeing that no one came out of it anymore. He then returned to his house to rest. Twenty minutes later, Lin Mu was sitting in his room while staring at the small piece of paper he had picked up.

He was observing it against the light of a lamp and discovered that there was a small symbol written on the bottom of the paper. Lin Mu had not seen it before, as the symbol was covered with a splotch of blood. He tried to decipher it and could only comprehend that the symbol looked like two cones intersecting.

'What could this mean?' Lin Mu thought.

"Rest for now. You'll probably find out something in the morning, such a conspiracy can't be hidden for long." Xukong spoke.

Lin Mu nodded and lied down on the bed. A minute later, he appeared in the Sleepscape and started his daily practice. He had experienced the effects of the Thousand Armament Blade scripture today and felt that it was indeed a top-quality manual.

Even though he had barely learned a part of the manual, he still felt that he had improved a lot. Right now, in order to improve more, he needed the rest of the weapons that were mentioned in the manual. He had asked in the weapon shops in the town and got the same answer from all of them. They did not have those weapons as they were either unpopular or expensive.

If Lin Mu wanted those weapons, he would have to get them custom made or he would have to buy them from Wu Lim city. Lin Mu knew that even if he got them custom made, the weapons would probably not be of a good enough quality. Thus he had decided that he would head to the Wu Lim city sometime later to buy the weapons. But for now, he would just have to do with the weapons he had.

Lin Mu also had a few more reasons for which he wanted to visit the Wu Lim city. He wanted to see the cultivators that lived in the city and also to check out the shops that catered to the cultivators. He also wanted to experience the average life of a cultivator in the city, as he had no sample to compare it with here.

Senior Xukong had told him some stories of cultivators, how they were glorified and venerated, yet Lin Mu still wanted to see it for himself.

After a few hours of practicing the Thousand Armament Blade scripture, Lin Mu learned more Dao script from senior Xukong. In the end, he plucked the two ripe spirit apples hanging on the tree and fell asleep.

After his breakthrough to the Mid-stage of the Qi refining realm, the Sleepscape had undergone some development and the spirit apple tree now bore two apples instead of one every day. Lin Mu had also thought that he could also sell these spirit apples as a source of income. Though he could not do it in the town, as it would be too suspicious and no one would actually be able to afford it.

Lin Mu woke up in the morning to the sound of a commotion.

"What's going on so early?" Lin Mu groggily muttered.

Lin Mu walked out of his room and into the courtyard. He could already hear the gaggle of noises outside on the street. He opened the gate and peeked outside. He saw a large group of people arguing with a few guards in the middle of the street.

The people were all locals that lived in the neighborhood, and the guards were from the barracks at the eastern entrance. Lin Mu walked closed to listen to what was happening.

"We can't live in peace if you don't do something." A man standing at the front shouted.

"Yeah, what will we do if the beast enters the town somehow?" Another complained.

"Even the guards died and you're telling us to just stay calm." A woman protested.

The guard lifted his hands and gestured for the people to calm down as he spoke,

"People, please listen to me. We are doing all we can right now, but this is the town head's orders. All residents of the town are ordered to stay inside the residential district until further orders."

Lin Mu felt confused by the people's words, thus he tapped a person's shoulder to talk to them.

"What? Ah, Lin Mu, it's you! When did you return? I haven't seen you for months here." The man spoke.

The man Lin Mu had chosen to speak to was a neighbor that lived a few houses away from his own.

"I recently moved back here. Never mind that though, what's actually happening here?" Lin Mu replied.

"Oh, you didn't hear? There was another spirit beast attack." The man spoke.

"What do you mean another spirit beast attack?" Lin Mu asked.

"A few scouts had spotted a spirit beast wandering out of the forest, thus the captain of the guards had ordered the closure of the town yesterday. Apparently, the second vice-captain himself led a team of guards to drive the beast away, but they did not return yet. Then another team was sent out to find them, which only lead to them finding a few pools of blood and remains of bodies." The neighbor spoke.

'The vice-captain? Wait, was that person from yesterday the second vice-captain, maybe?' Lin Mu thought.

"So why are the people angry?" Lin Mu asked.

"Some townsmen never returned after yesterday, so they are scared. The guards are also not doing much and have just been told to give us some orders." The neighbor replied.

Lin Mu had an idea what happened, thus he nodded to his neighbor and walked away. The crowd too disappeared after the guards placated them.

Lin Mu wanted to verify if the person called second brother and the vice-captain were the same. He had seen the other vice-captain before, so knew that it wasn't that person. He went to the town center to check for it.

Lin Mu knew that as long as he greased the palm of a clerk, he should be able to get some information. It took him fifteen minutes to reach the town center, and upon reaching the town center he saw another crowd of people gathered around.

But this time these were not the residents of the town, but rather the mercenaries. The crowd was not making much noise and was just standing there looking at the town center with anger in their eyes.

Not wanting to bother the mercenaries, Lin Mu slipped into the building from the side. He saw the staffers working on their desks and the clerks running around doing their tasks and carrying rolls of papers.

Lin Mu chose a clerk that passed by him and called out to him. The clerk stopped and looked at him with an annoyed face. In response, Lin Mu instantly pulled out a silver coin from the pouch.

"Brother, may I have a moment of your time? I'll definitely make it worth your while." Lin Mu spoke.

Lin Mu could see the shine of greed in the clerk's eyes and knew that he had him in his palm.

"What would you like, brother?" The clerk spoke as he eyed the silver coin.

Lin Mu passed the silver coin to the clerk and patted his back to gesture him to go to a corner. The clerk obediently followed and guided Lin Mu to a different room. There were some other clerks in the room who were working on their own tasks and did not pay attention to the two of them.

"I would like some information about what's happening in the town." Lin Mu asked.

"What do you mean by that brother? Everyone knows what happened, it was a beast attack." The clerk replied.

"I… would like a few more details." Lin Mu spoke.

The clerk thought for a moment before speaking again.

"The truth is, we don't know what exactly happened." The clerk replied.

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Chapter 74: Vigil

Lin Mu felt strange about the clerk's words. He thought that he may be lying at first, but then looking at his face made him think differently. Though he thought he should listen to the complete story first.

"The report about the spirit beast was given by a mercenary to the second vice-captain. The second vice-captain thus issued the order to close the town and the routes leading to it. But later, when he didn't return, the other guards went to talk with the town head about the mercenary who gave the report. The town head told them that the mercenary who reported it disappeared too and they can't find him." The clerk explained.

"Is that why mercenaries are standing outside the town center?" Lin Mu asked.

"Yeah, they're angry that more of their mercenaries disappeared and the town head is not responding to their complaints." The clerk answered.

"And what does the second vice-captain look like? Because I don't think I've seen him before." Lin Mu asked his main question.

The clerk did not seem like he minded Lin Mu's question and just spoke honestly.

"Oh, let me just get the identity register. We have portraits of all the town's cultivators in it."

"I didn't know there was an identity register for cultivators." Lin Mu said curiously.

"Oh no, it's actually for all people that the town head considers important, there are other normal people in it too that are not cultivators." The clerk answered and then went away to get the register.

'This is news to me. I didn't know that there was something like this.' Lin Mu spoke inwardly.

"It is technically necessary. Every establishment needs to keep a record of important people." Xukong spoke in Lin Mu's mind.

"I guess the portrait will make it easier to identify the man than just by a vague description." Lin Mu spoke to himself.

The clerk soon returned with the register and showed it to Lin Mu. He flipped it to the page where it showed the second vice-captains portrait. Lin Mu saw the portrait and instantly recognized the man. The person that tried to kill him yesterday was the vice-captain.

"Han Xu?" Lin Mu muttered the name written on the register.

"Yes, that's the vice-captain's name." the clerk responded.

Even after completing his main task, Lin Mu still felt curious about the situation, thus he decided to get more information.

"I also heard that some guards and townsmen disappeared."

The clerk did not straight away answer Lin Mu's query, but instead looked at his coin pouch. Lin Mu understood this and pulled out another silver coin before passing it to the clerk, who swiftly hid it in his sleeve.

"We have some contradicting statements about that. Some people say that they saw the townsmen enter the town safely, while the guards say that they never returned. As for the guards, we don't know what happened, but the current theory is that they saw the beast and went after it only to never return." The clerk spoke.

"That is strange." Lin Mu muttered.

Having got his share of information, Lin Mu was ready to leave. He gave another silver coin to the clerk and then left the building. Upon leaving, he saw that the mercenaries were still standing there and were not budging at all.

While leaving, Lin Mu felt a gaze at the back of his head and turned around but did not notice anyone specific. Pushing the thought to the back of his mind, he walked away. Half an hour later Lin Mu returned to his house.

As soon as he entered his room and closed the door, senior Xukong spoke in his mind.

"You were being followed. Though it seems they stopped before they entered the residential district."

"Was that the gaze I felt on me?" Lin Mu asked

"It seems like it, though they did not follow you all the way, they're wary of something." Xukong replied.

"Could it be related to the attacks? Because we know that three more teams of those men were out there and that the townsmen we say yesterday disappeared as well." Lin Mu spoke.

"We'll have to wait and watch. Though I recommend that you focus on extending the range of your spirit sense as it will help you in sensing other people. The longer your range is, the easier it will be for you." Xukong advised.

"Yes, senior." Lin Mu accepted.

Before starting his practice, Lin Mu decided to cook some food. Half an hour later he had eaten his food and was ready to start his cultivation session. But suddenly he heard someone knocking at the gate.

Lin Mu walked out and opened the gate. Upon opening it, he found his neighbor standing outside the gate. It was the same neighbor he had talked to earlier in the morning.

"Did you need something, Xiao Lu?" Lin Mu asked.

Xiao Lu had been Lin Mu's neighbor for many years and was four years older than him. He used to live with his uncle, but he too died in the plague that happened last year. Since then, he had been living alone as well.

"How are you, Lin Mu? I heard you got your house seized from you some time ago." Xiao Lu spoke.

Lin Mu had been dreading this moment for a long time, but he knew that it would be coming sometime soon. The gossiping ladies of the neighborhood were never known for their secrecy.

They should have probably seen that the house was no longer sealed, but they did not see Lin Mu, so must have thought someone else bought it. Also, since Lin Mu had secluded himself in the house for a week since he got it, there weren't many chances where others could have seen him. But now that he revealed himself in the morning, the entire neighborhood must have seen him.

"Ah yes, I did, but I've already paid off the fine and got it back." Lin Mu spoke with a straight face.

Lin Mu did not want to talk with the man for long, as he wanted to return to his cultivation session.

"Oh, I was told to inform you that the people in the neighborhood have decided to keep a vigil at night." Xiao Lu spoke.

"But isn't that the guard's job?" Lin Mu replied.

"They don't trust the guards anymore, they think they are lying. Even now the guards have only been told to guard the entrance of the residential district and not the insides. Thus the neighborhood had decided to do it themselves." Xiao Lu answered.

"So they're not afraid anymore?" Lin Mu asked jokingly.

"They are, that's why we are making teams of four people that will keep a vigil at night. Everyone has to participate, thus I'm here to inform you." Xiao Lu answered.

Lin Mu did not want to do this as it would interfere with his cultivation, but he did not think he really had a choice. He also did not feel good rejecting the people he had grown up with.

"Just take it, I think you may be able to discover some things. You will have an excuse to wander in the night, also with the person following you today, I don't think they will leave you alone." Xukong spoke in Lin Mu's mind.

'Yes senior.' Lin Mu spoke inwardly.

"That's okay, but when will my turn be then?" Lin Mu asked.

"The day after tomorrow. You'll be teaming with me and two other people." Xiao Lu answered.

"Okay then." Lin Mu replied.

Xiao Lu nodded and went away. Lin Mu returned to his room and closed the door. Not wanting to waste any more time, he sat down to cultivate.

In Wu Lim city, at a large manor located near a lake.

A thin man was sitting at a desk and reading from a scroll. The man had a short beard and well-groomed hair. He was dressed like a scholar and had the bearing of a cultured person.

A woman was standing next to the desk with her head bowed. She was dressed in a long black-robed that covered her body and hid her figure. Even her face was covered with a thin grey veil.

The thin man read the scroll for a few minutes before putting it away and then rubbed his forehead as if he was stressed. He let out a long sigh before speaking,

"Is that all you've found?"

"Yes, my lord. Though there are some more reports, but I didn't think they would be worth your time." The veiled woman spoke.

The thin man let out another sigh before speaking.

"You may as well tell me. This information was nearly useless as well."

"Some townsmen have disappeared from the Northern town and a new cultivator has appeared as well." the veiled woman spoke.

The thin man looked up at the woman with an annoyed look and spoke,

"And you only report this to me now?"

"But my lord, cultivators appear in other towns regularly, and also there are many mercenaries in Northern town right now. We don't know if they belong to some mercenary group." The veiled woman spoke with a pleading tone.

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Chapter 75: Meeting An Old Enemy

The thin man stroked his chin a couple of times before speaking again.

"How old did that cultivator look?" the thin man asked.

The veiled woman gulped before replying,

"He… he's young, probably sixteen or seventeen, but definitely younger than twenty."

An irritated expression appeared on the man's face as he replied with a louder tone.

"So you mean to say that our people could not differentiate between a cultivator belonging to a mercenary group and an itinerant cultivator? Do you think a cultivator of such a young age would join a mercenary company, or do you think it is a high-level cultivator that has returned to his youth?"

The veiled woman lowered her face even more and didn't speak.

"Do you think a cultivator that has enough talent to become a cultivator at that age would be without a backing? GO!! I want every single thing there is to know about that cultivator." The thin man yelled.

"Yes, my lord." The woman replied before disappearing.

The thin man sighed to himself before standing up and walking up to a shelf and opening a drawer. He then pulled out a jade slip and looked at it for a moment before keeping back into the drawer and closing it.

~sigh~ "It is not the time yet." The man muttered before walking to a window and staring outside.

"What are you planning father… "

Lin Mu was practicing the Thousand Armament Blade scripture in the Sleepscape. He had nearly completed the basics of the weapons he already had and now was progressing to the more advanced parts. Though right now, he felt as if he was being hindered. He understood that it was because of a lack of weapons and that he would have to get them soon or this may become a flaw in his technique.

The more he practiced, the more he understood how the techniques of different weapons fit together and complemented each other. He now grasped the flaws of different weapons and how to overcome them with the use of another weapon.

"You are doing well. The improvement is significant." Xukong praised.

Xukong had been seeing Lin Mu practicing diligently every day. He thought about how the boy was hardworking, even though his innate talent in cultivation was low. He had chosen not to tell this to Lin Mu as he wanted to see if he could overcome this limitation by himself.

Xukong had seen many experts over the millennia that he had lived. He had seen them rise, prosper, fall, and die. He had seen immensely talented and gifted people so much so that they were even venerated as the Heaven's ordained. But he had also seen those very people lose themselves to cultivation and then perish in the annals of time.

Countless people have tried to go against the heavens, yet few have survived it. Even the ones that survived it shortly disappeared, though people still had some evidence that showed that they were alive.

Xukong then remembered a memory from his past,

Countless white pillars could be seen floating in the endless void, along with some distortions spread around. At the depths of these pillars, a colossal being was currently resting. The being had a pale white body, eight legs, and ten golden yellow eyes that glowed with an imposing light.

This was none other than Xukong himself. Streaks of silvery grey lights could be seen floating around his body and the white pillars. These streaks of light would touch the white pillars and then be absorbed by them. One could even see the streaks traveling through the pillars and moving towards Xukong's body.

Fine threads arose from Xukong's body that connected to the giant white pillars. The light streaks would transfer from the white pillars to the fine threads, which would then carry it to Xukong's body.

With every Light streak that was absorbed, the distortions in the void slowly reduced. One could not tell how long it would take for each distortion to disappear, but time could not be measured in the void, thus making it more difficult. It could have been a second or a year, but the distortion finally disappeared.

Xukong stayed in the same position, unmoving for a long time, until he sensed some disturbance in the distance. His perception spread in the surroundings and suppressed all the distortions. Even though the void was always silent, a different kind of eerie silence descended because of the pressure imposed by Xukong.

"Hmm, this is quite unusual of you, Old monster," Xukong spoke.

In response to Xukong's words, the space in front of him started swirling and an ash grey throne appeared. The throne was empty, yet a presence could still be felt from it. A voice could then be heard echoing.

"Are you so bothered by my presence that I can't even visit you, Xukong?" The voice spoke.

"Oh, you know what you've done, old monster. You would never come here unless it was something important and your other slaves were unable to help you with it." Xukong replied with an annoyed voice.

"They're not my slaves, they have their own free will." The voice replied.

"What kind of free will is that, where you only have two choices? Their karma is chained and will be until you choose so." Xukong spoke.

"But this is what they've chosen. I've never interfered in their affairs." The voice replied.

~Tch~ "I don't even want to argue with you. Just tell me what you are here for." Xukong asked.

"I'm just here to tell you that I will be gone for a while, so take care of my 'Slaves' for a while, will you." The voice answered.

"Is there even any place where your influence doesn't extend to? You should be able to observe everything on your own, unless…" Xukong spoke and then trailed off before suddenly becoming agitated.

"NOO! What has happened? What did you do!!!?" Xukong roared.

"I wish I could tell you, but there are other machinations underway." The voice spoke before fading away.

"STOP!" Xukong yelled, making countless threads appear.

The threads moved at a blinding speed and tried to stop the ash grey throne, but alas! The ash grey throne turned ethereal and then disappeared in a swirl of light.

"DAMMIT!! Nothing good will ever come out of this." Xukong protested.

Soon the silence returned to the void, and Xukong became immovable once again.

Xukong broke his trail of memories after hearing Lin Mu call out to him.

"Senior, it's time for your lessons about Dao Script." Lin Mu spoke.

"Ah yes, it is time," Xukong replied, before appearing in front of Lin Mu.

Xukong then taught Lin Mu for a few hours before it was time for Lin Mu to sleep.

"I should be able to start reading the lost immortal's memoirs soon." Lin Mu spoke.

"Well, you do have the basics down, so you should be ready in about a month," Xukong replied.

Lin Mu nodded in appreciation of senior Xukong's words before going towards the spirit apple tree and plucking today's ripened spirit apples. He then fell asleep and disappeared from the Sleepscape.

Lin Mu woke up in the morning and spent the rest of his day cultivating, as he wanted to be ready for tomorrow. It would be Lin Mu's turn to participate in the vigil tomorrow along with Xiao Lu. He was expecting to find some more clues at night time.

In these two days, he had not gone out and had just cultivated on his own. He already had enough beast meat to last him for a week, thus he was not worried about it that much.

Lin Mu was currently sitting down on his bed and was refining his spirit sense. He was successful in increasing the range of his spirit sense by an additional half-meter, but still wanted to extend it for as long as he could.

