"Though I must say you created a lot of commotion in your breakthrough," Xukong said.
"I did, didn't I?" Lin Mu said with a chuckle.
He knew the gravitational force that had emanated from the earth was not normal and probably had something to do with the Mortal Strengthening scripture.
"Why did the gravity suddenly increase though, senior?" Lin Mu questioned.
"I think this may be due to your natural affinity with the earth element. If it were someone else that reached the fifth level of the Mortal Strengthening scripture, they would not have the same effect.
I also think it was catalyzed due to your body cultivation as well. Since you were refining your spleen as the first treasured organ, it resonated with the earth. Plus, this world likely never had someone who practiced to the five treasures realm, which probably caused it to respond.
Though it was beneficial to you, as it helped you breakthrough in both things at once." Xukong answered.
Lin Mu did not expect that the world itself would have helped him like this. He knew senior Xukong had said, being the world's ordained came with certain benefits, but this was the first time he was actually seeing them.
'But why would it give me benefit when I haven't even fulfilled my end of the bargain? I haven't dealt with the invader at all yet.' Lin Mu thought to himself.
This was another thing that had been hovering at the back of Lin Mu's mind. In all this time, he had gotten no clues to the Invader except for the fact that Gu Yao had come in contact with it and was even infected at one point.
From what Xukong had said, the main body of the invader should be hiding somewhere in the void, and if he wanted to find it, he would have to find its other avatars that were probably spread in the world.
If Lin Mu counted, he knew of multiple avatars that had been killed till now. There was one that was expelled by the Great Slumber bear, one that was erased by Jing Wei and Duan Ke and was in the form of a coyote beast. Then there was the Blight Dust beast which was killed by the disciples of the sect and cleaned up by Duan Ke as well.
Zhou Ye was also infected by the invader, but it was not an actual avatar but rather the fragment from the great slumber beast, so it would not count. The same would be the case for the others that Duan Ke erased in the forest. They were all fragments created by infecting creatures of this world.
Though if what Gu Yao had said was right about the merchant who brought the Greta Slumber bear and the invader to this world, then it was likely that the other avatars could be somewhere in the Northern Tribes.
Lin Mu had guessed that the Northern Tribes had asked the merchant to bring in the invader as a trump card to use against the Great Zhou Empire and the sect. He couldn't tell if it was a foolish move or not though, as the invader was not controllable by anyone.
~Sigh~
"I'll just have to persevere… taking one thing at a time is the best I can do for now." Lin Mu muttered to himself.
Having done that, he took out the communication jade slip and tried to contact Wu Hei, but was unable to do so.
"Just as I expected… we are too far. But where?" Lin Wu wondered.
He had no idea where Little Shrubby had run to. Plus since he was still in a deep sleep it was not like he could ask him either.
"May as well take a look from the top…" Lin Mu said before leaving the cave.
He summoned his short sword and flew to the top of the mountain at the base of which the cave was.
"Oh, my… this…" Lin Mu muttered in surprise.
This was not the only mountain that was in the area. In fact, Lin Mu could easily see hundreds of mountains along with a vast forest that extended to the horizon. But that was not the most shocking thing.
The most shocking thing was the thousands of buildings and pavilions that were built along the sides of the peaks of mountains. These mountains were quite far from where Lin Mu was but and they looked like small dots. But he was sure that it was a sect… a cultivation sect.
"How far did Little Shrubby exactly run? These trees… they aren't found in the Shuang Qian Kingdom at all… not even that, they aren't from the Northern Lands either." Lin Mu said in a shocked tone.
"Senior, did you see where Little Shrubby went? Got any idea?" Lin Mu questioned, just in case.
"No… after you passed out, even I could abrasively sense anything outside. Plus, since little Shrubby was using the seven beasts burst, the defense formed by it was not something my spirit sense could get through either." Xukong said.
"Only after he reached here and fainted, was I able to see things." Xukong added.
"Hmm… this complicates things…" Lin Mu muttered.
Since it had been over a month, he knew Wu Hei and the rest must be worried about him and were wondering where he went. While their plan had indeed succeeded, it was just one of them. They would still need to do it for the other sects.
"'You can try to take a closer look and see what sect that is. If you know which one it is, you will know your position on the map." Xukong suggested.
"Yeah, I'll do that. I'll use the ring's skill just in case. Trespassing in a sect's territory will be problematic." Lin Mu replied before flying towards the mountain where the sect was.
He didn't go to the main part, which was highly populated by the buildings. Rather, he went to the outer mountains with fewer buildings.