After three weeks had passed, Lin Mu received a message that made him stop his training. The message had come from none other than Little Shrubby.
"Little Shrubby? What happened?" Lin Mu asked.
"I think I found something. The Immortal Qi concentration here is high." Little Shrubby replied.
"Really?" Lin Mu's interest was aroused. "Is it like before?" this wasn't the first time Little Shrubby was reporting either.
He had discovered other areas that had a higher concentration of Immortal Qi, but they turned out to be some other resource or just some herb that had gathered the immortal Qi in that area.
"I've looked around and there doesn't seem to be any immortal herb. The Immortal Qi also seems to be coming from the ground, and there are a few mountains here too." Little Shrubby explained.
"I see… I'll come over then." Lin Mu replied.
"Alright. Do you want me to come pick you up?" Little Shrubby asked.
"No need. Just stay put and watch out for any danger." Lin Mu replied with caution.
"Okay." Little Shrubby said before Lin Mu flew off.Published by Nôv'elD/rama.Org.
Thankfully, he had just started today's training session and his energy stores were in the optimum condition.
'Little Shrubby's quite far… that's almost at the border of the zones we had charted out for the Blood Strewn plains…' Lin Mu sensed Little Shrubby's position through their link.
With the systematic division that Lin Mu had done for the area, the only areas that were left in the last few days were those at the very distant parts. The one that Little Shrubby was at was almost at the edge of the Blood Strewn Plains. If one traveled for a few days from there, they would end up in a new area.
Lin Mu flew across the sky at his maximum speed, watching the area for anything suspicious. During the time they were searching the Blood Strewn plains, they had come across a handful of cultivators out of which half were inclined on fighting them.
Though against Lin Mu, that was the same as hitting an iron plate.
They couldn't even do anything and were taken out by him in a few hits. Their spoils had added to Lin Mu's stores as well, thus it wasn't a loss for him either.
'But those were just the weak ones. There is no telling if any strong experts might be here too…' Lin Mu thought to himself.
After fifteen hours of nonstop flying, Lin Mu sensed that Little Shrubby was getting closer.
'Wait a second… this isn't the same location as back then.' Lin Mu furrowed his brows and then saw a red blur approaching from the distance.
~THUD~CRASH~
Little Shrubby came to a stop near Lin Mu, creating long trenches in the ground with his claws.
"I thought you were going to wait there, to watch the area." Lin Mu asked.
"There's someone there!" Little Shrubby replied.
"What?" Lin Mu furrowed his brows.
"I could smell their scent. I wanted to take a look but I sensed danger." Little Shrubby explained.
Hearing this, Lin Mu became very alert.
After all, if there was something that could make Little Shrubby feel danger, it was certainly not normal.
"Could you tell their cultivation base and who they were?" Lin Mu asked first.
"They are human, but their cultivation base is hard to tell. I just sense strong elemental aura from them." Little Shrubby replied.
"Elemental aura? What elements in particular?" Lin Mu questioned, feeling suspicious now.
"Fire, water, wood, metal, earth, wind, lightning… all of them." Little Shrubby answered much to Lin Mu's shock.
"What?!" Lin Mu was not expecting this.
While there were several people that could technically use all these elements with the use of some skills or tools, they wouldn't be on the same level as those that were highly proficient in them. And if Little Shrubby was feeling danger, it meant that they were proficient in all of these elements.
'How's this possible? Is it some old expert passing by?' Lin Mu couldn't help but wonder.
"It's good that you came here. We'll have to be careful…" Lin Mu spoke before getting onto Little Shrubby's back. "Still, we need to take a look first."
"Okay," Little Shrubby wouldn't feel scared as long as he was with Lin Mu.
~WHOOSH~
Little Shrubby broke into a sprint, and turned into a red blur. The master and beast traveled for about half an hour before Little Shrubby spoke again.
"I can smell the scent again. They should be nearby." Little Shrubby informed.
"Alright, this is enough." Lin Mu asked him to stop.
He got down from Little Shrubby and sent him to the Sleepscape.
"I'll take a look myself from here. It'll be safer." Lin Mu had trust in his ring's skills and knew that he had a better chance at escaping using them.
With Little Shrubby stored away safely in the Sleepscape, Lin M continued the rest of the journey on foot. He didn't fly as it would be a lot more eye catching and he would also be emitting immortal Qi fluctuations.
In order to avoid that, he fully contained the immortal Qi within his body and simply ran using his body's strength.
Taking long strides, Lin Mu traversed the land while keeping his senses sharp. He even activated his Spatial perception just in case, so that he could sense anything that was hidden.
There was no saying what kind of threats would be waiting for him after all.
'Considering the area had high concentration of Immortal Qi, it is quite likely the expert might be there for it too. If it really is an Immortal Stone mine, it is highly unlikely the expert will let go of it.' Lin Mu thought to himself.
After a few minutes though, Lin Mu sensed a wave of energy coming from the distance.
"Huh?" Lin Mu halted in his tracks and realized that there seemed to be some conflict.
He used Phase and sank into the ground, before continuing onwards only to come across a group that was in the middle of a battle.