Jing Luo heard Lin Mu's self blaming words but did not know what to say. He knew that Lin Mu had been pushing himself a lot and he had already scolded him before about trying to do anything.
But the current incident didn't really help him think any better now. Deciding that it was best to keep his silence for now, Jing Luo simply watched on. Lin Mu sat with a cold and still expression as well, his thoughts unable to be perceived from the outside.
After a couple of hours, Little Shrubby spoke up. "This is where the cultivators start getting more common."
Lin Mu simply nodded his head and spread his spirit sense to the maximum range. In a single direction, Lin Mu's spirit sense was now long enough to reach almost ten kilometers in range.
Though if he wanted to perceive a wider area, the range would also reduce and if it was an entire spherical radius around him, he could only reach a few hundred meters of range. Still, his range of spirit sense was a lot more than any average Dao Shell realm cultivator.
Even Dao Treading realm cultivators only had spirit sense that reached up to a hundred kilometers. Beyond that, they were unable to extend it easily since the cost of refinement increased exponentially.
With Lin Mu's range, he was able to easily detect if there was anyone in their path, and switched their flight route to go around those people. This way they avoided most, if not all cultivators that they encountered.
Lin Mu also took note of their cultivation bases and appearances. He was on the lookout for anyone from the Zither wind alliance or anyone that may be linked to Gu Yao.
"There's a lot of cultivators from the low ranked sects now." Jing Luo said.
"Mmhmm… a few from the high ranked sects too. They have Nascent soul realm elders guarding them." Lin Mu commented.
Jing Luo had not sensed these people as they were out of his range, but Lin Mu had.
"They shouldn't pose any problem to us then." Jing Luo replied.
"Hopefully. It's not that we can't fight them, it's about them letting the others know about our existence. That is what will bring trouble to us." Lin Mu said.
"Indeed… let's just keep on avoiding them as much as we can." Jing Luo agreed.
"You know… I can just eat them before that." Little Shrubby chimed in.
Lin Mu looked on with narrowed eyes while Jing Luo tried to guess what was spoken.
"We aren't eating anyone… at least not when it is unnecessary." Lin Mu replied.
Hearing this Jing Luo raised his brows and understood what Little Shrubby was intending.
"You'll just eat anything you see, won't you?" Jing Luo said.
~growl~
"I'll eat you too~"
"What did he say?" Jing Luo asked.
"Just ignore him…" Lin Mu replied.
"Hmmm…" Jing Luo squinted his eyes before looking away.
Their travel continued for a few more days and the number of cultivators that they encountered kept on increasing. It reached a point where Lin Mu had to take a significant detour to avoid a large caravan of cultivators.
He even sensed a strong spirit Qi signature with them which hinted to him that it may have been someone at the Dao Shell realm.
"The Zither wind sect is here too." Lin Mu suddenly said.
"They are?" Jing Luo asked.
"Yeah, I saw the disciples with their robes some distance away." Lin Mu said as he opened his eyes.
Jing Luo then withdrew something from his spatial storage treasure after hearing this.
"What's this?" Lin Mu asked.
"Something that I guessed would come in handy for us now." Jing Luo replied before flipping open the object he had in his hands.
It looked like a flat rectangular box, but after it opened, one could see the fine runes inscribed in it. There were also some uniquely carved stones embedded inside the box.
Jing Luo placed the box in the center of the spirit boat and tapped it in certain spots before it activated.
~shua~
A spherical membrane extended out from the box and covered the entire boat. Soon the membrane changed color and foggy mist appeared on it. It increased in density and soon turned into a cloud.
"Huh? A camouflage?" Lin Mu asked.
"Mmhmm… now take us to the sky. This will not last that long, it's best if we cover as much distance as we can." Jing Luo replied.
"Very well," Lin Wu said before controlling the spirit boat or rising up to the sky.
~ZOOM~
It picked up speed again and started to move directly to the desert. With the camouflage, it was easier for them to hide in the clouds that were spread in the sky. Not many people would pay attention to the clouds anyway and at the speed that Lin Mu was flying, it was hard to notice them anyway.
The only ones that had the chance of doing so were those at the Dao Shell realm or someone at the Nascent soul realm that had a strong perception ability. Even then they would not look up at some random cloud as these elders would rather pay attention to their disciples and protect them from danger.
This allowed Lin Mu to cover the distance far quicker and in less than a day's time they were already in the Broken Sand desert.
~humm~
The power of the camouflage died down and the illusion faded away. Jing Luo put away the box and looked down at the vast desert that was filled with yellow sand and patches of flat hard ground.
This was the Broken Sand desert and was one of the three deserts of the Great Zhou continent. There were barely any clouds in the sky, thus their camouflage would not have worked as well anyway.
"We'll go on foot from here. It will be easier and less noticeable." Lin Mu stated.
"Where is the Noon Grass sect waiting for us?" Jing Luo asked.
"They said they have set up camp about ten kilometers away from the Kushao Ruins. We will meet up there." Lin Mu replied
