Chapter 3117: Secluding To Think

Immortal tribulations were calamities, storms of annihilation meant to crush all who dared to ascend. Survivors considered themselves fortunate.

To call them opportunities... to dismiss weaker ones as "waste"... was arrogance... that too of the highest degree.

And yet, for Lin Mu, it was the truth.

Still, even his relentless will faced a roadblock.

A variant tribulation could not be summoned by mere willpower. It was the judgment of the heavens themselves, unpredictable and absolute. He had tempted fate once, and it had answered.

But could he tempt it again?

His gaze drifted across the horizon, watching the dispersing remnants of the metal storm.

There was one path... A dangerous one.

Everyone knew that interfering with another’s tribulation provoked the heavens to greater wrath, amplifying the ferocity of the trial. Many cultivators avoided even being near someone transcending, for fear of accidental involvement.

If Lin Mu allowed interference... the heavens would surely escalate.

But that was a double-edged sword. For while it guaranteed a fiercer tribulation, it also invited ruin upon those who dared step in. To use others as shields or bait was against Lin Mu’s very heart.

He closed his eyes briefly, recalling the teachings he had carved into himself through countless struggles. To wield his sword was to bear its weight himself. He would never drag others into his calamity.

His decision was clear.

Not today.

Not because of fear, but because of principle. He would wait. He would seek, when the time was right, a way to stir the heavens’ ire without staining his hands in another’s blood.

Around him, the murmurs of awe and disbelief continued, oblivious to the storm of thoughts that had just passed through his mind.

Lin Mu landed silently in the courtyard, the stone tiles beneath his feet barely cracking despite the immense aura that still clung to him after two successive immortal tribulations.

The Grand Elder, who had been watching intently from the balcony in the residence next door, gave him a long and measuring look but said nothing.

Lin Mu inclined his head slightly, a gesture of respect, before turning and walking toward his residence. He had felt countless gazes piercing his back, disciples, elders, common immortals, and cultivators, all staring in awe at the man who had just shaken their understanding of tribulations.

Inside, however, Lin Mu’s expression remained calm. He neither basked in their admiration nor felt the need to justify his actions. Instead, his focus was already shifting inward, toward something far more pressing.

The moment he returned to his quarters, he sat cross-legged and immediately sent out a message to his companions and Overseer Zhai.

"Do not disturb me. I will not be entertaining anyone. I need to recover."

The excuse was flawless. No one would question it.

In fact, it would only reassure those who were concerned about his wellbeing. To undergo two tribulations back-to-back and then retreat to seclusion was what anyone would expect. Even the boldest of geniuses would collapse after such strain.

Only Lin Mu knew the truth: his body was at peak condition, his Omnicore Ascendancy Cores humming steadily, and his spirit sharper than ever.

His supposed "recovery" was nothing but a veil.

He needed solitude not to heal, but to think.

Inside his dantian, resting in the deepest recess like a silent predator, was the object that consumed his thoughts: the Heaven Silencing Seal.

This mysterious crystalline seal had always eluded full understanding.

Even Senior Xukong, whose knowledge spanned countless worlds and realms, had been unable to unravel its origins. Lin Mu had tested it once before, using it to silence the heavens themselves.

By doing so, he had temporarily lifted the restrictions of the world, allowing him to ask Xukong about the secrets of the Celestials. That single use had already proven its unfathomable power. But it was also dangerous, for anything that interfered with the will of the heavens inevitably carried a price.

Lin Mu’s intuition told him that the Heaven Silencing Seal held more than just the power to silence the world’s restrictions. Its true nature was deeper, more entwined with the forces of karma and tribulation than he yet understood. One particular ability gnawed at his mind, the ability to stop a tribulation itself.

If it truly had such a power, then he could potentially manipulate the heavens. He could refuse weaker tribulations and bide his time until stronger, variant tribulations descended, reaping maximum benefits.

But such a method was no trivial matter.

What if the seal carried consequences that he could not yet comprehend?

There was only one way to find out. He needed knowledge.

The most likely source of such knowledge was the Memoirs of the Lost Immortal. Lin Mu still carried those invaluable records, written by the one who had previously borne the Heaven Silencing Seal. Though the memoirs were chaotic, written without clear chronology and often fragmented, they were the only thread connecting Lin Mu to the seal’s former master.

Thus, Lin Mu began.

Days passed as he secluded himself completely, flipping through the wooden slip and reading the fragments of memory left behind by the Lost Immortal. His immortal sense poured into each record, scouring them for the slightest mention of the seal.

The memoirs were frustratingly disorganized. One entry would describe obscure alchemical formulas that the immortal discovered that Lin Mu couldn’t even begin to comprehend, the next an epic battle, followed by vague reflections on Dao insights.

Yet Lin Mu persisted. He had not read the records in some time, but now, his resolve was absolute.

Five days passed.

Then ten.

Then fifteen.

Finally, as though fate itself rewarded his persistence, he found it. An entry where the Lost Immortal explicitly spoke of the Heaven Silencing Seal.

The scene described was dire.

The Lost Immortal had been grievously injured, cornered by a massive swarm of vicious beasts. With no chance of escape, he had done the unthinkable, he deliberately called down an immortal tribulation upon himself.

Ordinarily, this was madness. Calling down heaven’s punishment while wounded and surrounded by enemies was tantamount to suicide. But the Lost Immortal had gambled, and the heavens responded to the interference of the beasts with fury.

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