Today was not a day that Lin Mu would ever forget. He had never expected that he would be getting hit by lightning that too Heavenly Tribulation lightning, of all things.
But he was not the only one who had not expected this. Each and every person there did not expect it either. After all, why would someone's heavenly tribulation lightning hit someone else.
The thing was when someone interfered in the Heavenly tribulation they would not get struck by the original lightning, but rather by additional bolts that came down as punishment.
Those bolts did not contain the tribulation laws that allowed a cultivator to break through to the Nascent soul realm and thus would only cause harm to the ones who dared to commit such an act.
What Lin Mu had done was no less than a miracle… if it could be called that.
"WHAT IN THE NAME OF HEAVENS!!!!" The elders couldn't help but exclaim.
The sect patriarch Mudan was nervous and sweat had covered his brow. He didn't want Bilao to get harmed here, as he would be the fourth pillar of his sect in the form of a peak master. Each Nascent Soul realm cultivator was precious, and he didn't want to lose a potential one who was so close to a breakthrough.
He didn't know how the man had gotten so close to the tribulation platform and even entered it directly. There were elders who were acting as Dharma protectors and even they had not sensed him.
Till now he had thought that Lin Mu was using some illusory techniques with the way he was moving. While those techniques might have been able to give them a slip, they would definitely not work against a solid Qi barrier, which was the tribulation platform.
This led Mudan to believe he may have been using something else completely.
"Could it be… no… that's not possible. From what we saw, the thief was at the peak stage of the core condensation realm. No way he could use skills like these…" Mudan said to himself, unable to even say what type of skills they were.
"There must be... must be some fault in the formations… YES. That must be how he got into the vaults too, he has some key!" Mudan justified to himself, unaware that it wasn't the only vaults that had been robbed.
In fact, he didn't even know that the main vault of the pill peak had been literally stolen in its entirety. There was simply not enough time for Yi Deng to make a report, and the man was also dealing with the stress of his things being stolen, so he had forgotten to tell that to the patriarch.
If Mudan knew Lin Mu had stolen from all the vaults of the sect, he would probably be drinking himself to death.
***
At the Tribulation platform, Bilao tried to look at the person who had just interrupted the heavenly tribulation. Unlike the other people, he could tell that his tribulation had actually ended. That last bolt was truly intended for him, but it was now gone.
But that was not the thing that made him despair the most. What made him despair was the fact that he had not broken through to the Nascent Soul realm even after taking the two bolts. The third one was necessary for him and without it, he would not progress at all.
"How?" He couldn't help but say.
The culprit behind all this was in a different state all together. His body was glowing in a brown light and one could see a scale like patterns on it. There were now numerous cracks on the layer and it looked like it would collapse any moment.
But that was not all, as the robes Lin Mu was wearing were destroyed as well. There were burn marks and holes on the torso part of his robes and his hair was singed as well. Smoke came out from his robes as well, and the mask on his face was barely holding on.
Lin Mu himself was shaken and felt his head buzzing.
"Lin Mu! Lin MU!" Xukong shouted, stirring Lin Mu out of his daze.
"Senior?… what happened?" Lin Mu questioned, his thoughts still feeling slow.
"Snap out of it! You need to leave quickly! While they are still distracted." Xukong urged.
"Leave? I… can't move… I can't feel my body." Lin Mu replied.
Xukong realized that the tribulation lightning may have paralyzed Lin Mu for the time being. It was not something that could be resolved quickly, but Lin Mu really needed to leave quickly. His mind raced to find a solution while also keeping a look at the area around them.
There were still traces of lightning spread in the area, thus the people did not dare to get close but there was no surety that they wouldn't try it in a bit. Lin Mu was pretty much a sitting duck right now.
"Lin Mu can you call Little Shrubby! Is your connection still working?" Xukong questioned in a tense tone.
"Y-yes! While I can't use my spirit Qi, I can still feel the connection." Lin Mu answered.
"Wait, can you use the ring?" Xukong questioned as another idea appeared in his mind.
Lin Mu willed it and felt like the ring still responded to him. The mysterious ring was connected to him on the level of soul, thus Lin Mu needed no spirit Qi to control it.
"Take out a spirit stone, and use that. The tribulation lightning has paralyzed your meridians right now, but external spirit Qi should still get to moving.
Use that to use fade and then use Blink to get to far enough. Also, contract Little Shrubby to come get you." Xukong instructed.
"Alright." Lin Mu said and managed to withdraw a mid grade spirit stone from the ring.
He used that to activate, fade and disappeared from the sights of everyone.
~Crack~
The spirit stone instantly cracked when Lin Mu did that due to the immense drain of the skill.
An uproar spread in the sect upon seeing Lin Mu disappear again.
One after the other unthinkable things had happened and the disciples were lost for words.
"Where did he go? WHERE DID HE GO?!!!" The sect patriarch Mudan could no longer keep his cool and yelled.
"He-he disappeared…" One of the elders nearby spoke.
"GO FIND HIM THEN!" Mudan yelled.
The elders and the disciples scrambled to fulfill the orders. But this was just the start of their despair.
"You fools, get the tracking formations from the vaults! Think better!" The patriarch ordered.
"Yes, patriarch." The elder said before flying to the vaults.
But the moment they reached there they felt like land was pulled out from below their legs.
"The vault… it's empty…" One of the elders whispered, unable to even speak properly.
The others that were with him didn't dare to make assumptions and checked the vault quickly before confirming it.
"SECT PATRIARCH! THE VAULTS HAVE BEEN ROBBED!" A loud yell was heard coming from afar.
Mudan who heard it, felt confused at first but then it hit him.
He waved his hand and a force was exerted by it. The elder who was rushing from the peak was instantly pulled towards him and the patriarch clashed his robes.
"WHAT DID YOU SAY?" he said in a furious tone.
"The other vaults at the main peak… they are empty… all three of them." The elder let out.
~thud~
Mudan slot his grip and the elder fell to the ground with a thud.
"We're done… we're done… we've doomed the legacy of our ancestors…" Mudan murmured.
For a minute there he was pale as bones, but then his face turned red and flames literately manifested on his body.
"ALL DISCIPLES OF THE SECT ARE TO FIND THE THIEF AT ALL COSTS! I WANT HIM DEAD OR ALIVE!" The patriarch ordered before flying out himself.
Soon an army of cultivators set out to find Lin Mu; some with angry faces, some with lost faces, and some just in shock. Though there was one person who was trying very hard to suppress the excitement and fun that he was feeling.
'HAHAHA! WU LIAN YOU ARE REALLY SOMETHING! THIS IS EVEN BETTER THAN I EXPECTED!' Jiao Fang laughed internally.
Jiao Fang looked at the expression of his fellow disciples and felt glee. It had been far too long since he had felt like this. He had been often busy in keeping a facade and couldn't really show himself, which lead him to suppressing his true self most of the time.
He had gotten good at it, but now what Lin Mu had done really threatened to break that mask. Though he didn't feel bad. Instead, he felt like this was something he was lacking.
"Wu Lian, Wu Lian… you are an interesting man… much more interesting than this sect." Jiao Fang muttered to himself.
The man he was speaking about though, was not having a good time like him.
