Walker Of The Worlds

Chapter 3871: Depths Of The Lake

Lin Mu could still force his way downward as his physical strength was more than enough. But the problem was efficiency. If the lake was several kilometers deep, Lin Mu might spend hours simply swimming to the bottom.

He saw no reason to waste that much time.

’I’ll cheat.’ Lin Mu activated Phase.

His body immediately disappeared from the physical dimension and the pressure vanished. The dense water no longer affected him, so Lin Mu began sinking.

Phase allowed him to travel through physical matter because his body temporarily existed within another dimensional state. Whether it was stone, metal, earth, or water made little difference.

Lin Mu descended rapidly as several minutes passed. He continued moving downward, when something changed. Lin Mu felt himself pass through a different material.

’Ground?’ He stopped.

Lin Mu moved upward slightly. Once he estimated that he had returned above the strange boundary, he deactivated Phase and his body reappeared. His feet immediately sank into something soft.

’Mud.’ Lin Mu looked downward.

He could barely see anything.

’I reached the bottom.’ Lin Mu reached into his storage and took out an illumination talisman.

The talisman activated as a bright white glow spread through the surrounding waters. Lin Mu looked around and saw that the bottom of the Rain Dragon Lake was disappointingly plain. Mostly there was mud and some rocks.

Occasionally, Lin Mu saw strange grooves running across the ground, though after inspecting them he determined they had probably been created by the movement of water over countless years.

There were no bones, no dragon scales or even old weapons or any sign of formations.

’Empty.’ Wanting to explore more, Lin Mu began walking.

Moving along the lake bottom was still difficult because of the dense water, though Lin Mu simply used more strength and each step sank into the mud. Lin Mu searched carefully as an hour passed.

Then another.

He traveled several kilometers across the lake bottom, but nothing appeared. At a certain point Lin Mu stopped.

"Is this place really empty?" Lin Mu muttered.

His voice came out distorted through the water.

"Then why does the lake act like this?" The question had been bothering him since arriving.

The lake had no energy source, there were no Dao traces that Lin Mu could sense, there was no formation and there was no surviving Rain Dragon corpse. Yet the waters behaved as if a permanent storm was raging.

Xukong remained silent for a while.

"Perhaps you are looking for the wrong thing." Xukong finally said.

Lin Mu raised his brows. "What do you mean, Senior?"

"You have been searching for blood, energy, Dao traces, and physical remains." Xukong replied. "What if none of those are responsible?"

Lin Mu thought about it. "Then what is?"

"Emotion."

Lin Mu paused as Xukong continued. "You said the Rain Dragon died here during a battle."

"That’s what the records said."

"Then perhaps the dragon did not die peacefully." Xukong stated. "Powerful beings can leave more than energy behind. Their emotions can persist. Hatred, grief, anger, obsession, regret. Given enough power, these emotions can affect the world."

Lin Mu looked around and the dark water stretched endlessly around him.

"Regret?"

"Perhaps."

Lin Mu remembered the limited information he had learned about the Rain Dragon Lake. The dragon had died here, that was all. There was no mention of who had killed it. There was no explanation of why the battle had happened.

Lin Mu did not even know if the Rain Dragon had been an enemy of the Heavenly Stream Guardian Sect.

’If it died in battle, there’s a high chance it had regrets.’ Lin Mu considered the possibility.

A True Dragon possessed a powerful soul. If its emotions remained at the moment of death, perhaps those emotions could persist for hundreds of thousands of years.

"But how do I check that?" Lin Mu wondered when a different voice suddenly appeared in his mind.

"You really are stupid sometimes."

Lin Mu’s expression changed. ’Lin Mo?’

A chuckle followed.

The devilish persona had remained quiet for a long time. Lin Mu had almost forgotten that Lin Mo was still observing everything. Of course, Lin Mo had been thoroughly entertained. The Little Bull persona was apparently one of the most amusing things Lin Mu had ever done in his opinion.

Lin Mo had even temporarily reduced his own training just so he could watch.

"You have a method perfectly suited for this." Lin Mo stated.

Lin Mu frowned. ’Which one?’

"The Murdering Heart Sutra."

Lin Mu’s expression became serious.

Lin Mo continued. "Use the Murdering Heart Sutra. It should allow you to sense lingering souls. Lingering regret often appears as soul fragments."

Lin Mu remained silent as he was wary of using the Sutras.

The Abyssal Horizon Veil Seal was currently suppressing his cultivation and redirecting his Qi into another dimensional space. Any powerful cultivation technique could potentially interfere with the seal.

But then Lin Mu remembered something. His Heart Sutras had never relied entirely upon Qi. Their foundations were different. They were connected to the various paths. Lin Mu had used them before without causing fluctuations in the Abyssal Horizon Veil Seal.

’As long as I don’t use any Qi, it should be fine.’

Xukong did not object, so Lin Mu closed his eyes. Then he began chanting the Murdering Heart Sutra within his mind. The change happened gradually as an ominous aura emerged from Lin Mu’s body.

Dark violet energy flowed across his skin, while the illumination talisman beside him flickered. Lin Mu’s large figure stood at the bottom of the dark lake, surrounded by a sinister violet aura.

If anyone saw him now, they might have mistaken him for some ancient creature that had crawled out from the abyssal depths of an ocean. Lin Mu kept the aura contained and did not allow it to spread far.

Instead, he focused on his senses as the world changed. Lin Mu searched for souls. At first, he sensed nothing, then his brows furrowed.

’What?’ Lin Mu expanded his perception slightly.

The result remained the same. Yet the problem was completely different from before.

’It’s all around me?’ Lin Mu opened his eyes.