Walker Of The Worlds

Chapter 4003: Mengli Zhenyu Has Returned!

Lin Mu could not have asked for a better beginning.

After everything that had happened, and after nearly being crushed beneath an attack capable of breaking through his entire defensive arsenal, Daoist Bone Ruler finally understood what Lin Mu had been trying to tell him from the beginning.

The junior had been taught a lesson. And the lesson had been delivered with a mountain and a sea.

Lin Mu turned around.

"Remember this well, junior. Strength is important, yet knowing when to lower your weapon is equally important. You saw an unknown cultivator appear from the Mad Demon Depths and immediately decided that I was an enemy. Your first thought was to restrain me and investigate me."

He glanced back. "Perhaps that was your duty." His eyes narrowed slightly. "Yet you forgot one thing."

Daoist Bone Ruler remained silent.

Lin Mu continued, his voice carrying across the ruined landscape. "You should have asked who had returned before deciding who needed to be punished."

The old man looked at him for a long moment and then he lowered his head slightly. It was a small movement, but for someone of Daoist Bone Ruler’s status, it carried enormous meaning.

"I understand."

Lin Mu smiled. "Good."

He turned toward the distant sect. "Now, let us discuss what happened to Wild Peak while this old man was away."

The surrounding elders immediately felt their scalps tighten. Several people exchanged nervous glances as the dispute between Wild Peak and the Law Division had suddenly become far more troublesome.

Daoist Bone Ruler looked toward the sect as well and then he looked at his damaged Bone Ruler. A bitter smile appeared on his face. He had been worried about dealing with a troublesome junior elder.

Now he had discovered that the troublesome junior elder could probably bury half the sect under a mountain and drown the other half beneath the sea. For the first time in many years, Daoist Bone Ruler wondered whether enforcing discipline against someone had become more dangerous than receiving the discipline himself.

And somewhere among the gathered disciples, one young disciple quietly whispered that the old man’s expression looked exactly like someone who had just learned that his teacher had returned from the dead.

The elder beside him immediately slapped a hand over his mouth. "Keep your voice down. Do you want the Bone Ruler to remember you?"

The disciple swallowed nervously.

He looked at the enormous crater, the broken mountains, and the retreating sea. "No."

"Then pray he forgets your face." The disciple immediately lowered his head.

Daoist Bone Ruler heard them anyway as his eyelid twitched while Lin Mu’s shoulders shook slightly as he allowed himself a quiet laugh. The tension that had filled the battlefield finally began to loosen.

Yet beneath that brief moment of humor, something remained. The entire Heavenly Stream Guardian Sect had just witnessed the return of Mengli Zhenyu. And from this day onward, the name Earth Sea Tyrant would once again become a name that none of the younger generations could afford to forget.

The battlefield slowly began to settle and it took considerable time.

The sea had returned to its natural rhythm, though the shoreline had been reshaped by the force of the previous attack. Several mountains had been reduced to broken ridges, while others stood at strange angles where they had been forced upward from the earth.

Dust drifted through the air, carrying the scent of crushed stone and sea salt. The enormous crater created by the earlier clash remained visible in the distance, while fragments of shattered defensive treasures lay scattered across the ground like remnants of a great war.

Yet the Heavenly Stream Guardian Sect’s members had survived. More importantly, Mengli Zhenyu had made his return and the debut had gone exactly as Lin Mu had hoped.

Lin Mu stood calmly amid the aftermath, his long robes fluttering in the residual wind. His long beard moved slightly with the breeze, and his expression carried the same arrogant composure he had maintained since revealing his identity.

Internally, however, Lin Mu was quite satisfied. ’That went well.’

Everything had worked. The appearance had worked, and so had the identity. His knowledge of Zhenyu had been sufficient to withstand the questioning of the elders and his combat strength had silenced nearly everyone.

Even Daoist Bone Ruler, one of the strongest figures in the entire Heavenly Stream Guardian Sect, had been forced to acknowledge that he had underestimated him.

There was still a great deal of work ahead, of course. The appearance of Mengli Zhenyu would inevitably attract attention throughout the sect. Old records would be examined. And perhaps even ancient acquaintances would come searching for him.

People would question how he had survived for so long, how he had escaped the Mad Demon Depths, how his cultivation had advanced, and what he had experienced during his disappearance.

Lin Mu had already expected all of that. In fact, he welcomed it as every question created another opportunity to establish Zhenyu’s identity and every investigation would reveal another piece of information about the sect.

Plus, every conversation would give him an opportunity to learn what had happened during the hundred thousand years he had supposedly been gone and even learn about the Hopeful Star Pavillion. As such there was no need to rush.

For now, the most important thing was making sure that everyone accepted that Mengli Zhenyu had truly returned.

Daoist Bone Ruler was the first to step forward. The old man had finally managed to compose himself. His robes were still torn, blood remained on his face, and the damage to his defensive treasures was impossible to hide.

The Bone Ruler in his hand had returned to its ordinary size, though several cracks remained visible across its surface. Despite his condition, his posture remained dignified. He looked toward Lin Mu and cupped his fists.

"Senior Mengli." His voice carried clearly through the battlefield. "I apologize once again for my earlier actions. I acted according to the information available to me, yet, I acknowledge that I judged the situation too hastily. I will no longer attempt to arrest or apprehend you."