Though senior Xukong reminded him that he would have to ensure that he had replenished his entire store of spirit qi before leaving for the vigil. This meant that he won't be able to refine his spirit sense tomorrow, as every time he did that he would end up depleting nearly three-fourths of his qi stores.

Lin Mu had just finished replenishing his qi and had ended his cultivation session for the day, when he heard someone knocking at the gate of the courtyard. He opened his eyes and stood up to open the gate.

Lin Mu opened the gate only to find an unknown person standing at the gate.

"Come on, it's time for the vigil." The person said.

"Oh ok, where's Xiao Lu though?" Lin Mu asked.

"He's already gone ahead. You were late, so I was asked to come to get you." The person replied.

"Is that so?" Lin Mu spoke with a calm voice.

Lin Mu then locked the gate before leaving with the person. They walked for five minutes before reaching their destination. The spot they were at was an open square that was located at the center of the residential district.

Upon reaching there, he saw three people standing there. One of them was Xiao Lu, another person was a portly man whom Lin Mu had seen the day and the last person was none other than the person with whom Lin Mu had his first big conflict with, Yuan Tu.

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Chapter 76: Starting The Night-Time Vigil

Lin Mu had not expected to meet his old enemy Yuan Tu here. In the past, he would have never expected that a man he called uncle would wrong him. While Yuan Tu was not his actual blood uncle, he was once friends with his father. They were not close friends, but were friends indeed.

Lin Mu saw the look in Yuan Tu's eyes and understood that he was shocked to see him here too. Lin Mu then looked at his physical condition and saw that he had visibly thinned down. It seemed like he had not taken to prison well.

Lin Mu was also wondering when Yuan Tu got out of prison. He had expected for him to stay in the prison for a longer time than this. He definitely did not expect that someone would be willing to bail him out. He did not know what it would cost to bail him out, but knew that it must be a high amount.

Yuan Tu had not expected to see Lin Mu today at all. He knew that Lin Mu had no house to return to so, he should either be living at some inn or somewhere else. He would never have guessed that Lin Mu was actually able to pay the fine and get his house back.

Yuan Tu had gotten out of prison recently and had returned to live at his house in the neighborhood. A couple of days ago some people came to inform him that a vigil was going to be held in view of the recent events that occurred. The people from the neighborhood had also asked him about his absence, but he just told him that he was visiting some family members in the eastern town.

Yuan Tu was frankly shocked upon hearing that some people had disappeared and a spirit beast had apparently attacked as well. Yuan Tu had seen a terrifying spirit beast before, a few years ago. An injured spirit beast had wandered out of the forest and had encountered some hunters.

Out of a team of ten hunters, only three survived. With Yuan Tu being one of them, along with Lin Mu's father. Ever since then Yuan Tu gave up on being a hunter and just worked in the orchards. It was also because of this that he was promoted to the position of a team leader in the orchards.

After the initial surprise faded from Yuan Tu's eyes, he scanned Lin Mu from top to bottom. He could see visible changes in the boy. He had somehow grown a little in the past month and was taller than before. He had also developed slight muscles, and even his face had a glow that was a stark difference from his previous dull look.

Yuan Tu could not help but wonder what the boy had gone through in the past few weeks. He was angry that while he had to suffer all this time; the boy was actually doing much better than before. The one saving grace he had while he was in the prison was that Lin Mu would still be suffering out there being homeless and broke.

But now that he had seen him again, he felt his rage reigniting. He felt like teaching him a lesson right then and there, but knew better to not act on it. He would bide his time and look for the right time. He just decided to not interact with him for now.

Yuan Tu forcefully suppressed his rage and avoided looking at him as it helped him divert his thoughts. He looked at the boy's expression and reached a tacit understanding. Lin Mu saw the look that Yuan Tu gave him and knew what he was thinking.

Seeing him avoid him just made it easier for him. Lin Mu was already a cultivator and was much stronger than before. He had nothing to fear from Yuan Tu. It didn't matter to him if Yuan Tu doesn't interact with him.

While this silent interaction was happening, Xiao Lu witnessed the entire thing and knew that something was off.

Xiao Lu knew that Yuan Tu and Lin Mu had a conflict, but he did not know the exact terms of it. He only knew that a week after Lin Mu's house was seized, Yuan Tu had disappeared as well. When he came back a couple of days ago, he just told everyone that he had gone to visit his family in eastern town for a bit.

Once Lin Mu reached near the three people, the portly man glanced at him and then spoke.

"Now that we're all here, it's time for us to start the vigil."

The portly man then pointed towards a wooden box that was kept near his feet and spoke,

"Every one of you please pick a gong from the box. If you encounter anything suspicious remember to run first and then alarm us all by ringing the gong. We don't want any untoward incidences." The portly man spoke with a serious tone.

Everyone nodded at the portly man's words and then went forward to pick a gong and a small mallet. Lin Mu was the last person to pick a gong up. He looked at the gong and found it to be made of copper. He tapped on it and felt it tremble.

After everyone picked up a gong, the portly man nodded while looking around.

"Okay then, now that everyone has a gong, you can choose a direction and go towards it. Comb out your area and then gather at this square after every hour." The portly man spoke.

Lin Mu chose to go to the northern direction where his house was located. He thought that if he was gonna do this, he may as well guard the area around his house. Senior Xukong also agreed with Lin Mus choice.

"There's a higher chance that the person who was following you before would appear near your house. If you're lucky, you can encounter him there and get the information out of him." Xukong spoke in Lin Mu's mind.

While Lin Mu had chosen to go towards the north, the man who brought him went to the west, Xiao Lu went to the east, and Yuan Tu chose to go towards the south, clearly not wanting to see him and staying as far from him as possible.

The portly man did not go anywhere and chose to stay here and keep watch in the central area. This would also help him rally everyone and created a common communication point. Everyone soon split up and walked towards their chosen areas.

"Keep your spirit sense extended, so you can sense anything that happens," Xukong spoke to Lin Mu.

"Yes senior." Lin Mu replied.

Lin Mu first went towards the left-most street. He decided that he would go from the left to the right. He walked around and heard the silence of the night. The night was cold, but at least it was not snowing yet.

While the snow would not bother him that much, he could not tell the same about the other people. Lin Mu had seen that everyone was wearing thicker and warmer clothes, hence he had chosen to do the same. If he did not do that, he would only be rousing unnecessary attention from people.

He had just put on the leather armors he had gotten from the killers before. Putting on the multiple leather armors under his robes made it look as if he was wearing winter clothing. It would also help provide him some extra defense, just in case.

This was the first time that he was actually seeing his neighborhood like this. It was usually boisterous during the day with the people meeting each other and the ladies gossiping and arguing with each other. The children would run around playing with each other and laughing.

The silence of the night made him think about a lot of things he usually would not think of. While he had stayed alone in the hunting shack for a while now, this kind of silence still made him feel strange.

"It's as if the forest is more alive than this place." Lin Mu thought out loud.

Xukong heard Lin Mu's words and felt a little surprised.

'He can already sense it.' Xukong thought.

"You are right, Lin Mu," Xukong spoke.

"What do you mean, senior?" Lin Mu asked.

"What you are feeling right now is the lack of ambient spirit qi. The reason you feel that the forest is more alive is because it is filled with vitality. While this place does have more people, it still lacks the raw vitality and spirit qi." Xukong replied.

"This also why most of the cultivators choose to live in places rich in spirit qi. The cultivation sects are prosperous only because they are built on lands rich in spirit qi. This not only increases the progress of their disciples by multiple folds, it also helps temper their minds." Xukong added.

"Is this why you want me to start my journey soon, senior?" Lin Mu asked.

"Yes, it's part of the reason. Right now, since your cultivation is still low, it would not matter to you as much, but once it rises later, you will feel the difference in the environment. You will be uncomfortable in a place that's lacking in spirit qi." Xukong answered.

Lin Mu took senior Xukong's words seriously and cemented his resolve.

Wu Lim city,

Inside a large mansion situated beside a lake, a thin and scholarly man was relaxing on a lounger in a library.

The library was rather dark, with the only source of light being the lamp that was placed on a table. The thin and scholarly man had his feet up on a lounger and was reading a book. He had a calm look on his face and seemed to be engrossed in the content of the book.

A veiled woman appeared from the darkness and came to stand beside the man. She bowed her head and stood silently.

The thin and scholarly man let out a sigh and spoke without looking away from the book.

"You have something for me I hope?"

"Yes, my lord. It's about the new cultivator." The veiled woman replied.

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Chapter 77: The Slumbering District

The thin and scholarly man nodded and allowed the veiled woman to approach.

"Go ahead." The thin man said.

The veiled woman then produced a scroll in her hand, likely from a spatial treasure, and passed it to the thin man.

"I've taken the liberty to compile all the intelligence we've gathered, my lord. There are some parts you'll find rather, fascinating." The veiled woman spoke with a respectful tone.

The thin man opened the scroll and started reading it with his full concentration. At first, the man's expression seemed rather disinterested, but later it became more interested until finally, it reached the peak of elation.

"Hahaha!" The thin man laughed out loud.

"You've done well, very well. Seems like we have an interesting contender here." The thin man spoke with a joyous tone.

"How do we proceed, my lord? Do we bring him to you?" The veiled woman questioned.

"We know that his senses are sharp and he's been able to detect our people before. We also don't know who's backing him, but considering his strength and talent, I would say it's someone strong."

The man said and paused before continuing,

"Don't approach him for now and just observe him. Try to get a clue about his backer, if it's someone from our 'list', eliminate him. Otherwise, we may have a new pawn to play with." The thin man said.

"My lord, we still have one of our men watching him. He still has the old orders and is following them. He may end up making contact with the boy, which may end in conflict." The Woman added.

The thin man stroked his beard before speaking,

"Hmm, this does make it a little difficult. Try to send a message as soon as possible and if something does happen, try to avoid further conflict. We'll compensate him later."

"As you wish, my lord." The veiled woman respectfully spoke and turned around.

But just as she was about to leave, the thin man spoke up again.

"Just in case, assign one of our higher corps members to him."

The veiled woman seemed to be surprised, but it could not be seen from because of her veil.

"Are you sure my lord? All three of our higher corps members are currently assigned to long-term missions. If we recall any one of them, then all of their progress may go to waste." The veiled woman asked with an unnerved voice.

The veiled woman was rather shocked by her lord's words. She did not expect that her lord would place such a big importance on that cultivator who was still a teen. She knew how much every higher corps member was worth. Each and every one of them was a Core condensation realm cultivator and was trained in reconnaissance and assassination.

Even she herself, who was considered to be the closest person to her lord, couldn't compare in strength with the higher corps.

"Yes, if he is what I think, then it would certainly be worth it." The thin man answered with determination in his voice.

"Who should I assign then, my lord?" The woman asked.

"Assign the second member of the higher corps. His character would suit this mission." The thin man ordered.

"The second member of the higher corps is currently in the Black Dawn kingdom, my lord. I estimate it would take him ten days to reach the designated location." The veiled woman replied.

"It may take a little longer than that, as the current mission is rather sensitive and he will need to sever all ties before returning." The veiled woman added with a little hesitation.

"That's fine. Until he reaches there, you may personally oversee this assignment." The thin man spoke with a calm voice.

"It will be done as you say, my lord." The woman replied respectfully before leaving.

A few minutes later, after the woman was gone, the thin man stood up and withdrew a jade slip out of a spatial treasure. He held it in his hand and let it activate. The jade slip shone for a bit and then buzzed.

"I may have a new solution, elder brother." The thin man spoke.

Back at the Northern town,

Lin Mu was patrolling his neighborhood. So far he had not seen anything strange or unusual. He also had a doubt whether the townsmen who disappeared were taken by the darkly dressed men or someone else.

He had seen the guard follow the townsmen who had entered the town all the way to their houses. He had also seen the guard withdraw a strange contraption from his sleeve.

Because of the darkness, Lin Mu was not able to see what it was but could guess that it was something metallic, as it gave off a glint. He knew that it was not something a guard would carry and was specially made for an unknown reason. The guard was a definite suspect as he had disappeared later as well.

'Perhaps I should have focused on that guard from the start.' Lin Mu thought.

In the blink of an eye an hour went by and it was time for him to return back. He reached the square and saw that three people were already standing there. The only person who was missing was Xiao Lu.

The portly man approached Lin Mu and spoke.

"So did you find anything unusual?"

Lin Mu shook his head as he replied,

"No, everything seemed to be normal. All the houses are silent and everyone is sleeping. Except for a few stray dogs and cats, there's no one wandering out."

"That's good. Now we only have to wait for Xiao Lu to return and report." The portly man spoke.

Fifteen minutes passed by and there was no sign of Xiao Lu. The portly man seemed to be getting nervous now. Five more minutes passed and the portly man was just about to speak something when Lin Mu interrupted.

"Ah, there he comes." Lin Mu spoke.

The three men looked around but could not see anyone there.

"Where?" The three men asked in unison.

Lin Mu then understood their confusion. The men could not see as far as him in the darkness, no wonder they were confused. He then pointed at an alley and everyone followed his finger.

A few seconds after hearing the sounds of someone running, they could see the sprinting figure of Xiao Lu appearing from the alley with four dogs chasing him.

"HELP!!!" He shouted

The man who had brought Lin Mu went forward to help, but before he could even do anything the dogs stopped by themselves. They growled a little and then started yelping, in the next second they scampered away.

Xiao Lu did not see this happen as he was still in a state of panic. He stopped when he couldn't hear the sounds of the dogs behind him. He looked at the people in front of him and asked,

"What happened? Where did they go?"

The rest of the three people along with Lin Mu were confused by this development.

"That was strange, they weren't barking, only chasing." The man who had brought Lin Mu spoke.

The portly man nodded before turning to Xiao Lu.

"Why were they chasing you? Did you provoke them?" The portly man questioned.

Xiao Lu shook his head as he answered,

"No, not at all. They just randomly started chasing me when I was just about to return. I dont know why."

Lin Mu then realized something.

"Wait, you were shouting all this time right, why didn't the residents wake up? And where's the gong?" Lin Mu asked.

"I threw the gong at the dogs when they were chasing me. As for the residents, I didn't pay attention." Xiao Lu replied.

The portly man seemed to have realized something, and his face turned pale.

"Oh, no! Ring the alarm quick, I fear something bad is happening." The portly man exclaimed.

The other people hesitated and did not understand the portly man's nervousness, but Lin Mu started banging the gong without a second thought.

"ALARM! ALARM! WAKE UP, EVERYONE!" Lin Mu shouted.

Seeing Lin Mu shouting the other's started to do that as well.

Then, the thing that they were dreading all this while happened. Not a single resident woke up nor responded. The four men were starting to gauge the seriousness of the situation by now. It had been five minutes, yet there were no results.

'There's no use, they are probably under the effect of some kind of drug. Go and check out the houses yourself.' Xukong spoke in Lin Mu's mind.

"Let's go and check the houses ourselves." Lin Mu spoke authoritatively.

Strangely enough, no one questioned him right now and just went with the flow. Even Yuan Tu did not oppose him or show any aversion right now.

Lin Mu ran to the closest house and started banging on the door while shouting. But even then, no one responded. The other men tried the same thing, but to no avail.

"We need to break down the door and look inside." The portly man spoke.

Everyone tacitly nodded and agreed to the proposition. The men braced themselves to break the door and were just about to slam, when Lin Mu ripped the door off of its hinges with ease. The four men were left with the jaws hanging upon seeing this feat.

Lin Mu paid no attention to their shock and just rushed inside. He saw the pair of homeowners sleeping on their bed soundlessly. He went ahead and picked up the man that was sleeping and shook him hard.

The four men entered the room and saw Lin Mu shaking the sleeping the man hard.

"Why are they not waking up?"

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Chapter 78: Capturing The Spy

Lin Mu had shaken the poor man to his core, yet there was no physical response from him. The other people had also tried on their own and tested the man as well but got no response.

"It's no use, lets go try the other houses." Lin Mu spoke.

Lin Mu then went to the next house and broke down the door as well. He walked inside the house and found its sleeping residents. The others followed him inside and watched as he tried to wake them up.

Lin Mu had checked that actually they were alive and not dead. They just seemed to be highly unconscious and unresponsive, while their breathing still continued.

"Why is this happening?" Yuan Tu spoke out loud.

Everyone heard his words and reciprocated with him, as they all were wondering about the reason for this phenomenon.

"We need to keep on checking the houses, there are bound to be more people that are not affected by this." Lin Mu spoke.

"Yes, this can't just happen to the entire district. We are still awake so there should be more people." The portly man affirmed.

The party of five went from house to house checking on people. At first, they would just break in through the front door but later understood that this was ineffective, as the people who were unconscious would not respond either way. In the end, they just decided to make as much noise as possible to alert anyone that was unaffected.

They had wanted to inform the guards outside the district about this occurrence, but then decided against it as they thought that staying together was the right decision at this time. Who knows what would happen if they were alone, thus they did not want to take the risk.

It took them over two hours before they were even able to find a person that was unaffected by it. They were at a rather small house, which looked old. Its paint had faded away and the wooden frames of the windows and door seemed to be pretty weathered as well.

As before, they knocked on the door hard and shortly got a response.

"Who the hell is disturbing my sleep at this time?!!" A person shouted from inside the house.

"Wake up! We have a huge problem. We are the people who are doing the night vigil." The portly man spoke.

Some incomprehensible grumbles could be heard coming from behind the door. The door soon opened and an old man appeared from behind it. The old man seemed to be at least eighty years old and had a face full of wrinkles.

"What do you want?" The old man groaned.

"We are the night vigil team. We found that people in the district are unconscious and unresponsive." The portly man spoke.

"Yes, we checked many houses and tried to wake people, but no one is responding. We even tried shaking them physically but they still did not respond, you're the first person we found that responded." Lin Mu explained.

By now the old man had become woken enough to understand the current predicament. He asked for them to show them the unconscious people, which they gladly did. After seeing the proof with his own eyes, the old man understood the graveness of the situation.

"What do we do now then?" The old man asked.

Everyone turned to look at Lin Mu subconsciously. Due to him taking the approach head-on, everyone had unknowingly accepted him as the leader. Although his surprising strength may have played a part in it as well, there weren't many people in the town who could just rip off doors that easily.

"I recommend we go and inform the guards at this point. This is much bigger at this point and we don't know the implications of this. We are definitely gonna need a lot of people if we want to check every house." Lin Mu ordered.

Everyone nodded without thinking much and started following Lin Mu. Half an hour later they had left the residential district and were at its exit. The guards should have been patrolling around here but they were nowhere to be found.

"Where are the guards?" The men questioned together.

'There seems to be more to this than we thought.' Xukong spoke.

"I'm going to go look for them and you guys try to see if the residents here can wake up." Lin Mu ordered.

All the men nodded in response and went ahead to do their tasks. Lin Mu decided to directly go towards the guard barracks, that way if he encountered any guard on the way he'll inform them as well.

