~shua~
Lin Mu quickly reached the top layer of bamboos, and as soon as he went a meter below, it was as if the Evergreen Pillar Bamboos spontaneously grew around him.
Even when he had stopped, the bamboos kept on growing, and soon it felt like they were a kilometer above him!
"Very… Strange." Lin Mu felt no danger here, but it was still a confusing situation.
"Did you find anything?" Little Shrubby asked, seeing that Lin Mu had returned.
"Yes… The entire forest is possibly a Massive Natural Befuddling Array." Lin Mu replied. "And its effects work even when one is outside it." He added.
"But you managed to get out of it right?" Little Shrubby asked.
"Yeah. Leaving it is not a problem." Lin Mu replied. "I can get to the sky using Fade and then fly outwards until I can't. Just repeat that and we'll be out of it." He explained.
"So we don't have a danger of being trapped at least," Little Shrubby stated.
"Mmhmm." Lin Mu nodded his head. "Actually, this might just be better for us. I don't think we'll be bothered by other beasts easily. I think they are lost as well." He added.
"But if it was like that, why did I smell the scent of the beasts at the edge of the forest, too?" Little Shrubby asked, feeling confused.
"That… is unknown to me at this moment." Lin Mu admitted. "I'll have to check the records… see if there is any information about this in the books or documents I collected." He said.
"Alright. I'll search for beasts for the time being or some herbs." Little Shrubby suggested.
"Yeah, you can do that. It'll take me a while anyways." Lin Mu agreed and let the beast wander.
With their link, it wasn't an issue for them to find each other anyway.
'Little Shrubby should be able to find some herbs at least. They can't move from one place most of the time, and as such, shouldn't be affected by the Natural Befuddling array as much.' Lin Mu thought.
~WHOOSH~
Little Shrubby went away, and Lin Mu sat down to look through some documents.
~shua~
The first thing he did was to take out the map that Crown Prince Feng Shun had given it. The map was how Lin Mu had found out about the Evergreen Pillars Forest in the first place, and it had bits of information about various locations.
"Nothing in this about a Natural Befuddling Array." Lin Mu moved on to other books.
His collection that had been grown using the library of the Shuijing Clan was coming in handy as well. It had several books that talked about the various locations in the Dao Wind Continent, and also had mentions of the Evergreen Pillars forest.
'Here it is,' Lin Mu soon found the entries about the Evergreen Pillars Forest.
'A forest full of Evergreen Pillar Bamboos spread over an area of thousands of kilometers. Once upon a time, it was said to have mountains, hills, and various other natural landforms, but it eventually became covered with the bamboos.
This hid everything and made it hard to make out what was where. The beasts living in the forest have adapted to it and seemingly don't have any issues finding their nest or hunting.' Lin Mu read the first entry and gave a brief description of the forest.
But this was certainly not the answer that Lin Mu was looking for.
"Not this… have to look at others." Lin Mu muttered and switched to another book.
But in this book, he found the same information, having to move on to another.
Lin Mu went through four books with the same information before finally stumbling onto some new information. Though this time, it was about the Evergreen Pillar Bamboos instead.
'Evergreen Pillar Bamboos have a high rate of growth, but they aren't necessarily good for making Immortal Weapons and tools. Their wood isn't as strong compared to most other bamboos or plants, and as such, they are mostly left untouched.
They have a high flow of Wood Elemental Qi, but when one cuts a bamboo, the flow is interrupted and the Qi is dispersed quickly, making it useless for making Alchemical pills or other items.' Lin Mu was further confused by this.
Though he did understand why the Evergreen Pillar Bamboos had managed to grow this much. They were simply useless to most cultivators and left alone.
Of course, this was only when considering the uses for cultivators.
If these very same Evergreen Pillar Bamboos were placed in a mortal world, they would become highly valuable and it would be easy for one to make a Peak Grade Sprint Weapon with it. After all, it was still an immortal plant.
Its toughness would also be higher than most other plants in a mortal world, as such, making it a good choice for buildings and construction. Not to mention, with its high rate of growth, it would also be an excellent source of fuel for various purposes.
Hour after hour passed, and Lin Mu continued to read through various books, trying to learn more about the Evergreen Pillars Bamboo and the forest.
Lin Mu still couldn't find any information about why there was a Befuddling array here. Even the travelogs of other cultivators that had seen this forest didn't mention there being a Natural Befuddling Array here.
The Crown Prince had been here too, and other than describing it as beautiful and full of strong beasts, he didn't say there was an array here. Lin Mu didn't think the Crown Prince would hide information like this from him. As such, Lin Mu continued his search, knowing that what was happening was not a normal thing for the forest.
Lin Mu had gone through tens of books by now, without missing even a single page, as he didn't want to miss some small word. It wasn't until the next day that he finally found a clue to what was happening here.
