Behind the Xian Sword Sect mbers ca the monks of the Silent Lotus Temple, their bald heads catching the glow of the portal, their prayer beads clacking softly as they walked with serenity that contrasted the grim scene before them.
What awaited them on this side stunned even the most disciplined of them.
They had expected casualties.
They had expected to find so of their elders bloodied, perhaps so fallen, and the strike team exhausted from the battle. Yet as they poured into the plaza, their eyes widened. Not one of the hundred in the strike team bore so much as a wound.
Not one robe was stained with blood that was their own. Their faces were calm, their breathing steady. It was as if they had walked through the sect without resistance at all.
Murmurs spread among the arriving reinforcents.
"How could this be?" one disciple whispered.
"Were the elders of the Hidden Cave Sect weaker than we thought?" another asked.
"No," ca a low reply, "look at him. Look at Lin Mu."
Dozens of eyes turned to the man who stood at the center of the plaza, his presence steady as a mountain yet sharper than a blade. His aura was calm, but that very calmness inspired unease. They soon learned the truth.
Word spread quickly that Lin Mu and Elyon had altered the plan.
Instead of clashing head-on with the sect’s elites, they had infiltrated, hunted, and executed each one of the high-ranking mbers without a single alarm being raised. The Patriarch himself had been slain before he even realized death was upon him.
The disciples of the Xian Sword Sect and the monks of the Silent Lotus Temple were astounded.
So felt awe, others respect, but among them there was also a quiet ripple of fear.
To slay an entire sect’s leadership in silence... what kind of man could do such a thing?
So even dared to wonder if Lin Mu alone could have brought the entire Hidden Cave Sect to ruin without their armies.
In their hearts, most knew the answer. Perhaps only Grand Elder Huo and Lin Mu’s closest companions understood the full truth.
With the reinforcents now present, the clean-up operation began in earnest. The strike team spread out to direct the new arrivals, assigning them to vaults, libraries, and residential halls. Every building was to be checked, every scroll examined, every chamber opened.
The sect was not just an enemy to be slain but a trove of secrets and wealth to be unraveled.
The first targets were naturally, the vaults.
"Ti for so REAL fun!"
Cattaleya, her amber eyes gleaming with unrestrained glee, practically skipped toward the first sealed treasury. The heavy bronze doors were engraved with protective runes, ant to withstand force for centuries.
She placed her palm against the surface, her lips curling into a grin. "Ah, I do love this part," she murmured, before sending a mix of her overwhelming Immortal Essence surging into the lock.
The runes flared, sputtered, and then cracked under her relentless energy. Then with a sharp kick, the doors burst open, revealing stacks of jade slips, crates of immortal stones, and shelves laden with treasures.
She let out a laugh and imdiately began to rummage through the room like a child in a toy store. "ng Bai! Get over here, boy. You need to learn the proper art of raiding. This is an education your books cannot teach."
ng Bai, who had been quietly standing to the side with his spear at his back, hesitated. "?"
"Yes, you," Cattaleya said with exaggerated seriousness.
She grabbed his arm and dragged him into the vault, the twin snakes Xiao Yin and Xiao Yang slithering after them, their forked tongues flicking in anticipation.
"Lesson one. The obvious treasures are rarely the real treasures. Everyone can see the immortal stones. What you want are the hidden compartnts, the false walls, the little tricks that paranoid elders love to use."
ng Bai blinked, half amused and half bewildered, as she began knocking on the walls, pointing out hollow sounds, and prying loose bricks.
THUD THUD THUD
True to her words, hidden caches began to appear. Bundles of immortal herbs sealed in jade boxes, talismans bound in gold thread, and even small weapon racks concealed behind secret panels.
Xiao Yin hissed approvingly as they discovered a hidden chest beneath the floorboards, while Xiao Yang darted forward to test if it contained anything edible.
ng Bai could only shake his head as Cattaleya clapped him on the back. "See? Raiding is not just brute force. It is intuition, cleverness, and persistence. Rember this, boy, and you will never walk away from a battle poor."
Outside the vault, Lin Mu watched the others move with practiced efficiency.
Teams of monks carried out stacks of docunts from the administrative halls, while Xian Sword Sect disciples cataloged them on the spot. The libraries were stripped of their scrolls, sorted into piles based on cultivation thods, histories, and forbidden techniques.
Every corner of the sect was turned inside out.
Lin Mu’s immortal sense spread across the sect, ensuring nothing was missed.
He felt the faint pulses of arrays hidden deep beneath the surface and guided teams toward them. Traps that would have ensnared ordinary cultivators were harmlessly dismantled under his guidance.
The work would take days, perhaps weeks, but the tide of people pouring through the portal made it manageable. What had once been the seat of the Hidden Cave Sect was now nothing more than a husk being stripped of its flesh.
And through it all, Lin Mu remained steady, his expression unreadable. He did not join in the looting like Cattaleya or question the morality of what they were taking. To him, this was simply another necessary step.
The Hidden Cave Sect had hoarded wealth and knowledge at the expense of countless lives. Now it would be reclaid and put to use by those who had the strength to bring them down.
For Lin Mu, the true battle was already over.
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