A few more discussions happened among the members before they finalized the entire plan. Still, the main pivot of this plan was none other than Lin Mu. He was the only one who was capable of going past the barrier and defensive formations without letting others get alerted.
Lin Mu understood this very well and knew the huge responsibility that was on his head.
"I'll take my leave first now. I should be able to reach the Tri cauldron peony sect by tomorrow night at the earliest." Lin Mu spoke.
"Alright, brother Lin Mu. Jin Kou will be leaving now too but should be at his position before the time of the mission. The other mercenaries are already at their positions so there shouldn't be a problem on that end." Wu Hei spoke.
Lin Mu noddy his head and bade farewell to everyone before leaving. He directly used fade and flew through the parallel world at great speed. Since he was already near the city wall, he was able to leave the city in a single use of the skill.
He then circled around and went to Little Shrubby's position.
'Oh? He changed his location.' Lin Mu realized.
He was no longer in the same area that he had left him in two weeks ago.
"Perhaps some people came there and he moved to hide," Xukong suggested.
"Hmm, could be that. It's not like they will be able to catch him, anyway. Even a Nascent Soul realm cultivator will have a hard time. And since I didn't sense any danger from him, that means he's just fine." Lin Mu replied.
In a few minutes, Lin Mu entered the small patch of forest and went to Little Shrubby position. It wasn't hard either as he could see smoke coming from what could only be a campfire.
Upon reaching the area, Lin Mu saw little Shrubby cooking something in a large pot while stirring the contents with the prosthetic hand that he had gotten for him.
"Your control has gotten much better, I see," Lin Mu spoke.
The beast turned around and leaped with joy. "Master! You're finally back!"
"Yup, it's time for us to head on to our mission." Lin Mu said before explaining it to Little Shrubby.
He simplified the parts for him so that it would be easier for him to understand. Little Shrubby didn't worry about it much either and just said that he will do what Lin Mu asks. This would in turn make things easy for Lin Mu too.
After he was done explaining, his gaze went to the pot that had been cooking on the fire for now.
"What did you make?" Lin Mu asked.
"I made the soup as you showed me once before." Little Shrubby said.
He then took out a bowl from his spatial storage belt and used the prosthetic hand to ladle out the soup into the bowl. Lin Mu nodded his head at seeing the skill of little Shrubby and felt happy.
He took the bowl of soup and took a sip.
"Mmm it is good… but needs salt." Lin Mu said.
"Ah yes, master, I need more condiments and spices. I finished all of them." Little shrubby said.
Before leaving little Shrubby last time, Lin Mu had given him all the essentials that were required for cooking, including vessels, utensils, and condiments. The only thing that he needed to find on his own was beast meat and herbs. Which was not a tough job for him.
"Ah, you did? Take these then." Lin Mu said before talking out more sets of spices and condiments for little Shrubby to use it later on.
The beast stored them in his belt, and the pair sat down to drink the soup. There were chunks of meat floating in the liquid while the bones had long since sank down to the bottom with their flavor having been infused into the soup.
In fact, had it not been for Little Shrubby's presence, it was likely that the nearby animals and beasts would have already become greedy from the aroma of the meat.
Lin Mu and Little Shrubby enjoyed this little break before the big mission, and it also helped Lin Mu relax and gather his thoughts.
Little Shrubby stored everything back into his belt and waited for Lin Mu's instructions. Lin Mu went over the map one last time and charted a route to the Tri Cauldron peony sect.
"The Tri Cauldron peony sect is to the east of our location and it will take us two days to reach it I think." Lin Mu said.
Little Shrubby nodded his head and spoke, "get onto my back then. We'll get there faster than before, I feel like my speed has improved from before."
"Oh? That's good. Let's see then…" Lin Mu replied before climbing onto the seat of the harness.
Strapping into it, Lin Mu ordered, "Let's go!"
~Whoosh~
Now that they had a harness that helped Lin Mu stay on Little Shrubby's back comfortably, little Shrubby could now run from the very start, instead of pacing it like before. His sprint stirred up winds that shook the leaves of the trees nearby, while the ones that had weak stems directly swayed from side to side.
Just as little Shrubby had said, his speed had increased more than before. It was not a major increase, but Lin Mu estimated it to be about five percent faster. But if one compared this with a nascent soul realm cultivator, they would realize that little Shrubby was already comparable to that of Child Soul stage Nascent Soul realm cultivator.
In less than twenty minutes, they were already at the location where the checkpoint was located. Lin Mu didn't even need to stop this time, as he simply spread his spirit sense and targeted each cultivator.
He chanted the severing heart sutra and the ten cultivators became dazed; taking this opportunity, Lin Mu and little Shrubby breezed past them like a gale.
"Hmm… I guess this will be a good practice method too…" Lin Mu muttered to himself.
