Lin Mu and Jing Luo returned to the village and dropped off the Village head there.
The man had invited the two of them for a feast in their honor, but Lin Mu simply rejected them, citing that it would be better to save up the resources for themselves. Even if they were people of the Northern Tribes, Lin Mu wasn't dumb enough to think that they were the same as the ones that were invading.
The commoners and cultivators of the Northern Tribes were rather different and also had different goals.
The commoners were just trying to survive on the meager resources they had, while the higher ups of the Northern Tribes wished to invade the Empire.
Lin Mu wasn't stupid enough to think that it was just the Northern Tribes' fault that there was conflict. He knew that the true reason for enmity on both sides was because of the greed of the three continents of the past.
But it was still on the Northern Tribes for bringing invaders into the world. That was a crime for which the world could not forgive them for.
Lin Mu and Jing Luo departed the village shortly after to discuss what needed to be done.
"So, what are we going to do about them?" Jing Luo asked.
"I don't think we need to do anything. They were clearly fooled into being test subjects by the Northern Tribes' priests. I'm thinking they were testing out old teleportation arrays to see which one worked." Lin Mu replied.
Jing Luo thought over it too and agreed with Lin Mu. There was no threat from the Innocent villagers even if they were from the Northern Tribes. He could understand that these were mere pawns in the hands of the elders of the tribes.
~Sigh~
"Still… this only means that the Northern Tribes are looking for more ways to get into the empire." Jing Luo stated.
"Indeed… first the Kushao ruins and now this… who knows how many more such teleportation arrays are left in the empire." Lin Mu replied.
"There shouldn't be many… at least not the ones that are still working. There is a reason why the northern tribe elders were unwilling to test the arrays on their own and instead used these villagers." Jing Luo said, after thinking for a moment.
The teleportation arrays needed to be secure or there was always a chance of one being sent to the void instead. In worst cases, they would simply be torn apart mid transmission.
Another thing was that, even if an array was functional after being damaged, there was a limit to how many people it could send or how many times it could work before stopping entirely.
These villagers were the best example of that, considering that half of them never arrived here. And since there were no spatial fluctuations in the area around the array either, Lin Mu reckoned that the space had stabilized fully now.
Even if he tried to open up a rift there, Lin Mu wouldn't find anything there.
The two of them discussed for a little while more before deciding to leave. They didn't speak to the villagers anymore and left them as it is. It was best for both parties. If Lin Mu and Jing Luo brought them to other places, there was a great chance the villagers would be killed anyway.
It was safer for them here.
Continuing their search, Lin Mu and Jing Luo moved along the coast. It felt rather slow to Lin Mu after moving around so fast all this time, but he knew that there was no other choice.
They would easily miss the location if they went too fast.
Lin Mu's spirit sense was fully spread and constantly probing the area for signs of the Jing Clan's ancestral land.
About a week ended up passing like this until Lin Mu finally detected something.
"Huh? It's actually there?" Lin Mu suddenly spoke.
"You found it?!" Jing Luo said with excitement.
"I… think so…" Lin Mu said in a slightly doubtful voice.
"You're not sure?" Jing Luo asked, his tone deflating.
"There are indeed some spatial fluctuations there, but the locations is…" Lin Mu said before pointing towards the ocean.
"The ocean? It's in the ocean?" Jing Luo asked in confusion.
"More accurately, it's there… on that rock." Lin Mu pointed in the distance.
Jing Luo narrowed his eyes and barely spotted a lonely rock that protruded from the ocean. It was hard to see, and the moving waves made it disappear from time to time under the water.
"We may as well check it out then." Jing Luo stated.
"Yeah, let's go." Lin Mu said before flying there.
Jing Luo and Little Shrubby followed behind him, and they quickly arrived at the rock.
The rock was very small, so much so that only a single person would be able to stand on it. The place was almost half a kilometer into the ocean and was actually at the top of a hill that was underwater.
"Let's see…" Lin Mu came to stand above the rock and used his spirit sense to feel the area.
His eyes too scanned and his spatial perception detected some signs too.
"Seems like this is the place." Lin Mu stated.
"Only one way to confirm it, then." Jing Luo said as he took out the Entrance Token he had made.
He injected some spirit Qi into the token, and it flew out of his hand.
~shua~
Seeing this, Lin Mu's eyes lit up.
"This is a good sign." Lin Mu muttered.
The token seemed to fly around in the area randomly, as if searching for something. It did so for about two minutes while Lin Mu and Jing Luo stayed put.
And when it finally came to a halt, a humming sound was heard coming from it.
"WE FOUND IT!" Jing Luo exclaimed.
~HONG~
The entrance token let out a bright light as runes came out of it. The runes spread around into a formation in the air before the space started to flicker!