Lin Mu started running at his full speed after he was at a sufficient distance from the men. He didn't want to reveal more of his capabilities than he had already done today. The streets were eerily silent and not even stray animals could be seen. Lin Mu was halfway to the barracks when he sensed some disturbance.

Lin Mu's spirit sense was already extended and he was completely alert, thus he was able to detect the presence that was hiding in the shadows hiding. Lin Mu probed the place with his spirit sense and found the person that was hiding there.

"Get ready" Xukong spoke.

Lin Mu instinctively withdrew the throwing daggers from his ring and threw two of them at the location he had detected the person at. A muffled grunt and clinking of metal could be heard after that.

"Come out now, I know you are there." Lin Mu called out.

Slowly a person came out of the darkness and revealed himself to Lin Mu. The person was dressed in dark blue clothes and was wearing a featureless mask with only two holes for eyes. He had a thin sword hung on his waist and was six feet tall.

Lin Mu used his spirit sense to gauge the man's strength and discovered that he was a cultivator too. The man was at the Early stage of the Qi refining realm and didn't seem to have refined his spirit sense yet.

When Lin Mu's spirit sense probed the masked man cultivation, he seemed to have detected it as he flinched for a moment and became tense.

"He's dressed differently. Does he belong to the same group of people or not?" Lin Mu wondered.

"You can find that out soon enough. For now, you just need to get the information out of him, either by hook or by crook." Xukong replied.

Lin Mu then drew the short sword from its sheath and pointed it at the masked man before speaking,

"Who are you and why have you been following me?"

The Masked Man didn't speak but instead drew his own sword in response.

"So you're not going to take the easy route." Said Lin Mu with a sharp tone.

The man advanced first and slashed, which Lin Mu easily dodged by sidestepping and responded with an attack of his own.

~shing~

The masked man was able to block it but felt the weight of the strike on his blade. He instantly understood the difference between their strengths. He was already shocked when he felt a spirit sense probe on him but when he actually felt the force of Lin Mu's attack, his suspicions were confirmed.

The masked man was not one to give up easily though, he attacked again and missed. Lin Mu had an advantage in speed as well as strength. If he wanted to, he could have ended this fight instantly but he instead wanted to get the information out of the man first.

Both of them exchanged blows one after the other. While all of the masked man's attacks missed, it was not the same for Lin Mu. Most of his attacks were blocked but some had nicked the masked man. He had multiple smaller cuts on his body; some on his hands, some on his torso, and some on his legs.

After fighting for five minutes, Lin Mu decide that it was enough.

"That's it, surrender now or I'll end you right now. You know that you have no chance against me." Lin Mu sternly spoke.

The man did not heed Lin Mu's words and instead attacked again. Seeing that the man was uncooperative, Lin Mu decided to end it quickly.

He channeled wisps of spirit qi into his short sword and slashed at the masked man. The man tried to block it in turn but was unsuccessful as Lin Mu's blade just cut through his own sword effortlessly. The blade was just about to reach his neck when Lin Mu paused for a moment and punched with his other hand.

The strengthened fist landed on the masked man's face and knocked him down to the ground. Lin Mu had not used his entire strength as he did not want to kill the man right away.

Even if he wanted to kill the man, he would avoid attacking the face, as it would just end up crushing the man's skull and disfiguring him. Lin Mu would not be able to identify the man then and it would become difficult for him to further investigate.

After being knocked on the ground the man became disoriented and could not respond. Lin Mu then placed the point of his short sword at the masked man's neck.

"Surrender." Lin Mu ordered.

Finding himself unarmed and at the edge of death, the man finally gave up.

"Okay! I surrender."

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Chapter 79 – The Spy's Perspective

Three hours ago in the residential district of the Northern town.

A man dressed in dark blue clothes and a featureless mask was hiding over the roof of a house and looking at a courtyard. He had been in that position for many hours now, but was still not bothered. He had stayed there all this time, unmoving and nearly invisible.

Eventually, he saw an average-looking man approach the courtyard and then knock on its gates. A minute later, he saw the door of the house inside the courtyard open. A Shorthaired boy around the age of fifteen walked out and opened the gate.

Both of them talked for a couple of minutes before walking away. The man was leading while the boy followed behind him.

Seeing that his target was moving, the masked man finally got a chance to stretch his tensed body. While it was normal for him to hide like this for an extended period of time, as it was part of his job, it still tired him out every time. He was a cultivator sure, but he was only at the early stage of the Qi refining realm and was not like the tireless core condensation experts who could work tirelessly for weeks.

The masked man followed the pair until they reached the square that was located in the center of the residential district. He then saw them talk amongst themselves about the night vigil. They talked for about five minutes before they separated again and went in different directions.

The masked man followed the boy towards the northern direction, which was the same way they originally came from. He saw the boy look a little lost in his thoughts while patrolling the streets. The expression on the boy's face actually reminded himself of his own situation many years ago.

He too was once lost in the world and didn't know what to do. That was until he met his lord, who gave him the opportunity to become a cultivator. For this grace that his lord had bestowed upon him, he had chosen to serve him till his death.

He would jump into the inferno of hell if his lord so asked him to do. He was his lord's blade, and such was his duty. He along with his fellow comrades all worked for the glory of his lord. They were all useless before; it was their fortune that they met their lord who had allowed them to become worthy.

Unknowingly more time passed, and an hour had gone by. The masked man had seen the boy mutter something to himself multiple times over the time period. He had found this a little strange, but had just attributed this to the boy's eccentricities. He did not know why he had been ordered by his lord to watch this boy, but knew that all he had to do was to follow his orders.

The masked man had observed the boy for over a week and had found out that the boy was much stronger than he looked. To him, if he was not informed beforehand, he would only think that the boy was an average Body Tempering realm expert. But beneath that facade of naivety, it hid a full-fledged Qi cultivator.

The masked man could not figure out how the boy became a cultivator at such a young age. Even for him who had above average talent, it took him over a decade to be able to become a cultivator. It was a little shocking for him to see such a young cultivator in a small town like this.

While there were Young cultivators like this in Wu Lim city as well, they all belonged to influential families and clans. For an orphan boy with an insignificant background like his, it should have been nearly impossible, but here he was existing and defying the odds.

The masked man snapped out of his thoughts upon seeing that the boy was returning to the square. A few minutes later they reached the square, and he saw the boy talk with the three men standing there. One of the men was missing, and they seemed to be waiting for him.

After a while they started getting impatient, only to hear the boy speak out loud. The missing man had returned, but not without a pack of stray dogs chasing him. It was at this time that things started going haywire.

The masked man saw that the chasing dogs were not barking. This was probably the most abnormal thing, as dogs always barked while chasing their prey. Yes prey, he had seen the look in the stray dog's eyes. They were fueled with blood lust and wanted to kill.

The masked man suddenly realized the reason for the silent but murderous dogs. They had been poisoned with Beast Inciting powder. The Beast Inciting powder was used to provoke beasts and create a rampage. It was outlawed in the Shuang Qian kingdom, and its possession was punishable by death.

The masked man could only think of a few people or organizations that could have access to it. The Beast Inciting powder was not only expensive but also difficult to create. To use them on normal animals such as these stray dogs was only a waste.

Then in the next moment, he saw something which he could not explain. The stray dogs halted before the five people and growled for a bit before yelping out as if they were scared by the most dangerous of predators.

He had never seen this before, as no beast affected by the beast inciting powder would ever flinch. They would mindlessly chase down their prey and tear them to shreds. The occurrence in front of him was simply unscientific.

Though this was not the end of the bizarre situation. The men soon talked amongst themselves and figured out the strangeness of the current scenario. Then the masked man heard something which made him realize that in all this mess, he had failed to recognize a huge thing.

While the stray dogs were barking and the man being chased was crying out for help, no one heard it. This was even more unusual than normal as all the residents of the town were rather anxious due to the recent string of disappearances and the spirit beast attacks.

They should have woken up rather easily, but even in all this hullabaloo, no one responded. The masked man then saw the men trying to alert the residents but to no avail. He even saw his 'target' the boy pull out a door from its hinges without any hesitation revealing a part of his strength.

Thirty more minutes passed by as the masked man saw the party of five people getting more and more anxious. They were searching for any resident that could be awakened. Even the masked man himself was worried because of this development.

The masked man knew that he would have to inform his lord about this phenomenon. It was not easy to incapacitate so many people without leaving a witness, thus he knew that someone big was behind this act. His lord had many plans and liked to know everything that happened around, hence this was definitely something that he needed to inform his lord about.

The masked man could not see what happened inside the house but could guess, and after hearing the conversation of the men he confirmed it. The people inside were alive but unconscious. Not just that house, but every house that the party of five men visited.

The masked man knew about some substances and techniques that could be used to put someone in a deep sleep like this, but not on an extensive scale such as this. Doing it at such a large scale would require a large retinue of people, and to do it covertly would require even more immense influence and power.

The masked man had thought that every person in the district was affected except for the five men, but he was soon proved wrong when they found another person. This person was an old man with a wrinkled face.

The masked man was a little surprised by this, but soon discovered the reason. That old man was a warrior. While it may not be apparent to most people, he had grown up seeing warriors fight and had even joined an organization that vetted out people through combat. He was able to sense the faint aura of a warrior on the old man.

As the man was very old, the aura had faded away yet even now he had the disposition of a warrior; his gait was still there when he walked without any support. The masked man guessed that the old man was at the tenth stage of the body tempering realm at the very least. He judged that the old man must have fought in the war that happened a long time ago and was now disabled and weak.

Because there was no other reason why there would not be a record of a tenth stage body tempering expert, as they were rather rare. Even the masked man himself was only at the eight stage of the body tempering realm. He knew how difficult it was to progress after that.

But now that he knew that whatever that was affecting the residents did not affect people of that level, he could narrow down the suspects. He still didn't know why the five people of the night vigil were not affected though.

After informing the old man, the party decided to go and inform the guards, but even that seemed to be unsuccessful as all the guards were absent. The masked man narrowed his brows and started to get a little nervous himself.

He then saw his target separating himself from the party and going in the other direction. The masked man shifted in the shadows and continued stalking his target, completely unknown to the fact that he was soon about to be caught.

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Chapter 80: Old Warehouse

Lin Mu did not move his short sword from the neck of the masked man, even after he declared his surrender. He did not want the man to surprise him after letting his guard down.

Lin Mu instead scanned every inch of the man's body for any hidden weapons or dangerous items. He had seen the darkly dressed men use poisons, thus he wanted to be extremely sure of his safety. After scanning the man with his spirit sense, Lin Mu found a few weapons hidden on his body.

This included four daggers, one each hidden at the ankles and wrists along with a set of metal needles which seemed to be steeped in some kind of black liquid; most likely to be poison. Lin Mu took away all of these weapons from the masked man before allowing him to sit up.

"Now speak, who are you from, and why have you been following me?" Lin Mu questioned with a stern tone.

The masked man seemed to hesitate a bit before speaking,

"I am but my lord's tool and I was ordered by him to observe you."

Lin Mu narrowed his eyes upon hearing the masked man's words. It was a little surprising to him that it was actually someone else that was pulling the strings from the behind. He then thought of the similarities between the men who had tried to kill him before and this man.

"Are you part of the same group of people that killed Gan Ma?" Lin Mu questioned.

The masked man tilted his head slightly upon hearing Lin Mu's words, as if he was confused.

'Isn't Gan Ma the second hunter who became a cultivator?' The masked man thought before speaking,

"Gan Ma's dead?" The masked man asked.

Lin Mu closely observed the masked man and could tell the genuine confusion in the man's voice.

"You didn't know that, but know who he is?" Lin Mu asked.

"We know who he is but according to our intelligence he has been missing for nearly a month now." The masked man answered.

"We? So you are with those men." Lin Mu uttered before straightening his blade.

Seeing that his target had assumed something wrongly, the masked man put up his hands in protest.

"No, we are not who you think. Though if you allow me to contact my lord, I can find it out for you." The masked man replied.

Lin Mu felt a little surprised at the masked man's words, but did not accept them right away. There were a few more questions he wanted the answers to.

"Are your people behind what's happening in the district right now?" Lin Mu questioned with a grave expression.

"No, we're not, but I can tell you that we wouldn't do something like this. Even my lord would like to find out more about this and why this happened. But let me tell you this: that whoever has done this is very influential and has a lot of resources." The masked man spoke.

"Why do you say that?" Lin Mu asked.

"Whatever substance that is being used to induce the sleep into the district's residents, it is definitely expensive and difficult to get." The masked man answered.

Lin Mu did not believe the masked man at first, but then he heard senior Xukong talk.

"He's probably telling the truth. A substance that can incapacitate so many people at once is definitely hard to come by in a lower-level world like this." Xukong spoke.

The masked man saw that Lin Mu's expression had turned dull for a moment. He didn't understand why, but after that, the boy nodded to himself and spoke.

"Okay then, for now, I'll accept your answer, but I won't trust you completely." Lin Mu said.

The masked man thought to himself for a bit before speaking,

"I have a little more information that may be helpful to you."

"Go ahead" Lin Mu replied.

"The dogs that were chasing that man, I know why they were not barking." The masked man answered.

"And why's that?" Lin Mu asked.

"They were affected by a poison called as the Beast Inciting powder." The masked man answered.

"It was probably an inferior version of that poison, seeing that it was able to affect normal animals," Xukong informed Lin Mu.

"You know what it is, senior?" Lin Mu curiously asked.

"Yes, it's a rather infamous poison and is known in most of the worlds. It does not directly harm the beasts, rather it just sends them into a mindless rage. If a normal animal is poisoned by it though, then they will just explode." Xukong explained.

"Is this poison something that's easily available?" Lin Mu asked out loud.

To the masked man, it seemed as if the boy was asking him, but Lin Mu was actually asking both senior Xukong and the masked man.

"Any qualified alchemist should be able to make an inferior version, even for a lower-level world like this. Though I can't tell about the restrictions that would occur in its acquisition." Xukong answered.

"No, it is outlawed in the Shuang Qian kingdom as it can cause the beasts to rampage which can result in a beast wave. It is also very expensive and few people can acquire it, especially in this region." The masked man answered.

"Why would someone use an expensive substance like it on mere stray dogs?" Lin Mu muttered.

Suddenly a thought clicked in Lin Mu's mind as he formed an idea. The masked man saw the change of expression on Lin Mu's face and grasped that something was wrong.

"Oh no! The place where Xiao Lu came from, there's probably something there." Lin Mu exclaimed.

"You can't leave the masked man here though," Xukong spoke.

Lin Mu understood senior Xukong's words and knew that he would either have to make a choice between killing the masked man or to let him go.

It was as if the masked man read Lin Mu's mind and instantly spoke,

"I'll come with you. Don't misunderstand me, but if something wrong is happening here, I have to report it to my lord."

Lin Mu stared at the masked man for a few seconds before he lifted his short sword from his neck.

"I'll trust you for now, but if you do anything suspicious, know that I'll kill you in the next moment." Lin Mu spoke with a grim tone.

Lin Mu had not exposed all of his capabilities, thus was confident in being able to kill the masked man anytime that he wanted. With his two skills of Flicker and Blink, it would be a piece of cake.

The masked man gently nodded and then stood up, intending to follow Lin Mu.

Both of them then started running towards the residential district. With their full speed, they reached the residential district in five minutes. The masked man was having a hard time keeping up with Lin Mu, even after strengthening his legs with spirit qi.

'With speed and spirit sense like this, the boy is rather talented. I can't even estimate his cultivation, is he perhaps in the peak stage of the Qi refining realm?' The masked man thought to himself.

The masked man had only seen such speed and spirit sense in his senior comrades. He had also experienced spirit sense before, thus was able to tell when Lin Mu's spirit sense probed him. It was also because of this he was shocked, as according to the knowledge he had, spirit sense could only be refined when a cultivator reached the Peak stage of the Qi refining realm.

What he didn't know was that Lin Mu's speed was not just because of his qi cultivation but also because of his Tenth stage of body tempering realm vitality. Him being able to refine spirit sense could also be attributed to his unique situation, in which he actually did not have a cultivation technique at all but was rather using an auxiliary cultivation technique unique to him.

People of a lower-level world like this would never be able to comprehend this, as they simply did not have the information or the capabilities. Even if someone told them that it was possible, they would just deny it.

After reaching the square located at the center of the residential district, Lin Mu turned towards the Eastern direction and started running towards it. He kept an eye out for anything abnormal that stood out and also focused his senses.

A minute later they reached the end of the street and started looking around for any clues that may have been left behind.

"Xiao Lu should have most likely encountered the stray dogs here." Lin Mu spoke while looking at the mud prints on the ground.

The mud prints were of the stray dogs and were faintly visible in the darkness. He followed them and found out that they lead to an old warehouse. The warehouse was used by the local residents to store their surplus crops, but ever since the reduction in population from last year's plague, its use had become less.

Lin Mu noticed a small hole at the base of a wall that was big enough for a dog to pass through. There were paw prints coming out of the hole. Lin Mu found the side door of the warehouse and broke through it with ease.

The masked man followed behind Lin Mu tensely. Even he was feeling the grimness of the situation. Lin Mu looked at the relatively empty warehouse that had a few crates, wooden boxes, and sacks lying around.

Lin Mu suddenly squinted his nose as he smelt something,

"Blood" Both Lin Mu and the masked man spoke out in unison.

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Chapter 81: A Temporary Alliance

The pungent smell of the blood had scattered a little bit, but the sharp noses of Lin Mu and the masked man were able to detect them rather easily. They followed the stench and soon found the origin of it.

They walked up to a large box that was partially covered with a tarp and checked it. The first thing they noticed was the bloodied paw prints nearby the box. The paw prints were similar to the stray dogs they had seen outside the warehouse.

Lin Mu took a breath before lifting the tarp that was covering the large box. A wave of foul stench assaulted his nose as the tarp blocking it was lifted. Lin Mu wrinkled his nose in disgust and steeled his senses.

Lin Mu went closer and looked at the source of the vile stench. It was a dead body that was lying inside the box. One of its arms was hanging out of the box and seemed to have been gnawed on, probably by the stray dogs.

The dead body was wearing some mangled clothes along with leather Armour that was nearly shredded. Lin Mu looked at the face of the dead body and could not identify it, as it was someone unknown to him.

"Why is this dead body here?" Lin Mu spoke.

"It's a mercenary from the Crimson Fang mercenary company." The masked man spoke.

Lin Mu turned to look at the masked man and spoke.

"How do you know this?"

"I can tell that from the symbol. Even though it's damaged, I can still recognize it." The masked man answered.

In response to Lin Mu's question, the masked man slightly lifted the dead body's arm and showed the damaged symbol that was present on the shredded armor. Since the leather armor was heavily damaged, the symbol of the Crimson Fang mercenary company was only partially visible.

Lin Mu looked at the symbol closely and recognized it, as he had also met some of the crimson fang mercenaries before. They all had the same symbol engraved on their armors. Though looking at the leather armor that this dead man was wearing, Lin Mu could tell that it was of higher quality. The armors that he had seen the other crimson fang mercenaries were of a lower quality than this.

