Lin Mu left the town and reached the forest after fifteen minutes. On the way to the forest, he had thought about asking senior Xukong what happened in the shop back there. He had finally made his mind up and was just waiting for the right moment to ask.
Near the edge of the forest, Lin Mu withdrew the weapons manual he had just bought. He opened the manual and saw its title. Confusion appeared on his face upon seeing the title of the weapons manual.
It was titled as the 'Thousand Armament Blade Scripture'. Lin Mu started reading the description and got even more confused. The manual did not even describe the use of a sword at first, instead it taught the use of multiple different weapons.
Wanting to understand it clearly, Lin Mu sat down and read the booklet with full focus. It took him over two hours before he was able to complete reading the booklet. After finishing the entire booklet, he finally understood the title and the reason why it taught multiple different weapons.
The manual first taught one to use multiple different weapons and only when they learned these, did it teach you how to use a sword. It combined the essence of a thousand different weapons and refined them to form a sword art.
Lin Mu let out a sigh after reading the manual. The teachings of the manual were complex and would need a long time for him to learn. He did not even have most of the required weapons that were needed to learn from the manual.
Seeing Lin Mu sigh, senior Xukong spoke in Lin Mu's mind.
"Is the weapons manual not to your liking?" Xukong asked.
"No, it's not that. Please take a look senior." Lin Mu replied.
Xukong scanned through the booklet and went silent for a minute before speaking.
"The quality of the weapons manual is very high, but so is its difficulty in learning. Even the requirements for learning it are many." Xukong spoke.
"Hmm, seems like you'll have to get all the weapons that are required for the manual. Though you could still attempt with the weapons, you already have." Xukong advised.
Lin Mu nodded and decided to start practicing with the weapons that he already had. He will have to buy the rest of the weapons later in the town.
Lin Mu then thought of checking the coins he had received from Jing Wei. He withdrew the coin pouch from the ring and took a look inside. The first strange thing he felt was that the weight of the pouch was very less compared to the amount of coins present in it.
The second thing he found strange was that all he could see inside the pouch were gold coins, there did not seem to be any silver or copper coins. To count how many coins were actually inside, Lin Mu poured out the contents of the pouch.
The second he started emptying the pouch, he found the third strange thing. Coins kept on pouring out of the pouch non-stop. Lin Mu's mouth was wide open in shock at this magical sight. It was only a minute later that the gold coins stopped coming out of the pouch.
A small mountain of gold coins was currently present in front of Lin Mu. He could not make sense of this situation as it had completely blown his mind. Lin Mu had to use the calming heart sutra in order to pacify his mind.
After he calmed down, Lin Mu started counting the gold coins. It took him thirty minutes before he was able to count all of the coins. The end total shocked him and also scared him a little bit. The total number of coins in that small mountain was 5000.
This was the largest amount of money Lin Mu had ever seen in his life. This amount was something that was unimaginable to him. Even the pouch that contained these coins was a spatial storage tool. Just the cost of that coin pouch was probably equal to that of the gold coins, or perhaps even more.
'But why would Jing Wei give me such a large fortune.' Lin Mu thought.
The only reason Lin Mu could think of was senior Xukong. It was probably something caused by the influence of senior Xukong.
"What did you do to Jing Wei, senior Xukong?" Lin Mu asked.
"I just had some fun," Xukong spoke with a nonchalant tone.
"What do you mean?" Lin Mu questioned.
"I scared him a little bit, or rather it was the ward that I placed on you." Xukong answered.
"What ward? Oh, is that what you meant by the gift?" Lin Mu inquired.
"Yes. Before we left my nest, I placed a ward on you. It is basically my imprint that will warn any cultivator that is excessively stronger than you." Xukong spoke.
"Though I think its effect may have been much more severe than I originally intended. It even made him waste a top grade defensive spirit tool. If he had endured for a little bit more, the pressure would have stopped by itself." Xukong explained.
Lin Mu was at a loss for words now. He did not think that something that senior Xukong made as a mere 'Warning' would end up terrifying Jing Wei.
"What do you think Jing Wei's cultivation base was then, senior Xukong?" Lin Mu asked curiously.
"It was strange. Since I don't have my main body, I could not exactly tell what his cultivation base was as it seemed to sealed." Xukong answered with uncertainty.
"Why would his cultivation base be sealed?" Lin Mu asked.
"There could be many reasons for that. But even though his cultivation base was sealed, his spirit sense is still active. From what I could tell from the strength of his spirit sense, he must be at the Nascent Soul stage at the very least, if not higher." Xukong answered.
Lin Mu wondered why Jing Wei's cultivation base was sealed. He wondered if that was the reason they were living in a dilapidated shop, were they perhaps hiding from someone?
Lin Mu could think of only a handful of things that could threaten a strong cultivator in this region. Even in Wu Lim city, where cultivators were more common, the strongest cultivators were only at the Core condensation realm.
For Jing Wei, who was probably at the nascent soul stage, Wu Lim city was just a small pond filled with weak little fishes. If he were to take over the city, there was no way that the city mayor would be able to resist.
Putting the thoughts about Jing Wei aside, Lin Mu thought about what he would do with these gold coins. He had more than enough gold to be able to buy his property back, which was one big load off his back. He will also be able to buy the weapons that will be required for learning the Thousand Armament Blade scripture.
Though there was another obstacle that could potentially prevent Lin Mu from buying his property back. Someone was bound to ask him where he got the money, and they will definitely suspect that he stole it from somewhere. He would have to think of a solution for that before he went to get his property back.
Lin Mu thus turned to senior Xukong for some advice.
"Why are you thinking of hiding it, did you forget that cultivators are above commoners? Why should they be questioning you? Instead, you should show them their place." Xukong said with an imposing tone.
Upon hearing senior Xukong's advice, the thoughts that were clouding Lin Mu's mind vanished. He realized that the best way to proceed was to be domineering and open. Even the incident with Gan Ma, he should just resolve it in a straightforward manner.
Even though killing was prohibited in the town, that rule did not completely apply to cultivators. Gan Ma had thrashed commoners before who later died due to the injuries. But he was still able to get away with little to no problems.
If cultivators had conflicts, they could resolve it amongst themselves, as long as they did not involve commoners. Once Lin Mu found out about the cultivation base of Gan Ma, depending on the level, he will either kill him in secret or in the city itself.
With his newfound determination, Lin Mu started his cultivation session. Perhaps because the burden of filial piety was lifted from Lin Mu's mind, his cultivation speed had slightly increased. He cultivated for four hours before he stopped and gauged the quantity of spirit qi within his dantian.
Lin Mu scanned his dantian and estimated that he had around 670 spirit qi wisps. Satisfied with this number, for now, he started to refine his spirit sense. Currently, his spirit sense was limited to a range of one meter, which largely restrained his sensing capabilities along with the range of the second skill 'Blink'.
Lin Mu continued refining his spirit sense till the night and only broke his concentration because he heard a faint roar coming from the forest. If it was just the roar of a normal beast it would not bother him, but this roar contained a slight amount of spirit qi within.
"A spirit Beast." Lin Mu muttered.