Chapter 3049: Clues To The Cult’s Location

Elyon stared at the open space, the High-tier qi arrays woven subtly into the very walls, and the elegant spirit formations that muffled sound from outside.

"...You’re staying here?" he asked.

"Yes," Meng Bai said flatly. "And I still think the courtyard’s a bit small."

Elyon’s jaw twitched. "Do you have any idea how much this place costs per day?"

Daoist Chu chuckled. "About the monthly budget of a minor sect."

Lin Mu smirked. "It’s fine. We’re not exactly strapped for resources."

Elyon glanced at Lin Mu again, the image of the man calmly ripping open the void still fresh in his mind, and just shook his head in quiet disbelief. "You know, I’ve worked with some eccentric employers before, but I think this tops it. You pay double the fee, absorb Earth Flame like it’s warm tea, and crash in palaces."

Ashy chirped from Meng Bai’s shoulder with something that sounded suspiciously like, "And we eat golden rice too!"

Xiao Yin and Xiao Yang hissed in agreement from inside Meng Bai’s robes.

Elyon exhaled through his nose, ears twitching as he rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"Okay then. I’ll take the big room."

They all laughed as they entered the building together.

But behind Elyon’s smirk, there was a growing sense of awe. He was no fool. He’d hunted immortal beasts in shattered ruins, killed rogue cultivators hiding in night-covered marshes, and tracked traitors across three worlds.

Yet standing beside these three—especially him—he couldn’t help but feel like he was caught in the wake of something much, much larger than himself.

He’d just stepped out of the shadows of the Verdant Ash Basin.

But the true darkness?

That was still ahead.

While the late afternoon sun cast golden rays across the rooftops of Ash Crown City, Elyon sat cross-legged in one of the quieter side rooms of the courtyard.

Though he hadn’t fully acclimated to the luxury around him, the soft cushions and quiet atmosphere made it easier for him to focus.

His Immortal sense flickered softly as he activated a round formation array he had etched onto a talisman stone, one that was connected to his personal network of informants scattered throughout the Silent Lotus World and beyond.

He sent out coded messages, specific pings containing a symbol only known among bounty hunters and black-market traders—asking for news of movement, signs of strange groups, or whispered rumors about cult activity.

While he waited for replies, he didn’t just sit idle.

He began scanning through his personal archive, looking through cases he had dismissed years ago: missing merchants in southern provinces, mercenary bands vanishing in the forested lands south of the basin, and strange purchases of underwater breathing arrays and spatial teleportation-locking seals.

None of them had seemed related before, but now he viewed everything through the lens of the Drowned Crescent Cult. He cast his web far and wide, knowing it might take time to get results.

Meanwhile, in the largest room of the Pavilion—Lin Mu’s private quarters—a jade slip glowed in mid-air. Lin Mu stood before it, his hand touching its surface lightly as the transmission finished.

He had reached out to both the Xian Sword Sect and the Silent Lotus Temple the moment they returned from the Verdant Ash Basin ruins. Thanks to his now prominent status and the urgent nature of the inquiry, both institutions had responded within the hour.

As he withdrew his hand, a tide of information poured into his mind. Images formed, data spun together into a tapestry of history, and voices from the jade slip echoed softly in his ears.

The records were thorough.

Both the sect and the temple had confirmed the existence of the Drowned Crescent Cult’s former base—not just anywhere, but in a place further south of the Verdant Ash Basin, known as the Ashen Forest.

Lin Mu’s brows furrowed as he reviewed the ancient maps embedded in the records.

The Ashen Forest was described as a bleak expanse, filled with tall, twisted trees that looked like the dead remnants of a firestorm.

Their bark was ashen grey and charcoal black, yet the records clarified they were not dead at all, but instead a rare species called Ashen Firs, resilient to fire and steeped in Earth Flame essence.

The forest itself spanned dozens of kilometers and was constantly covered in mist—likely the result of lingering elemental damage. It was remote, unpopulated, and incredibly difficult to navigate without someone who knew the terrain.

The real revelation, however, came next.

According to both records, the Drowned Crescent Cult’s stronghold had once been hidden deep beneath that forest, under a veil of powerful formations and camouflaging arrays.

It had taken the combined forces of the Xian Sword Sect, Silent Lotus Temple, and the Darkhan Dynasty over two years to locate and destroy it completely during a massive purge nearly fifty thousand years ago.

Their description of the final battle was brutal—floods of corrupted qi, the sky dimming for days, and even ruptures in the land itself. In the end, when the orthodoxy finally crushed the cult, they destroyed the underground complex, collapsing it into the earth.

Since then, nothing had ever been rebuilt in that region.

"Present-day records," Lin Mu read aloud from the final section of the jade slip, "suggest the site is now a wide crater filled with water, often referred to as the Ashen Hollow Lake by local wanderers and beast hunters. The upper levels of the cult’s ruins are believed to be submerged... if they still exist."

Lin Mu exhaled slowly, lowering the jade slip.

Just then, Elyon entered the room. His expression was composed, but Lin Mu could sense the slight flicker of frustration in the wolfkin’s golden eyes.

"Any news?" Lin Mu asked.

"Some," Elyon replied, dropping onto a nearby cushion. "One of my contacts in the southern border towns mentioned some strange sightings near a lake surrounded by black fir trees. The timing matches.

Someone’s been snooping around the edges of that forest. He didn’t know who, but said they were using cloaking formations and silencing talismans—very professional."

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