Still, while the many groups of the alliance fought back against the Northern Tribes, there was a certain person missing.
This being none other than Lin Mu, the leader of the alliance himself.
His disappearance had not gotten unnoticed either as many people such as the patriarchs, Jing Luo, Wu Hei and even Jing Wei had sensed it. And thus to find him, one person had set out.
'How could he just disappear randomly?' Duan Ke wondered.
She looked back to the west and saw Little Shrubby battling against Master Cull Mountain along with the Rainbow Pill Ancestor. Duan Ke was certainly surprised by Little Shrubby's increase in power.
'I would have never imagined the small beast would turn out to be this large…' Duan Ke thought to herself.
"But if he's there and battling with no issues, then Lin Mu should be fine. If he was not, the beast would have certainly not stayed on fighting." Duan Ke reckoned.
She had seen the bond between Lin Mu and Little Shrubby and could tell that it was beyond anything that was recorded in their library. No beast tamer had ever reached that level of connection or understanding.
The two could sense each other no matter how far they were and even communicate that way.
Little Shrubby was someone who only cared about Lin Mu and would not take it if something happened to him.
The whole reason Little Shrubby had even participated in the alliance's work and become the Saviour beast during Lin Mu's own seclusion was due to his master's words.
If it were not for that, Little Shrubby had no reason to fight at all.
To him, his master's enemies were his enemies.
And thus, if his master was hurt, he would stop and help him as the very first thing.
This prompted Duan Ke to wonder if Lin Mu was occupied due to something.
The first place Duan Ke decided to search was the location where Lin Mu was last seen. It didn't take her long to reach there while also staying hidden under the effect of a skill. She certainly didn't want to attract the attention of a strong foe while she had her mind distracted.
The location in question was a patch of broken trees and rocks that were originally part of a hill that had been smashed into fragments.
"This is definitely where the boundary of the barrier started to break from…" Duan Ke said upon sensing the faint energy traces in the air.
Her spirit sense was already scanning each and every location but was unable to find Lin Mu. Narrowing her eyes, she took out a compass from her spatial storage tool.
The compass was made out of wood and had six needles attached to the periphery. There was a spherical indent in the center, which was currently empty, and many runes were also inscribed on the compass.
"It was good that we kept some of his blood." Duan Ke muttered and took out a glass vial as well.
The vial was filled with dark red blood and was under several preservative formations that kept it fresh.
~Shua~
The wooden compass automatically floated in front of Duan Ke and she was free to use her hands.
~pop~
Opening the vial of blood, she poured it out on the wooden compass. Once that was done, she took out a marble and placed it in the central indent of the compass.
~HISS~
The blood covering the wooden compass started to sizzle and bubble. It flowed along the many runes that were carved on the compass and finally reached its center, covering the marble entirely.
The transparent glass marble turned blood red, and the runes on the compass became active as well.
~HONG~
A wave of energy was let out from the marble that spread through the compass before reaching the six needles.
~SHING~ SHING~ SHING~
The needles twitched and spun on the periphery of the needle crazily before settling into specific positions.
Three of the needles came close and pointed in the same direction, while the remaining three randomly pointed in other directions.
Duan Ke furrowed her brows, having not expected this result.
"Even with his own blood, the compass cannot find him accurately? How is it possible?" Duan Ke wondered.
Normally, the six needles reacted according to the significance of the tracking material used. And blood from a person was something that was relatively very accurate for tracking, thus the compass should have had all six needles pointing in the same direction.
"I'll just have to take what I get now," Duan Ke decided, and followed the unified direction the three needles were pointing.
The location wasn't that far from where she was and led her to the mountains bordering the north of the battlefield.
Once she was here, the needles moved once more, and tilted downwards.
"Down there?" Duan Ke let her spirit sense check it and discovered that there was actually rubble underneath the ice and snow.
~BOOM~
Duan Ke slapped out with her palm stuck to the ground, blasting away all the snow and ice, revealing the rubble hidden underneath.
Upon seeing it, her eyes noticed the runs carved on it as well as the faint trace of spirit Qi in the air.
"No wonder… these runes seem to be part of a sealing and isolating array. While it has been broken, they can still hide a limited number of presciences." Duan Ke understood.
She descended while monitoring the compass and saw that the needles were still pointing down. Waving her hand, she broke apart the rubble even more and excavated the ground, revealing a large tunnel that was hidden underneath.
"This… isn't it the secret tunnel that the Northern Tribes had made?" Duan Ke identified.
Continuing onwards, she illuminate the darkness and soon found what she was looking for.
"Lin Mu?" Duan Ke felt like she was dreaming at first, upon seeing the sight in front of her.
~GRRR~
"Don't… come… close…" A voice was heard.
Duan Ke observed the large being lying on the ground. This was none other than Lin Mu in his 'demonic' form, but he didn't seem to be fine.
