Walker Of The Worlds

Chapter 3814: A Faded Forbidden Zone

Lin Mu narrowed his eyes.

"This doesn’t match the description," he muttered.

According to the information gathered by Lady Kang, Emperor Rock was supposed to be a cursed land. Even if the curse had weakened over time, traces should still remain. Yet he sensed nothing, no cursed energy, no sinister fluctuations not even a trace of corruption.

Little Shrubby jumped onto a nearby outcropping and sniffed repeatedly and after a few moments the beast shook his head.

"I don’t smell anything strange either."

Lin Mu’s frown deepened as that alone was unusual. A forbidden zone without any obvious danger was often more suspicious than one overflowing with danger. The barren landscape only increased his doubts.

If this area truly contained nothing, nature should have reclaimed it long ago. Plants should have returned. Animals should have settled here. Yet the land remained empty. Almost unnaturally so.

In the distance Lin Mu spotted a weathered warning sign. The sign had clearly been placed by the sect. It warned disciples against entering the area without authorization. The warning itself seemed almost absurd considering how harmless the place looked.

Still, appearances often deceived.

Lin Mu took a slow breath, then he released a portion of his immortal sense. Immediately he felt the Abyssal Horizon Veil Seal react. The hidden spatial pocket storing his cultivation fluctuations trembled slightly.

He knew he could not maintain this for long. The seal remained stable so long as he used only limited amounts of power. Anything excessive risked exposing him. Fortunately this investigation would not require much.

His immortal sense expanded outward, one kilometer and then quickly reached twenty kilometers. The entire forbidden zone fell within his perception almost instantly. The region proved even smaller than he remembered.

A radius of barely twenty kilometers.

Among the forbidden zones of the sect, Emperor Rock ranked among the smallest.

Lin Mu carefully examined every inch of the area, the ground, the stone, the air, the underground layers and the surrounding terrain. Nothing escaped his observation and several seconds passed, then a minute.

Finally Lin Mu withdrew his immortal sense as he felt the seal tremble a bit more. But his expression became increasingly puzzled.

Little Shrubby looked up. "Anything?"

Lin Mu slowly shook his head. "Nothing."

Not a single trace of cursed energy existed. There were absolutely no remnants of the curse, or any energy fluctuations at all. There weren’t even any hidden formations that a sect would usually place on forbidden zones.

There were also no unusual spatial distortions, pointing to something being hidden in a spatial realm or being concealed. It was as if the forbidden zone had been completely emptied.

Lin Mu considered several possibilities.

Perhaps the information was outdated. Perhaps the curse had naturally dissipated over time. Perhaps the sect had cleansed the area. Or perhaps there was something hidden so deeply that even his current scan had failed to detect it.

The last possibility interested him the most, because the landscape itself remained abnormal. A complete absence of life across twenty kilometers was not natural. Something still influenced this place.

He simply had not found it yet.

Little Shrubby jumped down from the rocks and stared at the barren landscape.

Then the beast suddenly spoke. "Let’s ask the twins."

Lin Mu looked toward him. "The twins?"

Shrubby nodded. "They’re better at this kind of thing."

Lin Mu considered it as the suggestion made sense. Xiao Yin and Xiao Yang possessed unique Yin and Yang twin serpent bloodlines. Their sensitivity toward energies was very different from his own.

Curses often carried Yin attributes and if any hidden traces remained, the twins might detect them.

"Good idea," Lin Mu admitted and the next moment he summoned them.

Twin flashes of light appeared as the two serpents emerged. The moment they appeared, both Xiao Yin and Xiao Yang immediately wrapped themselves around Lin Mu’s shoulders and their heads rubbed affectionately against his neck.

Lin Mu laughed softly as even after all this time, their behavior had not changed. He spent a minute gently petting them before explaining the situation while the twins listened attentively. Then both became excited.

"A forbidden zone?"

"We can explore?"

"Can we go underground?"

"What about caves?"

"Can we hunt something?"

Their questions came one after another and Lin Mu felt slightly amused. The twins had clearly spent too much time in the Sleepscape recently and as such they seemed eager to stretch themselves.

"You can explore," Lin Mu said.

Both serpents immediately brightened.

"Really?"

"Really."

"As much as we want?"

Lin Mu nodded. "The Wild Peak has plenty of wilderness around it. No one will care if you roam around."

The twins looked delighted or rather they practically vibrated with excitement.

Then Xiao Yang suddenly remembered something. "What about Ashy?"

Lin Mu smiled. "I was planning to let her out too."

The mention of Ashy made both serpents even happier. Ever since her breakthrough into the Immortal Realm, Ashy’s abilities had improved tremendously. Her talent for gathering information bordered on frightening.

If there was gossip to hear, secrets to uncover, or information to collect, Ashy often surpassed everyone else, including Lin Mu.

The twins nodded eagerly.

"She’ll like this place."

"So many people."

"So many secrets."

"So much gossip."

Lin Mu could already imagine the tiny black bird disappearing into the sect and returning with enough information to fill dozens of books.

"Once we return to the Wild Peak, I’ll let her out," he said.

Hearing that the twins appeared satisfied. Then their attention shifted toward Emperor Rock as their playful expressions gradually faded. Seriousness entered their eyes and they slithered down from Lin Mu’s shoulders.

Their tongues flickered repeatedly as Yin and Yang qi began circulating around them. The barren landscape remained silent beneath the moonlight and the Emperor Rock stood motionless in the distance.

As the twins began their investigation, Lin Mu couldn’t shake the feeling that this place was hiding something.

Perhaps the curse had vanished. Perhaps the forbidden zone truly was empty. Yet every instinct he possessed told him otherwise.

A place connected to the death of an Immortal Emperor would never be that simple.