Hearing Senior Xukong's words, Lin Mu was a bit surprised.

Xukong easily guessed Lin Mu's train of thoughts and decided to give him some more to think about.

"You destroyed the West Ocean sect after a long consideration didn't you? You already had the capability to do so a long time ago, but held out for another solution. That was already giving them many chances." Xukong spoke.

"There will be many situations that you will face in your life that will be many times more complex than this, many times more deadly than this and will also test your will greatly. They might make you pay an even bigger cost, and put a great strain on you.

Regardless of what happens, you are not to falter. Remember, those who are strong do not necessarily survive till the end, but those that survive in the end are all strong!

So do whatever you can to live and achieve your goals." Xukong said as his sagely voice echoed in Lin Mu's ears.

Lin Mu's mind shook slightly as he understood the other side of senior Xukong's words. Xukong had not said it openly and had left for Lin Mu to comprehend it on his own. The positive words had a negative back to it.

It was up to Lin Mu, whether he would accept it or not.

"Besides… the effects of karma on you would be negligible." Xukong added.

"Karma? Like the sins?" Lin Mu questioned.

"You could say that. But it is not that simple. The heavens are controlled by the Heavenly Dao and the karma dictates how it will behave. Even merits can beget sins and merit can rise from sin.

For example, sometimes the sacrifice of a few can save the lives of many. Or letting a small tyrant reign might prevent tens of other tyrants from appearing and causing more harm to people.

In your case, you have an even better excuse. You are the world's ordained and all those that go against the world's will would be ignored by the karmic will of the world." Xukong answered.

"What use is this karma for us senior?" Lin Mu questioned feeling even more interested.

"Hmm… you could say it affects your fate and density." Xukong answered.

"Like doing good deeds will get us good fortune and vice-a-versa?" Lin Mu asked.

"That is the general logic used by most, but that is not accurate. The true workings of karma are infinitely more complex, and even I cannot deduce it.

The karma of a small worm can affect the karma of a great heaven's chosen that might be reigning over hundreds of worlds. Though for most cultivators, the workings of karma don't come into play until quite late.

By the time you reach that point where you can sense it, you would have already lived quite a long time and accumulated a lot of karma.

That is the reason why many experts all over the universe dictate that one should prevent sowing any karma. That is why many sects prefer their disciples severing their ties with the secular world.

It is not that they are afraid that they wouldn't be able to reach a high cultivation realm, but rather if they have too much karma, they wouldn't even be eligible for it.

And since karma is infinitely complex, most experts agree that having no karma is the best." Xukong explained in detail.

This certainly gave Lin Mu a lot to think about, and will for the years to come. But for now, he had a different question.

"And what do you agree on senior?" Lin Mu questioned.

Hearing this, Xukong couldn't help but chuckle.

'The kid got it, huh… good.' Xukong thought to himself.

"For me… I'd say do whatever you want. Whether it be good karma or bad karma or no karma, if you keep on worrying about that, you will forget your present and lose out on many opportunities and relationships that you might benefit from later." Xukong stated.

Hearing this, Lin Mu couldn't help but smile.

"Thank you, senior… now I know what to do." Lin Mu replied.

"Mm… cultivate as you will, do as you want. I'll be here if you need a second opinion, Hahaha!" Xukong said before going back to his own cultivation.

Xukong knew that lightening the weight on Lin Mu's mind was necessary today. He didn't want Lin Mu to fall into the same cycle that orthodox and unorthodox paths followed. Going with one of them was the norm that many ended up taking without even knowing.

It was a trap that was cleverly woven, that many entered with full knowledge of.

Avoiding it was difficult and taxing, but the final results of it were far too great to ignore.

Xukong had already experienced it first and was stuck in it too, and had barely managed to get out of it.

'Perhaps if it were not for the old monster, I'd be like that too… is this what you wanted me to do?' Xukong thought to himself.

Lin Mu looked at Little Shrubby and the remaining resources and made up his mind. All content is property © .

"We are going to continue cultivating." Lin Mu said.

"We will?" Little Shrubby asked.

"Yes… we need to at least get you to the Shell completion stage of the Dao Shell realm too." Lin Mu replied.

"Okay~" Little Shrubby said in agreement.

Lin Mu too, made his decision.

'I'll cultivate till I'm out of resources… doesn't matter if I was going to silk the shell expansion stage, I still need to form a Dao Embryo and that'll take time. Until I reach that level of comprehension, may as well expand my Dao Shell.' Lin Mu analyzed.

~shua~

He waved his hand and more spirit stones appeared around them. The concentration of spirit Qi rose even more and the man and beast started absorbing it at a great speed!

Lin Mu's Dao Shell was now inside his Dantian and was slowly growing. The rate of growth was slow, and barely and change could be seen even after a week, but Little Shrubby was nearing a breakthrough!