A pin drop silence was spread in the entire area and no one dared to speak. They were even careful about their breathing and felt as if a mountain had been placed on their chests. Such was the pressure exuded by a Nascent soul realm expert.

Lin Mu had a bit of difficulty to bear it at first, but after about thirty seconds his body adapted to it and it no longer felt as heavy to him. He had borne the full force of old Man Jing's spirit sense and even sword intent. This was nothing compared to that.

Though Lin Mu was still a bit anxious about the fact that he could have left some traces or clues that he was the one that had killed Fa Shiu. Besides, from what he knew, from Nascent soul realm onward the cultivators could sense the spatial fluctuations in the environment better.

He didn't know, but it didn't seem like Yi Deng has sensed it yet. But Lin Mu knew for sure that the spatial traces would still be there in the area for a while. After all, he had basically torn through the fabric of this world to enter the Parallel space, which wasn't even supposed to be possible.

From what he had learned from Senior Xukong, the place that he entered when using fade was something that was different than normal layers of the void. Xukong himself didn't know that it existed until Lin Mu entered it. But from what he could tell, that parallel space was absolute and existed everywhere.

"Disciples!

" Yi Deng uttered.

"Yes, peak master!

" all of the disciples of the Tri cauldron peony sect stood yup and saluted the Peak master.

"Seal the area, and contact the sect. Tell the patriarch to send the supreme elder!

" Peak master Yi Deng said with fury in his eyes.

Hearing the order, everyone's eyes went wide as their expressions turned serious. They knew that if the peak master was willing to contact the supreme elder, then it meant that the matter was of a grave danger. This was the first time they had seen peak master act like this, and from their experience with him they thought of him as a calm and composed man.

"YES PEAK MASTER!

" Everyone replied in unison.

"I'll inform the sect.

" Hong Quan stated and left hurriedly.

"I'll set up the seal.

" Fa Lao said with a straight expression.

He now realized that perhaps his elder brother had been in much bigger trouble than anyone else had expected. He tried to remember what his elder brother was going to do before he came here.

According to what they had discussed, his elder brother was going to accompany the juniors to hunt and obtain a gift for sister Yi Zi Jin. They didn't really explain where they were going to hunt, but from what he knew it must have been either the Northern forest or the sect's own lands.

'They shouldn't ha vie had any problem at the sect's land as they would have been able to call for help instantly there. That means whatever happened it must have been at the northern forest… don't tell me… did they perhaps go too deep?' Fa Lao wondered.

"You all come with me,

" Fa Lao said to his fellow disciples, and they were about to walk forward when they were stopped.

"And what gives you the authority to act like this in my house,

" Said Wu Teng as he blocked their path.

"Teng! You cannot speak like that!

" Zhen Sui said as she felt anxious.

"No, brother is right this time,

" Wu Hei agreed.

"The Tri cauldron peony sect cannot do anything till they explain to us what this is about.

" He added.

Lin Mu looked on in silence and kept standing there. He didn't want to act until there was a problem.

Yi Deng turned his head towards the two Wu brothers and a scowl appeared on his face.

"Let me tell you what has happened and then you tell me if it's worth it. My former chief disciple and one of the junior elders of the Tri cauldron sect, Fa Shiu had been missing for the past few weeks. There was utterly no news of him and the disciples that accompanied him in the task that they were doing.

We waited and waited but received no news or message from them, until today. Fa Shiu appeared at our courtyard alone and explained to me what had happened. There is a large conspiracy being committed against our sect and its disciples.

The accompanying junior disciples didn't go missing, they were killed!

" Yi Deng explained.

~gasp~

A collective gasp spread in the audience as they had not thought someone would have the gall to do something like this.

"But if both Fa Shiu and the Juniors went missing, why did only he return?

" Wu Hei asked.

"He was the only one that was able to escape. He told me that a group of strong Core condensation realm cultivators had hunted them at that time and wanted to rob them. They killed the juniors and Fa Shiu barely escaped by the skin of his teeth.

Even after escaping, he was continued to be hunted down and had to hide many times. He was being spied on constantly even in the southern town and was able to give them a slip due to using a precious talisman.

" Yi Deng answered.

Confused expressions appeared on both Lin Mu's and Wu Hei's faces. But Wu Hei's masked his rather quickly and nodded his head to show as if he had understood.

"Alright then peak master, this is quite reasonable.

" Wu Hei replied and looked at Wu Teng.

"Let them go, elder brother.

" He added.

"Fine. If you say so.

" Wu Teng said in an unwilling tone and let the disciples do their task.

Lin Mu on the other hand was trying to figure out how the story had changed like this.

'How did it become from me killing them to a group of strong core condensation realm cultivators hunting them?' Lin Mu wondered.

"I think I can tell why.

" Xukong suddenly spoke.

"Oh? Please do tell senior.

" Lin Mu replied.

"It seems like the junior elder Fa Shiu tried to save face by twisting the story. This way not only would the sect take his words more seriously, but they would not lose their reputation in the sect that way. If he was not able to defeat even a qi refining realm cultivator with his cultivation base at the core condensation realm, I believe he may have even been punished.

Besides, his lie actually seems more plausible than you killing all of them single-handedly and chasing the junior elder for his life. Even the sect would have doubted them if he said that he was hunted by you, I think.

" Xukong explained.

"Wait, so that means… I'm pretty much free from suspicion?

" Lin Mu asked.

"For now, yes. But if he had truly seen your face during the fight, I'm pretty sure he would have accused you. Thankfully, your swift action has not only prevented that but even saved you from suspicion.

" Xukong replied.

Lin Mu nodded his head in acknowledgment as he now found the entire thing a bit ridiculous.

Wu Hei was also laughing internally, as he was able to guess the entire premise too. After all, the people that were hunting and spying on Fa Shiu were the Hei corps. And of course, he knew the 'group of core condensation realm cultivators' was none other than Lin Mu.

'Seems like this junior elder made a grave mistake by not admitting the truth to the peak master. Had he told him that, even if he had disappeared, the Tri cauldron peony sect would have been looking for the culprit. But now his disappearance has sealed the fact.' Wu Hei thought.

He then turned his gaze towards Lin Mu and wondered, 'still… how did he disappear right in front of everyone?'

Wu Hei tried to recall the sequence of events and realized that the time of Fa Shi's disappearance and Lin Mu's punch that destroyed the ring coincided.

'Did he do it somehow? But how? I'm pretty sure he never left the ring… no wait… could it be?' Wu Hei pondered as a few names appeared in his mind.

The more Wu Hei thought about it, the more fear he felt. For the cultivator that could manage to make someone disappear like that, right under the nose of a Nascent soul realm cultivator along with more than a hundred others would be a Herculean task.

There were only a few people that could do it according to his understanding, and everyone on that specific list was a terrifying person that even the patriarch of the Tri Cauldron peony sect would not dare to slight.

~sigh~

A sign escaped his lips as he muttered to himself,

"the sect has either dropped the Axe on their own foot or is about to do that.

"