Chapter 4024: Disabling The Barriers Around The Cestus

Judgment, punishment, consequence, virtue and calamity seemed intertwined throughout The Virtuous Calamity Daoist’s legacy. Even the name Justice Crushing Cestus seemed strangely appropriate when connected to him.

A weapon originally belonging to an unorthodox cultivator had been taken by a Righteous Path expert. That expert then began using it as an instrument of punishment. Over time, the weapon became associated with judgment itself.

’It has to be him.’ Lin Mu could not prove it yet, still, he was almost certain. 𝐟𝒓ℯⅇ

There was one part of the story that surprised him. The Cestus had continued to circulate long after the era in which the Virtuous Calamity Daoist should have possessed it. That changed one of Lin Mu’s earlier assumptions.

’Which means this wasn’t in his vault.’ A trace of disappointment appeared in Lin Mu’s heart.

When he first discovered that the Justice Crushing Cestus was hidden here, he had briefly wondered if it might have been recovered directly from one of the Virtuous Calamity Daoist’s hidden repositories.

If that had been the case, the Forbidden Relic Section might have contained other items directly connected to the man. Palm Saber’s explanation made that unlikely. The Cestus had changed hands repeatedly after its original Righteous Path wielder disappeared from history.

It had accumulated owners, victims, legends and probably modifications over countless years before eventually arriving at the Heavenly Stream Guardian Sect. Still, Lin Mu quickly discarded his disappointment.

This was better in another way.

The Justice Crushing Cestus had continued developing after leaving the hands of its ancient owner. Whatever strange amalgamation existed inside it now had probably formed through those later generations of use.

More importantly, it was powerful and Taegong wanted it. That alone gave Lin Mu a very good reason to take it.

’If you’re planning to use this thing to frame Little Bull, it would be rather unfortunate if Little Bull’s senior took it first.’ Lin Mu almost smiled.

There was a certain elegance to ruining Taegong’s scheme using the very object Taegong intended to use against him. Zhenyu stepped closer to the pedestal. High Elder Palm Saber noticed the movement and looked toward him.

Before the elder could ask anything, Lin Mu raised his hand and placed it against the outermost formation. His fingers moved as several runes lit up and the first barrier flickered. A moment later it vanished and High Elder Palm Saber blinked.

The second barrier followed, the third, then the fourth.

Four layers of protection disappeared within less than a minute.

"What?... what are you doing, Senior?" High Elder Palm Saber finally asked.

Zhenyu did not turn around. "Just watch."

High Elder Palm Saber opened his mouth, then he closed it, unable to find the right words. He was deeply concerned since this was the Forbidden Relic Section.

The Justice Crushing Cestus had twelve barriers surrounding it, more than any other object they had discovered so far. Everything about the arrangement suggested that whoever sealed the weapon had wanted it to remain untouched.

Under ordinary circumstances, High Elder Palm Saber would have stopped anyone attempting to remove it. There was a slight problem with applying ordinary circumstances here.

The man removing it was Mengli Zhenyu.

Technically, Zhenyu was a Junior Elder and technically, Palm Saber was a High Elder. According to the hierarchy of the Heavenly Stream Guardian Sect, Palm Saber possessed vastly greater authority.

That hierarchy felt rather meaningless when the Junior Elder in question had disappeared over a hundred thousand years ago, returned without warning, escaped the Mad Demon Depths, defeated the transcendent Daoist Bone Ruler, demonstrated a completed version of the Shifting Earth, Churning Seas, Dual Refinement Art and casually punched open space before walking into the Void.

High Elder Palm Saber suddenly remembered something an elder from a previous generation had once told him. It had been during a discussion about Wild Peak’s older history. Someone had mentioned the Earth Sea Tyrant, and the elder had laughed before repeating an old saying.

’One dares not question the Earth Sea Tyrant.’ High Elder Palm Saber had never learned the story behind those words.

At the time, he had assumed it was another exaggerated tale from Wild Peak’s past. Standing here now, he began to suspect the saying had been practical advice. As such High Elder Palm Saber folded his arms and decided to watch.

Lin Mu continued dismantling the barriers. The fifth was designed to suppress Immortal Qi. He found its controlling node and severed the circulation. The sixth restricted spiritual energy.

The seventh was connected to the pedestal itself and appeared designed to trigger if the object moved before the barrier was disabled. That one required slightly more care.

Lin Mu spent nearly two minutes tracing the formation before locating three hidden junctions. He disabled them in sequence, causing the entire barrier to fade. The eighth followed shortly afterward.

Then the ninth, after which was the tenth, which took longer. The eleventh was surprisingly simple once he understood how it interacted with the others. Less than ten minutes after beginning, Lin Mu had removed eleven of the twelve barriers.

The elders watched in stunned silence.

Some had expected Zhenyu to possess knowledge of the ancient formations. After all, he had already demonstrated that he knew secrets concerning the vault that had been forgotten by later generations.

Yet there was something deeply unsettling about watching him casually dismantle protections surrounding one of the most dangerous relics in the entire chamber. Then Zhenyu stopped.

High Elder Palm Saber noticed immediately as only one barrier remained. It was almost invisible. The barrier had no obvious color and produced barely any fluctuations. If one looked closely, however, the space immediately surrounding the Cestus seemed slightly distorted.

Lin Mu narrowed his eyes. ’A spatial barrier.’

And it was a rather complicated one.

His Spatial Perception spread through it. The barrier had been woven directly into the surrounding Spatial Fabric. Removing it safely required separating dozens of interlocked spatial anchors in the correct order.

Lin Mu could do it.

Given enough time, he was confident he could unravel the formation. But the problem was time.