"Why is it that it was deed as a less traveled place now and it's hard to get to?" Lin Mu couldn't help but ask.
"Well, you're a spatial cultivator, so you should know that natural Spatial
Channels can change over the years. That's exactly what happened here." Elyon replied.
"Hmm... So once the natural channels changed, the travel paths changed to beco more efficient." Lin Mu understood. "Makes sense."
"The Khwanzim World is also neutral," Elyon added. "Not aligned fully with any Immortal Court. It trades with all, hosts all, and rarely takes sides openly. That neutrality is enforced by power."
Lin Mu raised a brow. "How strong?"
Elyon paused.
"Strong enough that even the Immortal Court does not dictate terms here. lightly."
That earned a low whistle from ng Bai.
"The sea," Elyon continued, gesturing toward the horizon, "is called the Vast Resonance Ocean. It is ho to ancient aquatic immortal beasts, so of which predate the Immortal Court itself. The land hosts dozens of major cities like this one, each governed by councils rather than sects."
"So no dominant sect?" ng Bai asked.
"Many sects," Elyon corrected. "But none absolute. Formation guilds, rchant alliances, beast tar conclaves, body cultivation halls, and research academies all hold influence."
Daoist Chu's eyes lit up faintly. "Formation guilds?"
"This world is famous for its formation research. Much of what you saw integrated into the land originates here. Living formations. Adaptive arrays. Symbiotic constructs." Elyon nodded. "But that isn't all. Though formations, they've also perfected the art of Puppets. You'll probably see them soon enough." He added.
Lin Mu's gaze sharpened.
This world was dangerous.
But it was also opportunity.
As they continued walking, Lin Mu sensed several non human presences observing from afar. Hidden races, perhaps living within the city under concealnt techniques. He did not pry.
Not yet.
For now, they were travelers in a new world.
And the Khwanzim World had already made one thing clear.
It was not a place that tolerated weakness.
Nor was it a place that rewarded stagnation.
ng Bai clenched his fists slightly as he looked around, his earlier fear replaced by sothing sharper.
Resolve.
This world would give him quite a bit to learn and it might forge sothing stronger from them.
And Lin Mu, watching the ocean and the city alike, knew that their journey had only just entered a new chapter.
The decision to find a place to stay ca naturally once the initial awe of the Khwanzim World settled into sothing more grounded.
They stood near one of the wide streets that sloped gently toward the inner districts of the city, the noise of comrce and movent washing around them like a living tide. Despite the bustle, Daoist Chu's expression was already focused elsewhere, his fingers lightly tapping the jade slip in his hand as streams of information flowed through it.
"It will take ti," he finally said, looking up. "Even with accelerated service."
Lin Mu raised a brow. "That long?"
Daoist Chu nodded. "The next destination is the Fifteen Ryze World. A minor world, low traffic, almost no comrcial value. There have been virtually no outgoing or incoming transfers from Khwanzim to that world for years. Because of that, there is no permanent channel maintained between the two." ng Bai blinked. "Then how do people travel there?"
"They usually don't," Daoist Chu replied dryly. "Or they go through several interdiary worlds, which is slow and costly. In our case, the Khwanzim World authorities are willing to open a dedicated slot, but that still requires coordination, stabilization, and energy allocation."
Elyon crossed his arms. "Even expedited, a month or two is optimistic."
Cattaleya shrugged. "Fine by . I could use a break that doesn't involve
assassins and sches."
Lin Mu smiled faintly at that, but his thoughts were already drifting elsewhere.
A month or two was not long.
Not for soone like him.
Especially not now.
In the six months they had spent traversing the Spatial Channel, Lin Mu had not wasted a single mont. The mobile courtyard had been saturated with elental energy, formations cycling endlessly to refine and stabilize the environnt. He had absorbed nearly every elental material he had obtained from the Great Martial Fist King Tournant.
Earth.
Fire.
tal.
Wood.
Even trace energies of wind and lightning.
All of his cores had grown.
So more than others.
But one stood on the brink.
Water.
His Water Core pulsed quietly within him, vast and deep, like a boundless lake held behind a fragile dam. It had reached ninety eight point nine percent completion. The difference between that and perfection was vanishingly small, yet imasurable in consequence.
And there was still one item he had not used.
The Dragon Pearl of the Flood Dragon.
Lin Mu's fingers twitched slightly as he recalled it.
A pearl ford only when a Flood Dragon stood on the threshold of becoming
a True Dragon. It contained not only pure Water elental power, but also comprehension, instinct, and the lingering will of a being that had brushed against dragonic ascension.
He had deliberately refrained from using it while they were inside the Spatial
Channel.
If the completion of his Water Core triggered sothing unpredictable, destabilized space, or caused a violent Dao resonance, the consequences inside
a spatial corridor could have been catastrophic.
Now, however, they were anchored to a world.
A powerful world.
One with deep foundations, ancient formations, and an ocean vast enough to
swallow continents.
It was ti.
As Daoist Chu and Elyon discussed lodging options within the city, Lin Mu
finally spoke.
"I do not want to stay in the city."
The conversation paused instantly.
Cattaleya tilted her head. "Why not? Good food, lots of people, plenty of places
to smash if needed."
ng Bai looked at Lin Mu with mild concern. "Master, are you expecting
trouble?"
Lin Mu shook his head. "Not trouble. Change."
Daoist Chu's eyes narrowed slightly. "A breakthrough?"
"Not cultivation in the usual sense," Lin Mu replied. "Dao."
Understanding dawned on Daoist Chu's face almost imdiately.
"Water," he said.
Lin Mu nodded.
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