Rise Of The Worm Sovereign

~KIKIKIKI~

"Where Go? More hunt?" The weasel questioned.

Lin Wu and Tim were now traveling toward the location of the branch of the Tian clan. They had left Wang Xiong and the rest about an hour ago, and Tim was following behind Lin Wu.

"You're asking that now?" Lin Wu raised his brows.

'He followed along quietly before. Seems like his thoughts are really slow.' Lin Wu thought to himself.

"More Hunt?" Tim questioned.

"No… not this time. Though we can hunt later." Lin Wu answered.

"Okay." Time replied.

Lin Wu looked at him and nodded in satisfaction.

'At least he's getting a bit more controllable now. Keeping his stomach full seems to be the key.' Lin Wu thought to himself.

Lin Wu looked at the map and saw that they were still quite some distance from the Tian clan. According to the system, it would take Lin Mu about five more hours to reach the place.

"I need to be slowed since the Weasel is with me. Or I could have reached it in about an hour or two." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

He had even thought of leaving Tim behind or in some place, but the thought of him randomly going on a rampage was not going to leave Lin Wu alone. He was fine with Tim killing other beasts or humans, but doing so at a location like this might bring some unnecessary attention to them. Which was not something that was desirable.

The two of them continued their travels while avoiding the few villages and towns that came in their way.

"For a place this remote… there sure are a lot of human settlements here." Lin Wu muttered.

He looked at the many markers that were there on his map and saw that the number of cultivators here was higher than usual too.

"Isn't the number of cultivators low in villages. Not to mention their cultivation base being low as well. Why do I see Core condensation realm cultivators here?" Lin Wu was intrigued.

It was very rare for there to be a core condensation realm cultivator to live in a village. If there was one, they would either be passing through, or be there for a very specific purpose.

'Even if it was a group of them traveling… this is still a bit strange.' Lin Wu thought.

Feeling curious, he extended his spirit sense and did a quick scan of the village. With his range, it was very easy for him to reach that point. In less than a minute, Lin Wu had gotten an image of the village in his mind.

"So they are not travelers… they are actually natives of that village…" Lin Wu said.

With his spirit sense, he had seen that the core condensation realm cultivators were living in different houses of their own in the village. They were mingling normally with the people there and they seemed to be unaware that there were core condensation realm cultivators walking among their midst.

Normally if a core condensation realm cultivator arrived in villages, they would be met with a welcoming ceremony. There would even be a banquet to celebrate their arrival, even if it was only brief.

Lin Wu listened to their conversations and slowed down a bit more.

***

"Old Lu! Old Lu!" A young man called out while running into a house.

"What is it! Why are you shouting! My ears will bleed, you brat!" The old man who was pruning a peach tree said out loud.

The young man though, did care for that scolding and brushed it away like it was nothing.

"The Bloom! The bloom will happen soon, they say!" The Young man spoke.

Hearing this, the Old Man furrowed his brows and put down the shears in his hand.

"Where did you head that?" The old man asked with furrowed brows.

"At the tavern. There are a few warriors that just arrived from the forest. They say they saw it themselves." The young man replied.

"Saw it? Saw what?" The old man questioned.

"The traces of the bloom, of course! The buds have already started to rise." The Young man answered.

"I see… so it is already time for it. But why are you telling me this? Don't tell me you are thinking of going there," The old man said in a serious tone.

"I am of course! If I can get some bamboo flowers, I'll be able to buy spirit stones and start cultivation as well. I'm already at the sixth stage of the body tempering realm already. I'm sure if I go there I'll find enough resources to push me to the Eighth stage and then the beyond it!" The Young man said with excitement.

"Huh? Do you really think it's that easy?" The Old man scoffed.

"I know it's not easy. But it's not too hard either. Elder Ping's son is just at the fourth stage and he's going too!" The Young man stated.

"Humph! Go if you want to face danger. You might die too." The old man said and turned around.

"I won't. I know the forest well and can take care of myself." The Young Man replied.

"Why did you even come to me if you were going to go there, anyway?" The Old Man said in an upset tone.

"I need something from you, of course." The Young man replied.

"Oho? Now you think you can demand things from me?" The Old man said in a cynical tone.

"You still owe a few favors to father. I'll use one of them today." The Young man said cheekily.

~HUMPH~

"Fine! But you won't get to do this again. This is the last time I'm going to help you." The Old Man said in an upset tone.

"Hahha! I knew you would come around Old Lu! Admit it! You care for me too!" The young man said.

"In your dreams," The Old man said before walking towards his house. 

He opened the backyard side entrance and went inside a room. He returned half a minute later with a long box in his hand. The box was made out of wood and looked to be hand made.

There were a few finely carved patterns on it as well, though they were relatively simple.

~thud~

The old man threw the box in front of the Young Man and it came to land at his feet.

"Take it and leave!" The old man waved with his sleeve, gesturing the Young man to leave.

The Young Man quickly picked up the box, not minding the chiding. He quickly opened the lid and revealed the weapon that was kept covered in the box. It was wrapped with a thick canvas cloth and then tied with a leather strap.

The Young Man nodded his head seeing this and quickly led the house. He didn't stop anywhere and ran all the way to his house. There, he finally opened the box again.

"'With this, dealing with the beasts will be way easier!" The Young Man said with excrement.

He unbuckled the leather strips before unwrapping the canvas sheet.

~shua~ 

Finally, the weapon hidden in it was revealed. It was a polearm with a tapering handle. It had a crescent blade at the side of its top and a straight spear tip at the center.

"Only Old Man Lu can have high quality weapons like this. Wonder why he never became a blacksmith here. If he ever did it, he would be the best blacksmiths in the village and make a lot more money than he does now by selling fruits." The Young Man muttered to himself.

The pole arm was relatively simple, but had an attractive property to a warrior. Lin Wu, who had been observing everything with his spirit sense checked the pole arm and was a bit surprised.

"Huh… it's made from spirit weapon materials, but is not really a spirit weapon. It's like it was never refined nor were there any runes and formations placed on it." Lin Wu muttered.

To him, the entire situation seemed suspicious and he wondered what this 'Bloom' exactly was.

"System, give me the information about the bloom." Lin Wu asked.

~DING~

——

ANSWER: The Bloom is the common term used by natives of this region to refer to a special occurrence that happens every ten years. It is the blooming of the Fragrant Parrot Bamboo flowers.

Every ten years, the Fragrant Parrot Bamboo would mature and fine stems would rise from the ground. These stems would be different than the normal stem of the Bamboo and would be of red color.

They would also have flowers growing at their tips, that contained the main medicinal value. They are used for the manufacture of various pills and other items and thus, are almost always in high demand.

Many sects pay the villages in this area to gather the flowers for them. This even includes some private cultivators that would desire the flowers as well. The flowers not only have the medicina properties to heal someone, but they also can be used in various pills.

—— 

Seeing the answer of the system, Lin Wu was surprised. 

"So I'm guessing the Bloom also brings in a lot more beasts. Not only would they be coming in for the flowers, but they will also probably cause another situation to happen." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

~DING~

——

MAP UPDATED: The potential location of the Bloom has been marked on the map.

——

Seeing this, Lin Wu couldn't help but feel pleased.. He thought over it and deiced that it might be worth checking out this Bloom as well.