In an empty and desolate cave, a certain man and beast rested. Their auras were strong… stronger than most beings in this world and were getting even more strong by the minute.

Lying around the two beings were tons of spirit stones. Or more like, there were literal hills of spirit stones around them. They ranged from top grade spirit stones all the way to low grade ones.

The air around them was filled with dense spirit Qi, that had reached a concentration high enough that the air seemed humid. The spirit Qi shimmered lightly under the glow of the beast's fur.

The beast's fur had sparks and small red flames burning on it every so often. Even the human was not free from this, having tinges of golden glow on his skin shining every now and then. All content is property © .

No matter who saw it, the scene was rather stunning and not what most would expect.

These two were of course, none other than Lin Mu and Little Shrubby.

It had now been over two weeks since the massacre at the West ocean sect had happened. The people had gotten aware about it, and even the commoners were informed about it at this point.

Among the commoners, there was now a new fear. Or one could say a new bogeyman.

This was of course, none other than Lin Mu.

They would tell their children, if they did not behave, the devil of Zhou would come and take them away.

That was the title that had been given to the killer of West ocean sect.

The Devil of Zhou!

It was hard to tell if it was fine or not, but since the sects did not deny it, the commoners went with it. Additionally, since the portraits of the Devil of Zhou were present all over the empire, the people became even more scared.

Most people had bogeyman as faceless beings that they could use for inciting fear.

But the Devil of Zhou wasn't like that… he was an actual person who could do all the things that they imagined about.

The people who were already this scared about the Devil of Zhou didn't know that the person was only getting stronger.

~SHUA~

Waves of spirit Qi rose from the spirit stones lying around Lin Mu as they rushed into the Dao Shell that was floating above him. With the high concentrator of spirit Qi in the area, the Dao Shell was looking far more visible than before.

~HONG~

The Dao Shell resonated with Lin Mu's call and started to rapidly absorb the spirit Qi in the air.

'I need to get stronger… and the first step to that is to increase my cultivation base. The ones who died under my hand are my sin to bear, but they will also be the whetstone to my cultivation base.' Lin Mu thought to himself.

For the past week, he had been at a loss as to what he had done and if it was worth it.

In the end, Lin Mu came to a conclusion on his own that it was all inevitable. At the rate at which things were going, the West Ocean sect would have contributed to a far worse situation than they had been at that point.

It was only a matter of time and the death rates would spike once again.

Lin Mu's intervention might have delayed or entirely prevent thousand if not hundreds of thousands of deaths with it.

With this burden on his mind, Lin Mu continued his goal of getting stronger. And the one joining him in this endeavor was none other than Little Shrubby. Both of them were in the Dao Shell realm and needed spirit Qi to progress.

Lin Mu's Dao shell was already at almost 70% completion, while Little Shrubby's was at about 30% completion. Either of those were rather good, but Lin Mu was not satisfied by it.

'The foes I face are strong and more will appear the longer I wait. If I cannot even match their speed, what use will I be off. The Xiaofan making me the ordained will be a joke then.' Lin Mu thought to himself as he chanted the severing heart sutra.

His heart stilled as his rate of absorbing spirit Qi increased.

~shua~

The Dao Shells did their work and started to absorb as much spirit Qi as they could.

Lin Mu's spirit sense went to the ring and came upon the large stores if alchemical pills he had gotten. He had not classified them yet, but with an initial look, he could tell what pills did what.

"Doesn't matter if I use the technique of the Lost immortal. All will be the same in the end!" Lin Mu said to himself as he took out tens of bottles of alchemical pills.

~CRACK~

With a light shake of his hand, the bottles all cracked and Lin Mu poured their contents into his mouth without a care.

If anyone else were too see this scene, they could declare Lin Mu to be insane. After all, consumption of alchemical pills in this manner was no less than that. If any average person did this, getting Qi deviation was the least of their concerns.

More than that, they would have to pray that they didn't just exploded into meat shreds instead.

But for Lin Mu, nothing mattered.

Within his stomach, the fine nets of runes worked and spun, letting the Lost immortal's nameless technique work at its best.

Vital energy was absorbed and converted into vital essence while Spirit Qi was rapidly assimilated into his body as well.

~shua~

Above his body, the multi-sided complex looking Dao Shell was also growing.

Its illusory shape started to turn corporal as it absorbed more and more spirit Qi. With each passing hour, it became more and more solid. But the more it absorbed, the slower the process got.

Eventually, another week passed by...

~HONG~

One certain day, the Dao Shell floating above Lin Mu let out a loud sound.

His Dao Shell had finally reached the Shell completion stage!