The emaciated man opened his eyes with great difficulty and looked at the luxuriously dressed man, who had called out to him.
"I'm fine, Wu Xun. I just received some backlash because I overexerted my senses." The emaciated man said.
This luxuriously dressed man was none other than Wu Lim city's mayor, Wu Xun who was anxiously looking at the emaciated man's body. He was looking at the grievous wounds that were present on the torso of the emaciated man. The wounds seemed to be trying to heal but were being corroded by a black substance.
"But Elder brother, why are you exerting yourself when you're still not healed?" Wu Xun asked.
The emaciated man's eyes wandered over to the inscriptions that were carved all over the cave and then went towards the troughs that were carrying blood. He stared at the troughs for a bit and then scrunched his brows.
"You need to increases the blood sacrifices, we may need to make some changes to our plan soon." The emaciated man spoke.
"Yes brother, I have already commissioned more mercenaries to hunt the spirit beasts. But why do we need to make changes at this stage? It will set our progress back by months." Wu Xun asked.
"Our progress has already been set back by months now. What I sensed just now was someone ascending." The emaciated man answered with a grim tone.
A shocked expression could be seen on Wu Xun's face upon hearing his brother's words. He clenched his fists before asking,
"How did no one know of this? At least the top sects should have known if someone was about to ascend after thousands of years."
"Whoever it was, they were able to hide themselves very well. To escape the eyes and ears of the top sects, they must have been planning this for an extremely long time." The emaciated man answered.
Wu Xun held his chin and thought for a moment before speaking,
"To hide for this long, could they be from the forbidden continent?"
"I doubt it. If they were, we would have been informed by the clan and our plan would have also become much easier. Rather, I have my suspicions on the Eastern Ming dynasty. They have long been opposed to the rule of the Great Zhou Empire and have begun moving against them in the shadows." The emaciated man answered.
Wu Xun nodded his head in acceptance and was about to bid farewell when his brother interrupted him.
"And Wu Xun, spirit beasts are no longer enough if we want to speed up the pace of our plan. I need cultivators." The emaciated man spoke with an emotionless tone.
A vicious glint could be seen sparking in Wu Xun's eyes as he said,
"It will be done."
Back in the Grand Void, Lin Mu was listening to the Void Weaver spider speak.
"How will we be leaving this place?" Lin Mu asked.
"The same way you came in here." The tiny Void Weaver spider answered.
Lin Mu then lifted his right hand and was about to put the tiny Void Weaver spider inside the ring, when it spoke again.
"Wait, I'll enter the ring once we reach the exit. That way I can ensure that we reach the same location you came from and prevent you from getting lost."
Lin Mu nodded his head in acceptance and walked back on the path he came, along with the tiny Void Weaver spider floating beside him. While walking he thought about the giant white pillars and how this place did not seem to have an actual ground.
"Umm, what are those white pillars? If you don't mind me asking." Lin Mu questioned.
"Those are my threads, we are inside my nest." The tiny Void Weaver spider curtly answered.
Lin Mu was awed at the sheer size of the threads.
'If those are just threads, then how big is the entire web? I can't even imagine.' Lin Mu thought.
Lin Mu was looking all around the space, trying to get a feel for the place. He could not comprehend the existence of a place like this. His attention was then pulled towards the slivery grey streaks of light that flickered all around the place.
"Senior, what are those streaks of light? I've seen them before, but they were much bigger and brighter." Lin Mu asked.
"Those are the strands of chaotic spatial energy. When there is a sufficiently high density of spatial energy present in a location, it will condense into streaks such as those. I guess you've seen them in your ring before?" The tiny Void Weaver spider replied.
"Yes senior, but how did you know." Lin Mu said.
"As I said before, I sensed the pure spatial energy being emitted from the ring." The tiny Void Weaver spider answered.
Soon Lin Mu and the tiny Void Weaver spider reached the location where Lin Mu first arrived.
"Now, stand back." The tiny Void Weaver spider ordered.
Lin Mu promptly obeyed its words and moved to stand behind it. Numerous threads materialized in front of the tiny Void Weaver spider and attached to the space in front of it. The threads then pulled back, and the space started stretching. After a certain limit, the space could no longer be stretched and was suddenly torn apart.
A White crack was created that expanded into a large opening. The tiny Void Weaver spider floated in front of Lin Mu, then spoke,
"Put me in the ring and then walk through the portal. Though be warned that the journey will be a little rough."
Lin Mu gulped after hearing the tiny Void Weaver Spider's words and lifted his hand to put it inside the ring. The tiny Void Weaver spider lowered itself into Lin Mu's palm and then disappeared into the ring, but not before saying, "You can call me Senior Xukong from now on."
After storing the tiny Void Weaver spider inside the ring, Lin Mu gritted his teeth and jumped into the white portal. For a moment Lin Mu could see millions of stars, galaxies, and planets flashing by his side, but soon he fell unconscious.
After an unknown amount of time, a large spatial rift appeared near the hunting shack and spat Lin Mu out. He let out a groan as he was awakened by the pain caused by falling on the ground. Lin Mu opened his eyes, but then suddenly closed them because of the bright light shining on them.
He squinted his eyes and then slowly opened them after they had adapted to the brightness. Lin Mu stood up and looked around. Once he spotted the hunting shack, he let out a sigh of relief.
Till the very last second, Lin Mu was doubtful whether he will return to his home or not, but now that he was finally here, he felt as if a large burden was lifted off his back.
"Hmm, this is certainly not what I expected." Xukong's spoke inside Lin Mu's head.
Lin Mu was surprised for a second, but then recognized the voice.
"What do you mean by that senior Xukong?" Lin Mu asked.
"This is a very low-level world. How did you come upon the ring in such a backward place?" Xukong replied with confusion in his voice.
"A low-level world? Does that mean there are more worlds than just this?" Lin Mu questioned with wonder in his voice.
"Indeed, there are countless other worlds and multiple realms in this cosmos." Xukong replied.
"But what did you mean by a low-level world?" Lin Mu probed.
"Depending on certain factors such as the density of qi, the progress of cultivators, the heavenly laws, and the Grand Dao; a world can be divided into different levels." Xukong explained.
Upon hearing senior Xukong's explanation, hundreds of questions appeared inside Lin Mu's mind. But before he could ask them, it was as if senior Xukong was able to read Lin Mu's mind because he interrupted him before that.
"I can't tell you what the different levels of worlds or what the heavenly laws are. The restrictions of this world will not allow you to understand them." Xukong spoke.
"How is that possible?" Lin Mu asked while tilting his head.
"Let me demonstrate it." Xukong replied.
Suddenly Lin Mu heard some words in his mind. He could hear the words clearly but realized that he did not understand them and neither could he remember them after that one moment. Sensing the immense confusion in Lin Mu's mind, senior Xukong spoke again,
"This is what I meant. The restrictions on this world will simply not allow those words to exist. That is unless of course, you have a high enough cultivation to ignore the restrictions of this world."
"So, how strong would I have to be, before I would be able to do that?" Lin Mu asked.
"Possibly the highest cultivation realm that exists in this world. From what I can assume, you would have to reach the Immortal ascension realm or at least the Dao treading realm before you can even think of doing that." Xukong answered.
Immense confusion could be seen on Lin Mu's face as he asked,
"Umm, what are those two realms?"
Lin Mu could hear a loud sigh as Senior Xukong spoke with a helpless tone,
"Seems like you have a lot to learn."