Walker Of The Worlds

Chapter 3976: A Classic Secret Entrance

Lin Mu looked around. "The Records Division doesn’t know this place exists for sure."

The thought seemed obvious. If someone knew about an ancient archive hidden beneath the division, they would surely have maintained it properly. Records were precious, especially ancient records.

They needed to be protected from moisture, insects and decay. A room this damp would eventually destroy anything made from ordinary materials. Lin Mu’s gaze eventually settled on what appeared to be a wooden board covering one wall.

He walked toward it and a quick sweep of his immortal sense revealed the truth.

"Huh." He smiled. "That’s the back of a bookshelf."

The arrangement was almost comically classic. A hidden room with a secret passage and a bookshelf concealing the entrance. Lin Mu chuckled before placing one hand against the wooden surface.

He pushed and the entire bookshelf shifted backward with surprising smoothness. There was no grinding sound. The moment it moved aside, Lin Mu saw another room beyond it and he stepped through.

As soon as he crossed the threshold, the bookshelf slowly returned to its original position.

Click.

A formation activated making Lin Mu turn his head and examine it. The mechanism had locked the shelf in place. He could already tell that opening it from the inside would be easy. From the outside, however, a specific sequence was required.

"No wonder it was hidden all this time." Lin Mu’s spatial perception swept across the bookshelf. "There is even a befuddling array added here using the books themselves."

The arrangement was clever. The books sitting on the shelves appeared completely ordinary. Most were ancient records concerning cleaning supplies, maintenance schedules and servant duties from approximately eighty thousand years ago.

Their pages were yellowed, their covers faded and their contents were painfully mundane. That was precisely what made them effective. Several letters carved onto the spines were actually formation runes.

They were positioned so subtly that someone looking through the shelf would assume they were simply old writing. Together, those runes formed a small befuddling array. It did not force anyone to leave and it did not create some elaborate illusion, it simply encouraged the mind to overlook the bookshelf.

Someone searching the area might glance at it and think it was an old storage shelf. Someone with sharper senses might inspect it and conclude that it contained nothing valuable. The array subtly directed attention away from the hidden entrance.

Lin Mu found himself appreciating the craftsmanship. "The creator really did think this through."

He stepped deeper into the archive and this section was far larger than the hidden room.

Rows upon rows of shelves extended into the dimly lit darkness. Some were made of wood, others of stone, while a few appeared to be constructed from metal. Jade slips, books and various other recording mediums filled the shelves.

The air was still but there was an almost oppressive silence here. Lin Mu released his immortal sense and began searching. He was looking for a particular chronological range. Zhenyu had existed more than one hundred thousand years ago, and Lin Mu already had a rough idea of where that period should fall in the sect’s historical records.

Several minutes passed before Lin Mu finally found it. His eyes settled on a large stone plaque.

"Elder Archives, Section Twelve." He smiled. "This should be it."

The Records Division had divided its ancient archives according to eras. There were more than a hundred such sections, each covering a particular period or category of historical information.

Section Twelve corresponded closely to the era in which Junior Elder Zhenyu had lived.

Lin Mu stepped inside and he did not bother reading everything individually. Instead, he used his immortal sense to open several books at once as pages turned rapidly and information flooded into his mind.

The sect’s records concerning Zhenyu were extensive and his early life was recorded first.

Mengli Zhenyu had been born into a small cultivator clan within the Heavenly Stream Guardian World. His family was relatively insignificant compared to the major clans of the sect, and his recruitment had been entirely ordinary.

He had been discovered during one of the sect’s regular recruitment periods but his talent immediately stood out. His cultivation speed was excellent and he was shown to have high comprehension too. His body cultivation talent was particularly impressive.

The records also mentioned his personality. The man was arrogant, showed erratic behavior at times and extremely confident in his own abilities.

Lin Mu’s expression became slightly amused. "That sounds familiar."

The descriptions aligned closely with what Zhenyu himself had admitted in his recording. The sect’s records naturally presented things from a different perspective.

Where Zhenyu described himself as talented and overly ambitious, the sect records described him as difficult to manage. Where Zhenyu remembered conflicts as ordinary disagreements, the records frequently mentioned disciplinary disputes, disagreements with elders and arguments with fellow disciples along with some physical fights.

Still, the two accounts matched surprisingly well and Lin Mu continued reading.

Zhenyu’s accomplishments began accumulating rapidly as he completed missions at a remarkable rate and accumulated merits by defeating powerful opponents and contributing to several battles. His body cultivation advanced alongside his Qi cultivation.

Yet despite his accomplishments, his personality continued to cause problems. The records showed that his promotion had been delayed repeatedly. Eventually, however, his accumulated merits became impossible to ignore.

The sect granted him the position of Junior Elder.

Lin Mu nodded. "That matches what he said."

He continued scanning and then he reached the final section. The record concerning Zhenyu’s disappearance. Lin Mu’s expression became serious as the information was surprisingly concise.

He read it slowly.

’Junior Elder Mengli Zhenyu petitioned the sect for permission to undertake a prolonged journey for training and secluded cultivation. Permission was granted but contact with the Junior Elder was lost shortly after his departure.’

Lin Mu continued.

’Search parties were dispatched after one year without communication. No trace of Junior Elder Zhenyu was discovered. His whereabouts remain unknown.’

He paused before his eyes moved to the next entry.

’One hundred years after his disappearance, the soul lamp belonging to Junior Elder Mengli Zhenyu weakened and extinguished. Junior Elder Mengli Zhenyu is presumed deceased.’