"Use your spirit sense," Xukong ordered.

Lin Mu extended his spirit sense and scanned the body and found out a shocking thing.

"He was a cultivator." Lin Mu spoke out loud.

The masked man heard Lin Mu's words and did his own deduction. Coming to the same conclusion, he narrowed his eyes that were hidden behind the featureless mask.

"An elite member of the Crimson Fang mercenary team." The masked man informed.

"Could this be related to the disappearance of the mercenaries? But there haven't been any new reports about crimson Fang mercenaries." Lin Mu muttered.

"No, there have been more mercenaries disappearing, but because they are far from the town and separated, it takes a few days till someone discovers that they have gone missing." The masked man explained.

Lin Mu looked at the masked man with a curious expression and asked,

"How do you know of this?"

"Our lord has been keeping an eye on the recent events. There are other comrades of mine that have been investigating this as well." The masked man spoke honestly.

Lin Mu was rather surprised by the masked man's honesty. He did not know why he was telling him this, but there was probably some other reason behind it.

"Why are you telling me this?" Lin Mu questioned.

"Because it seems to me that our goals are the same, so it will be beneficial for both of us to cooperate." The masked man spoke.

"But weren't you ordered to attack me?" Lin Mu asked in a nonchalant tone.

"No, I was only ordered to observe you, I wasn't told to make contact." The masked man answered with a straight voice.

"It seems like we have an alliance on our hands. Well, at least a temporary one." Xukong spoke with a chuckle.

"You're fine with this senior?" Lin Mu spoke inside his mind.

"I am, at least for now. Besides, you need to learn to cooperate with people, or more accurately cultivators." Xukong Answered.

"If you say so, senior." Lin Mu replied.

Lin Mu always felt strange when senior Xukong used his chuckling tone of voice. Since he had seen his real body, it just didn't sit well with him. It was as if an imposing being was behaving like a child.

"Wait, there's something more here." The masked man spoke upon spotting something.

The masked man then went towards another box that was kept at the side. This box had another box that was kept over it and was blocking its opening. He lifted the upper box and moved it to the side.

Soon more bloody scent spread around. Though this time it was not foul and instead seemed like it was rather fresh. Lin Mu approached the box and saw what was lying inside it.

It was another corpse of a man that seemed to be freshly killed. Lin Mu looked at the wounds and saw that they were bandaged.

"They bandaged the wounds after death, the same as with Gan Ma." Lin Mu spoke.

The masked man also looked at the strange corpse and tried to find any other wounds, but could not. The only wound the corpse had seemed to be in his chest and was covered with bandages. The masked man heard Lin Mu's words and went back to check the other corpse for wounds.

Upon checking the corpse, he found out that the corpse actually didn't have any wounds that caused its death. Strangely enough, only the clothes and armor were destroyed. The cause of death was due to strangulation, as could be seen from the ligature marks on the neck. The cause of the bloody smell was actually because of the stray dogs.

"You say you've seen something similar before?" The masked man asked.

"Yes, Gan Ma the hunter was also killed and then his wound was bandaged." Lin Mu replied.

"You know the people that caused that?" The masked man questioned.

"Yes, they saw that I discovered them and tried to kill me." Lin Mu answered.

"And what happened to them after that?" The masked man asked, even though he already knew the answer.

"What do you think? They are dead." Lin Mu answered with a calm tone and then heard senior Xukong speak something in his mind.

"Repeat my words to him," Xukong spoke.

Lin Mu softly hummed in response and agreed.

The masked man was lost in thought for a moment as he seemed to have realized something.

"Then you must have seen their faces." The masked man suddenly spoke.

"Yes I did indeed, I also know the identity of one of the men." Lin Mu spoke with a straight expression.

"Do you have some evidence too?" The masked man couldn't help but ask.

The masked man was feeling a little excited as he knew that he had probably made a huge discovery. His comrades had been investigating the recent events for a while but did not have much success with it as the culprits were rather good at hiding their tracks.

He had never thought that he would be able to discover something like this by chance.

'I have to get the information and report it to the lord.' The masked man thought.

"Can you tell me about their identities and also the evidence?" The masked man asked with slight anxiousness in his voice.

"We got him," Xukong spoke in Lin Mu's mind.

Lin Mu was a little surprised by this as everything had gone according to senior Xukong's plan. Now he just had to do a little more, like senior had instructed.

"I could, but I won't." Lin Mu replied to the masked man.

The masked man felt his heart drop for a moment, but then calmed down. He understood that he had to do something in return and would not be able to get it easily.

"Okay, what do you want in return?" The masked man asked.

A sharp glint appeared in Lin Mu's eyes, and even a slight smirk could be seen at the edge of his mouth.

"I want to meet your lord." Lin Mu answered.

"That won't be possible." The masked man replied straight away.

The masked man knew how difficult it was to meet their lord. Even he himself had only met him three times until now. But even those three times were enough for him to develop undying loyalty and pledge his life to his lord.

The masked man went silent and thought for a minute before continuing.

"You can meet the lord's closest person, though. My lord is reclusive and does not meet people easily."

"This is better than I thought. A person close to this 'Lord' would work just fine." Xukong said.

Lin Mu knew that senior Xukong was never intending to meet the lord straight away. He just wanted him to have an advantage in bargaining the terms of this alliance and thus wanted to meet someone in a higher position.

The masked man was certainly a low-level person in his organization, thus he wanted someone who at least had some administrative authority. A person that was probably the right hand of this 'Lord' would work perfectly for them.

"That's fine with me. We are now…" Lin Mu spoke and extended his right hand.

The masked man extended his right reciprocation and shook Lin Mu's hand.

"Allies." Both men spoke in unison.

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Chapter 82: The Culprits Arrive

After shaking hands, both of the men developed an understanding. Lin Mu returned all of the masked man's weapons except for the poisoned needles. The masked man also tacitly understood and did not ask for them either.

"From the bandaged wounds, we can assume that this has been done by the same people who attacked you before. Now we only need to find some more clues here if we can." The masked man spoke.

Lin Mu nodded his head and went around to search for clues. It didn't take him long to find them either, as it was right in front of him. He looked at the first corpse and checked it. He soon found a small vial filled with some kind of colorless powder in it.

The vial was hidden in the sleeve of the corpse and was dangling by its tassel. When the masked man turned the corpse a little, it must have gotten loose. Lin Mu picked up the vial and saw that its cap was actually a little loose and some of the powder had actually spilled out onto the sleeve of the corpse.

The masked man saw the vial in Lin Mu's hand and suddenly exclaimed,

"The Beast Inciting powder!"

Lin Mu's eyes narrowed upon hearing the masked man's words, and he looked at the small vial.

"So this is what caused the stray dogs to attack Xiao Lu." Lin MU stated.

"The stray dogs came in contact with the powder that was spilled onto the sleeves while eating the hand and probably went insane." The masked man deduced.

Lin Mu nodded and then continued,

"Now the question is, why did this person have this powder? I originally thought that the culprits spread the poison, but now it seems otherwise."

"Still, it is not easy to get this poison. It is a mystery how this mercenary came upon it. Even an elite mercenary doesn't have the capabilities or the reach to obtain a poison such as this." The masked man spoke.

"It's also a little strange that the attackers didn't search his corpse." The masked man added.

"That is true, but we still don't know what their objective is." Lin Mu replied.

"That's not all, Lin Mu, you're forgetting something." Xukong interrupted.

"What senior?" Lin Mu asked.

"The effect of the Beast Inciting powder is to send the beasts into a mindless rage, but when the stray dogs encountered you they ran away," Xukong answered.

Lin Mu realized the meaning of senior Xukong's words and spoke to the masked man.

"Was there an abnormality in the Beast Inciting powder or the stray dogs? Because they ran away after encountering me."

The masked man felt confused upon hearing Lin Mu's words, but tried to think over it. He had not paid attention to the occurrence at first, but now that he was remembering it, something like this shouldn't happen according to his knowledge. Beasts affected by the Beast Inciting powder don't even fear death and plunge in headfirst into conflict, them being afraid of Lin Mu was extremely strange.

"You are right, but I don't know what the abnormality could be." The masked man spoke.

Lin Mu suddenly realized something as his eyes went wide,

"It couldn't be because of your imprint, could it senior?" Lin Mu questioned.

"Hmm, that should not be possible as the imprint is only detectable by cultivators or beasts of a higher cultivation," Xukong spoke and took a pause.

"But if it was detected by the stray dogs then that vial of Beast Inciting powder is certainly abnormal. If it was also able to increase the sensing capabilities of a normal animal, then it's probably not simple." Xukong explained.

After hearing senior Xukong's explanation, Lin Mu thought of something before looking at the masked man.

"Do you know anyone that is more knowledgeable about this Beast Inciting powder?" Lin Mu asked.

The masked man snapped out of his thoughts after hearing Lin Mu speak and looked up at him.

"I myself don't know, but there should be someone my comrades know." The masked man answered.

"Well then, I would like to meet them as well." Lin Mu stated.

"That can be arranged." The masked man simply replied.

Lin Mu turned to look at the corpses and spoke.

"Now that we have that behind us, what do we do with the corpses?" We can't leave them here."

"Yes, that is a problem. I'll have to inform my superiors about this." The masked man spoke.

"Though if these corpses are left here and the entire neighborhood is asleep, then I think that they may be coming here to collect them or do something else." Lin Mu replied after thinking for a bit.

"Also, if the culprits find you, I doubt you will be able to fight against them alone." Lin Mu added.

The masked man realized the severity of Lin Mu's words and understood that it will indeed be pretty difficult and may even result in his death. He then grasped a small necklace on his neck with his hand for a second for a moment before releasing it.

'Not now at least.' The masked man thought.

But suddenly as if to prove Lin Mu's words, the main door of the warehouse suddenly opened. A group of eight men dressed in black clothes walked in and saw both of them standing near the corpses.

The men were covered from head to toe and could not be identified. They were all equipped with similar looking swords on their waists and seemed to have armor hidden beneath their clothes.

The Eight men looked at the duo with wide eyes before one of the man shouted,

"KILL! Don't let them escape."

"Heaven's tongue, it really happened!" Lin Mu spoke with shock.

"Focus now. You have to defeat them first." Xukong sternly warned.

The masked man drew his sword and muttered to himself,

"Shouldn't have hesitated."

Lin Mu drew his short sword and extend his spirit sense. He quickly detected the strength of the eight men and informed the masked man.

"Four of them are Spirit Qi cultivators, the rest are Body Tempering realm experts. Two of the cultivators are at the mid-stage of the Qi refining realm while the other two are at the early stage."

The masked man narrowed his eyes and tightened his grip on the handle of the sword.

"I'll have to reveal a few of my skills, I'm afraid." Lin Mu spoke to senior Xukong.

"It's fine. Better to kill them now and deal with the situation later. You can't hesitate in moments like these." Xukong advised.

Lin Mu nodded and spoke, "So be it."

In the next instant a fierce expression appeared on Lin Mu's face, as he started chanting the severing heart sutra.

All of the eight darkly dressed men were approaching the duo at once, so Lin Mu chose to target one of the mid-stage Qi refining realm cultivators. The masked man heard the strange chants that were being uttered by Lin Mu and felt a chill in his spine.

Suddenly Lin Mu disappeared in front of the eyes of the eight men, surprising them. Even the masked man was rather surprised at this occurrence, after he could not see Lin Mu beside him. The masked man then turned to face the attackers and saw Lin Mu standing behind them.

Lin Mu triggered the second skill Blink and appeared right behind the eight men. He slashed his short sword at the neck of the mid-stage Qi refining realm cultivator and instantly decapitated him. Because his companion was under the effect of the Severing heart sutra, he didn't react fast enough.

Taking this opportunity, Lin Mu strengthened the short sword with spirit qi wisps and waved his blade again, severing the heads of the three Body tempering realm experts. Now there were only four attackers left, three qi cultivators and one measly body tempering realm expert.

The first person to react was the masked man as he threw one of his daggers at an early stage qi cultivator and then slashed at another. The early stage qi cultivator could not dodge in time as the dagger was buried in his throat, killing him.

This reduced the number of attacker to only three, relieving most of the burden on the Duo. The remaining Mid stage qi refining realm cultivator finally reacted and cut at Lin Mu with his own sword while shouting curses at him.

Lin Mu dodged the sudden attack by using the first skill Flicker and let the attack pass through him effortlessly. Spinning around, Lin Mu seamlessly withdrew a spear from his ring and impaled it into the one remaining body tempering realm expert.

The masked man had also clashed with the early stage qi refining realm cultivator and was crossing his sword with him. They exchanged a few blows and seem to be at nearly the same strength. Lin Mu was still fighting with the other cultivator and was dodging one cut after the other.

Lin Mu's superior speed and agility were proving advantageous here.

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Chapter 83 – The Masked Man's Misunderstanding

Flitting around in the warehouse, Lin Mu dodged each and every blow. He glanced at the masked man every few seconds to check how the fight was going. Seeing that the masked man would not be able to defeat his opponent quickly, Lin Mu decided to give him a little helping hand.

The Fierce look reappeared on Lin Mu's face and sent a chill down the spine of the Mid-stage Qi refining realm cultivator that was fighting him. He then started chanting the Severing heart sutra again and targeted the early stage qi cultivator that was fighting the masked man.

A dull look suddenly appeared on the face of the early stage qi cultivator as he faltered for a moment. Talking grasp of this opportunity, the masked man ended his life and accomplished his task. Having done this, he looked at Lin Mu and his opponent.

But he was shocked as soon as he looked at them. The Mid-stage Qi cultivator was no longer alive. Lin Mu had used this short time period when the cultivator was distracted by his companion's death to split him in half.

Lin Mu looked at the short sword in his hand and marveled at its effectiveness.

'Truly an excellent specimen of a blade.' He praised.

Unlike Lin Mu, who was marveling at his blade, the masked man was rather shocked and a little fearful at his display. He was surprised at Lin Mu's sudden disappearance at the start but attributed to some kind of speed skill, but when he produced weapons out of thin air, he understood that the boy also had a spatial treasure.

The masked man was no stranger to spatial treasures and had seen many of them, but in the case of Lin Mu, he was truly shocked. The first point was that how would he get a spatial treasure in such a backward place, even in Wu Lim city only influential or rich people had spatial treasures.

The second point which was more shocking was that the spatial treasure was unlike anything he had seen. The speed at which Lin Mu was able to withdraw a weapon was instant. Even the best spatial treasure he knew of couldn't do a feat like this. And even if he had the highest quality of spatial treasure, just the cost to get one forged would be sky-high.

That's Right, the highest quality spatial treasures couldn't just be bought. There was a big demand for it, but no supply. One could only commission an expert to forge a spatial treasure, and that too only top-grade spirit tool refiners could actually make spatial treasures.

Even from them, only a master grade spirit tool refiner could do it, thus making a high-quality spatial treasure no small feat and would require months if not years of work.

Just the basic ingredients required to forge a spatial treasure would be worth a huge fortune and needed a long time to gather. This reduced the supply of spatial treasures in the Great Zhou Empire. Besides, there were only a handful of master spirit tool refiners currently in the entire Great Zhou empire.

This resulted in the highest quality spatial treasures being monopolized by the powerful sects and the nobles of the empire and the residing kingdoms. It was in fact considered a sign of authority and influence. If someone saw a person with a spatial tool of this quality anywhere, one would have to be careful with their words and had to avoid offending them.

This entire thought train of the masked man led him to misunderstand Lin Mu's status and made him think that he was the disciple of a hidden expert or the heir of a Noble clan.

'This… this… I need to Inform the lord quickly. I can't let him make a mistake and offend someone he can't afford to.' The masked man thought.

The masked man actually had a method of contacting his superiors rather quickly, but it was only meant for the most extreme of the extreme emergencies. Even the arrival and the attack of the culprits was not worth using it according to him, but this demonstration of strength that Lin Mu had just done completely turned his viewpoint and sent his caution reeling.

Lin Mu was thinking that revealing his skills had put him at a disadvantage, but unknown to him, it had actually given him a huge advantage.

After all the attackers were dead, Lin Mu used his spirit sense to scan their bodies for any hidden weapons and other dangers. Senior Xukong had informed him beforehand of certain tactics that cultivators used in order to eliminate their enemies even after their death.

Lin Mu's caution turned out to be beneficial, as he did end up finding something dangerous. There were tiny packets of poison placed behind the face covers of the black-clothed men, which would burst and spread to the person trying to uncover them.

A simple yet effective mechanism made it so that the packets of poison did not break from impact and only burst when the face covers were pulled apart.

Even the masked man was shocked by this as he exclaimed,

"These are no normal cultivators, they are death warriors."

Lin Mu turned his head and looked at the masked man with a little confusion.

"What are death warriors?" he asked.

The masked man gulped before speaking,

"Death warriors are a special kind of warriors trained by certain clans and organizations for committing highly illegal acts. Just the mere existence of a death warrior is deemed forbidden in the Shuang Qian kingdom, as they don't have true identities and only live to die for their owners."

"Is this true senior Xukong?" Lin Mu asked in his mind.

"It is indeed true, death warriors are a unique breed of warriors in many of the worlds. Though the standard may greatly vary. These dead men can barely even be considered cultivators not to say about true death warriors." Xukong spoke with disdain in his voice.

Lin Mu was rather surprised, as this was the first time he had heard senior Xukong talk in such a disdainful tone. It was as if he felt offended by the mediocrity of these death warriors and did not deem them worthy of their title.

Unwilling to question senior Xukong, Lin Mu just accepted his words calmly. Lin Mu then carefully removed the packets of poison that were hidden in the face covers of the attackers. There was a small clasp hidden near the back of the neck which when released would allow one to remove the face cover without breaking the poison packets.

After removing the face covers of the eight men, Lin Mu tried to identify them. But he did not find anyone familiar and could not find any common points between them either. They had no identification marks such as tattoos or brands either. Neither did they carry any piece of intelligence such as the letter Lin Mu obtained last time.

The masked man also observed the faces of the culprits and did not find them familiar. His eyes then went towards the swords of the eight culprits. He picked them and observed them closely. He then disassembled the handle of the sword and revealed the base of the sword.

There were a few words carved on the base of the sword. They read: Xiangwei Jin Armaments.

Lin Mu curiously looked at what the masked man was doing and paid attention to it. After the words that were carved on the base of the sword were revealed, he was a little surprised.

"What is that?" Lin Mu asked.

"This should be the marking of the manufacturer." The marked man replied.

"Xiangwei Jin Armaments? Wait, are these from Xiangwei city?" Lin Mu questioned.

"They are indeed. They are from one of the biggest armament producers of Xiangwei." The masked man answered.

"Then does this mean that the culprits are from Xiangwei city?" Lin Mu wondered.

