Hearing the words of Senior Xukong, Lin Mu didn't know what to think of. If it really was an Immortal Accession realm cultivator who had made this place, it meant that it would have had to have been made several thousand years ago.
"That is a lot to take in." Lin Mu muttered.
"I think this place was intended to be something else and became something completely different in the end." Xukong stated.
Lin Mu nodded his head and decided to search around a bit more. But before that, he recalled something.
'Oh, I should call Little Shrubby now.' Lin Mu thought.
He sent a message through their link and in less than thirty seconds, Little shrubby was at the entrance of the cave.
"What is this place?" Little Shrubby questioned.
"This is where the Former Adviser escaped from, but there seem to be more secrets to it. Can you look around and see if you find any clue or if something is unusual?" Lin Mu asked.
"Okay," Little Shrubby said, and looked around the area.
Lin Mu did the same and checked all of the walls first. He had a hunch that there was more space in here than was apparent. He thought so even more because the walls were actually preventing his spirit sense from going in.
~knock~ knock~
After looking around for about two hours, Lin Mu discovered something in one of the walls that was to the opposite of the teleportation formation.
"Hmm… the thickness is certainly different." Lin Mu muttered.
Phase!
Lin Mu passed through the wall directly and walked. After about ten seconds, he ended up in another passage.
"Just as I thought." Lin Mu said upon discovering this.
He turned around and saw what looked like broken hinges and other mechanisms that would work to move a door.
"So that's why it doesn't work. It has been broken for a long time." Lin Mu understood.
He checked the area with his spirit sense just to be sure of everything and thought of a plan. This part of the area was not blocking his spirit sense and he could use it freely.
"So only the initial cave has that restrictive layer built into it and not the other parts." Lin Mu understood.
He then extended his hand towards the wall, which was also a door, and spread it apart like a claw.
~CRACK~CRACK~CRACK~
Lin Mu's fingers dug into the solid stone door and grasped it tightly.
~RUMBLE~
Lin Mu then pushed on the door and it started to move.
~DENG~
Finally, the door was fully open and Little Shrubby could be seen standing behind it.
"Another secret passage?" He asked.
"Yup, seems like it." Lin Mu repelled.
With the door open, Little Shrubby could enter it now as well. The master and beast continued through the passage finally reached another door.
"Hmm… this place is deeper than the previous cave." Lin Mu could tell from the angle that they had walked.
"Let's see what's behind this." Little Shrubby said.
"Mmhmm." Lin Mu hummed in response and placed his hand on the door before pushing.
~RUMBLE~
Dust fell from the door as it finally swung open slowly. Behind it, Lin Mu could see what was basically a mountain of gold.
"What in the name of heavens!!" Lin Mu exclaimed.
He walked in and looked around the entire hall, finding more gold and many other treasures. There were literal mountains of gold made from ingots that were stacked up in the front and behind them, he could see several other such mountains but of different metals.
Lin Mu could identify some of them, but many of them were unidentifiable to him. There were other things such as calligraphy scrolls and paintings here as well, but Lin Mu could tell that they were actually components of formations as well.
Then there were several pieces of furniture, along with what looked like a bedroom.
"There should be something more there." Lin Mu said before walking towards the bedroom.
There he saw a large portrait that was hanging on the wall. It was made from the finest of canvas and the paint was made from spirit herb dyes. A strong aura could be felt coming from the portrait and the person in it was starting towards Lin Mu.
"This is so lifelike… whomever made it must have been very talented." Lin Mu said.
"That… is not just lifelike… that is an actual life portrait." Xukong suddenly said.
"What?!" Lin Mu was stunned.
He had heard about Life Portraits before and had also read about them in the memoirs of the Lost Immortal. They were basically a medium that the cultivators used to pass on information after their death.
These life portraits were very hard to make and could only be made by a person who was a 'Spirit Painter'. It was one of the more uncommon occupations of a cultivator and not many actually practiced it.
The spirit painters could make a portrait of a cultivator and then use a wisp of their soul to imbue life into it. Once this was done, the portrait could actually animate itself and start to speak.
But the thing about this was that… not just any spirit painter would be able to do something like this. It was a very high level skill among the spirit painters and one that was at the Immortal Ascension realm might not even come close to being able to do it.
"If it really is that, then… why is it not speaking?" Lin Mu questioned.
"It must have gone dormant. Life Portraits don't have an indefinite existence, they can actually be aged over time and the soul wisp in them would fade away after a certain item period.
To prevent this, they will enter a dormant state if there is no need for them to be active. This is possibly the case for this as well." Xukong answered.
"Hmm… then there is only one way to confirm that." Lin Mu said and approached the painting.
