Walker Of The Worlds

Chapter 3989: Establishing Dominance

The three Man Peak elders froze upon hearing Lin Mu’s sharp mockery.

One of them immediately stepped forward. "What did you say?"

"I said, your Peak apparently still produces thick-headed bulls," Lin Mu replied calmly. "Do I need to repeat it louder? Perhaps body cultivation has finally hardened the bones inside your ears."

The Sword Division elders had strange expressions now. One of them seemed to be suppressing amusement.

The Man Peak elder’s aura began to rise, but his companion grabbed his shoulder. "Wait."

"What?"

"Something is strange." The second Man Peak elder was staring intently at Lin Mu.

The strange man’s posture, confidence, and manner of speaking were entirely wrong for an infiltrator who had just been surrounded by twenty High Elders. There was no fear, and there was not even caution.

Instead, he behaved like an irritated senior who had returned home to discover that the younger generation had forgotten basic etiquette. More importantly, nobody could properly determine his cultivation.

Their immortal senses reached Lin Mu and seemed to slide across an unfathomable barrier.

They could tell that he possessed Immortal Qi. They could sense immense vitality from his body. Yet whenever they attempted to determine his exact cultivation, their perception became strangely vague.

This was naturally due to the Abyssal Horizon Veil Seal combined with Lin Mu’s preparations. To the elders, however, it produced a very different implication. The unknown man might be stronger than they had initially assumed.

Meanwhile, the sect’s response continued around them. Bright flashes appeared in the distance as additional teleportation arrays activated. Groups of disciples emerged from nearby division compounds, many riding Immortal Beasts.

Great cranes swept across the sky in formations. Massive eagles carried squads of disciples upon their backs. Several serpentine beasts slithered through the air upon clouds, while armored terrestrial beasts thundered across the plains below.

The disturbance had awakened an enormous portion of the surrounding sect territory, and hundreds of disciples were already converging upon the Mad Demon Depths. Lin Mu glanced toward them and gave a faint nod.

"At least the disciples know how to respond," he remarked but that somehow irritated the High Elders even more.

"You still haven’t answered us!" the Law Division elder snapped. "Who are you?"

Lin Mu looked back at him. "And you still haven’t corrected your manner of address."

"My manner of address?"

"Yes."

The elder almost laughed from anger. "You wear the robes of a Junior Elder."

Lin Mu looked down at his robes as though noticing them for the first time. "And?"

Several elders exchanged glances before one finally said, "Every person here is a High Elder."

Lin Mu’s face showed genuine amusement. It was the expression of an old man hearing a child proudly announce that he had learned how to hold chopsticks.

"And you think that makes you my senior?" Lin Mu asked.

Everyone was silent as the question thoroughly confused them.

According to the sect hierarchy, High Elders naturally ranked above Junior Elders. There were exceptions involving special positions, peak authority, lineage, and ancient seniority, but under ordinary circumstances the difference was obvious.

Yet this man had asked the question with such confidence that several elders suddenly began reconsidering what they knew.

Lin Mu sighed deeply. "The Heavenly Stream Guardian Sect truly has declined."

"Stop saying that!" a Sword Division elder finally shouted.

Lin Mu immediately turned toward him and at that moment the Sword Division elder felt his heart skip.

Lin Mu slowly raised one eyebrow. "Which Sword Division lineage?"

The elder hesitated before answering almost reflexively, "Falling Current Sword Hall."

Lin Mu searched through everything he had learned from the archives and then his expression became even more disappointed.

"Falling Current Sword Hall?" Lin Mu repeated. "Old Heshan’s lineage?"

The elder’s eyes widened and several Sword Division elders turned toward him.

"Old Heshan?" the elder repeated.

"Has his lineage finally learned how to keep their shoulders relaxed while drawing their swords?" Lin Mu asked. "That stubborn fool used to teach every disciple to tense their right shoulder before the first strike. I told him it made the transition into the third Falling Current stance slower, but he refused to listen."

The Sword Division elder’s expression changed completely as that was far too specific. After all, the name Heshan was ancient.

The Falling Current Sword Hall had been established by Elder Heshan over a hundred thousand years ago. Most disciples only knew him through historical records, and even among elders, few casually referred to the founder of their lineage as Old Heshan.

"Who are you?" the Sword Division elder asked again, though his tone had changed.

There was considerably less hostility now and Lin Mu noticed it immediately.

’So far so good.’ His preparation in the archives was paying off.

"Finally," Lin Mu said. "One of you remembers how to speak properly."

The Law Division elder frowned. "Knowing ancient records proves nothing. An infiltrator could have studied our history."

Lin Mu turned toward him.

"Law Division," he said slowly. "Which branch?"

"Internal Enforcement."

Lin Mu scoffed. "Of course."

The elder’s eyebrow twitched. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means Internal Enforcement has apparently remained irritating for over a hundred thousand years." Lin Mu mocked.

A few elders coughed while Lin Mu continued mercilessly. "Do you still keep the disciplinary tablets arranged according to offense category instead of chronological assignment?"

The Law Division elder stiffened and Lin Mu saw the answer immediately.

"You do," he said, sounding disgusted. "Incredible. We complained about that system when I was still new in the Inner sect. It caused three months of administrative confusion after the Seven Hall Brawl, and somehow none of you thought to change it after all this time?"

Now even the Law Division elders looked unsettled.

The Seven Hall Brawl was an obscure event. Lin Mu had found exactly three references to it within old archival documents, and Zhenyu himself had mentioned it during one of his long tangents because he had apparently participated in it.

More precisely, he had started it. But Lin Mu had wisely omitted that part.

One of the older High Elders narrowed his eyes and thought for a few seconds before he finally spoke.

"Over a hundred thousand years," he uttered in disbelief.