"Not exactly. The Xiangwei Jin armaments produce so many weapons that they can be found all over the Shuang Qian kingdom. This won't help us much." The masked man replied while shaking his head.

The masked man then stood up and spoke,

"I need to immediately contact my superiors."

"So you'll leave now?" Lin Mu asked.

The masked man sighed before replying,

"No, I have another method."

"What?" Lin Mu asked curiously.

The masked man did not answer, but instead removed his necklace from his neck and held it in his hand. The necklace looked like a small and thin tube that was hollow. Its thickness was about the same as a chopstick.

The man gently lifted the bask of his mask and revealed the bottom part of his face. He then brought the tube-shaped necklace up to his lips and blew on it.

No sound was produced after the masked man blew on the tube, but a small disk shaped hole opened on the tube and started spinning.

The man kept on blowing on it for a few minutes without stopping. Only when he was completely out of breath did he stop.

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Chapter 84: A Friendly Offering

The masked man seemed completely out of breath and it was as if this little task took him more effort than the entire Battle that he had just gone through. The masked man could not bear it anymore and collapsed down onto the ground while breathing heavily.

'What happened to him?' Lin Mu thought.

Lin Mu then extended his spirit sense and checked the condition of the masked man. When he saw the spirit qi of the masked man, he got shocked as it was completely depleted. Not a single wisp of it was left remaining inside his dantian.

"He's in a severe state of qi exhaustion," Xukong spoke.

"How did he deplete it all, though? It didn't look like he used much of it during the Battle either." Lin Mu wondered.

"Hmm, it seems like that small tube he's holding is not simple," Xukong replied.

"Was that perhaps his method of contacting his superiors?" Lin Mu questioned.

"Hey! Are you alright?" Lin Mu asked with concern.

The masked man did not reply and only continued to pant. It seems that the qi exhaustion was much severe than he thought.

"Why is he so severely affected by this senior? When I had qi exhaustion before I was tired but not this bad." Lin Mu questioned.

'Of course, you would not be tired. With how vastly that ring is modifying your constitution, it would be a feat to become that exhausted.' Xukong thought but did not express it.

"You are at a higher stage of Body tempering realm than him, and you practically also have a superior method of cultivating qi. Your standards are greatly different, so you can't really compare it." Xukong answered Lin Mu.

Silently nodding to senior Xukong, Lin Mu decided to wait for the man to rest a bit.

"You know, you can give the masked man one of your spirit apples. It will help him recover faster and you will also be able to observe its effects on him." Xukong suggested after waiting a minute.

Lin Mu had eaten a couple of spirit apples that grew on the spirit apple tree that was inside the garden of karma. It tasted good to him and also helped him restore a small amount of spirit qi. The last time he ate a spirit apple, it restored about twenty-five wisps of spirit qi for him.

Senior Xukong had told him that it would not be the same for another person as everyone's constitutions varied and even their metabolism was different. Lin Mu had wanted to try feeding a spirit apple to a normal beast, but senior Xukong told him that it would not do much except for killing them, perhaps.

Lin Mu would have to capture an eighth stage body tempering beast in order to be able to test it. But senior Xukong then told him that, for him to analyze a beast's constitution would be difficult, as their physiologies were vastly different than humans. He would have to have a higher cultivation level as well as better spirit sense to even attempt that.

Now that Lin Mu had this chance to test it on a different person, he wanted to take it. As for whether the masked man would suspect where he got a spirit apple from, that would be rather useless as he had already revealed much more shocking secrets.

Something as simple as this would not matter at all, besides there was an entire orchard of spirit apples in the Northern town, he may as well have bought it normally. He did have the sufficient capital for it.

Having made up his mind, Lin Mu withdrew a spirit apple from his ring and put it towards the masked man. The masked man turned to look up and saw the spirit apple in Lin Mu's hand.

"Go on, take it. It will help you restore your spirit qi." Lin Mu spoke.

The man slightly nodded while panting and took the spirit apple from Lin Mu's hand. His mask was already lifted from his mouth, thus he did not have to make the effort again. He placed the spirit apple at his mouth and took a bite.

The sweet and tangy juices from the spirit apple spread in his mouth and gave him a little taste of heaven. He chewed for a little bit before swallowing it. As soon as the morsel of the spirit apple reached his stomach, it instantly started releasing the spirit qi stored within it.

The wisps of spirit qi started being absorbed from the masked man's stomach and were being pulled into his meridians. The spirit qi wisps traveled through the man's meridians while nourishing his body and relieving his fatigue bit by bit.

Feeling the effects of the spirit apple taking place, the masked man no longer hesitated and started devouring the rest of the spirit apple. Bite by bite, the entire spirit apple disappeared into the masked man's stomach. He did not even leave behind the core and ate it all without wasting anything.

Soon the spirit qi wisps that were circulating inside the masked man's meridians started settling inside his dantian. A few minutes later the spirit qi had calmed down and the man's dantian was replenished with spirit qi once again.

While all this was happening Lin Mu was closely observing the masked man's condition. Right from the moment when the masked man had taken the first bite of the spirit apple, Lin Mu had started studying it. His spirit sense was sensing every single wisp of spirit qi that spread inside the masked man's body.

Lin Mu learned multiple things from this test. Firstly, he saw the difference between his own dantian and another person's dantian. The difference he found was extremely vast. He found out that the capacity of his dantian was nearly thrice that of the masked man's.

The second thing he learned was the meridians of the masked man. He was able to learn the masked man's qi cycle pattern. Lin Mu knew that a cultivator's qi cycle pattern varied depending on the kind of the qi cultivation technique that cultivator was using. This meant that if Lin Mu was able to obtain the breathing technique of the masked man, he may be able to replicate his entire qi cultivation technique.

The third thing he learned was the actual effect of the spirit apple itself. While a spirit apple was able to restore around 25 wisps of spirit qi for Lin Mu, it was much more different for the masked man. The spirit apple restored around 80 wisps of spirit qi for the masked man. This difference also surprised Lin Mu.

Having learned all this, Lin Mu felt rather satisfied and did not think that he had wasted the spirit apple.

The masked man also seemed to be a little surprised by the effect of the spirit apple. He sensed his dantian and found that his store of spirit qi had been replenished by eighty wisps. It had only been ten minutes, and he had restored such a large amount.

If he cultivated normally, it would take him nearly two hours to replenish the same amount on his own. The effectiveness of this spirit apple was surprising to the masked man. He had eaten a spirit apple before and had experienced its effect.

'This does not seem like a normal spirit apple. It has more than double the amount of spirit qi in it.' The masked man thought.

The masked man then looked up at Lin Mu with a strange expression that was hidden beneath his mask.

~sigh~ 'A person with such a distinguished identity as his was bound to be different. Even a normal spirit apple is so much more potent.' The masked man spoke to himself.

"Thank you." The masked man said after taking a deep breath.

"It's fine, the quicker you recover, the better it will be. We don't know if more of those men would come." Lin Mu replied.

The masked man remembered the severity of the current situation and nodded.

"You're right. Though we may not have to worry as much, my companions should be here soon." The masked man spoke while looking outside the warehouse.

Lin Mu then looked at the strange tube-shaped necklace hanging in the masked man's neck and thought about it.

"Is that necklace a spirit tool that's used to contact your companions?" Lin Mu curiously asked.

The masked man turned around after hearing Lin Mu's question and sighed again.

"No, it's not a spirit tool… Well, not completely. But it does allow me to contact my companions." The masked man answered.

Seeing that the masked man was unwilling to explain further, Lin Mu did not probe either. But he did ask senior Xukong about it.

"It may be some kind of primitive spirit tool, seeing as it did consume his entire store of spirit qi," Xukong answered.

Hearing about a new term, the curiosity within Lin Mu was ignited once again. Xukong instantly understood this and started explaining it before Lin Mu even had the chance to ask. Xukong was rather satisfied by the curiosity Lin Mu showed. It was good that he had a penchant for learning.

"A primitive spirit tool can simply be considered to be an incomplete spirit tool. While a primitive tool may have the structure of a spirit tool, it does not have the necessary formations and the qi circuits placed on it." Xukong explained.

Lin Mu nodded after hearing senior Xukong's words and walked ahead to stand with the masked man. He joined the masked man in looking out of the door of the old warehouse.

The night sky was lit up with the moon and the stars, spreading their luminance all across the town. Lin Mu soon observed a group of masked figures running across the roofs of the buildings.

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Chapter 85 – The Masked Man's Companions Arrive

Thirty minutes ago,

Somewhere in a silent and decrepit alley located inside the Northern town. An individual dressed in dark blue clothes and a featureless masked knocked on the door of a shop. The individual knocked in a certain pattern and on different places on the door.

A minute later the door silently opened, and the individual walked inside. The door immediately closed, revealing an old woman behind it. The old woman did not speak anything and just gestured for the masked individual to follow her. She brought him to another room inside the shop before closing down the door of that room as well.

The old woman then looked at the masked individual and spoke,

"Show me the crest."

The masked individual then pulled out a small metallic plate that was hexagonal in shape from their pocket. The masked individual handed the hexagonal metal plate to the old woman, who quickly snatched it from him. After taking it, the old woman glanced at it for a second before inserting it into a small opening that was hidden in the seam of the wall behind her.

As soon as she inserted the hexagonal plate, a clicking sound was heard and then the sound of gears moving could be heard. Soon a rectangular outline appeared on the wall. A wooden panel then shifted to reveal the passage behind it.

The old woman then looked at the masked individual and spoke again.

"They're waiting for you."

The masked individual silently nodded before walking through the new opening in the wall. After the masked individual was gone, the wooden panel automatically shifted and closed the entrance of the passage.

The masked individual walked for a few meters straight before reaching a staircase that descended deeper into the ground. The staircase was dark, unlike the dimly lit passage. Thus the masked individual picked up a lamp that was hanging on the wall and walked downstairs.

The masked individual must have walked for five minutes before reaching the end of the staircase. One could only imagine how deep the stairs went into the ground. At the end of the staircase, there was another door. The masked individual held the handle of the door and pushed it open, revealing the brightly lit room behind it. Quickly closing the door, the individual walked inside.

"You're late." A voice spoke inside the brightly lit room.

The masked individual turned towards the source of the voice and replied,

"I found a few more clues of those people."

The voice of the masked individual was feminine and cold, making one feel the chill on their skin. The masked individual then removed their mask, which revealed a beautiful face that was marred by a scar that extended from the left temple to the chin.

The masked individual was actually a woman.

"And what kind of clues did you notice?" The voice asked.

"Whoever they are, they have been going to the northern forest every day. I also found a few traces of blood on the route towards the northern forest." The unmasked woman replied.

"Hmm, we'll investigate it then." The voice spoke as it got closer.

Soon a man appeared in front of the woman. The man had short hair and was wearing dark blue clothes similar to that of the woman's. He had an average face that one did not find peculiar.

"Any new information?" The woman asked.

"Nothing in particular. Most of our companions are still out doing their task, while the rest returned an hour ago to report. You're the only one who was late." The man replied and took a pause.

"Well not just you, Hei Wen has not returned yet either." The man added.

"Why is he late? He's the most punctual of us all." The woman asked.

"Hei Wen was assigned a tailing mission recently. He's been on it for a few days now." The man answered.

"Tailing mission? Did they find a potential suspect?" The woman questioned.

"We do not know. He was directly informed by the leader." The man answered.

"We'll just have to wait for him then, I guess." The woman replied while walking towards a chair.

"Perhaps." The masked man spoke with an uneasy voice.

The woman noticed the man's unease but did not question it, rather choosing to rest on the chair for a bit. The man also sat down on a chair nearby and closed his eyes.

A few minutes passed until a very high-pitched sound could be heard in the room. The pair of man and woman abruptly stood up with their eyes wide open. Five more people came out from a door that was to the left of the room.

"Someone has triggered the emergency signal." They all spoke in unison.

"Follow me." The short-haired man ordered.

The man then lead the six people to a room that was situated across the hall. He pulled out a key from his pocket and opened the door. Inside this room multiple tables were placed and on these tables, tens of rectangular plates were kept.

Currently, one of these rectangular plates seemed to be making the high-pitched sound. A disk-shaped opening had appeared on the rectangular plate, and the circular plate that was cut out from it was spinning rapidly.

The circular plate spun for about two minutes before stopping. Tense expressions could be seen on the faces of each and every person in the room.

"Whose plate is it?" One of the persons asked.

The woman walked forward to check the name that was written below the rectangular plate.

"It's Hei Wen!" The woman exclaimed.

"His target! Hei Wen is on a tailing mission, he must've been compromised." The short-haired man spoke.

"Quick, we can still save him if we reach there now." The woman spoke.

"But we don't have everyone here. Hei Wen signaled the highest level of emergency. It rung for two whole minutes. He must've depleted all his spirit qi." One of the men spoke.

"No, if he's out of spirit qi, we need to be even more quick or he won't survive for long." The woman protested.

"That's it. We leave right this moment." The short-haired man declared.

None of the people dared to question the short-haired man's words as they all got ready. A minute later everyone was equipped with their featureless masks and had their swords at their backs. They started leaving the underground room one by one and reached the shop that was located at the top.

The wooden panel in the wall opened, and all of the masked individuals walked out. The old woman that was sitting in the shop noticed this and came out to see them.

"An emergency? Who?" The old woman asked with a grim voice.

"Hei Wen." The short-haired man replied.

"I'll inform the leader." The old woman said before walking aside and bringing out a cage that had a Grey pigeon perched within.

"We'll leave first." The short-haired man uttered before leaving the shop along with the others.

The old woman quickly wrote something on a small piece of paper before rolling it up and inserting it into a small tube that was tied to the pigeon's leg. She then picked up the pigeon and released it outside. The pigeon swiftly flew away to the south.

The seven masked individuals were running across the roofs of the buildings silently. From their speed, one could tell that they were all qi cultivators. The seven masked individuals ran for about five minutes before they reached the residential district.

"His target was located in the residential district, so he should be nearby." The short-haired man spoke before taking out a small compass.

The compass did not have any markings and only had a pointer. The masked man looked at the compass for a second before turning towards the eastern direction.

"We are in the range, follow me." The short-haired man ordered.

They ran for two more minutes before an old warehouse appeared in front of them in the distance.

"There he is!" The masked woman exclaimed.

"But who's that person with him?" One of the masked men questioned.

"We'll know soon. Get your weapons ready." The short-haired man spoke.

Lin Mu was looking at the masked individuals that were running on the roofs of the buildings and coming towards him. The masked man beside him noticed this as well and looked at them.

"They're finally here." The masked man spoke while sighing with relief.

Lin Mu watched as the seven masked individuals soon reached them with their weapons drawn. The masked individual that was standing at the front came forward and pointed at him with his sword.

"Get away from him." The short-haired man spoke.

The masked man that was standing beside Lin Mu suddenly felt alarmed upon hearing the man's words and walked forward to stand in front of Lin Mu.

"Lower your sword, captain. He means no harm." The masked man hurriedly informed.

The short-haired man stared at him for a few seconds before speaking,

"Fine. Now tell me why did you use the emergency signal when you are completely fine here."

"Come see." The masked man spoke shortly while gesturing to the other men.

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Chapter 86: Reaching The Safe House

Lin Mu narrowed his eyes upon seeing the forceful attitude of the masked man's companions. He felt a little annoyed having swords pointed at him, but did not mind it as he understood their caution. He then watched them as they walked inside the old warehouse.

The masked man's companions seemed visibly shocked upon seeing the many corpses that were lying around in the warehouse. At least that's what Lin Mu was able to perceive from whatever he got from the masked individuals.

A minute later, the masked men seemed to have grasped the situation.

"Are they the culprits?" The captain of the masked individuals asked.

"Yes, they are." The masked man that was accompanying Lin Mu informed.

One of the masked man's companion was about to check one of the corpses when Lin Mu suddenly shouted,

"Careful! There's poison on their bodies."

The captain of the masked individuals turned towards the masked man in question.

"They are death warriors." The masked man informed.

An audible gasp could be heard coming from one of the masked individuals. Lin Mu felt a little strange upon hearing the gasp and could swear that it was a woman's. The masked man who had been accompanying Lin Mu sensed everyone's shock and then spoke.

"Let me explain from the start."

A few minutes passed as the masked man explained the entire series of events that happened. From Lin Mu detecting him and fighting him, to them finding the two mercenary corpses in the old warehouse and then the assault of the death warriors.

During the entire explanation, all of the men kept silent and listened intently. A few more minutes passed and the explanation finally ended. After ending the explanation, the masked man gestured the captain of the masked individuals to come close to him.

He then whispered something in his ears that made the captain's breathing audibly disturbed.

"This boy is now considered as our ally." The captain of the masked individuals declared.

None of the people protested as they all nodded in acceptance. They all had heard the strength and the skills of the boy in front of them, thus they certainly did not want to fight him. Besides, having an additional ally that was this strong was only beneficial to them.

"Now that we have this at our back, can you please tell me your names? I'm getting confused at this point." Lin Mu asked in a friendly tone.

"Yes, I believe introductions are in order. My name is Hei Wen." The masked man who had been accompanying Lin Mu answered.

"My name is Hei Bao." The captain of masked individuals who had short hair answered.

"My name is Hei Shi." The masked woman replied.

One by one, the rest of the masked men reported their names. Lin Mu was a little surprised upon hearing that all of their surnames were the same.

"Why do you all have the same surname?" Lin Mu curiously asked.

"We all took up the surname when we joined our lord." Hei Wen spoke.

"We are called as the Hei Corps." Hei Bao added.

"Is this all of you or are there more?" Lin Mu questioned.

"There are more of us, of course, but I can't tell you how many." Hei Bao answered.

"That's fine. Now, what do we do about this situation?" Lin Mu replied while gesturing towards the multiple corpses.

"We will take them away and have them looked at. The higher-ups should be able to find some Clues from them hopefully." Hei Bao replied.

A few of the masked men started gathering the corpses together.

"We still have a huge problem on our hands, though. The people from the neighborhood they're not awakening." Hei Wen spoke.

"I think I know what happened to them." Hei Shi replied.

"You do?" Lin Mu probed.

"I don't know the exact cause for this, but I know that they should wake up after a few hours." Hei Shi answered.

"How do you know this?" Hei Wen and Lin Mu questioned together.

"I've seen it happen before in another town." Hei Shi answered with a cold voice.

Hei Wen and Hei Bao instantly understood Hei Shi's tone and did not ask further. Lin Mu too saw the hint of anger in her voice, hence did not ask to clarify.

"Though captain, we have found a major piece of evidence." Hei Wen spoke with a little enthusiasm in his voice.

Hei Bao nodded and gestured for Hei Wen to stop.

"Not here. We'll talk after getting to the safe house." Hei Bao spoke.

"We need to transport these bodies quickly before the guards come here." One of the other masked men spoke.

"Yes, we can't let them find out. The guards are involved in this too." Lin Mu suddenly spoke.

