CHAPTER 2236  FINDING THE ROOTS AND A SURPRISE IN THE PARALLEL DIMENSION

Lin Mu looked at the network and knew that this was definitely what he had been looking for.

"Should be the root system of the Three Colored Dazzling Mud Lotus." Lin Mu muttered to himself. "If this is here, the Lotus should be down there too." He reckoned.

He tried to look for it, but it was hard to make out from just his Spatial Perception. The roots and the lotus were connected in the end, thus the energy signature would be too similar. owns this.

Not to mention, the lotus would be closed thus it wouldn't have a vastly different shape from the roots. Especially when one looked at it from here with Spatial Perception.

'Will just have to take a look directly.' Lin Mu thought to himself. "I was told to get the roots anyways, so it'll be fine." He reckoned.

~WHOOSH~

With that in mind, Lin Mu dived down into the muddy lake. ~SHUA~

But at the same time his body became translucent, as if it were air.

'Phase.'

Lin Mu easily entered the muddy lake without creating even a single ripple. In the water, he sense several Toad Plant Hybrids but they seem to be in lower numbers.

'Looks like they were separated due to the Death Qi boundary.' He thought.

Barely four hundred meters from where he was, three Death Qi boundary line intersected, thus partitioning the area off. This prevented the Toad Plant hybrids from getting closer and further provided an opportunity for Lin Mu.

'If I play this well, I'll be able to get the roots before these even get a chance to act.' Lin Mu thought as his immortal sense spread in the muddy lake.

While the range was limited due to the Murkwater Qi in it, since he was rather close to the Three Colored Dazzling Mud Lotus Roots now, it didn't take him much to find them.

"Here they are… but where's the anchoring root?" If he wished to take it all at once, he would need to cut it off from the base. 'Deeper perhaps?' he sank further into the ground and continued to do so.

He must have gone at least five hundred meters deep before he finally reached what looked like the base of the 'lake'. Lin Mu's Spatial Perception tracked for the presence of the roots and soon spotted them a bit far from him. But before he could get there, the duration of Phase had come to and end.

'Fade.' But without missing a beat, Lin Mu directly used his fourth skill, arrive in the parallel dimension.

~SHUA~

"Huh… this is… different." But upon arriving there, a surprise awaited him. The parallel dimension was barren and was a mix of gray, black and white colors. This had been the case forever since Lin Mu had acquired the skill.

While the topography of the area in the parallel dimension varied a bit, with a few mountains and more being mixed in, it was still mostly empty.

But now what Lin Mu was seeing was vastly different.

"Is this… A city?" Lin Mu was surprised.

Instead of the usual barren area, what surrounded Lin Mu was an ancient looking city. It was entirely empty of course, but the structures that stood there were still different.

Lin Mu could easily tell these structures were made in the style of the demons tribes and were possibly what existed in the area in the past.

He quickly scanned the area with his immortal sense, getting a model of it in his mind.

From that he quickly realized that what he stood in was still the lake area, but it was surrounded by various buildings like pavilions and smaller residences.

'Is this what this area used to look like in the past?' Lin Mu wondered. "Senior Xukong, what's happening here?" he asked.

Xukong who had been observing it all was confused too. He was silent for a few seconds before speaking.

"I cannot exactly tell what all this is, but I do have a guess." Xukong replied. "This seems to be a remnant of the past… an echo of what used to be." He stated.

"A remnant? An Echo?" Lin Mu muttered to himself. "So it is being mirrored in the parallel dimension?" "Perhaps… this is the first time you've used Fade in a Spatial Plane like this. Not to mention this place is different than most spatial plane and is actually a celestial treasure.

We do not know fully about what the parallel dimension that's linked to Fade is, but now it seems like it can access a version of the past that is 'incomplete' in some way.

Or you can describe it as an empty 'template' of sorts." Xukong explained it the best way he could.

"A template huh… so this is what the place originally looked like?" Lin Mu wondered. The more he looked around, the more he found his guess to be accurate. There were a lot of structures that seemed to be perfect fit for here. In fact, the entire lake seemed to be a part of the city's area and was intentional. Though of course the lake here was empty and barren just like the rest of the parallel dimension.

Lin Mu also took a look inside the buildings, finding them to be bare too.

'The carvings and murals inside the buildings are gone too… either they are weathered to the point of being undifferentiated or they were simply not recorded in the 'template'.' Lin Mu was now realizing that the Fade Skill seemed to hold more mysteries than he had thought before.

It made him wonder why he had not seen anything like this before.

"I think the key lies in this spatial plane." Xukong spoke. "All the worlds before were 'complete' worlds and as such I doubt they would be as easy to 'copy' into a template. Whereas this spatial plane is not only limited, but was also manipulated by a Celestial. I wouldn't be surprised if there were more spatial changes done that we cannot notice right now." He explained.

"Hmm… that does seem like it Senior." Lin Mu could only go on with it as it seemed the common denominator here.

The Spatial plane being a celestial's treasure seemed to be the only reason why there was something like this being shown to him in the parallel dimension.

'Though I'll need to see another plane like this to see if it is indeed true or if this is just unique to this place.' Lin Mu thought to himself. "You should get moving, the duration will come to an end soon." Xukong reminded him.

"Ah yes!" Lin Mu realized before estimating the distance he needed to cross in order to be in the right place. While it might not be the most accurate, the approximation would still be more than enough for him to be able to get to the base of the lotus roots with ease.

~SHUA~

And sure enough once, the duration ended and Lin Mu was sent back into the lake, he was right where he needed to be. He immediately activated Phase and rushed to the spot where he needed to sever the root from.

~SHING~

With a single swift stroke of Afternoon Pine, the roots were severed at the base. They were attached to a rock which kept them anchored to the place.

But with Lin Mu cutting off the rock itself, the roots were now free to be 'moved'.

~HUALA~

Of course, Lin Mu's actions weren't unnoticed by the Three Colored Dazzling Mud Lotus either. The plant detected the attack and tried to rush away, while strong immortal Qi waves were released by it.

It was an Immortal realm plant in the end and could even retaliate if need be. But Lin Mu wasn't going to give it that chance.

"You aren't going anywhere." Lin Mu said as he canceled Phase and directly grabbed into the roots that were trying to slip away.

His body was about to be covered in the foul mud, but he didn't care as the Longgui Bulwark Armor immediately manifested on his body.

Of course with the armor appearing, the immortal Qi fluctuations were strong enough to fully alarm not only the lotus plant but also the Toad Plant Chimeric beasts.

~SHA~

But before they could give any reaction, Lin Mu stored the entire plant away in his ring.

"Now to get away." Lin Mu flew back up, knowing the toads would rush to this area soon.

~WHOOSH~ Just a few seconds after he had left the spot, tens of vines rushed to attack. ~SPLASH~SPLASH~SPLASH~

The vines ended up hitting each other, and splashing the mud around. ~TRRR~

~TRRR~

~TRRR~

The cries of the Toads were heard once more, as they detected an intruder in their area.

"I'd like to stay and fight, but need to see if I can find more of these." Lin Mu chuckled to himself and reactivated Phase before flying back into the sky.

The toads were left confused and tried to find the enemy, but to no avail.