CHAPTER 2418  BLINDING SHADOW STREAM NIGHTINGALE

Lin Mu watched in surprise as an area of ten meters was swallowed up by pitch black darkness. It was very similar to the darkness he had felt in the Sea of Death Qi, but this darkness felt like the absolute darkness of the void itself.

Touching it lightly, Lin Mu could feel nothing there.

'It has no mass… or anything perceptible in it. It's just empty.' Lin Mu analyzed. 'It's as if I'm touching a shadow; it feels like nothing but my finger dispersals inside it.' He noted.

Lin Mu put more of his hand inside and saw the entirety of it disappear within it. "It hides things visually, but they can still be perceived physically." Lin Mu said after testing it with his Immortal Sense. "Indeed." Xukong replied. "But this is more than just that." He added.

"How so?" Lin Mu inquired.

"Try making some fire." Xukong requested. "Alright." Lin Mu quickly ignited a flame on his finger. "Observe." Xukong said making Lin Mu check it closely.

It didn't take the man long to realize the peculiarity of it.

"The light from the flame… it doesn't illuminate the darkness at all." Lin Mu observed immediately.

"Try putting the flame inside." Xukong spurred him on.

"Whoa!" As soon as Lin Mu did that, he saw the true scope of the ability. "No sign of the flame at all!" Not only was the bright flame totally hidden within the darkness, no light was leaking out from the scope of the darkness. Lin Mu moved it around in there and tested out its limits, bringing it closer and farther from the border of the sphere.

'As long as its within even a millimeter of the boundary, the flame's light is totally contained.' This was rather surprising to Lin Mu. 'Though the actual heat from the flames can still be felt.' He noted.

While the limitation were obvious with this Dao Skill, he could see the great advantages it brought too. "If used during night, this can be a very useful skill." Lin Mu said learning so far. owns this.

He could think of many more uses, but he reckoned they would still need a bit of refinement before they could be applied effectively.

~SHUA~

But just as he was thinking this, the sphere of darkness started to shrink and totally disappeared after five seconds.

~Chirp~

Ashy let out a tired chirp and came to land on Lin Mu's hand.

"Is it exhausting?" Lin Mu asked seeing the reduced Qi fluctuations from Ashy.

"Quite a bit." Ashy replied. "I've been trying to improve it through, but its hard to do that." She added.

"I see. Though don't worry, you'll be able to improve it eventually." Lin Mu knew the bird simply needed time.

Just the fact that she had managed to learn and train the skill to this extent was already commendable to him. "What is the name of the Dao Skill though?" He asked.

"It's called the Engulfing Shadow Sphere." Ashy answered.

"Hmm… it is definitely quite good." Lin Mu praised her. "I'm proud of you." "YAY!" The bird hopped around in excitement at being praised and her energy seemingly returned.

After hopping around for a bit, Ashy stopped and looked at Lin Mu with pleading eyes.

"Can you give it to me now?" Ashy asked.

"Give what?" Lin Mu titled his head in confusion.

"She want's a new name for her species." Xukong clarified. "She kept on asking me what she is, but I couldn't figure out her species so I told her you could give her a new name for it." He explained.

"Ah, so it was that." Lin Mu chuckled. "I suppose I can give you a new name for your species." He said before thinking for a bit.

He considered her ability, appearance and characteristics before coming up with a new name.

'She's no longer a sparrow so it should be fine to use something else.' Lin Mu reckoned. "Your species shall now be the Blinding Shadow Stream Nightingale." He stated.

"Yay! I'm the very first, super unique, one of its kind Blinding Shadow Stream Nightingale." The bird shouted with excitement as she flew everywhere.

"Haha, your naming sense has certainly improved." Xukong couldn't help but say. "You even took her voice into consideration." He added.

"Her chirps are pleasant to hear. So may as well be a nightingale." Lin Mu shrugged. "Plus, she's the only one among the four to be able to actually speak in human tongue." He added.

"I suppose that's correct." Xukong said, thinking of other nightingale beasts and finding this to be appropriate.

Quite a few of the bird beasts that could sing were able to replicate human speech due to their complex vocal cords and Ashy fell into the same category.

With the little demonstration done, Lin Mu decided to check up on the rest of the Sleepscape with the twins.

"Come, show me what's changed." Lin Mu asked.

"YES~ COME~ COME~" The twins dragged him along immediately.

Since he had been gone for a while from here, he was a bit of a stranger to the Sleepscape now.

"Oh yeah, how long have I actually been gone?" Lin Mu finally asked, having been wondering all this time.

"Eleven years." Xukong answered.

"Eleven years!?" Lin Mu was shocked hearing that. "I knew I had lost track of time, but to think it has been that long," He muttered to himself.

But the more he thought about it, the more he understood that this was actually a good thing.

'Its 'just' eleven years. It could have been a lot more.' Lin Mu took relief in that fact. 'Plus, my Slumber will last a long time anyways.' He knew that eleven years wouldn't even put a dent in the time period needed.

"Yeah, you were gone for longer than I expected. Your state was… very concerning," Xukong admitted.

"What exactly happened to me?" Lin Mu asked. "I felt like I was dreaming all this time." "Dreaming? You think you were just dreaming?" Xukong said in a bewildered tone. "Your true soul had left your body."