Lin Mu had learned quite a few new things while Wu Hei gathered intel for their mission.

He learned the locations of most of the sects of the Great Zhou continent and except for those that were internationally hidden, he now knew how to get to them. Some part of this he learned from the records that he had taken from the mercenary union and some from Wu Hei.

He was also getting inputs about the current situation of all the top sects and learned that they were officially getting divided into different alliances except for the top three sects.

Soon there will no longer be the top ten sects but the top four and the two great alliances. The fourth sect which was at the bottom of the top ten sects had now become a hot commodity and both, the Zither wind alliance and the Long Cloud alliance were fighting over it.

Lin Mu asked Wu Hei more about this Long Cloud alliance and found that it was being led by the Long Cloud Sect, which was the previous number four sect in the top ten sects. Lin Mu wanted to know if Gu Yao had any control over this alliance and learned that while he had some spies in them, they were still free.

This relieved Lin Mu a bit as they may be able to reel them in as allies in the latter part of their plan. But both Lin Mu and Wu Hei knew that would be quite difficult as both of them were not qualified to talk to them if one considered their cultivation bases.

At the very least they would have to be at the Nascent Soul realm to be able to accomplish that. Wu Hei had told Lin Mu that while he was at the peak stages of the core condensation realm, he was still far from the Nascent Soul realm.

It would take him a decade if not more to reach that, but if he somehow received the complete version of his cultivation technique, the Unity Reversal Secrets, he would be able to do the same in less than two years.

As for Lin Mu, he was in a dilemma. Neither Xukong nor Lin Mu knew when he would be able to break through to the Nascent Soul realm. Xukong had told Lin Mu that he will sense it when a heavenly tribulation is about to appear for him.

But so far, Lin Mu did not have even a small sign for that. Even his spirit Qi cultivation had reached a peak and he was unable to progress anymore. Not only was his core fully saturated, even his Dantian was now full.

Sleeping and using Well of Slumber also did not work for him as the extras spirit Qi that was generated only dissipated after a while. So instead of focusing on the quantitative aspect, Lin Mu decided to focus on the qualitative ones.

There were a few things that he could do for this. First was the Nameless technique of the Lost immortal which he could continue practicing. Currently, no matter how much spirit Qi he poured into it, it was like a drop in the ocean and no change could be perceived.

Then he had the body cultivation which he could still progress in. He had the mortal strengthening scripture too, which he wanted to practice but was lacking in earth elemental resources. He had already finished all the Earthen Qi pills and could only buy more resources or refine earth attribute spirit Qi of his own.

Since the spirit Qi he was generating was getting wasted anyway, he focused on refining it further into the earth attribute spirit. Since he was already in the second stage, the use for spirit Qi was quite diminished and he would need earth elemental resources to progress further.

But Lin Mu could still use the earth attribute spirit Qi to progress his Five Treasures Realm Cultivation. Since he was using the Earth attribute spirit Qi, the five treasures organ that he could refine was his spleen.

Lin Mu diligently practiced it and continued to refine his spleen with the earth attribute spirit Qi. It was now that he truly learned what the pace of cultivation was like for most people. He was progressing at a snail's pace and even after a week's of practice he had not even seen one-hundredth of a percent's change to his spleen.

"It looks like the Mortal Strengthen Scripture really isn't made particularly for Five Treasures Realm cultivation, the progress is disappointing. Do you have something else, senior?

" Lin Mu questioned.

"No I don't, sadly. Either you will have to continue with this, or find a better technique on your own. Even the reason why I knew of this technique was because it was far too widespread in many worlds. And since I didn't really need any cultivation techniques myself, I didn't bother to collect them either.

" Xukong explained.

"Seems like it is time to go and buy some resources then.

" Lin Mu replied before leaving the mercenary union.

He was now heading towards one of the shops that sold alchemical pills and resources. This was the same shop that was run by the disciples of the Tri Cauldron peony sect and where Hei Wan was working as an attendant.

It was located quite far from the mercenary union and as such took Lin Mu some time to reach. He would have directly used phase to move underground, but he also liked to listen to the passerby people's conversations.

He had been getting some really interesting information from this and was thus getting habituated with it. This was a sort of an entertainment for Lin Mu and he didn't even know why he was liking it.

But it still helped him relax a bit, which was strange as he didn't even know he was stressed. Just like this while listening to the words of commoners, Lin Mu came to stand in front of the Shop.