"Is this true?" Hei Bao asked.

"Unfortunately, it is. But it's better if we discuss it later." Hei Wen answered.

"I would be willing to show you the proof as well." Lin Mu added.

"Very well, we shall be leaving now then. Everyone grab a body… or whatever parts there are." Hei Bao ordered after looking at the dismembered and decapitated corpses.

Lin Mu could have very well just stored all the corpses in his ring and made the work easier, but senior Xukong advised him to wait and not reveal this yet. While the Hei corps knew that he had a spatial storage treasure, they did not know the capacity of it.

Lin Mu took up senior Xukong's advice and decided against storing the corpses in the ring. Besides, for cultivators such as them, bearing the weight of a corpse would be no trouble. It indeed proved to be true as everyone picked up a corpse and started running without any restraint on them.

Hei Bao guided them towards the safe house while keeping an eye out for guards or any other people. They did end up seeing some guards rushing towards the residential district.

While it was Lin Mu who had chosen to go inform the guards before, he had met and fought Hei Wen. Hence he did not reach the barracks and did not have the chance to inform the guards.

"This is strange. I never informed the guards." Lin Mu spoke.

"It must've been your companions from the Night Vigil, probably." Hei Wen guessed.

"I hope so." Lin Mu replied with an unsure tone.

Fifteen minutes later, Lin Mu and the rest of the Hei corps reached the Dark and decrepit Alley in which their safe house was located. Hei Bao seemed to be a little nervous upon reaching the safe house, and seemed to be looking around a lot while swiveling his neck.

'Looks like he hasn't refined his spirit sense yet either.' Lin Mu thought.

Lin Mu wanted to probe the Hei corps with his spirit sense to find out their cultivation bases but did not do that as it could be considered to be an offense. Wanting to maintain his allied relations for now, he chooses to avoid that.

Lin Mu then saw Hei Bao knocking on the door of a shop in a particular pattern. He himself had seen this shop before a long time ago, but had never bothered to go in and check what they sold. There was no signboard hanging over it either, thus it made it harder for one to know its purpose.

After Hei Bao knocked on the door of the shop, it opened and the face of an old woman was revealed. She glanced at everyone carrying corpses on their backs for a second before finally settling on Lin Mu's face. She just threw a questioning gaze on to Hei Bao and did not speak. Hei Bao just nodded in response.

The old woman then gestured for everyone to come inside. Lin Mu and the rest walked in with Hei Bao leading them. Lin Mu then saw the inside of the old shop. While it was not explicitly dusty or dirty, the items kept in the room did seem to be mottled due to age.

There were mostly paper scrolls, brushes, inkstones, inkwells, parchment paper, sheepskin, silk scrolls, and a variety of other materials that may be used in writing and literary arts present in the shop.

Lin Mu was a little surprised by this shop. He did not think a shop like this ever existed in the northern town. Literary supplies like these weren't really needed as much in a small town like the Northern town.

There were indeed other shops that sold writing materials in the town, but they did not sell them exclusively as this shop did, instead, they sold them in addition to other sundries.

Especially for high-end supplies such as the silk scrolls and the inkstones, there was a very small demand. People preferred to use normal paper scrolls and lamp black for writing instead.

The old woman then took them to another room at the side and took out a hexagonal metal plate. She then inserted it into a small opening in the wall. Soon the wooden panel of the wall shifted, and an opening was revealed.

The old woman went to another room and left them on their own. Hei Bao then picked a lamp with his free hand and took them to the actual safe house that was located at the bottom of the shop.

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Chapter 87: Showing The Evidence

Lin Mu and the rest of the Hei Corps were currently walking on the stairs that led to the entrance of the safe house. The stairs were dark, but the lamp that Hei Bao was holding helped to dispel the darkness, allowing them to watch their steps.

"We must be at least fifty meters deep underground," Xukong spoke.

"We are? How much time must've been needed to build this passage!" Lin Mu internally exclaimed.

"Use your spirit sense to check the walls, I'm finding them to be a little strange," Xukong spoke.

"Yes, Senior." Lin Mu responded.

Lin Mu then used his spirit sense to probe the walls and found out the walls were a little hollow and there was an empty pocket behind the plain wall. The brick walls of the passage seemed to have been added later to make it look much more smoother. The actual walls of the passage were hidden behind these walls and seemed to be made out of completely solid rocks.

"This place does not seem dug out, senior. It's actually a cave." Lin Mu reported his findings.

"Indeed, digging such a deep tunnel would have been immensely difficult, especially in a town. This cave should have existed here for a long time." Xukong replied.

Lin Mu nodded in response and continued following Hei Bao. Soon they reached the end of the staircase and came upon a door. The door was plain and did not seem to have a lock or a latch. Hei Bao pushed it open and walked inside. The others too walked in and then closed the door.

The room was brightly lit up and Lin Mu felt a little uncomfortable after traveling in dim light for a while. A minute later his eyes adjusted and he no longer felt any discomfort. He looked around in the room and found that its walls were also made up of bricks.

There were three doors in the room, with one being the one they came from. The other two were located to the left and right of the entrance door. The room was a little large and seemed more like a hallway than an actual room. Except for a few chairs and a table placed in the room, it was relatively empty.

"Let's go, we need to store these corpses in the storage or they will start decaying soon." Hei Bao spoke to everyone while gesturing them to follow.

He then went towards the room that was at the left and swung open the door. Another room came into their sights, but this one was different. This room had weapons and other pieces of equipment set up on stands. In this room, he opened another door and showed them in.

This was the room intended for storage. The room was much more colder than the other rooms and had stone walls, unlike the brick ones. There were a few miscellaneous items placed around the room, but nothing valuable.

Hei Bao then placed down the corpse he was carrying to the side. The others too placed them down in a single file, allowing them to view them with ease. After everyone was done with this small task, Hei Bao looked at Lin Mu and spoke.

"So what's this evidence you were speaking about earlier?" Hei Bao questioned.

Lin Mu withdrew the small blood-stained letter he had obtained from his attackers and presented it to Hei Bao.

"This is what I was talking about. I obtained this from the men who attacked me earlier." Lin Mu answered.

Hei Bao looked at the message written on the letter and read it out loud for everyone to hear. Strained expressions appeared on everyone's face except for Lin Mu, after hearing the message that was written on the letter.

"So it seems there are more of these death warriors out there." Hei Wen spoke.

"Not exactly. The ones that I found were not death warriors." Lin Mu replied.

A complex expression could be seen on Hei Bao's face as he was lost in his thoughts for a minute.

"How did you reach the conclusion that the men that attacked you previously and the ones you fought today are the same?" Hei Bao asked.

"It was because of the way they dealt with the corpse. They tied their wounds after their death." Lin Mu answered.

"Indeed, their target was Gan Ma the hunter before this." Hei Wen added.

"You mean one of the two hunters that are cultivators?" Hei Shi asked.

"Yes, that Gan Ma. Let me just show you." Lin Mu replied.

Lin Mu then withdrew Gan Ma's corpse from his ring and placed it on the ground for everyone to look at. Hei Bao nodded after looking at the corpse for a moment before speaking again.

"You also said that the guards were involved in this. What did you mean by that?" Hei Bao questioned.

"Yes, the vice-captain of the town's guards Han Xu was one of the persons that attacked me." Lin Mu answered.

Seeing that the people were still a little reluctant, Lin Mu decided to just show them all of the corpses of the attackers. If Lin Mu withdrawing the corpse of Gan Ma did not move the Hei corps at the start, him bringing out six more corpses definitely shocked them.

Before this only Hei Wen and Hei Bao knew about Lin Mu's spatial treasure, but now with him withdrawing the corpses, everyone here knew that he had a high-quality spatial treasure. Their looks towards him seemed to be filled with a mix of shock, awe, and fear.

Lin Mu could understand the shock, but not the awe and fear.

"It seems they fear your status," Xukong spoke.

"My status?" Lin Mu questioned.

"They probably developed a misunderstanding after seeing you have a spatial treasure. They should be pretty rare in a low-level world like this after all." Xukong answered.

"Use this misunderstanding to your advantage," Xukong added before going silent again.

"As you wish, senior." Lin Mu responded in his mind.

Though after seeing the condition of the corpses Lin Mu withdrew, the expressions of the people became more dreadful. Especially after seeing the corpse that had a huge hole in his chest, which was caused by Lin Mu using the boulder collapsing fist.

'What did this kid do to inflict such a huge hole. It was as if it exploded from the inside.' Hei Wen thought.

The members of the Hei Corps had seen a lot of gruesome sights, but even for them, the level of carnage Lin Mu inflicted was a little too much to digest.

'If what Hei Wen said is true, then this kid should already be at the Peak stage of the Qi refining realm.' Hei Bao thought as he swallowed his saliva.

Forcibly calming himself down, Hei Bao spoke again.

"Okay, so what more do we know? Does anyone else have something to add?" Hei Bao asked.

Hei Shi then reported the clues that she had found outside the town, on the route towards the northern forest.

"Umm… I think that was caused by me. That's the place where I fought these men." Lin Mu Spoke with an awkward tone.

A fallen expression could be seen on Hei Shi's face as she sighed but did not speak anything. The other members also reported their findings, but none of them were considered to be significant or useful for Hei Bao.

Though Lin Mu caught onto some words that one of the members of Hei Corps had said. He had reported that a black market shipment that was being smuggled recently disappeared. He said that the contents of it were likely to be some kind of prohibited substances.

"Could it be the Memory Confounding poison?" Lin Mu muttered.

Hei Shi who was standing beside Lin Mu, heard his words and spoke,

"Wait, Memory confounding poison. Why do you think it is that?"

"Oh, I found a vial on one of the attackers." Lin Mu replied casually while withdrawing the said vial from his ring.

Everyone took a step back in sync upon seeing the vial in Lin Mu's hand.

"Of course! The disappearance of them mercenaries from their camp. They were affected by the memory confounding poison." One of the men of the Hei corpse exclaimed.

"Well, that solves some part of the mystery for us at least." Hei Bao spoke with a slightly relieved tone.

"We should wait till the morning. The higher-ups should be coming soon." Hei Bao spoke.

"Yeah, they should be able to find something on these corpses, something that we missed." Wei Shi added.

Seeing that everyone was agreeing, Lin Mu went with the flow.

"So what do I do now? I still want some answers from your superiors." Lin Mu spoke with a straight tone.

"I already know that. After the higher-ups come in the morning, I'll inform them of your request." Hei Bao replied.

'Though I think the lord will be personally interested in you now.' Hei Bao spoke internally.

Hei Bao then gestured for everyone to disperse. Hei Wen looked at Lin Mu and spoke,

"Follow me. I'll show you a place to rest."

Lin Mu nodded and followed Hei Wen to another room.

"Seems like someone is targeting the cultivators in the town." Lin Mu casually spoke while walking with Hei Wen.

"We suspected that too initially, but seeing the evidence, I guess we confirmed it. Nearly all of the cultivators of northern town are gone now." Hei Wen replied.

"Oh no, not all. There's still Old man Jing Wei." Lin Mu subconsciously spoke.

"WHO?!!"

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Chapter 88 – Hei Wen's Curiosity

The surprised shout of Hei Wen attracted the attention of a few people, including Hei Bao who was following from the back and was apparently heading towards the same location as them.

"What did you say?" Hei Wen asked with a perplexed expression.

Lin Mu had thought that the Hei Corpse must have known about old man Jing as well, since they had information about all of the cultivators that were in the town.

By now Hei Bao had also come close and seemed to be interested in their conversation.

"What happened here?" Hei Bao questioned.

"Captain, I think we missed some intelligence about another cultivator that lives in the town and Lin Mu here knows about him." Hei Wen replied.

Hei Wen was wondering if their intelligence collection ability had really fallen so far behind that even a kid knew more about things now.

"What cultivator are you talking about?" Hei Bao asked again.

"Old Man Jing." Lin Mu stated.

Hei Bao's expression suddenly fell upon hearing the name, and cold sweat appeared on his forehead. Hei Wen saw the changes on Hei Bao's face and wondered if something wrong had happened.

"Is there something wrong, captain?" Hei Wen asked with concern.

"No, nothing. As for the cultivator Lin Mu's talking about, I know about it." Hei Bao answered after taking a deep breath.

"You do?!" Hei Wen questioned in surprise.

"Yes, I've known about it and so does the lord as well." Hei Bao answered.

"Why did we not know about this then?" Hei Wen asked curiously.

"Well… He… He's in the same category as Lin Mu. We were strictly warned not to be involved him." Hei Bao answered while wiping the sweat off his brow.

"We've been having so many difficult scenarios lately, don't you think that we should have been informed. Who knows if this cultivator could have been involved in it." Hei Wen protested.

"I can guarantee that he's not." Lin Mu declared after hearing the conversation.

~sigh~ "Considering our current situation, I'll ask the leader to brief you about it in the morning when she comes." Hei Bao spoke.

Hei Wen still seemed dissatisfied, but then looked at the unwilling faces of Hei Bao and Lin Mu. Even if he could protest against his captain's orders a bit, he couldn't do the same for a person like Lin Mu. Hei Wen took a deep breath and calmed down before thinking for himself.

'If this person called old Man Jing is in the same category as Lin Mu, then his status must be nothing to scoff at. While we still don't know Lin Mu's exact background, it does not seem the same for Old Man Jing. Captain Hei Bao seemed rather alarmed, and he's unfazed by most things.' Hei Wen thought.

Lin Mu saw that Hei Wen had gone still for a few seconds, thus understood that he must be thinking. He let him be for a minute before interrupting him.

"Hei Wen?" Lin Mu called out.

Hei Wen then snapped out from his thoughts and looked at Lin Mu.

"Ah yes, let's go." Hei Wen replied.

Hei Wen then guided Lin Mu to the room used for resting. The room was very simple and only had a few beds along with some chairs and tables. Lin Mu looked around the room and assessed it. The room had the same brick walls as before, but when Lin Mu used his spirit sense to probe them he found that the walls were free standing and did not have anything behind them.

The back of the walls was completely hollow and was unlike the passage where there was a rock wall behind the brick wall. The brick walls themselves were only about a foot thick. Lin Mu could not gauge how far back the rock walls must be as his spirit sense was dampened after traveling through a foot of solid wall.

"Is this place a cave?" Lin Mu muttered.

Hei Wen was still a little involved in his thoughts thus could not hear what Lin Mu said properly.

"Did you say something?" Hei Wen asked.

"Oh no, nothing." Lin Mu answered, not wanting to bother with it for now.

Hei Wen just nodded and gestured towards the beds.

"You can take whichever bed you want for resting. The leader should be here in the morning, or if we're lucky before daybreak." Hei Wen answered.

Lin Mu nodded and then thought for a second before asking,

"What more can you tell me about this leader of yours?"

"Honestly, I don't know much other than that she's a woman and is the closest person to our lord. You can ask her yourself in the morning when she comes, until then just wait." Hei Wen asked while shrugging his shoulders.

Lin Mu nodded and just picked a bed randomly to rest on. He did not choose to sleep but instead just decided to cultivate till the morning. He sat down cross-legged on the bed and started chanting the severing heart sutra.

Over the few weeks, Lin Mu's control over his spirit Qi had increased, and now he could actually control it without the use of the severing heart sutra. But even so, chanting the severing heart sutra increased the efficiency by multiple times.

By now Lin Mu had also understood what kind of effect the severing heart sutra had on other people. It would erase their emotions instantly, which caused them to enter a dazed state. People needed time to adapt to this emotionless state, thus they kind of 'Shut down' when they were targeted by the severing heart sutra.

Though Lin Mu still thought that there were more methods to use the severing heart sutra than just this. He just had to figure them out. Lin Mu also thought that he needed to increase his proficiency with the sutras more.

He had also seen the effect of the Calming heart sutra on other people and knew that it was not as useful to use it on other people for now. It was just that he could not think of many situations that would warrant the use of the calming heart sutra.

He knew what had happened to the town when he entered the enlightened state, hence knew what the full potential of the calming heart sutra could be like.

While Lin Mu was chanting the severing heart sutra and cultivating, Hei Wen was observing him. He could hear some esoteric chants that were coming out of Lin Mu's lips and did not know what to make of it. The chants seemed mysterious to him, and he could not understand them at all. Instead, if he focused on the words that Lin Mu was chanting, Hei Wen himself started feeling very nervous.

It was as if he was forbidden from hearing the chants and something bad would happen to him. But Hei Wen was curious and wanted to know more about Lin Mu. He wanted to provide his lord with as much information as he could. Thus decided to try anyway and started to listen to Lin Mu's chants with full focus while closing his eyes.

At first, Hei Wen only felt uncomfortable, but soon the feeling started intensifying. Five minutes later he no longer just felt uncomfortable, but instead felt as if there were needles poking on his skin. He gritted his teeth and continued focusing on the chants while bearing the pain from the illusory needles.

Fifteen minutes passed and at this time, Hei Wen seemed to have lost himself in his mind. He was still feeling the needles on his skin, but could not open his eyes anymore. It was as if something had trapped him in his own mind. He tried to escape this state but could not.

Thirty more minutes passed and by now Hei Wen felt as if he was going insane. He wanted to end this state and was cursing himself for choosing to do this. The feeling of needles on his skin had long since disappeared, but now there was something much more worse.

Hei Wen's vision suddenly returned, and he could see again.

"What is this?" Hei Wen said as he looked around.

Hei Wen could tell that his eyes were actually still physically closed, and he was just imagining this. Though he was still hearing the esoteric chants in his ears as well. Hei Wen then saw a mystical fog appearing in front of him. The fog started moving in different ways and then congealed to form innumerable swords.

The swords danced in the air and moved to form various images. Hei Wen could see some vague figures in these images, but could not tell who they were. He tried to get closer so that he could see it clearly, but this seemed to have annoyed the swords. The swords danced and formed an image of a man with unrecognizable features.

This man formed by the sword images seemed to have noticed him and became angry. He then pointed at Hei Wen and shouted,

"SEVER!"

The swords that were dancing suddenly stopped and pointed at Hei Wen. Hei Wen saw this and got terrified.

"No!NO!NOO! Stop this." He shouted but to no avail.

The swords rushed towards him at the speed of light and split him into millions of pieces. These million pieces then were again split by the swords into billions of pieces. This kept on going till not even a single trace of Hei Wen was left behind.

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Chapter 89: The Confused Hei Corps

"Wake up! Hei Wen wake up!" Multiple voices shouted.

Hei Wen's eyes suddenly opened wide, and he sat up straight. He looked around and saw all of his companions surrounding him, while Hei Bao had his hands on his shoulders and was shaking him. Hei Wen's eyes were bloodshot and his nose was bleeding.

Lin Mu was woken up by the commotion that was happening in the room a while back. He had been cultivating the entire night and had been sitting in the same position. When he woke up, he saw one of the members of the Hei Corps trying to wake up Hei Wen, who had apparently fallen asleep on the bed near him.

