Lin Mu didn't wish for the stalactites to be lost before Alchemist Ruoxian even had a chance to use them.
He was even prepared to take action, if things really came to it. But thankfully the elder seemed to have some respect.
'Though it is debatable if it is due to where they are, of if he is plotting something else.' Lin Mu wondered.
As long as Alchemist Ruoxian was fine and could fulfill his part of the deal, Lin Mu wouldn't pay heed to the elder.
Lin Mu didn't leave right away though. Instead, he decided to see if he could gather any information first.
'It'll be best if I know what they are thinking about the Demon as well as the Violet Mystic Life Tree.' Lin Mu reckoned.
After all, he was behind it all, and as long as he stayed a few steps ahead, he wouldn't have to worry about getting caught. Lin Mu restrained his energy fluctuations and wandered around the ruins listening to the conversations of everyone.
He avoided the large tents where the elders were located though as there was still a chance they might notice him somehow. Rather than that, Lin Mu merely needed to listen to the common cultivators, as the rumors had already spread among them.
He spent a couple hours eavesdropping and verified all the information that Alchemist Ruoxian had talked about. There really were rumors about The Demon being supported by a human power as well as some thinking that the Grand Sky Pavilion was behind the disappearance of the Violet Mystic Life Tree.
There were many formation masters analyzing the site where the Violet Mystic Life Tree used to be and tried to track down the traces of it. Though so far they couldn't figure out anything other than the fact that the Violet Mystic Life Tree was indeed moved through the space.
Their original assumption about Teleportation, seemed to have been changed.
'They actually managed to tell that it wasn't a teleportation, just from the spatial traces… impressive.' Lin Mu thought.
Still it didn't matter much, since there was no way they would be able to tell that it was Lin Mu's ring that had held the Violet Mystic Life Tree. It had already changed positions and was now safely planted in the Sleepscape.
There was no way to remove it from there now anyways.
Lin Mu continued to wander around the ruins and attempted to gather more information. He even wondered if he should meet up with Immortal Juo, but then decided against it.
His reasoning being that being acquainted with the Steel Horned General might bring him attention. So he just decided to avoid that area. Just as he was about to leave though, Lin Mu heard an interesting bit of information.
"Did you hear? The Eleventh Prince seems to have killed another group of immortals." A few cultivators were talking amongst themselves.
They were from the newly arrived group and were talking to the people who had been here since the start. Lin Mu recalled hearing about this prince once before in the Middle Fort city and was a bit interested. He thus decided to pause and take a look.
"Who did he kill this time?" Someone asked.
"They were immortals from different powers, but I suppose the biggest would be the Blue Mountain Palace. He apparently killed one of the younger experts from there." The newly arrived cultivator spoke.
"Why did he do that, though? Even if he is the prince, killing someone from an allied power will still be bad, right?" they asked.
"Who knows? The Eleventh Prince has greatly changed ever since he managed to become an immortal. He kills wantonly and even the Royal Family seems to be ignoring his actions." The newly arrived cultivator answered.
"Ssss~ Looks like we'll have another danger to avoid here."
"As if the creature of the Desolate Blood Battlefield weren't enough already, now we got a murderous prince to watch out for too."
"We should do our best to not be anywhere close to him. Let's keep each other informed if we hear or see the Eleventh prince."
"I agree!"
"We all agree!"
Lin Mu watched as the cultivators came to an agreement to avoid a certain royal.
"Though where exactly was the eleventh price seen?" someone asked. "Shouldn't we know that first to avoid him?"
"Ah yes! I was about to tell that. He was apparently near the Sandfall Valley. At the old tombs."
"What was he doing there? Weren't those tombs already ransacked thousands of years ago?"
"Whatever it might be, we just need to avoid him."
"Yeah… that's right."
Lin Mu thought about the location and felt like he had heard about it.
'Sandfall valley… isn't that area somewhere near the Grey Slate Ravines too?' Lin Mu recalled. 'If it's there, then perhaps Immortal Juo had seen or heard about the Eleventh Prince too…'
Pushing these thoughts to the back of his mind, Lin Mu moved a little further to an empty building and resurfaced. He was done here for now, and decided to leave.
Lin Mu left the same way he had come from, keeping a record that he had indeed left. He didn't wish to create a discrepancy there after all. After leaving the ruins, Lin Mu directly flew two hundred kilometer away before calling out Little Shrubby.
"Oh? Are you done?" Little Shrubby questioned.
"Yes. For now, we'll head farther in." Lin Mu answered.
"Okay, I have some food prepared so we can have dinner once we take a break." Little Shrubby replied.
"That's good." Lin Mu did feel a bit hungry too.
He then climbed onto Little Shrubby's back and the beast turned into a red blur, disappearing over the horizon.
Thousands of kilometer away from them though, a certain young man was standing over a bunch of corpses. Five different colored marbles were floating over his palm while he seemed to be playing with them.
"S-spare… pleas spare us, Senior!"
"Spare you? Hah! None shall live once they slight me!" the man flicked his hand sending a marble flying towards the pleading man, exploding his body.
