Having gotten a sense of the competitors, Lin Mu knew he needed to be fast.
"They should know this too. There is now way they don't know about each other being there, so why aren't they going towards the Violet Mystic Life Tree?" Lin Mu questioned after seeing the cultivators just waiting around.
It was certainly suspicious and made Lin Mu wonder what he had missed.
'Are they waiting for backup, or is there something dangerous there?' Lin Mu decided to eavesdrop on one of the groups.
Using Phase he sank into the ground and approached one of the groups that seemed suitable for him. They were waiting in one of the ruined buildings that had half of its roof broken.
There were two cultivators standing on the roof and keeping watch, while five were sitting inside. They had set up a few formations around their camp, but they weren't that hard for Lin Mu to bypass.
After a few minutes of working on the formations, Lin Mu gained entry to the area. He had already restrained all his immortal Qi fluctuations and had contained his aura too, preventing anyone from sensing him. After doing that, he found a suitable mound of rubble and peeked through it.
With how long these people had been here and the formations they had set there was no way they would think that there was someone watching them from within the building at all.
Though it also helped the fact that the building was relatively big and spread out. The cultivators sitting inside were also spread out, with some lying against the rubble and some simply sitting.
"How much longer do we have to wait now?" one of the people sitting in the building questioned.
He had a frustrated expression on his face and was holding his arm as if it were hurt.
"A couple more days at most. The elders will contact us as soon as they are nearby." Another man that was leaning against a broken pillar spoke.
He had some injuries on his body too, but they weren't that serious.
~Sigh~
"Why can't we just leave? We all know that the tree is not something we can get close too." A woman sitting on the side spoke this time.
She seemed to be the only one that was uninjured but had a tired expression. Her face was also pale and her immortal Qi fluctuation were also weak. Though Lin Mu could tell that she was at the Second Tribulation Stage of the Immortal realm.
"We have to. If we go back now, we'll be wasting the opportunity that will never come again. Just by being here, we'll be able to stake a claim when elders come. At the very least, we'll get some resources." The man leaning against the pillar spoke.
"Just for that? We already consumed a lot in the Desolate Blood battlefield! Why do you think we are in this state!?" A short man shouted.
He too was sitting on the ground, and seemed to be most injured among them. A part of his thigh was cut off while a few of his toes seemed to be missing, too.
Lin Mu who looked at the injury, found it strange.
'Did a beast bite him or something? Those don't seem to be teeth marks though.' Lin Mu thought.
He didn't think they were injuries from a weapon either, as it seemed to be quite different.
'Though there's a chance it might be a skill too. All of them have gotten injured in a recent battle and are lacking resources. No wonder they haven't healed up so far, even if some of their injuries are light.' Lin Mu analyzed their condition.
At the very least, he could confirm the fact that he had no threat from this group. With how injured they were and the lack of morale, it was certain that they wouldn't be vying for the Violet Mystic Life Tree.
But that still didn't answer the question as to what actually happened to them.
"How would I know that tree was so dangerous and could attack us!? We didn't even know what the tree was until we contacted the elders!" The man leaning against the pillar shouted back.
"Please! Don't fight right now!" The Woman pleaded. "We don't have that luxury. If the other groups decide to get rid of us, we won't be able to do anything." She added.
~Sigh~
"You're right…" the two men calmed down. "We just need to stay put and ensure that no one comes near."
After saying this, the man leaning against the pillar stood up and went to the roof.
"What's the situation of the tree?" he questioned.
"It still keeps on appearing and disappearing. Though it's becoming more often now." One of the two men standing on the roof spoke.
"Oh? Looks like whatever restriction around it is weakening." The man replied.
Lin Mu who heard this, knew that his original assumption was right.
'So the tree didn't appear as often before. No wonder the original news about the Violet Mystic Life Tree was just a rumor. They barely saw it before it disappeared, but now it appears more often.' Lin Mu understood.
It also made him figure out a few more things about the unique tree.
'There should be an array around it that hit it all this time. And now it's either running out of energy or something else is weakening it,' Lin Mu reckoned.
Lin Mu even wondered if the Leafless Dead Forest was linked to this somehow. It was certain that the forest wasn't acting as a natural befuddling array before and had only done so recently.
'If the two events line up, that means the Leafless Dead Forest turned into a Natural befuddling Array just around the time the illusory restriction around the Violet Mystic Life Tree started to weaken.' Lin Mu guessed.
The reason behind it was still a mystery, but Lin Mu knew he'll eventually find out more. After all, his next step was to get close to the tree.
