Lin Mu had expected Alchemist Ruoxian's question and already had a response prepared.
"I managed to get the Hundred Year old Essence Spring Stalactite before everything happened. But I escaped at the first sign of trouble. Right now I'm hiding a few hundred kilometers from the ruins. I didn't want the people of the Grand Sky Pavilion or other powers to notice me." Lin Mu answered.
"That's great!" Alchemist Ruoxian felt greatly relieved. "It's also good that you escaped and hid. They are throughly checking all the cultivators that are appearing here right now. The ones that were camping were also taken into custody." He explained.
"I see…" Lin Mu replied. 'Just like I had thought. No way they wouldn't suspect the people around them first.'
Even if the others in the ruins' were not involved in it, the Elders of the Grand Sky Pavilion wouldn't be naive enough to think that there wouldn't be someone secretly conspiring. After all, hiding within plain sight was a well-known tactic now.
The elders with thousands of years of experience knew this quite well and were shrewd.
Considering that Demons had long since disappeared from the Rust Sky World, they couldn't help but think that they might have actually been in hiding. And in order to hide for this long, they certainly must have the support of human powers.
Alchemist Ruoxian gave a gist of all that was happening in the ruins right now.
Hearing it all, Lin Mu knew his decision of getting away was good. But it did make him curious about one thing.
"What do the elders of the Grand Sky Pavilion think about the disappearance of the Violet Mystic Life Tree?" Lin Mu questioned.
"They've determined that the Violet Mystic Life Tree was teleported away." Alchemist Ruoxian answered.
"Oh?" Lin Mu replied in surprised.
"Yeah, the formation masters detected traces of Spatial disturbance there and came to this conclusion. They are still investigating of course, but the signs all point to some kind of teleportation array being used." Alchemist Ruoxian explained.
"So they think the tree did it?" Lin Mu replied.
"Either the tree or the Demon. From what the elders saw, the Demon was trying to uproot the Violet Mystic Life Tree for some reason. We don't know why, but our guess is that the Violet Mystic Life Tree teleported itself away to protect itself.
Though there is a chance that the Demon might have used some kind of trick too and teleported the tree away." Alchemist Ruoxian stated.
Hearing this, Lin Mu confirmed that his attempt at misdirection had worked quite well.
'If they think that the tree did it to protect itself, it'll be even better. It mean's they'll keep on thinking it's somewhere and try to keep looking for it. That reduces their chances of coming after me.' Lin Mu thought to himself.
"What else is happening? Have the other powers arrived yet?" Lin Mu asked next.
"No… all of them are still restrained by the Leafless Dead forest." Alchemist Ruoxian replied. "The befuddling array that the forest has turned into is quite strong."
"They are? Then how did the elders of the Grand Sky Pavilion get through it?" Lin Mu asked.
"The elders have their own means. Even I don't exactly know, but I think it might be an immortal tool that can break through illusions." Alchemist Ruoxian replied.
"Why didn't they use it to get the rest of the people there then?" Lin Mu asked.
"They did use it. But just to get us to the ruins. I think there is a limit to how many times they can use it, so they aren't using it again." Alchemist Ruoxian spoke. "Besides, I think they want to make use of the forest to let the other powers be stalled." He added.
"That does make sense." Lin Mu nodded his head.
"Though it wouldn't take long before they find a way out." Alchemist Ruoxian replied. "Or they might just destroy the forest instead."
"Why haven't they done that already?" Lin Mu questioned.
Lin Mu could have done the same, but didn't want to create too big of a commotion back then. But the other powers had no reason to do the same.
"Because every time they try that, they get attacked by some strange rock creatures." Alchemist Ruoxian answered much to Lin Mu's surprise.
"Rock creatures?" Lin Mu recalled the strange creature that was a mix of flesh and stone.
"Yes. Damaging the trees causes them to appear and attack all those that are there. The more trees that are damaged, the greater their numbers increase." Alchemist Ruoxian stated. "So right now they are figuring out a way to get past the befuddling array without damaging the trees. Though if it takes long enough, there will be many people gathered there."
"And when that happens, they'll just band together to destroy the forest as well as the rock creatures." Lin Mu guessed.
"Indeed." Alchemist Ruoxian nodded his head. "Though it is quite strange as there are no records of these rock creatures. From what I heard, they don't seem to stay as a corpse either and turn into a pile of normal rocks." He expressed his confusion.
"No one knows about them? Even the Grand Sky Pavilion?" Lin Mu questioned.
"No… it seems like they are a recent creation. After all, this area isn't unknown either. There have been plenty of people that passed through the Leafless Dead forest in the past, but never encountered these rock creatures.
Even the forest itself seems to have transformed into what it is recently according to the cultivators waiting in the ruins." Alchemist Ruoxian answered in detail.
This put Lin Mu into deep thought as he wondered, just what it could be that made the changes happen in the forest.
'Are the Violet Mystic Life Tree and the rock creatures linked somehow? The mutation and aura of theirs seemed to be quite similar too…' Lin Mu wondered to himself.
Lin Mu thought about what other mysteries might be hidden in this land.
