Walker Of The Worlds

Chapter 3981: Sneaking In The Archives

Lin Mu did not hesitate.

The moment he realized that the spatial fluctuation had attracted the attention of the people outside, he immediately suppressed every trace of his presence and moved deeper into the archive complex.

He had no intention of testing how much trouble he could cause in the Core Court, especially when he had only just arrived and had yet to accomplish what he came here for.

The current problem was particularly inconvenient because the spatial compression gate had deposited him inside what appeared to be an administrative section of the Records Division rather than the actual deep archives.

The corridors around him were lined with rooms filled with shelves, desks and sealed storage chambers, and although there were records everywhere, most of them seemed to concern the day to day operation of the division.

Requests, transfers, cataloguing, verification, preservation and countless other mundane matters filled the area. Lin Mu scanned the surroundings with his immortal sense and quickly realized something else.

"These walls are troublesome."

The formations embedded throughout the structure were considerably more sophisticated than those he had encountered in the Inner Court. Several layers had been built directly into the walls and floors, and many of them specifically interfered with spatial movement.

In some places Lin Mu could use Phase without difficulty, while in others the moment he tried to extend his spatial perception through the wall, he felt a faint resistance. The formations were designed to prevent unauthorized movement through the structure, and considering this was the Core Court, that made perfect sense.

He quietly moved through one corridor, then another, staying away from the areas where he sensed people. Every few moments he had to stop and wait as a disciple or servant walked past. Several times he reached a wall that should have allowed him to pass through with Phase, only to discover that the entire section had been reinforced by an anti-spatial formation.

"Who designed this place?" Lin Mu frowned. "It feels like they’re trying to stop someone from walking through every single wall."

Xukong chuckled inside his mind. "They probably are."

Lin Mu sighed and continued forward, relying on his immortal sense to map whatever sections he could reach.

Unfortunately, the situation became increasingly inconvenient. The female elders who had detected the earlier spatial fluctuation were still searching. Their movements were careful and systematic, and they were clearly treating the disturbance as something that required investigation.

Lin Mu could sense them sweeping through nearby corridors, checking rooms and asking people whether they had seen anything unusual. He eventually reached a corridor that left him with very few options.

Ahead of him was a large office. Several disciples were inside, sitting behind desks and sorting through stacks of records. Shelves lined the walls, and the entire room seemed to be occupied by people performing their duties.

Lin Mu could easily enter, but doing so would mean appearing in front of several witnesses. Behind him came the faint footsteps of the female elders and Lin Mu glanced over his shoulder.

"They’re coming." He looked toward the office again. "There isn’t enough room to sneak through."

For an ordinary cultivator, this would have been a terrible situation. For Lin Mu, there was still one option.

"Fade." His figure blurred and space around him rippled for a brief moment before his body disappeared into the parallel dimension.

The world changed as everything became distorted and strange.

Lin Mu stood within the parallel dimension and immediately felt the familiar sensation of separation from reality. The surrounding world became difficult to perceive properly, and the ordinary corridors he had just been standing in disappeared and the area was just a grey expanse.

He had used Fade many times before, yet this particular situation was considerably more complicated as he had no idea exactly where he would emerge. Still, remaining there was safer than being caught.

Lin Mu began moving while his mind reconstructed the layout he had memorized from Zhenyu’s records.

The old Junior Elder had provided directions to several sections of the Core Court archives, though the descriptions were more than a hundred thousand years old. The structures had undoubtedly changed during that time.

"Hopefully they haven’t changed the core structure at least." Lin Mu continued forward as thirty seconds was all the time he had.

He pushed himself farther through the parallel dimension, trying to align his current position with the older map inside his mind. Then the familiar sensation appeared reminding him that the skill was ending.

Lin Mu’s eyes narrowed. "Here goes nothing."

Fade ended and the world snapped back into place as Lin Mu appeared in the real world.

Unfortunately, his timing was terrible as his first step forward collided directly with someone.

Thump!

"Ow!" The person stumbled backward and fell onto the floor.

Lin Mu immediately looked down and saw that a young man wearing the robes of a Core Court Records Division disciple sat on the ground, staring up at him with an expression of shock and anger.

"What the..." The curse had almost escaped his mouth but then he saw Lin Mu.

More specifically, he saw the robes, then the enormous figure and finally the aura of an elder. The disciple’s mouth slowly closed and his expression changed several times in quick succession.

"Who... who are you, Elder?" The man spoke.

Lin Mu’s mind immediately became active as this was his first direct interaction with anyone while pretending to be Junior Elder Zhenyu. He had expected something like this eventually. He simply had not expected it to happen because he had appeared directly in front of someone after traveling through a parallel dimension.

He looked down at the disciple before he narrowed his eyes.

"Oh?" His voice was stern. "Is this how our disciples behave when bumping into an elder?"

The disciple froze. "I..."

Lin Mu folded his arms. "You collide with me, fall onto the floor and then stare at me as though I am the one who caused the disturbance?"

The disciple’s face became pale. "No, Elder, I didn’t mean..."

"You didn’t mean what?" Lin Mu raised an eyebrow.

The disciple swallowed. "I didn’t mean to bump into you."

"Obviously." Lin Mu’s expression became even more severe. "If you had deliberately bumped into an elder, your punishment would be considerably worse."

The disciple’s eyes widened and Lin Mu could almost see the man’s brain desperately trying to calculate what had just happened.

"Forgive me, Elder."

"Hmph." Lin Mu turned his head away as though the matter was beneath his attention.

Then he glanced back. "Which section is this?"

The disciple blinked. "This?"

"Yes." Lin Mu pointed around. "Where else would I be asking about?"

The disciple immediately scrambled to his feet. "This is the western administrative archive of the Records Division, Elder."

Lin Mu nodded slowly. "I see."

He looked around as though inspecting the place while the disciple waited nervously.

Lin Mu then asked, "Who is currently responsible for this section?"

"Senior Disciple Yu."

"Who?"

The disciple hesitated. "Senior Disciple Yu Han."

Lin Mu nodded again. "I remember him."