The two men stared at each other for a moment in appreciation before stopping.
"Well then, I should start the briefing." Elder Zhan spoke.
"Yes, please tell me all that happened here." Lin Mu replied.
"Basically, this place was one of the outposts the merchants who are the members of the Merchant alliance used. The buildings on the surface were the facade while the actual storage places were these ungrounded rooms.
We have been using this for a long time and this place was one of the outposts supplying to the cities and towns nearby.
There would be regular caravans coming here and leaving here to the different places. They would store some of their goods here while some would exchange it here. Of course, the normal merchants were also allowed to use this outpost, though they didn't know the secret underground areas.
That was also how we were making more profits. Since our merchants could leave a part of their merchandise here to be exchanged with other external merchants. It saved them both time and effort, while netting extra profit.
All was going well until Gu Legion found out about it somehow. They mounted an offense here and attacked the outpost." Elder Zhan explained.
"And I'm guessing you all were heading here with another caravan as a guard?" Lin Mu asked.
"You're right. Thankfully, we were nearby or many more merchants would have died. Currently, half of the merchants that were here at that time died under the force of the Gu legion and the other half managed to escape.
We split a part of our group to help them escape and they should be relatively far by now." Elder Zhan replied.
"Hmm… I noticed. Though it still makes me confused that there are no bodies up on the surface. How's that possible?" Lin Mu questioned.
"That… is something the Gu Legion has come up with. We don't know what they do to their bodies, but their members that come of offensive missions like these don't leave behind bodies.
After they die, their bodies turn into liquid and seep into the ground. Some part of it even turns into vapors and floats away into the wind, leaving behind little to no traces.
I've heard of certain poisons and acids being able to do that to bodies before, but seeing this happen automatically after death is strange." Elder Zhan said.
Hearing this, several thoughts came to Lin Mu's mind and he remembered something similar.
"Didn't the beasts of Kushao ruins do the same? Their bodies disappear after a certain time too." Lin Mu stated.
"Yes, we did find it to be similar to that as well. But in the case of Gu Legion members, the speed of these bodies dissolving is very fast. Not even a couple of minutes after dying their bodies will start to melt.
Not just that, but all the clothes and other items they have on themselves will melt as well." Elder Zhan replied.
"Really? They don't leave behind any spirit tools or spirit weapons either? Not even a spatial storage treasure?" Lin Mu questioned, finding it unusual.
He knew that the other items shouldn't damage so much that they would directly disappear.
"Yes, everything disappears into the puddle their bodies turn into. And yes, not even a spatial storage tool survives." Elder Zhan answered.
Lin Mu furrowed his brows as he wondered if this was intentional or not.
"These Gu Legion members… would you say they are stronger than the average cultivator?" Lin Mu asked.
"Of they definitely are! At least the ones that attack us are all of a decent level. They are good enough to almost go against trained sect disciples." Elder Zhan replied quickly.
"Hmm… seems like the Gu Legion is afraid of leaving behind traces." Lin Mu muttered.
"There are some exceptions to this too though, Alliance leader Lin Mu." Elder Zhan added.
"Yeah, I noticed that. The Gu Legion members I fought in the previous area where the Long Cloud sect was fighting were not like this. Their bodies didn't disappear." Lin Mu stated.
"Yes, that's the thing. We don't know why there is a difference or what makes this difference. We've assessed dead bodies but were unable to find the reason behind it. While there are certain poisonous alchemical pills that can have the same effect, we've never seen any Gu Legion member take them.
It's almost like it is built into them." Elder Zhan said with frustration.
Lin Mu thought over it for a few seconds before speaking again.
"I think I might have an idea what makes that difference, though we'll need more evidence to confirm it." Lin Mu said.
"OH! You know that? Please do tell," Elder Zhan hurriedly said.
Lin Mu nodded his head and then told him about what he had done in the past day. He had saved the Long Cloud sect's people, killed Tie Niu and took over Iron Bull city as well as wiping out a hideout of the Gu legion's people near the Coal Fell Village.
Hearing all this, Elder Zhan was stunned.
"You did all this in just a day?!" the disciple watching them said with shock.
"Yes… well, approximately." Lin Mu agreed.
~Gasp~
Elder Zhan and the disciples standing next to him couldn't help but take in breathes of air wondering just how had Lin Mu done it all. To them, his progress in cultivation was very fast and his skills were excellently strong too.
"Gu Yao has certainly gotten brazen over the months. Making a mutant humanoid like that is very evil. The karma of the people will not let him live in peace…" The Nascent soul realm disciple said in a low voice.
"This is also the problem we need to deal with. Now that the Iron Bull city is without a leader, Gu Yao will learn that soon and might want to take over it again. It's best we send some to guide them." Lin Mu suggested.
"Very well! I'll go there myself with a few more of the disciples." The Nascent soul realm disciples said.
