Chapter 186: Formation Node?

“Mayor Wu Xun, as you may have noticed by now, a few of our disciples have been dispatched to your city and they will be posted there for the time being. The time period for which they have been assigned there is undecided, and they will be there until they have been ordered to return.

During this period you are to assist them in whatever task they may need assistance with and will ensure that they are not hampered in their work.

If you do so, your previous transgressions will be forgiven and our previous cooperative relationship will be re-initiated. You can choose to reject this but know that the consequences of such will be yours to bear.”

The letter this time was much shorter than the one that Lin Mu had seen before, and seemed to be more of a threat than an actual letter. 

“What is this? It’s strange… could it be because of what I did before?” Lin Mu muttered in confusion.

“I’ll tell you the same thing I said before, don’t bother.” Xukong simply said.

This time Lin Mu did not think much. He had learned a lot more and knew that if he’s getting some benefits, it’s best not to think much and just take them as it is. Unless of course there is some absurd reason behind it.

“Now then… what are we to do with this information?” Lin Mu questioned himself.

“Just keep it to yourself for now and wait for the right moment. See how it plays out and use it according to your judgment.” Xukong suggested.

“I understand, senior.” Lin Mu responded before rolling the letter and storing it into the ring.

Currently, it was evening, so Lin Mu had no problem in staying away from the eyes of the people. Even since the few incidents that happened before, people had been avoiding going out at night. This helped him as he couldn’t really explain chasing after air, could he?

Still, Lin Mu did not know if others could see the spatial rifts.

“That is a little difficult to answer.” Xukong intercepted his thought.

“Huh? What Senior?” Lin Mu questioned as feeling confused.

“I can’t tell if the spatial rifts are only visible to you because of the ring or if they would be visible to others too once they are open. But it’s most likely the latter. Still, the cultivators who have spirit sense should be able to sense it even if normal people can’t.” Xukong explained.

This was new information to Lin Mu, as he had not asked senior Xukong this before. He simply nodded and continued on to his way. He checked the gate and saw that the guards were still standing there. He didn’t avoid them and simply walked towards the gate.

“Halt! Who goes there?” One of the guards shouted upon seeing Lin Mu.

The guard lifted a torch and brought it closer to see Lin Mu’s face. Lin Mu too waked closer to show the guard that he was fine and there was no problem. Upon seeing his face, the guard felt relieved and let him enter the town.

Hei Wan and the others had done a thorough check of the town’s guards and had ensured that there were no suspicious people in it. Unsurprisingly, a few of the guards had secretly disappeared, confirming their suspicion that there were a few of the people from the culprits mixed in.

Upon doing a deeper check, Hei Wan and the rest discovered that all the information about them in the registers was fake and seemed to have been forged. The absence of them was the reason why Lin Mu felt safe enough to directly walk in and did not go over the wall.

While returning to his house, Lin Mu passed by the alley where Jing Wei’s emporium was located. He looked around and he still could not see the alley there. But upon using his spirit sense, he felt something different this time.

Far up in the sky, he could feel something. It was as if there was a solid object of some kind floating there. 

“What is that?” Lin Mu muttered in wonder.

“Looks like you found one of the nodes of the illusory formation array,” Xukong answered.

“A node? What’s that?” Lin Mu questioned.

“A node is basically the point where the multiple formations continued within a formation array intersect. They are the points which are quite important to the stability and functioning of the formation arrays and any damage or modification to it can lead to its deactivation or getting destroyed.” Xukong answered.

“But how can I feel it senior? Isn’t it supposed to be immaterial?” Lin Mu asked.

“Yes, but your spirit sense is different. There’s a reason why it is one of the requirements to make formations because without it, sensing formations after they have been created is difficult.” Xukong replied.

“Is that so…” Lin Mu muttered and started tracing over the invisible formation with his spirit sense.

He followed along with it and discovered that there were faint lines that extended from it. The place that he had sensed the node at was the only place that was a little broad. All the branches that arose from it were thin, like threads.

Lin Mu tried to follow them with his spirit sense and found it to be difficult. He soon lost focus and the branch of the formation that he was following disappeared. Even if he used his spirit sense to observe the place that he had last felt the branch at, he still could not find it.

“This is strange… why did it disappear?” Lin Mu questioned in confusion.

~Chuckle~

“It was to be expected, of course. If it was this easy to find formations, they would have never been used. Formations are much more complex than you think they are.” Xukong answered in a slightly humored tone.

Lin Mu felt a little embarrassed upon hearing that and tried to look for it again.

“I’ll give you a hint. Follow it back from the node again. Know that nodes are often the weak points of formations and if you can find them, you can trace the rest of the formation. Though this is valid only for formations of a low level such as this.” Xukong explained.

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