Xukong had instantly felt the aura of the Demonic path and had rushed to the Ethereal altar to check. Though different from before, the aura of the Demonic path wouldn't even let him get close enough, not to say about checking the altar.
"What is happening this time?" Xukong muttered.
Xukong even tried talking to Lin Mu but received no response. Not having any other option left, he tried looking into his mind. He had expected to be blocked by a barrier like last time, but did not. Instead, his spirit sense was actually pulled in without his control.
'This is rather strange.' Xukong thought as he observed his spirit sense probe being pulled in.
Xukong could have resisted easily but did not, and allowed it to be dragged in. He wondered what exactly was happening inside Lin Mu's mind. A few seconds later his spirit sense arrived within Lin Mu's mind and he started observing the changes.
The environment started forming up from the ground up, as the vast expanse of the bloodied lands appeared in front of Xukong's vision. The blank sky then turned blood red as clouds of foul looking qi spread across the horizon.
A lone Lin Mu then appeared in the middle of this expanse, and so did the numerous other figures. The said figures were mere silhouettes and had features such as scales, tails, feathers, and horns. Some were big, and some were small. But their most prominent feature was the aura that was emanated every time they spoke.
The voices of the countless figures were melded together and turned into an amalgamation of Demonic chants. These demonic figures were chanting in an unknown language that Xukong could not understand, yet could still feel the tone.
Lin Mu was there, standing still in the middle of all of the Demonic figures, absentmindedly. The only activity that can be sensed from him was the chants that were coming out of his lips. He seemed to be repeating after the Demonic figures.
With every repetition of the chants, the aura from the Demonic figures would enter Lin Mu's body from his skin. Over time, a thin layer of red membrane had formed on Lin Mu's skin. It was as if his body was adapting to the Demonic aura.
Xukong felt nothing but shock at this scene, as he knew exactly what was happening.
"Will Of the Demonic Path!" Xukong exclaimed.
"How?! Only the scions of the primordials can get its approval." Xukong uttered.
He took a closer look at the Demonic figures and confirmed that they were indeed what he thought they were.
'Even the Sages of Twilight were unsuccessful in gaining its approval, yet Lin Mu can. This is simply astounding.' Xukong marveled.
"If the other wills awaken as well, then the heavens will be thrown into upheaval. I need to keep a close eye on this." Xukong muttered to himself.
A few minutes later the aura of the Demonic Path vanished and the scene within Lin Mu's mind disappeared as well. Xukong retracted his spirit sense and saw that the ethereal altar had calmed down as well.
'Finally, it has ended. Now all that's left is to see what effect it had on Lin Mu.' Xukong concluded.
He didn't have to wait long as Lin Mu awakened from his trance a minute later. He opened his eyes as they flashed for a second. If one could freeze that moment and look into Lin Mu's eyes, they would see an endless sea of Demons marching into oblivion, their aura towering into the sky, infecting the heavens.
~Haaaaa~
Lin Mu let out a breath as he looked around.
"Huh? What happened?" Lin Mu questioned.
Xukong had already decided that he wouldn't tell Lin Mu the truth about what had exactly happened to him. It was too much for him and would only hurt him in the short term, considering his cultivation base. Gaining the approval of one of the 'Wills' wasn't exactly good for a low leveled cultivator such as him. It was better that this was hidden for as long as possible.
Alas, unknown to Lin Mu or Xukong, someone had already become aware of this event.
"You had another bout of enlightenment. A short one, albeit." Xukong answered.
"Ah, is that so senior? But wasn't that too fast, I just received the Burning Heart sutra?" Lin Mu replied.
"Enlightenment and epiphanies are not something that can be asked for or known. They occur according to the fate and the luck of a cultivator. Their workings are mysterious and are masked by the Grand Dao." Xukong spoke in an esoteric tone.
Lin Mu simply stayed silent and pondered over the meaning of senior Xukong's words. Five minutes later he seemed to have understood it enough and was content. Lin Mu tried to see what level of comprehension he had for the Burning Heart sutra, but surprisingly found that it was still at the first stage of external comprehension.
"It doesn't seem like I had much progress in its comprehension though, senior." Lin Mu spoke.
"Of course, you can't expect to progress at the same rate you did for the other two sutras. You need to steadily and stably comprehend it. A great epiphany can only be looked up to, but it's your own effort that will guide you to it." Xukong answered in a sagely tone.
"Yes, senior." Lin Mu responded in a respectful tone.
Lin Mu's eyes wandered over to the windows and he realized that it was already the time for the sunset. The light had become dim and even the faint crescent moon could be seen in the distance, hiding within the Grey clouds.
'I should head out now, I have to help Hong Luo.' Lin Mu remembered.
Lin Mu stood up and stretched his body feeling refreshed and relaxed. His cultivation of session had restored his spirit qi and the short bout of enlightenment had seemingly relaxed his mind. His belly was satiated with spirit beast meat and his mind with determination.
He checked and ensured that he had everything before he left the courtyard. Lin Mu had originally intended to go through the items and documents that he had gathered from the Town Head's office and bedroom, before talking with the Hei Corps. But now that he was already late, he decided that he would have to do it tomorrow.
Lin Mu entered the street and saw the people walking around like normal. They seemed to be a little scared and nervous still, but it was not as bad as he had expected them to be after hearing the news about the demise of the town head and Han Lei.
"Seems like Hei Wan did a good job in managing the aftermath. The curfew is not active and even the people seem to be relatively calm." Lin Mu spoke.
"It does indeed seem like that, but we still don't know what reaction the culprits will be having after knowing about it. You will need to be careful and alert tonight." Xukong replied.
Lin Mu simply nodded in response and made his way towards the Western district where the mercenary camp was located. On the way, he could see people discussing about the events of today and also about the 'culprit'.
"Did you hear about the High official that has come to the town?" A random person spoke to another.
"Yeah, she's apparently going to help solve the problems that have been plaguing the town." The Other person replied.
"I wonder what the culprits were thinking of doing this, are they not afraid of retaliation from the Mayor?"
"I don't think so. If they were afraid they would have not even thought of this, let alone doing it. And now that they've killed the Vice captain and the Town head, this is nothing but a spit in the mayor's face."
"There's no chance that the mayor will let this matter go. His prestige has been challenged."
Lin Mu heard a multitude of people talk with each other during his journey. Nearly everyone was talking about the culprits, Hei Wan, or the mayor.
"Seems like they think Hei Wan was intentionally sent by the Mayor." Lin Mu muttered.
'This should work in our favor, I think. The culprits will now not only have to wonder if they have traitors in their midst but also about the wrath of the city Mayor.' Lin Mu thought as he reached the western district.
As soon as he entered the district, he could see the difference. The number of guards patrolling the area had increased. Even in the residential district, he didn't see so many guards, but he attributed that to it still being early.
'There should be More guards there at night.' Lin Mu guessed.
He soon reached the Mercenary camp and saw that it was brightly lit with torches and lamps. All the mercenaries seemed active and were discussing with each other. Small teams of mercenaries could be seen patrolling at regular intervals along the paths that ran between the tents. Even the number of mercenaries had increased by a lot.
Lin Mu estimated that there should be more than three hundred mercenaries here at this point.
"Did some mercenaries return from the Norther forest?" Lin Mu wondered.
As he thought this, he suddenly saw a group of mercenaries sitting along with Hong Luo in the center of the camp. The mercenaries were well equipped, and Lin Mu could even see that Hong Luo seemed to be rather respectful to them.
There were five mercenaries in that group, four men and a whip wielding woman.