Walker Of The Worlds

The two flew atop Little Shrubby for quite some time, but on the way, Lin Mu said something.

"Change direction here. Go to the south," Lin Mu spoke.

"South?" Meng Bai raised his brows. "Why south? The Great Burden Monastery is on the western side." He was confused.

"We're visiting another place on the way," Lin Mu replied.

"What place?" Meng Bai asked. "Another scenic place?" he wondered.

"Well, perhaps. We're going to the Hawk Eye Sword Sect," Lin Mu replied.

"Oh? I think I've heard of it earlier." Meng Bai remembered the flirtatious women talking about it for a bit. "It's a minor sect that's near this region," he stated.

"Indeed," Lin Mu nodded. "I met a person from the sect in the city who invited me over," he added.

"Ah, I see." Meng Bai found that reasonable. "Let's go there then. I want to see what other sects are like."

He hadn't really seen any proper sects so far—only kingdoms, empires, and the Green Lotus Temple—so he wondered what it would be like.

"Alright." Lin Mu patted Little Shrubby, who quickly changed direction and flew toward the distant sect.

Lin Mu wasn't going there just for the invitation, though. He intended to find more clues about the women who had tried to trap them, and those behind them.

'That mark… an eye surrounded by thorns.' Lin Mu could tell it was a seal of some kind.

As for what kind, he didn't know—other than the fact that it had something to do with the state of those cultivators.

He reckoned since the Hawk Eye Sword Sect was nearby, they might have some idea about them, or at least some clues. He certainly didn't think this was the first time those women—or those behind them—had done something like this. The bandits who had pretended to attack them were clearly part of the same scheme. It was a common method that Lin Mu had heard of before.

Many bandits used similar tricks to deceive travelers and catch them off guard, setting up ambushes.

There was a chance that others had encountered the same and that the sect might know something, being in close proximity.

They continued to fly for a while before the sect finally appeared in their field of vision.

It was certainly small, having a territory of just a hundred kilometers. Unlike many other sects, it wasn't located atop mountain peaks. Instead, it was set up on a vast plain.

The area was extremely flat, as if carved out by a single sword slash. There was no soil—only solid rock—the characteristics of which made Lin Mu think that a mountain must have once stood here.

'Did someone cut down the mountain and establish the sect?' he wondered.

Dugu Ciu hadn't told Lin Mu much about the sect or its history, so he pondered it briefly.

He glanced at the sect, which consisted of five main buildings that served as its core and hundreds of smaller buildings that surrounded it in a ring. A large wall stood around the main buildings, creating a protective circle, outside of which smaller courtyards and large lodgings were erected for the disciples.

Another wall surrounded it all, dividing the sect into three parts: the Outer Sect, the Inner Sect, and the Core Sect.

There were protective arrays hidden within the air, though Lin Mu easily saw through them.

'Not the best, but satisfactory,' Lin Mu assessed.

Compared to the standard of formations he had seen back in the Osteri World, these were certainly much better. He felt mildly pleased but didn't pay much attention to the arrays, as they were still simple for him to comprehend.

SHUA

THUD

The trio reached the edge of the sect and landed, quickly attracting the attention of the guards outside. It was inevitable, as Little Shrubby's massive form was hard to miss.

This also made the guard disciples nervous, as they could feel a ferocious aura from the beast. They also noticed the two men who climbed down from it and quickly assessed them.

One of them was a young man who seemed to be at the peak of the Nascent Soul Realm—not very concerning. But the other, older man was very eye-catching to them.

Unlike the boy, they felt no aura from the man, as if he were just a mortal. But his handsome and elegant appearance, as well as his dignified demeanor, were hard to ignore.

They could instantly tell he was not a simple person, and his lack of visible cultivation was likely just a facade.

SHUA

Little Shrubby shrank down and his aura receded, making the guards feel a bit more at ease as they approached.

"Greetings, fellow Daoists. May we ask who you are?" the guard disciples asked with sufficient politeness.

"I am Daoist Lin Mu, and this is my disciple, Meng Bai. We are here on the invite of Daoist Dugu Ciu," Lin Mu informed.

"Elder Dugu?" The guards were surprised.

'So he was an elder…' Lin Mu hadn't realized that before, as the man hadn't mentioned it either. 'Now that I think about it, his cultivation base was also at the Fourth Tribulation Stage of the Immortal Realm. Sufficient for an elder of a minor sect,' he reckoned.

"Please wait a moment. I'll contact the elder," one of the disciples said before hurrying inside.

He returned two minutes later, a relieved expression on his face.

"Please enter, honored guests," the disciple said with respect, cupping his fists.

"Very well," Lin Mu said as he followed after the disciple, who guided them into the sect.

Meng Bai looked around, feeling quite curious, while Little Shrubby perched atop his shoulder, eyes closed and his tail swaying lightly.

"So this is what a sect is like…" Meng Bai muttered. "So many formations everywhere. The buildings have arrays, the walls have arrays, and even the roads have arrays." He could sense the arrays hidden everywhere.

The young man continued to look around as the disciple brought them further in.