The discoveries were certainly quite a lot for Lin Mu, but they also made him excited at the same time. He wanted to see what was special about this world and why it was like this.
'And I still need to find some food too… I'm out of all the stored food. My vitality is barely at 30% at its usual capacity too…' Lin Mu thought to himself.
There were no beasts in the dark valley, so Lin Mu was not able to hunt any. But now that he was out of it, he wanted to find some to eat.
"Hmm… still, where do I go now?" Lin Mu wondered.
Looking around, there was basically a wasteland in front of him. There were no plants or animals anywhere and the sky was overcast, too.
'The only life I saw was the glowing moss… but even that was in the valley. I can't see any water around here too, or that would be a good place to search.' Lin Mu analyzed his choices.
After thinking for a bit, Lin Mu made his decision.
"Let's just head to that hill first. Maybe I'll find something from a higher location?" Lin Mu muttered to himself.
He started to run towards the nearest hill and reached it in about half an hour. From there, he spent another half an hour to climb it.
'Perhaps calling it a hill is a little underestatement… but considering the mountains are a lot taller here, guess this is a hill?' Lin Mu reckoned.
The hill that he had climbed was still pretty tall and about the size of an average mountain. Thankfully, it was free of any beasts that could interrupt him or any plants that would force him to take an alternate route.
The only obstacle for him was the loose rocks that fell sometimes when he tried to climb them. Though it was not much of an issue for him since the rocks were simply shattered upon hitting his body.
His body was far tougher than the rocks, after all.
Upon reaching the top of the hill, Lin Mu finally got a better look at the area.
~Phew~
"This is really vast…" Lin Mu said as he marveled at the sky piercings mountains in the distance. They extended from one side of the horizon to the other, going around the dark valley that was behind him.
Speaking of the Dark valley, Lin Mu finally saw the other ends of it. It extended right from the edges of the mountain range to the place where Lin Mu had climbed from. Though the side completely opposite to it was not visible to Lin Mu as it was simply too far.
Even the Mountain range could not be seen on that side, simply turning into a thin line at that point.
~WHISTLE~
But while Lin Mu was assessing the area, his ears picked up a low sound. His eyes narrowed, and he immediately used blink.
~DENG~
The place where he was just standing was struck by what looked like a long javelin. It was over six meters long and seemed to be made out of solid rock that had been whittled down.
"Enemy!" Lin Mu understood.
He looked around but didn't see anyone on the ground.
'Where are they?' Lin Mu wondered.
~WHISTLE~
The low sound was heard as well, and Lin Mu dodged once more.
~DENG~
Another javelin landed on the place Lin Mu was standing at. It was the same as the one before, made out of rock. But this time, Lin Mu had a little more information.
"It came from a different side." Lin Mu noticed.
His eyes traced the possible trajectory based on where the two spears had landed and finally figured out where they came from.
"The hills!" Lin Mu saw three spears shooting up from the other hills in the distance.
The spears rose into the sky soundlessly, but when they started to descend after drawing an arc in the air, they would create a low sound. It was something that most people wouldn't even pick up on it.
It was easy to understand that these spears were intentionally made to be as silent as possible.
"Let's see who's targeting me." Lin Mu said with a smile, not feeling afraid at all.
He had checked the spears and knew that they were nothing special. They had no spirit Qi infused into them, nor any other skill. Even if they hit Lin Mu, they wouldn't do much to him, anyway.
Lin Mu gathered power in his legs as his thighs bulged, and calves tightened.
~BOOM~
He launched into the air like a spring and covered over five hundred meters before finally falling downwards. Clenching his fist, Lin Mu dived towards the hill below him.
~KABOOM~
The entire hill shook from the impact as cracks spread over it. A few large boulders at its edged directly rolled off while a deep crater was created at its top.
"$&%H&(**)&^" A strange voice was heard by Lin Mu, making him turn to the side.
