Lin Mu reappeared in the large hole that had been made by him and his weight.

The flattened corpse of the Eleventh Prince Huangyu Shiyi, was still lying there with blood pooled around it now.

"I should get rid of it." Lin Mu muttered and waved his hand.

~SHUA~

A fire ball fell onto the corpse and started to burn it. The aspect of heaviness had already damaged the formations on the robes and thus they were useless. Besides, Lin Mu didn't want to take anything from the prince's corpse since there was a chance someone might recognize it.

Besides, he already had all that the prince had kept in his spatial storage. So it wasn't like he was really missing out on much. The biggest treasure of them all, the second part of the ring was obtained by him now, so nothing else mattered.

~huu~

Lin Mu watched the corpse burn quickly and made sure there were no tricks left.

"I didn't expect the Holy Topaz Dynasty to not put any tracking methods on the prince. Even if he was considered a failed heir in the past, his current rise should have made him eligible to have it right?" Lin Mu muttered in confusion.

"Would you accept the same if you were in his position?" Xukong questioned instead.

"Hmm… perhaps not. If someone treated me like that and changed their attitude later, I wouldn't accept something that could reveal my position, either." Lin Mu agreed.

"Might be the same for the prince. Besides, with the secrets he had, he probably didn't wish for anyone to see them either." Xukong stated.

"Hopefully it is like that. It'll be the best if no one finds out the Eleventh Prince died here for a long time." Lin Mu said before jumping out of the hole.

~THUD~

~CRUMBLE~

He stomped on the ground and made it collapse once more, letting the hole fill up naturally. This way, the area wouldn't stick out as much.

"Time to return…" Lin Mu took one last look at the place before flying away.

Lin Mu paused at the site of the site of the battle though where the corpses of the other immortals were still there. Most of them were incomplete though, some having been blasted apart by the Prince's skill, while other damaged in the crossfire.

Lin Mu gathered their spatial storage treasure as well before finally leaving the area entirely.

"Come out Little Shrubby." Lin Mu spoke through his link.

~SHUA~

In the next second, Little Shrubby appeared out of the Sleepscape. The first thing he did upon appearing though, was to look at Lin Mu deeply.

"You seem different." Little Shrubby said. "Did something happen?" he asked.

"Yes… I'll explain on the way." Lin Mu nodded his head. "For now, let's head back to the base."

"Okay~" Little Shrubby replied before Lin Mu got onto his back.

~WHOOSH~

The master and beast traveled back to the base while Lin Mu narrated what happened before. Since Little Shrubby had been in the Sleepscape, he had no idea of all that had happened. It also gave Lin Mu more information about the Sleepscape.

'So even if something changes on me, it does not reflect in the Sleepscape and the beings inside it cannot sense it either.' Lin Mu noted.

It was an important fact, and would certainly help in making some decisions.

Lin Mu narrated his experience to Little Shrubby and told him about a possibly dangerous power he had obtained.

"It's not dangerous if you can control it, right?" Little Shrubby spoke after hearing everything.

"I guess. But there's no saying if I'll lose control." Lin Mu replied.

"You don't have to worry about that. I'll be there if that happens." Little Shrubby said in a calming tone.

Hearing this, Lin Mu couldn't help but feel a bit soft. His heart felt lighter, and he remembered that he had companions who could back him up if he lost his way.

The rest of the journey passed in silence, and Lin Mu rested his eyes. Unknowingly he fell asleep, and by the time he woke up, they were already at the base.

"We're here, master." Little Shrubby informed.

"Huh?" Lin Mu shook awake and saw that they were at the hillside. "So we are…" he said before getting down.

~THUD~

He moved the large boulder hiding the entrance and walked in. The arrays were made to recognize Little Shrubby as well. Thus he had walked past the barrier directly. For anyone else, they would not even see the hill there and if they walked in that direction, they would find themselves in another location.

This helped them avoid anyone from intruding on the base. is the owner.

Lin Mu closed up the entrance after entering and went down to the large cave area.

"Can you heat some water? I want to take a bath." Lin Mu requested Little Shrubby.

"Okay~" Little Shrubby said before extending his claws.

~SHING~

The claws directly pierced two rock pillars that were dipped into the underground pond.

~HISS~

Little Shrubby's claws lit up in a red light, as immense heat traveled into the water through the pillars.

~bubble~bubble~bubble~

A few seconds later, the pond started to heat up before reaching the boiling point. Steam rose from it, filling the area and warming it up.

~RIP~

Lin Mu tore off his already damaged robes and jumped into the boiling pond.

"Haaa~ that's good." Lin Mu let the boiling hot water soothe his body.

He stayed in the pond for an hour while pondering on his next set of actions.

'I need to get to the Immortal Stone mines, but I also need to test the Murdering Heart Sutra. It's important that I know its effects as soon as possible to avoid any issues later on.' Lin Mu thought to himself.

At the very least, he knew that the Immortal Stone mines weren't gonna run away, so there was no reason to rush to them.

Making haste might just make things spoil.