427: Awakening In The Sleepscape

Awakening In The Sleepscape

After Lin Mu had fallen asleep, he immediately appeared in the Sleepscape.1

"It worked!" Lin Mu exclaimed. 

He looked around the Sleepscape and confirmed that he truly was in there.

"Senior Xukong!" Lin Mu called out.

~Shua~

In the next second, Xukong appeared in an orb of light in front of Lin Mu.

"Ah… good, very good. It worked just as we had hoped." Xukong said.

"Indeed, senior. Even at the end, I had some doubts whether it would work, but now this is a big relief to me." Lin Mu replied.

"Now then… I guess it's time for you to begin the second part of your plan." Xukong stated.

"Yes senior. I can already sense the spirit Qi increasing in my body. I feel like I'll reach the core condensation realm rather quickly." Lin Wu said.

"Hmm… it should be an eventual increase that should speed up as more time passes," Xukong replied.

"I guess, I should start practicing then…" Lin Mu said before taking out a dual sided sword. 

He started performing the moves and furthered his progress with the Thousand armament blade scripture. Now that his body would be automatically be cultivating, Lin Mu would be able to practice the rest of his skills in the Sleepscape.

One of the things that he wanted to finish up was none other than the Thousand Armament Blade scripture. It was this very weapons manual that had allowed him to battle against so many cultivators. Had it not been for it, his fighting potential would have reduced by a half.

But now he had the opportunity to practice it to his heart's content. Once he began, he practiced for over an entire day before stopping due to the mental exhaustion he was feeling.

"You should take a break. There are still some things we don't know about the Sleepscape and you shouldn't strain your mind or you could harm yourself." Xukong warned.

"I understand senior." Lin Mu replied before sitting down with his back against the spirit apple tree.

He took out the wooden slip that was the legacy treasure of the Lost immortal and opened it. He had not read his memoirs for a while now and wanted to learn what had happened after they were trapped in the mine and discovered by the search party. Words started appearing on the wooden slip and Lin Mu started to read them.

***

The lost Immortal and his master were discovered by a search party, and soon a battle started between them. The first one to attack was none other than the lost immortal himself. He knew that he couldn't let these people escape and thus had to kill them before they reported back to the others.

He and his master were able to kill two out of the five people in the search party before they alerted the others using a communication jade slip. The remaining three cultivators fought the pair of master and disciple but eventually died as well.

Knowing that they won't have much longer, the two started to find a shortcut. They traveled up the tunnels and reached an area that was very close to the entrance. They could even hear the voices of the guards there and had to hide quickly. After a bit, an opportunity arrived, and they were able to dig further.

Due to being close to the surface, it took them less than six hours before a beam of sunlight shone upon their faces. They rejoiced for a short time, before forcibly calming themselves. They had already been found out and knew that there would be guards looking for them.

They almost had an encounter with a core condensation realm guard, but the old man managed to get them away by using a special technique. But this came with its own disadvantages, the old man became quite exhausted shortly after and the two of them had to rest in a suitable place.

They knew that going to a town or a village was not a choice, and thus they had to hide in the forests around the mines. They had not even traveled fifty kilometers away from the mine and thus there was a great chance that they would be found out. The coming two days were tense as the lost immortal kept an eye out without sleeping a single minute. 

The old man finally recovered on the third day, and they started their journey again. The lost immortal asked him about the technique that he had used and the old man explained that it was a technique that burned longevity to use normally, but he had instead diverted it to use up his vitality instead which could be restored.

***

Lin Mu stopped after this point as he felt like his mental energy had been restored and he could begin practicing again. He repeated the same cycle multiple times and would learn from the memoirs of the lost immoral in the resting time.

Sometimes instead of practicing the thousand armament blade scripture, Lin Mu would learn the Dao script from senior Xukong and even a few formations that he knew. 

Bit by bit, Lin Mu was furthering his skills, until he felt a change in his body.

"The time has arrived…" Lin Mu muttered as he closed his eyes.

***

Time passed as the summer turned to autumn.

In a cave in the Northern Mountains, a faint thrumming of heartbeats could be heard. It was coming from deep inside the cave and one couldn't tell what kind of beast it belonged to. The heartbeats kept on getting stronger and stranger until a strong wave of spirit Qi came from the cave.

The wave of spirit Qi spread all over the mountain and scared off the beasts that lived there. A vortex of spirit Qi formed around the mountain and started to get sucked into it. The beasts instinctively stayed away from it and watched from afar as the clouds parted in the sky.

This lasted for an hour before silence descends in the mountains again.

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