Lin Mu spent the rest of the afternoon having a feast with the Saintess and his tamed beasts.
They ate till it was evening and at that point, Lin Mu decided to rest for the day. He had been through a lot and hadn't slept properly for a while.
"I'll head to bed now, Saintess." Lin Mu informed.
"Go on, you've earned it." The Saintess replied.
~hiss~
~hiss~
"We come too." The twins asked.
"Sure," Lin Mu sent the two to the Sleepscape first along with Little Shrubby.
With that done, he entered the bedroom and lay down on the bed.
"Haah~ that feels nice." Lin Mu felt his body relax and in just a minute, he had drifted off into sleep.
~rustle~
A few moments later, Lin Mu opened his eyes in the Sleepscape.
Standing in front of the Immortal Apple tree, he saw it filled with apples once. Half of them were still green and unripe, and a quarter was close to ripening. The last remaining quarter was the only part that had fully ripened.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt~Pluck~
~Crunch~
Lin Mu plucked one of the apples and felt the refreshing sweet taste of the fruit. It reminded him of the old times and also refilled his Qi at the same time.
"That was nice, thank you." Lin Mu spoke to the Immortal Apple Tree, making it wave its branch lightly.
He turned around and walked toward the Violet Mystic Life Tree. Little Shrubby and the Yin Yang Twin Serpents were also there from what Lin Mu could sense..
"I should check up on how it is." Lin Mu muttered.
Ever since the Tree had entered dormancy, Lin Mu had been wondering what had happened to it and when it would awaken again. As such, he wanted to check the tree's progress.
A few minutes later, Lin Mu reached the tree under which Little Shrubby and the twins were sitting. The three of them had found 'seats' for themselves among the red crystal that grew from and around the Violet Mystic Life Tree.
"Master," Little Shrubby called out. "Come, it feels nice here."
"It does feel comfortable." Lin Mu spoke, sensing the calm energy flowing around the tree. "Guess it has progressed a bit, at least." He reckoned seeing this.
Next, Lin Mu walked up to the tree directly and touched its trunk, letting his immortal sense check the condition.
'Hmm…' Lin Mu's immortal sense entered the tree and felt the flow of vitality within the tree.
Lin Mu stayed like that for about five minutes, checking all parts of the tree. It was after all, massive and it took a while to scan through all parts of it.
"It is still dormant for the most part, but the flow of vitality within it has increased." Lin Mu assessed. "It'll take a while more to return to normal, I suppose." He didn't know exactly how long it would take but didn't mind waiting.
Having checked this Lin Mu, thought it was time to talk to Xukong.
"Senior," Lin Mu called out.
He waited for a minute, but received no response.
"Senior, are you awake?" Lin Mu asked again.
Even then, there was no response.
'Was the Saintess right? Did senior need to pay some cost?' Lin Mu wondered.
Half an hour passed like this, and there was still no reply from Xukong, making Lin Mu think that perhaps he was busy with cultivation or something.
'I guess I can do other things till then,' Lin Mu reckoned.
As such, he sat down next to his beasts and took out the Spiral Flake Crystal.
"May as well continue my practice," Lin Mu muttered and closed his eyes while holding the Spiral Flake Crystal.
He extended his immortal sense into the crystal and found himself in the endless expanse again.
'Time to search for the unknown object once more,' Lin Mu thought and began his practice.
Last time he had managed to find it within an hour's time and this time was the same.
But just as Lin Mu reached it, the unknown object disappeared.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm"Again," Lin Mu began the search once more, sensing all the changes that he could.
He was starting to figure out the positions of the unknown object bit by bit.
'It isn't that it just appears randomly, there is a pattern to it… Faint fluctuations that are very hard to sense.' Lin Mu understood.
This showed his improvement, as he had been unable to do this in the past. These were spatial fluctuations that were so small, that even an experienced spatial expert might not be able to find them.
But with continuous practice, Lin Mu was able to improve his sensitivity to the space as well as his understanding of it.
"Found it!" this time it only took him 56 minutes to find the unknown object.
The improvement might just be of 4 minutes and seem small, but it was still an improvement. Plus, it was much bigger than one would think, as it had taken Lin Mu a long time to get to the one hour record before.
~shua~
And sure enough, the unknown object disappeared again, causing Lin Mu to begin his search. But his confidence only improved further as he started to sense more and more.
Three times, four times, five times, six times…. twenty times!
With every few attempts, Lin Mu's progressed more and more. The time needed for him to find the unknown object was reduced.
By the twentieth time, Lin Mu had only taken 12 minutes to find it!
"I'm getting closer." Lin Mu now had a hunch that when he could find the unknown object in a very short amount of time, perhaps within seconds, he would truly capture it and understand all there was about the Spiral Flake Crystal.
His confidence grew even more and so did his understanding of the space.
Time continued to pass and morning arrived in the real world. But Lin Mu still hadn't awakened.
He was deep in practice and was very close to a breakthrough.