The voice was speaking some unknown language, but Lin Mu could tell that the tone was anxious.
"Let's see who you are…" Lin Mu walked towards the source of the voice.
~SHUA~
But just as he was walking towards it, an attack came towards him.
~THUD~
~CRUMBLE~
Lin Mu didn't move though and let it hit him. The incoming projectile was a rock that had been carved into a cannonball shape. It simply shattered upon hitting Lin Mu.
"@^&(#&(&" Some unknown words were spoken again, this time shock clearly visible in it.
Lin Mu raised his brows as he assessed the power of the attack.
'Roughly equivalent to the peak of the Nascent soul realm… the javelins were thrown with a lot more force, though. Different enemies then?' Lin Mu concluded.
And as Lin Mu got closer to the source of the sound, more voices were heard, this time though they were getting closer.
~CRACK~
Lin Mu swiped his hand and knocked away the boulder that was blocking his path. And when it was swept away, he finally saw the 'enemy' standing behind it.
"Huh?" But Lin Mu was surprised by the appearance of the enemy.
It was humanoid, but wasn't exactly human. It had two arms, a head and torso, but there were four legs on its body. The legs were oriented in a cross shaped form. The creature in front of Lin Mu was dressed in clothes that camouflaged it well, with several rocks and soil attached to its clothes.
The enemy stood up towering over Lin Mu. It was nearly four meters tall!
But even if it was taller than Lin Mu, there was an expression of fear and shock on its face. Thankfully, the face of the creature was nearly the same as a human except it was a dusky grey in color and had rough patches that looked like scales on it.
Its ears were long and from them hung bone earrings.
Lin Mu walked up to the 'enemy' and casually picked it up using its clothes.
"Why did you attack me?" Lin Mu questioned.
~THUD~ THUD~ THUD~
It was at this time that three more enemies landed behind Lin Mu. They looked the same as the enemy that was in Lin Mu's hand, but were carrying several stone javelins on their back.
"^(^8#^@^&#" They spoke, wariness present on their face.
One of them slowly approached Lin Mu, putting down the spear in its hand.
"##^(@*&(&" It spoke, this time its tone a little gentle as if trying to placate.
Lin Mu raised his brows in surprise.
'They're trying to surrender?' Lin Mu wondered.
~clang~
~clang~
He then watched the others put down their weapons as well.
"Huh, want to do this peacefully? Fine, then." Lin Mu let go of the creature in his hand as well.
The guy landed on the ground and fell on its butt, fear in its eyes.
"@^(#&&#" The strange people spoke again, but Lin Mu understood nothing.
'Ah, the common tongue won't work here… they are of a different race.' Lin Mu understood.
"Umm… Can you understand me?" Lin Mu spoke again, this time in Dao script.
And when he did though, the strange people were surprised. Even more than when Lin Mu was holding their companion in their hands.
"Do you not understand me?" Lin Mu asked again, wondering if they didn't know Dao Script either.
He was hoping that they could, as this was a different world. The only hope Lin Mu would have at communicating was Dao script, as it was something that any world with cultivators should have.
'No, wait… considering how they look, they might not have reached the point of comprehending Dao script, perhaps?' Lin Mu thought.
The strange people weren't really dressed in any 'decent' or 'civilized' clothes. It wasn't even a matter of different cultures, but that the clothes were quite literally made from stitched rocks and mud plastered on them.
"Noble…?" And while Lin Mu was wondering how to talk to these strange people, he actually heard a word that he understood.
It had come from the guy he had taken hostage of temporarily. It had spoken a word that was from Dao Script!
"Oh? You understand me?" Lin Mu asked to confirm.
"Li-Little… Noble… Speak…" The strange person stuttered, clearly having a hard time finding words.
"Hmm… this'll be a problem." Lin Mu muttered.
"N-Noble… come…" the strange person spoke again and gestured with his hands in a certain direction.
Then it spoke to its companions and they too gestured in the same direction.
