Walker Of The Worlds

Chapter 2863: Little Shrubby Finds Something

Lin Mu flew alongside Little Shrubby, wondering where the beast was taking him.

"Oh? We aren't going outside the temple?" Lin Mu asked, surprised. He had thought that Little Shrubby had already explored everything within the temple grounds and that nothing here would be new to him.

"We aren't," Little Shrubby replied. "It's not far," he added as he led Lin Mu toward one of the smaller peaks.

The peak didn't have a name and was simply used as a farming area for the Green Lotus Temple. It was barely a thousand meters tall, looking like a child compared to the other grand peaks.

Lin Mu had passed by the peak before but hadn't paid much attention to it, as it only had a few grain and herb fields.

The short height of the peak meant that the temperature wasn't cold, which made it ideal for growing crops.

"Did you find some new herb here?" Lin Mu asked, curious, since this area was known for herb cultivation.

"Yeah," Little Shrubby replied. "But it seems to be… mutated," he added.

"What kind of herb is it?" Lin Mu asked.

"A lotus, like the ones on the other peaks," Little Shrubby replied.

"The Violet Petal Urim Lotuses?" Lin Mu asked.

"Yeah, but this one has a different color," Little Shrubby answered, making Lin Mu raise his brows.

"Wait… it isn't green, is it?" Lin Mu asked, brows lifting higher.

This was the Green Petal Urim Lotus—the Transcendent Lotus that was sacred to the Green Lotus Temple.

It was the very thing the temple was named after.

Even the Abbot didn't know where it was, other than that it was hidden somewhere within the temple's territory.

"Well, it is a bit green," Little Shrubby replied. "You'll see," he said, leading Lin Mu to a small pond at the side of the peak.

The pond looked like a natural rainwater collection site formed from runoff. Such ponds were transient and would appear and disappear with the seasons.

It had formed in a depression in a large boulder that jutted out from the side of the peak and was barely five meters wide.

"Here?" Lin Mu looked at the pond, which seemed completely empty.

Forget a lotus—there wasn't even algae growing in the water, indicating that it was rather fresh.

It was so shallow that Lin Mu could see the bottom of the pond.

"Huh… it was here," Little Shrubby said, now sounding a bit confused.

"You're sure you saw a lotus?" Lin Mu asked.

"Yeah," Little Shrubby assured him. "I was passing by when I felt a trace of strong wood elemental Qi. I followed it and saw the lotus here. It was releasing a lot of energy."

"Hmm… strange." Lin Mu certainly didn't think Little Shrubby would be mistaken.

His affinity with the wood element was quite high, and it was what he used to track down all the herbal ingredients he collected. The beast had never been wrong so far, so Lin Mu didn't doubt him.

"Wait, let me try something," Little Shrubby said, raising his paw.

SHUA

A sphere of wood elemental energy gathered on it.

It was very rich and wasn't just Qi, but pure wood elemental energy.

The kitten controlled the energy and made the sphere hover above the water.

For a few seconds, nothing happened, but Lin Mu continued to observe nonetheless.

Then, after ten seconds, the water suddenly rippled.

SHUA

A flickering green light appeared at the bottom of the pond. Lin Mu initially wondered if it was just the reflection of Little Shrubby's wood energy, but he soon saw a vague image within it.

Ripple

The surface of the water rippled again as a small flower rose from it.

It was barely four centimeters wide and had no leaves—only a stem that seemed to grow directly from the rock below.

"It really is a lotus…" Lin Mu's eyes widened.

It resembled the Violet Petal Urim Lotuses, but this one had green veins running through its violet petals.

The energy Lin Mu felt from the mutated lotus was also far stronger than any of the other ones he had seen, making it clear that this one was special.

Before he could do anything, though, a suction force rose from the small lotus and drew the sphere of wood energy into it.

RIPPLE

Once the lotus absorbed the energy, it quickly sank back into the water and disappeared.

"It's gone?" Lin Mu raised his brows.

"That was so fast. It stole my energy!" Little Shrubby was just as shocked, especially since the connection to his energy was cut off instantly.

That wasn't easy to do, considering his strong proficiency in the wood element.

"It looks to have some level of sentience too," Lin Mu said, impressed by how 'clever' the lotus had acted. "Perhaps it's hidden under the rock?" he speculated before releasing his immortal sense.

SHUA

A tendril of his immortal sense sank to the bottom of the pond and quickly found a small hole there. It was so tiny that one might mistake it for a naturally eroded crevice. But this hole was anything but natural. It was deep—very deep.

Lin Mu's immortal sense entered it and continued downward until it had traveled nearly five hundred meters!

"So it is hiding down there." Lin Mu could now sense a faint trace of the lotus's aura within the hole.

"Shall we go take a look?" Little Shrubby asked, knowing full well that a mere mountain was no obstacle for Lin Mu.

"Why not?" Lin Mu said.

"I'll wait here then." Little Shrubby said.

While he could accompany Lin Mu by staying in the Sleepscape, he thought it would be better for him to wait in case anything happened. Plus he could inform others about Lin Mu's whereabouts too.

"Alright." Lin Mu said before phasing into the ground.

SHUA

He continued going deeper, following the tendril of his immortal sense.

Meter after meter went by, without any sight of the mutated lotus. Lin Mu wondered just how deep this went as a hole this deep certainly wouldn't be formed naturally.

It took him a few minutes to reach the end of the small hole—which was more like a long, narrow tube—before he finally saw it.