Chapter 44 - Black Crack

Lin Mu was currently in the Sleepscape practicing with his short sword. He had decided that while he was in the actual world, he would cultivate and train his skills, and once he entered the Sleepscape, he would train with the weapons. This was the most optimal way, he figured out, that made the best use of his time.

The first thing Lin Mu checked was the spirit apple tree in the Sleepscape. He scanned it and saw that another spirit apple growing on one of the branches. But this spirit apple was still small and did not look ready, thus Lin Mu left it on the tree to ripen.

His practice with the weapons was going well for Lin Mu, but he still thought it was lacking something. He felt like he needed a proper weapons manual or a teacher who could teach him the proper way to use the weapons.

'Perhaps I can buy the manuals from Jing Wei's emporium. Though they will probably be expensive.' Lin Mu thought.

After Lin Mu felt mentally tired, he thought about leaving the Sleepscape and left it. He had understood that if he left the Sleepscape, he will just sleep normally. While Lin Mu is in the Sleepscape, he does not feel physically tired, but if he trains for a while in there he will become mentally tired.

A few hours later, Lin Mu woke up feeling refreshed. He lifted his head from the soft and comfortable bolster which he had found yesterday. Although at first he thought all the items he found were useless, but later, while he was about to sleep, he figured that he could at least use the bolster as it was originally intended to.

The bolster was one of the best quality items Lin Mu had found in the spatial rifts. It was soft, white coloured and its cloth seemed as if it was made from high quality silk of the eastern lands. Using the bolster as a pillow to rest his head on, made his sleep even better.

After Lin Mu woke up, he cooked his breakfast and cultivated using the severing heart sutra. By the time the breakfast was ready, his spirit Qi had increased by 25 wisps for a total of 525 wisps. Yesterday, Lin Mu was only able to restore his spirit Qi back to its previous amount and could not cultivate it further on.

Lin Mu ate his breakfast and then sat down again to chant the calming heart sutra. While assimilating the vital energy, he sensed that the ability of his body to store vital energy had increased by a large amount.

He could not even estimate how much vital energy he would have to absorb and assimilate, in order to progress to the next stage of the body tempering realm.

Although it was no longer necessary for Lin Mu to continue training in the body tempering realm, because he was already considered a cultivator; he still wanted to continue training it, while he could as vital energy was still usable for the boulder collapsing fist.

But he would not be using the combination of vital energy and spirit Qi anytime soon, though.

'I should go hunt some beasts. Now that I'm in the 10th stage of the body tempering realm and also a cultivator, I should be able to hunt some high tier beasts with little problems. As long as I take some precautions, of course.' Lin Mu thought.

Lin Mu then walked towards the trail where he had set up some traps. He got some thorn tailed rats from the snares, which he would be using as bait now. After this he changed his route and walked towards the deeper parts of the forest.

While he was on the way to the depths of the forest, Lin Mu observed that the population of animals and beasts seemed to have returned.

In the past few hunting trips Lin Mu had taken to the forest, he had a little difficulty hunting due to the lack of prey. The population of the beasts was reduced because of some unknown reason, but now it seemed to be back to normal.

"If there was something scaring the beasts, it seems to be gone now." Lin Mu muttered to himself.

Lin Mu started searching for some beasts to hunt once he reached a suitable place. He wanted to hunt mid tier beasts if not high tier, as the meat of any beasts lower than that would not fill his belly. Also, hunting higher tier beasts would only yield him more money in the form of beast materials.

Soon enough, Lin Mu found his first prey, which was a stone hoofed deer. He had seen some stone hoofed deers before, but did not dare hunt them as they lived in herds. If he somehow spooked the entire herd, they would mercilessly trample him beneath their hooves that were as hard as stones.

But now that he was in the 10th stage of the body tempering realm, along with being a cultivator, it would be very easy for him.

Lin Mu chose a beast that was relatively far from the herd and silently approached it. When he was only two meters away from the beast, he withdrew the spear from the ring.

Lin Mu stimulated the spirit Qi in his dantian and guided it into the meridians within his legs. Once the spirit Qi reached his legs, it boosted the strength of his leg muscles, thus improving his speed.

Lin Mu gathered strength within his legs and shot forward. He aimed the tip of the spear at the head of the beast. With the increased strength from the spirit Qi, Lin Mu easily ended the life of the stone hoofed deer.

In the next instant, he touched the corpse of the beast and stored it in the ring, so that the scent of the blood does not spread.

Lin Mu looked around and found that the beast herd was not alerted.

'I may as well hunt more of them.' Lin Mu thought.

Thirty minutes minutes later, Lin Mu had hunted three more stone hoofed deers. But when he was about to hunt the fifth one, the other beasts finally saw him and ran away.

'The four pelts should net me at least a gold coin.' Lin Mu guessed.

Now that the stone hoofed deers had run away, Lin Mu started his search for the next prey. It took him an hour before he was able to find his next prey.

The prey this time was a beast that looked like a lynx. It had three tails with a small horn sprouting from the middle of its forehead. This was the first time Lin Mu had seen this type of beast and thus did not know its name.

Lin Mu saw how easily the lynx beast killed a Red snouted boar, thus he estimated it to be at the 8th stage of the body tempering realm. Lin Mu followed the beast for a while until he was sure that it was the right location for him to hunt it. He did not want the beast to run away, even though he doubted the beast would do that.

Lin Mu reached a narrow, small path that funneled towards a cave. He guessed that this was most likely the den of the beast. Lin Mu pulled out the spear and strengthened his legs with spirit Qi. He then pounced on the lynx beast and managed to stab it in the leg.

The lynx beast had smelled his scent thus was able to avoid getting stabbed in the head. The beast cried out in pain and retreated. Lin Mu approached the beast and attacked once again. This time Lin Mu missed the beast, but did not mind it. He instead left the spear stuck in the ground and rolled to the side of the beast.

As soon as he was at the side of the beast Lin Mu withdrew the short sword and stabbed it in the beast's ribs. The short sword passed through the ribs and pierced the heart of the beast, killing it.

~phew

Lin Mu let out a breath as he wiped the sweat off his forehead.

Lin Mu continued his search for more beasts and only stopped after four hours. He had hunted three mid tier beasts and two high tier beasts in this time span. Lin Mu peeked through the canopy of the forest and spotted the sun. He guessed it to be around 3 pm.

Lin Mu returned to the hunting shack. He then went towards the stream, so that he could dissect and prepare the beasts. He was done in an hour and walked back to the hunting shack, after storing the carcasses and materials in the ring.

While he was walking back, he noticed the black dots that had returned. He counted seven of them just on the way back, and once he reached the shack; he saw even more of them floating around. In fact, he found that their numbers had nearly doubled.

"Let's see what I find today." Lin Mu said with a chuckle.

Lin Mu opened every spatial rift one by one and searched for the items hidden within. After three hours he had searched all the spatial rifts. He counted that he had opened 28 spatial rifts today. Though he actually only obtained three items from all of them!

'Why are there so few items today?' Lin Mu wondered.

The three items he found were- an old shoe, a broken staff and a roof tile. All of them seemed useless to Lin Mu again. While he was examining the three items, he felt that the air had suddenly changed direction.

He looked around and saw that the wind was moving towards one direction, as it was carrying dried leaves and dust along with it.

Lin Mu curiously looked further and suddenly saw the leaves and dust swirling around something. He went to check and found that the leaves and dust were swirling around a black crack that was about the length of his palm.

"What is this now?" Lin Mu said out loud.