Hei Wen was not responding and was bleeding from his nose as well. Lin Mu did not know what happened and guessed the worst.

'Was he perhaps affected by some kind of poison?' Lin Mu thought to himself.

"Hmm, that's difficult to say. Heavens know that you two came in contact with multiple poisons last night, it could have been one of them." Xukong replied.

By now, the frantic shouting of Hei Wen's companion had attracted the attention of other people as well. Even Hei Bao had reached there and had taken over the duty to try and wake Hei Wen up. Seeing that Hei Wen was still not responding to Hei Bao's and other attempts, Lin Mu decided to tell them.

"He may be affected by some kind of poison. Perhaps the same one that affected the town's residents." Lin Mu stated.

Hei Bao and the others listened to his words and turned around.

"Yes, of course, they did tell us that before." Hei Shi spoke.

"It could indeed be the same poison that's affecting the residents, but still, why is he bleeding from his nose?" Another member added.

"Whatever it may be, at least he's still breathing. Let's try a few other methods, Hei Fen go and get some of the smelling salts." Hei Bao ordered one of his companions.

The man named Hei Fen instantly left the room and rushed to get the smelling salts. He returned a minute later with a small vial of smelling salts in his hand. Hei Fen then handed the vial to Hei Bao, who popped its cork open and held it under the nose of Hei Wen, while the others shouted.

Suddenly Hei Wen shot up and sat upright. The others looked at his blood-shot eyes, which had a hint of madness mixed in them. Hei Shi gulped and looked at the distressed expression of Hei Wen.

"What happened to you, Hei Wen?" Hei Bao asked.

Hei Wen did not speak for a minute as it took him a while to return to his senses and determine where he was.

"I'm… I'm back? I'M BACK!" Hei Wen exclaimed in relief.

At this point, Hei Bao was getting seriously worried about Hei Wen's condition. He was really starting to think that Lin Mu's suggestion that Hei Wen got poisoned was true. Hei Bao nudged Hei Wen, prompting him to speak.

"I… I was in a different place. A nightmare perhaps." Hei Wen spoke between his breaths.

Hei Bao saw that Hei Wen was not in the right condition to talk, thus let him rest.

"Come talk to me later when you're fine. For now, just rest." Hei Bao ordered.

Hei Wen just nodded and did not speak anything. He laid down back on the bed and thought about what he had experienced.

'What was that? Was that just a dream? It certainly didn't feel like it. The pain, it was too real.' Hei Wen thought.

'It only happened because I kept on listening to the esoteric chants that Lin Mu was uttering. I need to inform the captain and the leader about this. He is potentially much more dangerous than we think.' Hei Wen determined.

The other members of the Hei corps except for Hei Shi had left the room along with Hei Bao. Hei Shi was currently standing beside Lin Mu and was talking to him.

"This thing about Hei Wen, do you really think it was caused due to some kind of poison?" Hei Shi asked.

"It seemed like it at first, but I don't know anymore. I thought he was also affected by the same kind of condition that the townsmen are suffering." Lin Mu replied.

"It is somewhat similar to it, but the bleeding that happened does not match and neither does him awakening because of the smelling salts." Hei Shi spoke.

"That's true. Oh yes, what's the time now? It should be nearly morning, I think." Lin Mu asked.

Lin Mu actually could not tell the time, as he was rather lost in his cultivation. He had felt that he progressed a little in his comprehension of the Severing heart sutra somehow. He could feel that his sensitivity has been enhanced by a certain amount.

"It will be morning in an hour, the sun has not risen yet." Hei Shi answered.

"Has your leader not arrived yet?" Lin Mu questioned.

"She should be arriving anytime now." Hei Shi answered.

While talking with Hei Shi, Lin Mu could not help but look at the scar on her face. When he originally came to the safe house, everyone was still wearing their masks, thus he had not seen anyone's faces then. Only when he was disturbed by the frantic shouting of the people and stopped his cultivation session, did he see some of their faces.

Though even now, except for Hei Wen, Hei Bao, and Hei Shi he still hadn't seen the other's faces. Hei Shi saw that Lin Mu kept on looking at her face and knew that it was because of the scar. She didn't mind it as she had already come to terms with it and was used to it. Though, wearing the mask still helped save her some time, as she didn't have to explain it to people every time.

"I got it when I was around your age." Hei Shi spoke.

Lin Mu snapped from his thought upon hearing Hei Shi speak.

"Uh, got what?" Lin Mu awkwardly spoke.

"The scar you've been looking at." Hei Shi spoke in a slightly mocking tone.

Lin Mu felt a little embarrassed at being caught, but did not deny it.

"How did you get it then? If you don't mind me asking." Lin Mu probed.

"My village was attacked by some unknown people a long time ago. I was the only survivor." Hei Shi replied with an emotionless tone.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Lin Mu apologized in sympathy.

"It doesn't matter now, it all happened a long time ago." Hei Shi replied while shaking her head.

"At least I met the lord because of it." Hei Shi added with respect in her eyes.

"Speaking of your lord, what kind of person is he?" Lin Mu asked curiously, while his eyes flickered with a strange gleam and his lips moved inaudibly.

Hei Shi was looking away from Lin Mu's face currently, thus did not notice the look in his eyes. She just felt strangely calm and relaxed, which made her wonder why.

"Our lord is a benevolent person who helped us in our most desperate times. He pulled us from the depths of despair and gave us our current standing. He taught us to cultivate, and we pledged to join him in fulfilling his goals. We owe our lives to him." Hei Shi spoke in a deeply respectful tone that bordered on obsession.

Hei Shi didn't even realize that what she was uttering in her current state. She just kept on uttering without stopping. Though most of what she spoke of was the praises of their 'Lord'.

She only stopped when she was called by one of her companions. She then nodded to Lin Mu absentmindedly and went to attend to her companion.

Only after she left the room, did she suddenly think,

"Why did I just say all that? That isn't like me." Hei Shi thought with alarm.

After Hei Shi was gone from the room, Lin Mu spoke in his mind.

"You were right, senior. They seem abnormally obsessed with this 'Lord' of theirs."

"Hmm, at least your Calming heart sutra helped us in determining this. Though I would say you should stay alert when meeting the leader of their group." Xukong replied.

Indeed, Lin Mu had just used the calming heart sutra to influence the mind of Hei Shi. Senior Xukong had just suggested him to try using it on people while asking them questions.

Lin Mu had seen the effects of the Calming heart sutra before, but this was another addition method that Senior Xukong had come up with. Xukong had been analyzing the effects of the sutras every time Lin Mu used them and had concluded that they could be used to influence the mind of a person.

Xukong knew that it won't be a hundred percent effective, but knew that if it was used in the right situation, while asking the right questions, it could be rather effective.

The first attempt had proved that the calming heart sutra could be used in this method as well.

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Chapter 90 – The Leader's Arrival

At a certain distance away from the Northern Town, a carriage was traveling at great speed. It was moving towards the town and seemed to be coming from the direction of Wu Lim City.

The Carriage was being pulled by four black stallions that looked robust and hearty. Every step of theirs made a loud clopping sound that traveled far. The carriage was lightly decorated, yet still looked elegant. A man dressed in the clothes of an official was sitting at its helm and was driving it.

Four more men dressed in black clothes and large straw hats were following the carriage from behind. They were riding similar looking horses and seemed to be traveling at the same speed as the carriage so as to keep up with it.

Inside the carriage, four more people were currently sitting. Except for one person, all of them seemed to be extremely alert, and they were wearing featureless masks. Out of the four persons, only one person was was a woman and she had a veil on her face that hid her features.

This Woman was currently sitting in a meditative posture and seemed to be cultivating. The carriage driver that was sitting at the front of the carriage turned to the back and knocked on the front window of the carriage.

One of the masked men sitting inside the carriage opened the window and looked at the carriage driver.

"We're about to enter the town." The carriage driver said.

"Anything abnormal?" The masked man asked.

"Fortunately, nothing. Except for the absence of the snow today, everything seems normal." The carriage driver answered.

The masked man nodded and closed the front window. The closed eyes of the veiled woman trembled for a moment before returning to normal.

The carriage soon reached the southern entrance of the Northern town and was halted by the guards. The four men that were following behind it also stopped in tandem. The guard who stopped the carriage came forward and looked at the carriage.

"All the people that are inside the carriage, come out and show us your faces." The guard ordered.

The man who was the carriage driver paid no heed to his words and simply withdrew a small bronze plate from his sleeves. He then held it out for the guards to see. The guard came close and used the lamp he was carrying to illuminate and observe the bronze plate.

The instant the guard saw the bronze plate, he tensed up and cupped his hands in salute.

"Greetings to the High officials. This lowly one could not recognize your magnificence thus made a mistake, please forgive this lowly guard." The guard spoke with the utmost respect while bowing his head.

The other guards that were standing around too joined him and greeted them with a salute.

"Greetings to the High officials!" The guards shouted in unison.

A single knock came from inside the carriage and the driver understood it. The carriage driver then just gestured with his hand for the guards to clear the road. The guards instantly understood this and opened the gate. They then moved to the side and bowed their head while saluting.

The carriage driver flicked the reins, and the carriage started moving again. The carriage moved at a slower speed than before, after entering the town, and continued on. While on their way, they saw multiple guards running around busily.

The men inside the carriage seemed to have noticed the sound as they opened the windows to look outside. They saw the abnormal amount of guards and became conceded.

"Is this what we are here for?" One of the masked spoke.

The closed eyes of the woman sitting inside the carriage trembled once again as her lips gently moved.

"Don't bother and just hurry for now." The veiled woman spoke with an indifferent tone.

All the masked men immediately nodded, and the driver seemed to have heard this as well. The driver then cracked the whip in his hand, urging the horses to run. The carriage picked up speed and rushed through the streets.

A couple of minutes later, the carriage once again slowed down as it entered a narrow alley. The alley was just wide enough to let the carriage barely pass. The carriage then came to a halt in front of an old shop that did not have a sign board.

The veiled woman sitting in the carriage opened her eyes and gestured to the masked men. The driver of the carriage jumped down from it and went to the side to open its door. One of the masked men first alighted from the carriage, looked around, and pointed with his hands to the exits of the alley. The other four black-robed men that were following the carriage instantly understood the orders and split into two pairs and stood at the two ends of the alley, preventing anyone from entering.

Everyone then alighted from the carriage, with the veiled woman being the last person. They then walked up to the door of the shop and knocked on it in a certain pattern. Unlike before, there was no delay in opening the door, as it instantly opened.

The old woman who was in charge of the shop greeted the visitors by saluting with cupped hands and stood at the side as they walked inside. She did not speak anything, and the men did not expect anything either.

The Veiled woman walked into the shop and looked around for a second before walking into the next room immediately. Two of the masked men stayed in the shop while the other two followed her. They smoothly opened the hidden entrance of the safe house and walked downstairs.

They reached the bottom of the stairs soon and opened the door that was standing in their way. As soon as they opened it, a brightly lit room appeared in front of them. A few people were already waiting for them in two files.

They were all standing as they looked at the woman and shouted in unison.

"Greetings to the mistress!"

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Chapter 91: Briefing The Leader

Hei Bao inwardly sighed with relief upon seeing the veiled woman who had just entered the safe house.

'Finally, she's here.' Hei Bao thought.

Hei Bao had been extremely stressed ever since last night's events. He had experienced one shock after the other and was becoming more and more worried. Their investigations were not bearing fruit for a while, but now that they actually had some leads, it just seemed like a mountain fell on his mind.

It started with the emergency signal called by Hei Wen, then the appearance of the culprit's corpses, after was that the surprise of Lin Mu's status and then finally the incident with Hei Wen this morning. Hei Bao felt that everything was occurring too fast and it was beyond his capacity to handle the alone.

Hei Bao walked forward and greeted the Veiled woman personally.

"Greetings leader. We have been waiting for your arrival." Hei Bao spoke.

"So what was the emergency for which you have summoned me here?" The Veiled woman coldly asked.

Hei Bao took a deep breath before speaking again,

"I'm afraid we have more than one issue that needs to be addressed."

"If you may please." Hei Bao added while gesturing towards the other room.

The veiled woman did not speak anything, but simply followed Hei Bao's lead. Hei Bao brought her to the locked room, which he opened to let her inside. This was the same room where the plates which were used to send an emergency signal were kept in. These plates were very precious, thus were kept securely locked in this room, which also served as a meeting room for important matters.

The room was fifteen meters long and ten meters wide in size. It had a tall ceiling, from which multiple lamps were hanging. There were also some vents that were at top of the room, which supplied fresh air to it.

On one side of the room, there were multiple tables on which the rectangular metal plates were kept. These plates hung from a stand each and had a circular cutout in it. This circular metal disk would start spinning whenever an emergency signal was triggered.

The veiled woman looked towards the rectangular plates and quickly spotted the one plate whose inner disk was not in the right place. Hei Bao noticed this and quickly spoke,

"It was Hei Wen who used the distress whistle to trigger the emergency signal."

The veiled woman looked towards Hei Bao and continued following him to the large table that was kept on the other end of the room. She then sat down at its helm, on a large and comfortable chair before speaking.

"So is Hei Wen fine now?" The veiled woman asked.

"He was when we originally returned last night, but today in the morning there was an incident." Hei Bao answered.

"What kind of an incident?" The Veiled woman questioned.

Hei Bao took a deep breath and thought about everything for a second before starting his explanation. He knew that it was going to be long and winded, thus wanted to get all his thoughts in order first. The veiled woman waited patiently in silence, for she trusted her subordinates.

Hei Bao then started explaining all of the events of yesterday. His explanation lasted for a good fifteen minutes and he added every minor thing during it as he didn't want to miss anything. He knew about his leader's capabilities, thus knew that the more thorough he was in his explanation, the more concise conclusion she would reach.

After finishing his explanation, Hei Bao took another deep breath and stopped. The veiled woman also went silent and thought for five minutes before speaking again.

"I would like to see the corpses of the culprits and also the evidence you had found."

Hei Bao nodded and retrieved the blood-stained piece of paper from his pocket before passing it to the leader. She looked at the paper and read it quickly before analyzing it's every inch. She even smelt it for a moment just to get an accurate judgment.

"Let's go and see the corpses now." The Veiled woman ordered.

"Yes, leader." Hei Bao replied politely.

Hei Bao then guided the veiled woman to the storage room where the dead bodies of the culprits were stored. As soon as they reached the cold room, the woman approached the bodies. Hei Bao suddenly felt a certain wave pass through and understood that it was just the spirit sense probe of the veiled woman.

The veiled woman did not touch any of the bodies, but instead just scanned them with her spirit sense. She seemed to have frowned for a moment, but it wasn't visible under her veil. A minute later, she was done with the observations.

"They are death warriors, low-level ones, but death warriors indeed." The veiled woman concluded.

"We can also confirm that the town guards may be involved in this. From now on, all the town guards are to be closely investigated." The veiled woman added.

"Leader, the boy named Lin Mu also wants to meet you." Hei Bao spoke with bated breath.

"Yes, I want to meet this boy as well. The lord is especially interested in him." The veiled woman replied with a little interest in her voice.

"Leader, I'm afraid that we may be going beyond our limits with that boy. I can tell with a great surety that he is a category four party." Hei Bao seriously spoke.

The Veiled woman's pupils widened underneath her veil.

"That boy also knows about the other category four-party in the town; Old man Jing." Hei Bao added.

If the veiled woman's shock was hidden because of her veil at first, now it was completely revealed as even Hei Bao could hear her breath getting rough. He could swear that he even saw her tremble for a brief moment.

"Do you have an estimate about his cultivation base?" The veiled woman questioned.

"I did not dare confirm it myself, but Hei Wen is sure that it should be at the peak of the Qi refining realm as the boy has refined his spirit sense as well. We also witnessed the carnage he had caused. All the bodies that you see here are his handiwork." Hei Bao explained.

"He… he… he has skills that are rather strange and terrifying, Hei Wen seemed to have experienced it and has become very disturbed because of it." He added.

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Chapter 92: The Leader Meets Lin Mu

Fifteen minutes before the arrival of the leader.

Hei Wen had taken a brief rest and was now feeling a bit better. Even still, the thoughts of the nightmare that occurred before haunted him. He could even remember the pain of being cut to pieces by millions of swords, clearly.

Hei Wen wondered what kind of cultivation technique or skill Lin Mu practiced that even his mere presence caused him to experience this kind of a backlash. Just him hearing the esoteric chants was enough to defeat him.

Though after experiencing this, Hei Wen did not completely regret it.

'At the very least, I'll be able to inform the Lord about this. That way he won't be at a disadvantage.' Hei Wen thought.

With this thought in mind, Hei Wen went to find Hei Bao. Hei Bao had already asked him to come to meet with him after resting, so this just met his purpose. Hei Wen soon found Hei Bao in his personal room. He saw that the door was already open, thus he just walked in. Hei Bao was currently sitting on his desk while reading a report from a scroll in his hand.

'Preparing for the arrival of the leader, I see.' Hei Wen inwardly said.

Hei Bao noticed Hei Wen's footsteps, thus looked up to see him enter.

"Are you feeling well now?" Hei Bao questioned.

"Not completely, but better than before at least." Hei Wen replied.

"You should just rest more then. The leader won't mind your absence, I'll inform her of your condition." Hei Bao replied with concern.

"Yes, I'll do that. But I need to tell you about what happened to me before that." Hei Wen interrupted.

Hei Bao nodded in response and spoke,

"Go on ahead then."

Hei Wen then started to tell Hei Bao of what happened from the very start. How he saw Lin Mu speaking some esoteric chants and how he got curious and listened to them. He then told him what he felt after that and then how he was trapped in his mind and experienced the nightmare of being chopped into innumerable pieces by a million swords.

Hei Wen also told Hei Bao, how he had also heard Lin Mu speak similar chats during the battle with the culprits, and how those chants seemed to have immobilized the culprits until they were killed by Lin Mu.

The more Hei Bao heard, the more shocked and concerned he got. Hei Bao knew that there were as many cultivation techniques in the world as there were drops of water in an ocean. There were common cultivation techniques that were similar to each other, and then there were cultivation techniques that were completely unique.

Hei Bao had heard rumors or more like legends about forbidden cultivation techniques that only a chosen few could cultivate. These cultivation techniques were highly attuned to their user and would cause a backlash for others that tried using it.

But even then, he had never heard of a cultivation technique that could harm another person if he was just in the presence of one. From the vivid descriptions and the expressions of Hei Wen, Hei Bao could tell that this was no mere exaggeration and was truly what he said it was.

'If just his presence is this dangerous, then what would it be like when he actually attacks someone with his full strength.' Hei Bao thought.

Hei Bao could tell that Lin Mu did not use his full strength during the previous battle either. He now understood how lucky they were that Lin Mu chose to join their side and was not their foe, well at least not now.

