So of the treasures belonged to powerful sects that had used them as cultivation aids, while others were stored by independent clans or used by traveling cultivators who specialized in frost techniques.
Even the three Apex Powers of the realm had their share, though each kept them carefully locked away under layers of restrictions and oaths.
When Lin Mu visited Daoist Chu's workroom to check the progress, he found the man surrounded by dozens of floating jade slips, each one glowing faintly with recorded data. The hum of energy filled the air.
"So far, none of these fit," Daoist Chu said with a frown. "The catalysts used to birth Greater Elentals would need to be both pure and volatile. None of these artifacts are capable of that level of elental discharge."
Lin Mu crossed his arms. "aning that even if one of these was in the possession of the Ephera Sect, they would not have used it for this purpose."
"Exactly," Daoist Chu replied. "Or if they did, it would already be gone... completely consud. But then, that makes it even harder to trace."
Another week passed, and with each new report, the enthusiasm began to
wane.
The number of promising leads dropped sharply. Each ti Lin Mu or Elyon followed up on one, it turned out to be a false trail. Most were unsuitable or long accounted for. A few even turned out to be rumors or exaggerations spread by opportunists hoping for reward money.
Of course they got their rightful 'reward', but they'd much rather prefer never having tried to trick them.
By the end of the second week, what had once felt like a clear pursuit began to dissolve into uncertainty.
Lin Mu often found himself staring at maps covered in markers, cach representing a potential source that had led nowhere. The spirit lamp flickered in his room at the inn, casting long shadows as he turned over yet another scroll.
"Nothing" he muttered to himself. "None of these fit the pattern."
Even the Saintess had grown silent for a while, as though she too was contemplating the limits of what they could discover.
A month slipped by before they knew it. The reports slowed to a trickle, and there was little new information to chase. By then, Lin Mu had begun to suspect that they might need a completely different approach.
The Ephera Sect was far too ticulous to leave behind obvious clues.
They could not have moved sothing as volatile as an Ice Elental catalyst through normal channels without notice. Which ant that either they had created their own catalyst through secret ans, or they were using sothing entirely different... sothing unknown to the world at large.
When Lin Mu brought up this concern during a eting, even Monk Hushu could only nod grimly. "If the Ephera Sect has resorted to thods that defy natural formation, we will need information from a more unorthodox source," he said.
"Then we will have to find one," Lin Mu replied.
As if in answer to their growing frustration, an unexpected ssage arrived the very next day. Daoist Chu himself brought it to Lin Mu's quarters. He entered the room carrying a talisman, his expression unreadable.
"You might want to see this," he said. "We received a lead from soone... unexpected."
Lin Mu raised an eyebrow. "Unexpected?"
"An old acquaintance," Daoist Chu replied with a faint sigh. "Or perhaps I should say, an old prisoner."
That caught Lin Mu's attention imdiately. He set down the report he had been reading. "Who is it?"
Instead of answering, Daoist Chu walked over to the center of the room and placed a small communication array on the floor. The runes lit up one by one, forming a glowing ring. A soft hum filled the air, and the surface of the array shimred like a pond disturbed by wind.
As the image ca into focus, Lin Mu's eyes narrowed.
The man projected within the array was bound in heavy shackles that glead with suppression runes. Iron cuffs wrapped tightly around his wrists, and there was a matching one around his neck, inscribed with complex sealing
formations.
One of his legs looked thinner, uneven, almost as if it had been crushed and healed poorly. Though in reality it had simply been like that since birth. His hair hung in ssy strands, and his eyes darted nervously, trying to avoid Lin Mu's gaze.
Even after all this ti, Lin Mu recognized him. The mories of that battle ca rushing back, along with the scent of smog and death. While they had been overwhemingly victorious, that battle had nonetheless been quite risky. "La Yu," Lin Mu said, his tone level but cold.
The man flinched slightly at the na, his lips twitching into sothing between a grimace and a nervous smile.
It had been over a year since Lin Mu had seen him last, during the fall of the Drowned Crescent Cult. La Yu had been captured alive and turned over to the Xian Sword Sect's custody, later transferred to the newly built prison maintained by the Hidden Cave Sect in the void.
To see him again now, speaking through a communication array, was both surprising and unsettling.
From the few bits of passive information Lin Mu had gotten about him before, the man had been quite cooperative, and had gone up and beyond to help them in gaining information about the Ephera Sect and its allies.
That was perhaps the reason why he was still alive, when most of the other captured mbers of the Drowned Crescent Cult had been killed after
anything of value had been extracted from them.
Daoist Chu stood beside Lin Mu and said quietly, "He claims to have
information about the Ephera Sect's recent activities and possibly about the
creation of the Greater Ice Elental."
Lin Mu's gaze sharpened. He looked back at the bound man within the projection. The cold light from the array flickered across his eyes, making them
seem to gleam like polished steel.
"Then let's hear what he has to say," Lin Mu said.
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