Walker Of The Worlds

Chapter 3980: The Women’s Baths

Xukong immediately burst out laughing.

Lin Mu’s expression darkened. "Don’t."

"Hahaha!"

"I said don’t."

"You have spent all this time pretending to be an ancient elder, and your secret route into the Core Court happens to be through a women’s bathhouse."

Lin Mu ignored him.

The directions had clearly been written by Zhenyu himself. Yet there was a possibility that the surrounding buildings had changed during the intervening hundred thousand years. Lin Mu compared the current terrain with the old descriptions and found several discrepancies.

The surface layout had changed and the buildings had been rebuilt as several structures had been moved. The location of the bathhouse itself was slightly different from the one described in Zhenyu’s records, but the underlying formation structure remained remarkably similar.

Lin Mu stared at the ground. "At least they haven’t changed the arrays."

He used Phase and slowly descended. And the moment he entered the bathhouse’s underground foundations, Lin Mu became extremely cautious.

Female cultivators tended to maintain particularly strong defensive awareness in places where they believed themselves to be secure. Even though the bathhouse was located within the Core Court, Lin Mu had no intention of discovering exactly how sensitive their spiritual senses were.

If he were discovered here, explaining himself would be incredibly troublesome.

Xukong’s laughter returned. "You should do some reconnaissance."

Lin Mu immediately understood the tone. "No."

"How can you refuse such an excellent opportunity?"

"I am here to investigate the Records Division."

"You could investigate the bathhouse first."

"Senior."

"What?"

"Stay quiet."

Xukong chuckled while Lin Mu continued through the ground.

Then he reached the next problem. The hidden entrance described by Zhenyu was apparently beneath a hot spring. Lin Mu stared through the stone with his spatial perception finding that the spring above was enormous.

It almost resembled a small lake as steam drifted across its surface, and the sound of conversation echoed through the cavernous bathhouse. Lin Mu’s expression became complicated.

"Of all places." Lin Mu sighed.

Xukong was practically laughing himself breathless. "You have to admit, this is impressive."

"I am going to pretend you said nothing."

Lin Mu carefully activated his Spatial Perception and observed the surroundings through the stone. Several groups of female disciples were relaxing in the spring and the conversations were surprisingly lively.

"Did you hear? Elder Sister Lan finally rejected that fellow from the Sword Hall."

"Again?"

"Apparently he sent her another gift."

"What did he send this time?"

"A hundred Mirror Jade flowers."

A few women laughed.

"That’s three times now."

"Four."

"Four?"

"She returned the previous three."

"Then why does he keep sending them?"

"Because he is an idiot."

More laughter followed while Lin Mu quietly moved past.

Xukong spoke inside his mind. "Interesting."

"Don’t."

"You aren’t even listening."

"I can hear everything."

"Then you should know that the Sword Hall fellow has apparently been rejected four times."

Lin Mu’s face twitched. "Senior."

"Fine, fine."

He continued while Lin Mo also laughed, apparently having been woken up from his own cultivation.

"This looks interesting." Lin Mo spoke.

"Don’t you start too!" Lin Mu warned him.

Another group was discussing a recent mission.

"I heard three people from the Beast Taming Division were injured."

"Only three?"

"Apparently the Immortal beast they were trying to capture had already reached the Seventh Tribulation Stage."

"That explains it." Someone sighed. "I swear, those Beast Taming disciples are insane."

Another voice replied, "They have to be. Who else would willingly chase a beast into a poisonous swamp?"

The conversation shifted again while Lin Mu did his best to ignore everything. He had absolutely no interest in the gossip. Xukong apparently had plenty.

"You know, this is quite informative."

"About what?"

"The sect."

Lin Mu paused as Xukong’s voice became slightly more serious.

"People reveal more when they believe nobody important is listening."

Lin Mu considered that for a moment and realized he was right.

So Lin Mu began paying attention again, filtering through the conversations for useful information. Several topics concerned current sect affairs, recent promotions, conflicts between departments and various elders.

He learned more than he expected.

Then Xukong spoke again. "That one sounds interesting."

"Which one?"

"The group discussing the Core Court’s disciplinary affairs."

Lin Mu listened as several female disciples were discussing an elder who had apparently been reprimanded after losing control of his weapon during a recent expedition. While another conversation concerned a senior disciple who had secretly left the sect without authorization.

Then came something Lin Mu found genuinely useful.

"The Law Division has been unusually busy recently."

"Because of the Wild Peak incident?"

"Probably."

"They really caused a mess."

"I heard High Elder Shatter Peak destroyed three buildings."

"Three?"

"Three."

"He’s always been like that."

Lin Mu’s expression became serious as even here, the Wild Peak incident was being discussed. That confirmed how widespread the disturbance had become. He continued moving.

Eventually, Lin Mu reached the location described in Zhenyu’s notes. Several ordinary-looking stones rested beneath the hot spring and Lin Mu carefully examined them.

’The formation is still here.’ He was relieved.

He tapped the stones in the precise sequence recorded by Zhenyu before the formation activated and a spatial distortion formed beneath the spring. Lin Mu immediately stepped through.

The transition lasted less than a breath before he arrived in the hidden archives. Lin Mu barely had time to turn around before he sensed several powerful fluctuations and his expression changed.

’Someone has noticed!’

The activation of the spatial compression gate had produced a brief fluctuation despite the ancient formation suppressing most of its traces. Aura’s had flared outside as several cultivators were approaching.

Lin Mu’s eyes narrowed. "That was faster than I expected."

Xukong chuckled. "Perhaps they noticed you."

Lin Mu glanced toward the entrance. "Perhaps."

The auras grew closer and Lin Mu immediately suppressed his aura further and slipped into Phase, disappearing into the wall.

Outside, several voices could be heard. "I felt a spatial fluctuation."

"Here?"

"Yes. It came from this area."

"Search carefully."

Lin Mu remained perfectly still and his immortal sense spread through the walls. Three cultivators were approaching and all three were female. Their cultivation was considerably higher than the disciples in the bathhouse.

Lin Mu’s eyes narrowed as this was going to require considerably more care than he had expected.

He had entered the Core Court searching for the records concerning Deng Siqi, the Hopeful Star Pavilion and the deeper history of the Heavenly Stream Guardian Sect. Instead, within the first few minutes, he had nearly been discovered because of a secret passage hidden beneath a women’s hot spring.

Lin Mu sighed internally. "This place really doesn’t want to make things easy."