'I can't let this happen though, who knows what kind of background that boy has. For all we know, his history could all have been faked and he must've been trained by hidden experts.' Hei Bao thought.

After Hei Wen was done with his explanation, a slight expression of relief could be seen on his face, as if a burden was lifted off of his mind. Though what he didn't know was that this burden had not disappeared, instead it had just transferred over to Hei Bao and had even increased in size.

"Thank you for informing me of this, it was wise of you to do so. You should go and rest now, I'll take care of the rest." Hei Bao spoke.

Hei Wen simply nodded and left the room to go and rest again.

"The leader should be arriving soon. I better gather the others and wait at the entrance." Hei Bao muttered.

Hei Bao stored the scroll that he was reading back into a drawer and then left the room as well.

"Gather at the main hall Hei Corps, the leader should be arriving any minute." Hei Bao shouted out.

Present time at the storage room inside the safe house.

Hei Bao had just finished telling the veiled woman who was the leader of the Hei Corps about Lin Mu. After hearing his entire explanation, the veiled woman was fully shocked and could not help but praise their luck. Though she still could not tell whether it would turn to misfortune in the future or not.

"We better take this one step at a time. The most basic thing would be to avoid conflict with this boy 'Lin Mu' and to prevent any enmity." The Veiled Woman concluded.

'Perhaps the lord should personally meet this boy.' The veiled woman thought.

"As you say, leader." Hei Bao responded.

The veiled woman then nodded and spoke again.

"The others will go and try to gather more clues about the culprits. In the meantime, we should go and meet up with this Lin Mu."

Hei Bao gestured for the veiled woman to follow and then led her to the room where Lin Mu was currently residing in. They reached the room in a minute and Hei Bao opened the door. He walked in first and looked for Lin Mu. He instantly spotted Lin Mu as he was still sitting in the same position on the bed.

Lin Mu was not as focused on cultivating right now, thus was easily able to detect when the door of the room opened. His eyes snapped open, and he saw Hei Bao entering the room, with another person in tow. This person had a veil on their face that hid their features, but Lin Mu could tell that it was a woman.

"The leader of the Hei corps," Lin Mu softly muttered.

"Keep your spirit sense alert, she may try to probe you," Xukong ordered.

"Yes, Senior." Lin Mu replied in his mind.

Following senior Xukong's words, Lin Mu extended his spirit sense and kept it alert. In the next moment, Senior Xukong's words came true as he sensed the collision of another spirit sense with his own. This was his first time experiencing the spirit sense of another person except for senior Xukong, Duan Ke, and Old man Jing.

Lin Mu saw the distance between them and estimated that the range of the spirit sense of the veiled woman should be a little less than ten meters, most probably at nine meters. Lin Mu could also observe the difference between the veiled woman's spirit sense and the other spirit senses he had experienced. It was much weaker than any of the other ones he had observed.

Of the spirit senses he had experienced before, Senior Xukong's was the strongest, while Duan Ke's was the weakest. But even still, the veiled woman's spirit sense was at least ten times as weaker than that of Duan Ke's. Lin Mu even had the confidence that he would overtake the veiled woman in a few weeks' time.

Similar to Lin Mu, the veiled woman had also thought of trying to estimate Lin Mu's cultivation base. But when she felt her spirit sense probe being blocked by Lin Mu's own, she instantly retracted it. She could feel the density of Lin Mu's spirit sense and did not want to probe further, as it could end up offending him.

'His spirit sense is already denser than mine, and his range should be wider than mine as well, he must just be restraining it.' The veiled woman thought.

'He should be at the very peak of the Qi refining realm, the same as me. But his cultivation technique should be much stronger and superior.' The veiled woman pondered.

Lin Mu could not have imagined that in the brief moment their spirit senses collided, the veiled woman would have thought of so many things and even had overestimated his cultivation by a long shot. He didn't mind the spirit probe the veiled woman used and was fine with it as she instantly withdrew it after meeting his.

The veiled woman came close and stood in front of him.

"Greetings, I'm Lin Mu." Lin Mu greeted the veiled woman with cupped hands, as was the proper etiquette.

In a surprise to him, the veiled woman actually reciprocated his greeting.

"Greetings, fellow cultivator. My name is Hei Wan." The veiled woman replied respectfully.

Hei Bao was also surprised by this, not because of how the veiled woman greeted Lin Mu respectfully, as it was already expected; but because of the tone of her voice. The leader who was always cold and straight with her tone had suddenly switched it for a mellow and genial tone that was bordering on the realm of sweet too!

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Chapter 93: The Hei Corps Meet Old Man Jing

The Veiled woman named Hei Wan gestured Lin Mu to take a seat.

"Please be at ease, we'll just talk casually." Hei Wan spoke.

Lin Mu nodded and pulled a chair from the side to sit on. Hei Bao too slid a chair forward for Hei Wan to sit on, while he himself stood at the side. Lin Mu saw this and looked at Hei Bao, but he just shook his head. Understanding his intention, Lin Mu didn't question it.

Hei Wan had many questions that she wanted to ask, but knew that she had to show some restraint and keep to herself, lest she ends up offending the cultivator in front of her. In her first non-verbal interaction with Lin Mu, she had already grasped a part of Lin Mu's personality and understood that he was rather mild and reserved. Compared to the other young and talented cultivators who were often arrogant and upturned, he was much more reasonable.

Hei Wan could not help but think of the upbringing he must have received for him to be this humble. She had investigated and learned about the situation with Lin Mu's parents and knew that he was an orphan. She could only attribute Lin Mu's current standing to a hidden master.

At this point, Hei Wan could only hope that whatever background Lin Mu had was either amicable or at the very least neutral with theirs. Hei Wan was already extremely wary when she heard that the boy in front of her knew about Old man Jing. She could still remember when she and her lord had their first run-in with Old man Jing a few years ago.

A few years ago, in Wu Lim city.

A thin man who had a scholarly aura was sitting on a luxurious-looking chair and was listening to a person speak. He was sitting in a room that looked like a study and was illuminated by softly glowing lights. There were five more people in the room and all of them were dressed in dark blue robes. Of the five people, only one person was not wearing a mask and was instead wearing a veil.

This person was none other than the leader of the Hei corps, Hei Wan and the scholarly man sitting on the luxurious chair was the 'Lord' that the Hei corps followed. If one could sense it, then they would find out that the four men who were wearing masks were all Core condensation realm cultivators. Such a lineup wasn't something that could be seen every day.

Currently, one of the masked Core condensation realm experts was speaking.

"We have completed or initial reconnaissance of the Black dawn kingdom and the Easter Ming dynasty. Most of what we discovered was the same as before, but there were still some abnormalities that we detected." Said the man who was standing in front of the Lord.

"We think that someone has been manipulating and hiding their involvement. The recent conflict between the royal family of the Black dawn kingdom also seems to be their doing." Another masked man that was standing to the right spoke.

The Lord stroked his beard a couple of times before replying,

"That's fine. It is indeed as I expected. We will just need to continue monitoring it further then. For now, just assign a few of the lower members to keep an eye on the situation and if it gets more complicated only then, will we interfere."

The Lord then looked at the masked men and scanned them before speaking again,

"Anything else of importance?"

One of the Masked men seemed to be hesitating, and this was hidden behind the mask, yet the Lord detected it.

"Do you have something to say?" The Lord asked in a calm voice.

"I do, but I don't want to waste my Lord's time." The masked man answered respectfully.

The Lord then waved his hand and spoke,

"Go on ahead, we still have some time left."

The masked man then cupped his hands in respect before speaking,

"While returning from the Northern Frontier, this servant passed through the Northern town and took a halt for a brief amount of time. There I sensed something different. I felt as if the flow of spirit qi in the air was abnormal and seemed to be gathering towards a certain area."

"Thus to investigate this, I went forward towards the area, which was an unassuming and abandoned alley. The first strange thing I found out was that there was no one in the alley, all of the shops in the alley seemed to be old and rundown." The masked man took a breath before continuing.

"I then sensed the second strange thing, my spirit sense was blocked when I tried to probe the alley. It was as if there was a barrier set up there that was surrounding it. No matter what direction I tried, my spirit sense was always blocked. This Servant then decided to enter the alley himself to see what was the cause for this.

As soon as I entered the alley, I could sense the concentrated spirit qi in the air. I looked around and concluded that there was an illusory formation placed on the area. Then suddenly, I felt as if I saw someone in the sky, but they then disappeared in the next second. And along with this, the formation that was covering the area also disappeared. A few seconds later, the concentration of spirit qi in the air also returned to normal."

The expression on the Lord's face was getting sharper by the second.

"How did you leave the alley?" The lord asked with a cold tone.

The other people in the room were currently a little shocked by the masked man's words, thus did not detect the faint aura that was rising from the Lord's body.

The masked man, who was speaking, suddenly had a confused expression on his face after hearing his Lord's question.

He was lost in his thoughts for a few seconds before speaking.

"I… I… I don't know how? I can't remember when I left it either." The masked man uttered while stuttering

An enraged aura suddenly burst out of the scholarly man. An aura that was stronger than the aura's of all of the people here combined together.

"YOU FOOL! You've been under the effect of a confounding formation all this while and you did not realize it." The Lord shouted with fury bursting out of his eyes.

The veiled woman who was standing to the side suddenly widened her eyes in realization.

"The area had a confounding formation placed on it. What if you've been followed all this while?" Hei Wan spoke out loud.

It was at this time that the other members of the Hei corps realized the seriousness of their situation. Suddenly, as if to justify their fears, an imposing aura that was even stronger than the Lord's descended upon the room.

"WHOO?" The Lord shouted as he struggled to bear the weight of the aura.

The other people in the room were already unable to bear it as they all instantly collapsed onto their knees. Then, in the next moment, the roof of the room was split apart as two people descended from the sky.

The two people that descended into the room were an old man that looked ancient and had a long beard, along with a young woman that was wearing a green-colored Daoist robe and had a wooden hairpin in her hair that was in the shape of a poplar leaf.

These two were none other than the pair of grandfather and granddaughter, Jing Wei and Duan Ke. The pair looked at the people in the room and finally settled their gazes onto the Lord.

~Humph~ "A group of measly Core Condensation realm cultivators." Duan Ke scoffed.

"Seems like you were right, Ke'er, I was overthinking this. They're not worth our time." Jing Wei spoke.

"Should I finish them off?" Duan Ke asked without moving her petrifying gaze from the Lord.

Jing Wei seemed to be thinking as he did not answer right away. Instead, a wave of imposing spirit qi emanated from him and spread around. A few seconds later, he seemed to have reached a conclusion as he spoke,

"No, leave them for now." Jing Wei spoke while looking at his granddaughter.

He then turned back to the Lord and spoke in a grandiose tone.

"This is your first and last warning. Do not interfere in our matters and don't intrude our territory either."

Each and every person could feel these words being carved into their minds. They all then nodded their heads in acceptance, albeit with difficulty.

"Let's go, grandfather." Duan Ke spoke and then withdrew a spirit sword from her spatial treasure.

The pair of grandfather and granddaughter were just about to jump on the spirit sword and leave, when the Lord gritted his teeth and spoke out.

"May I have the names of your Excellencies?" The Lord asked while bowing his head.

An annoyed look appeared on Duan Ke's face after being interrupted. She was just about to speak, when Jing Wei gestured to her and she settled down while letting out a harrumph.

"You can call me Old Man Jing." Jing Wei answered in his hoarse voice.

"This junior will forever remember the grace that the senior has shown me." The Lord spoke with a tone that was overflowing with awe and respect.

The Members of the Hei corpse simply kowtowed on the ground, without being prompted to do so, they could not speak anything due to the imposing pressure, anyway. Jing Wei faintly nodded before mounting the spirit sword and flying away.

But a moment after they left, Duan Ke's voice echoed again.

"You better keep this to yourself." She spoke in a cold and menacing tone.

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Chapter 94: End Of The Meeting

A few minutes after Jing Wei and Duan Ke left, the people in the room were finally able to relax and take control of themselves.

The Hei Corps could barely lift themselves up from the floor right now. They sat up from the kowtowing posture with the support of their arms and looked at the aftermath. They saw the rubble that was strewn around due to the collapse of the roof and the book shelves that were fallen as well. But in the end, their gazes settled on one of their comrades.

It was the same person who had reported about the abnormality and the same one who was also scolded by the lord. The person in question was currently stuck in the kowtowing posture. Unlike others who had lifted themselves, he was still stuck there.

One of the masked men dragged himself to the man who was still kowtowing and spoke,

"Hey! Are you fine?" He spoke.

Suddenly the lord, who was bowing all this time, plopped down onto his throne.

"It's no use. He's already dead." The Lord spoke with a tired tone.

"Wha… what?" Everyone uttered in unison.

The masked man who was near the kowtowing man shook him and saw him fall over onto the other side. The masked man who was kowtowing until now was bleeding from his eyes and mouth. His pupils had overturned into his skull and he was no longer breathing.

The veiled woman gasped and looked over to the lord and calculated her words before speaking.

"My Lord, were they?"

"I fear yes." The lord shortly spoke while rubbing the bridge of his nose.

The lord could already feel the headache coming. He hadn't thought that a routine mission would end up causing such a huge mess. He had lost one of his Core condensation realm cultivators and had also offended a hidden expert that was at the very least a Dao shell realm cultivator.

The other masked men were finally able to lift themselves off the ground. They stood up shakily and looked over to their lord.

"What was their cultivation?" One of the masked men asked.

The other masked men also joined in on the question as they were curious too. They did not understand the meaning of the interaction between their leader and their lord.

The Lord heard the question and sighed with dissatisfaction.

'It was good that I chose Hei Wan to become the leader, even if she is weaker than them.' The Lord thought.

"The old man was at least a Dao Shell realm cultivator, while the woman was probably a core condensation realm cultivator since she was able to fly using a spirit sword. Though she could be stronger than that too." Hei Wan answered for her Lord.

Hei Wan could sense the growing dissatisfaction in her Lord, thus answered for him. She also wondered how they were going to approach this matter in the future.

Lin Mu was looking at Hei Wan, trying to grasp her personality. The genial way she had talked to him had made him feel strange, thus he wanted to know a little more about her.

"So you say these people have been abducting mercenaries?" Hei Wan asked.

"I don't exactly know, but it does seem like it. They even had memory confounding poison with them." Lin Mu answered.

Lin Mu then withdrew the small vial of memory confounding poison that he had stored in the ring. He then passed it to Hei Wan, who took it. She looked at it for a minute and seemed like she was using her spirit sense to determine its authenticity.

"It is indeed, memory confounding poison." Hei Wan concluded.

"They also found some Beast inciting powder on a mercenary." Hei Bao spoke up.

Hei Wan's eyes narrowed upon hearing this.

"You found it on a mercenary and not on a culprit?" She asked to confirm.

"Yes, I found it on one of the dead mercenary's body. I actually wanted someone to look at it and find out where it came from." Lin Mu replied.

"While I know a little about poisons, I'm not really an expert in this. I'll have to ask someone else." Hei Wan spoke.

Lin Mu nodded in understanding. He already knew that they would need an alchemist to take a look at it, as only the people capable of making it would be able to know what it was.

"But even then, we still need to investigate its source." Hei Wan spoke and then turned towards Hei Bao.

"Investigate the identity of the mercenary first and try to find out his associates." Hei Wan ordered.

"Yes, leader." Hei Bao answered.

Hei Wan and Lin Mu then talked about a multitude of topics. Lin Mu told her about his side of the story, and Hei Wan intently listened. While she already knew most of this, she still wanted to hear a firsthand account.

Hei Wan could feel goosebumps on her body upon imagining the scenes of Lin Mu fighting against the culprits. Her curiosity about Lin Mu's background was increasing by the minute. But she knew that asking it outright might be troublesome, thus she decided to wait for an opportune moment.

Hei Wan and Lin Mu's conversation lasted for over an hour, and they only stopped when one of the masked men that came with Hei Wan entered the room. Hei Wan looked at him and gestured with her hand for him to speak.

"It looks like the residents are finally waking up. The town head has also issued a warning." The Masked man reported.

Hei Wan nodded her head in response and turned to Lin Mu.

"Seems like our conversation ends here. You can leave for now, we'll inform you when we find more about things." Hei Wan spoke.

"Sure." Lin Mu answered.

Hei Wan then turned to Hei Bao and spoke.

"Give him an identity badge as well."

"As you command, leader." Hei Bao replied, and then gestured for Lin Mu to follow him.

Lin Mu then exited the room along with Hei Bao and went to the room where the emergency signal plates were kept. After entering the room, his attention was instantly pulled towards the metal plates that were kept on stands.

Hei Bao walked up to his desk and withdrew a hexagonal badge from it. He then handed it to Lin Mu and spoke.

"This is an identity badge for our corps. You can use this to enter the safe house if you need to report something or if there's an emergency."

"Thanks." Lin Mu replied and then looked towards the plates.

"What are those?" Lin Mu asked.

Hei Bao looked at where Lin Mu was pointing and saw that it was the emergency signal plates. He wondered if he should tell him about it or not but then decided to tell him. He had seen how the leader was very respectful with Lin Mu and already knew that they would probably be allies in the future.

"They're used for emergencies. Whenever a member is in the most dire of emergencies they can use the whistle to alarm us." Hei Bao answered.

Lin Mu then remembered the small tube that was hanging on Hei Wen's necklace. He had blown on it and called for help.

"How does it work though?" Lin Mu questioned.

Hei Bao had a confused look upon his face after hearing Lin Mu's question.

"I actually don't know exactly how. Our Lord designed this and the only thing I know is that it makes a noise when a whistle is blown." Hei Bao replied.

Lin Mu used his spirit sense to observe the metal plates and found out that they were actually of different thicknesses. Although the plates looked the same, there was a difference in the thickness and size.

"This is rather innovative. Someone actually found a way to use earthen spirit metal without placing formations on it." Xukong suddenly spoke.

"Earthen spirit metal?" Lin Mu asked.

"It's a common type of spirit metal that's used in the manufacture of spirit tools and spirit weapons. Usually in order to use it, one needs to place formations on it. But the way these are designed, they don't need any formations to work. These can actually be called as primitive spirit tools." Xukong answered.

Lin Mu's curiosity was ignited once again after hearing senior Xukong's words.

"So does this mean senior knows how it works?" Lin Mu inquired.

"Yes, I can. These plates work due to a phenomenon called as qi resonance. When air is blown into an emergency whistle, it is also charged with spirit qi. This qi is absorbed by the whistle and is then released in the form of a certain type of wave.

As long as the person using it is in the range of the plate, the disk in the center of it will start resonating and will spin. And due to the difference in the dimensions of the plate, the emergency whistles can be made uniquely for each individual." Xukong explained.

Lin Mu intently listened to senior Xukong's words and felt amazed at learning this.

"Whoever this Lord is, we can safely assume that he is very smart. He used such an ingenious method that it would actually be appreciated in some of the higher worlds as well." Xukong praised.

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