Walker Of The Worlds

"Is leaving little Shrubby here fine? Nothing dangerous lives here, right?" Lin Mu asked.

"Oh yeah, nothing should happen. Most of the stronger beasts have been killed by me over the years, and no predators remain. As for the other beasts, I doubt they will even come within a kilometer of this place." Jing Luo said while looking at Little Shrubby. "His aura is simply too powerful for them. They will dare not approach." He added.

"I see… very well, then. I can let you peer out into the real world." Lin Mu said.

As Lin Mu had said, he returned to the place where he had first arrived. It was not that hard to find, as there were plenty of traces left behind by him. Though it did take them another two hours to reach there even while flying.

The strange thing was the mountain in the background never changed its size and always looked the same. 

"It's one of the methods of spatial manipulation. No matter where you look from, the mountain will look the same. And when you actually get onto it, you will realize that it is even bigger than it actually appears." Xukong informed.

Lin Mu's eyes lit up after hearing this new information, and he quickly memorized it. This was actually even more exaggerated as he didn't need to actively memorize it. His breakthrough to the Nascent Soul realm had not just affected his body, it had also increased his brains' capabilities.

Now it wasn't that difficult for Lin Mu to memorize an entire book in a single read. As for things he heard, they were even easier to memorize. While this was not eidetic memory, it was still many times beyond a normal human's abilities.

After reaching the spot where Lin Mu had arrived, Jing Luo looked around.

"Hmm, this place does look quite similar to the state when I first arrived in this minor plane." Jing Luo said upon seeing the damage caused by a spatial portal in the surroundings.

"What place did you arrive at?" Lin Mu asked curiously.

"That place was on the mountain itself, so it's quite far from here." Jing Luo spoke.

"Ah, I see." Lin Mu responded.

He then got to work and sensed the area with his spirit sense before activating his spatial perception. After a minute of adjustment due to Lin Mu's increased cultivation base, Lin Mu was able to grasp the state of the spatial fabric in this area.

"Here we go," Lin Mu muttered as he extended his right hand, which wore the mysterious ring.

Jing Luo could feel a pressure exuding from Lin Mu. It was quite different from what he had felt before. If it was like the waves of the sea before, now it was like reverse gravity exuding from his body. It made him subconsciously want to get away from him.

~shua~

Lin Mu waved his hand and a tear opened in the space in front of him.

'Tearing the fabric of space with such ease… even grandfather would find it hard to do so with his spirit tools.' Jing Luo thought.

He looked at Lin Mu and his body, but could not see any treasure or spirit tool on him.

'Just what kind of a treasure is he using? Or perhaps it's a skill instead…' Jing Luo wondered but did not question.

He trusted his grandfather's judgment and knew that if he had chosen Lin Mu, then there must be a solid reason behind it. Jing Luo watched on as the tear in the space started to expand, till it reached the width of over a meter.

Lin Mu opened his eyes and felt the drain on his spirit Qi. It was significantly less than before which he attributed to his progress in the cultivation base and reaching the Nascent Soul realm. 

But when he saw the portal in front of him, his brows became furrowed.

"This… this isn't the same place…" Lin Mu muttered upon seeing the black portal.

"What's the problem?" Jing Luo asked upon hearing Lin Mu's doubtful tone.

Lin Mu got closer to the portal and very carefully extended his spirit sense out of it. As soon as it reached into the portal, he could feel the strong tearing force tugging on it. This prompted Lin Mu to immediately pull it back.

"This is not right." Lin Mu said.

"What happened?" Jing Luo asked again.

"This portal… it does not link to the location of the Ripple Mist sect." Lin Mu said.

"It doesn't?" Jing Luo questioned, getting even more confused.

"No… the place that is beyond this portal is the lesser void." Lin Mu answered.

Jing Luo knew a little about the void from his clans' records and thus understood Lin Mu's words. 

"From what I know the Minor planes exist in the lesser void, right? So I don't understand what the problem is." Jing Luo asked.

Lin Mu shook his head before speaking. "If I opened a portal here, it should have directly linked to the Ripple Mist sects location… But it did not."

"And what does that mean?" Jing Luo inquired.

"It means… this minor plane is not anchored to the Ripple Mist sect. If we step into the portal, we will end up in some random part of the Lesser void. And if that portal happens to close behind us, we will not be able to return back here." Lin Mu explained.

"This…" Jing Luo muttered, feeling surprised.

Lin Mu looked on with a complex expression as he was wondering what had gone wrong too.

"What could be the problem, Senior?" Lin Mu asked.

"I think… what we are in right now is not a complete Minor plane… but rather a fragment of it that has been carved out due to the detonation of that spirit tool Jing Luo used. And since this fragment was carved from that minor plane, it was not fully anchored to the sect." Xukong answered.

"Damn… this just makes it even more difficult." Lin Mu muttered.