1954 Departing The Serene Glass Valley

Lin Mu took the gifts from the two and checked them.

The Talismans that Shuijing Mingzhu had made were mostly defensive, and support talismans. She knew more than enough, offensive talismans won't be of help to Lin Mu at his level. And it wasn't like she could make strong enough talismans that matched him either.

The only thing she could do was make multiple defensive talismans of various properties. Of course, she also knew that Lin Mu's defense was high but she didn't think it was all encompassing.

As such, she made him defensive talismans against the Five basal elements, and also the wind, and lightning elements. In addition to these, she also made some talismans that could defend him from things like cold, poison, and even ambushes.

For the supportive talismans, she made a few False Mirroring Talismans, which allowed one to create illusory clones of oneself, as well as a few Qi isolating talismans that would avoid one being sensed by immortal sense.

"Thank you for the talismans." Lin Mu replied with gratitude. "They'll come in handy." He said before moving on to the books.

The books that Shuijing Ju had gotten were of various types, though none of them were cultivation techniques or skills. They were mostly filled with information about some materials, or herbs.

Though Lin Mu also found a book that basically several memoirs of cultivators compiled into one. This interested Lin Mu, as there were often some unique bits of information that would go unnoticed by most.

"Thank you for the books too. These weren't in the library so it's always good to have more of them." Lin Mu thanked Shuijing Ju. "I'll be reading them soon."

Having stored all the gifts away, Lin Mu was now ready to leave.

"I'll take my leave, Head Elder Heng, Shuijing Mingzhu, Shuijing Ju…" Lin Mu finally said. "I hope to see you all in the future." 

"We hope the same, Daoist Mu Lin!" Shuijing Ju said out loud.

"Please visit the Serene Glass Valley again." Shuijing Mingzhu requested earnestly.

"Know that you'll always have a place here at the valley." Head Elder Heng said with a smile.

Lin Mu smiled at them before leaving the hall. He directly flew up and made his way to the south. This time, he was actually going to leave through the proper exit of the Serene Glass Valley. However it also helped that it was on his route anyway.

He didn't rush either, taking the chance to look at the Serene Glass Valley one last time. The place was rather calm today, and not many people noticed him flying through the sky. 

And when he reached the gate, he didn't even have to stop. The Head Elder had already added him to the formation array of the Serene Glass Valley, and as such, the gate allowed him free entry and exit. 

~huu~

"That was a nice visit." Lin Mu said, while a smile appeared on his face.

~Shua~

Little Shrubby appeared in a flash of light, and grew to his full size.

"Are we leaving?" He asked.

"Yeah, time to continue our journey." Lin Mu nodded his head. 

"Let's go. Time to find new ingredients and food!" Little Shrubby was excited, as he knew a new place meant new opportunities.

"Mmhmm, next stop is the Evergreen Pillars Forest." Lin Mu said and got onto Little Shrubby's back.

~WHOOSH~

Then in the next second, the two turned into a red blur and soared across the skies. The forest below them passed like a sea of green and brown, the valley turning into a dot behind them. 

Between the Serene Glass Valley and the Evergreen Pillars forest, there was a buffer area of about three hundred kilometers. This area was mostly filled with weaker beasts and also had the official roads going through them. 

'That's where we would have come from if we took the 'proper' route to the Serene Glass Valley.' Lin Mu identified.

The path below him forked into two. 

One path went up north to the Serene Glass Valley, and one went further south towards the Evergreen Pillars Forest. And if one took the path to its origin, they would end up at the Minor Mite Mountains again.

Lin Mu observed everything as they continued to fly and also kept an eye out for anything interesting. After all, there were bound to be some materials that they could come across.

Sadly, there was nothing good enough to arouse Lin Mu's interest.

'Guess it makes sense that this is the official road. If there was anything here, it would have already been taken by those that passed through here.' Lin Mu thought to himself.

The man and beast continued to fly and could soon see the change in the flora.

"So that's the Evergreen Pillars Forest…" Lin Mu muttered, feeling awestruck.

The topography changed drastically, as all the mountains, hills, and forests disappeared. Replacing them was a sea of green pillars that extended as far as Lin Mu's gaze went. These pillars were many times taller than the normal trees in the area, and could easily reach 500 meters at the smallest.

~WHISTLE~

"Only the Violet Mystic Life Tree might be comparable to their height." Lin Mu said, seeing the Bamboo trees.

And these weren't even the tallest ones.

Far, far in the distance, Lin Mu could see that the 'pillars' were only getting taller. They were tall enough that the entire horizon had been obscured and Lin Mu had to fly higher up to see just how far they went.

"Damn… those are over two kilometers tall!" He estimated. 

It was definitely a breathtaking sight for Lin Mu.

~sniff~ sniff~

"I smell beasts… lots of them." Little Shrubby informed. "Some are strong too." He added.

"Hmm, how strong?" Lin Mu asked. 

"Fifth Tribulation Stage of the Immortal Realm." Little Shrubby estimated after a second. 

"I see. And how far is it from where we are?" Lin Mu asked next.

"Very far. I can only sense old scents here. The traces are probably from months ago." Little Shrubby answered.

"Alright, doesn't seem like it'll be a problem for us." Lin Mu replied, thinking about the situation.

While he didn't fear getting into a fight against a beast like that, what he didn't want was to battle in unfamiliar territory. There was no saying if something unexpected could happen in the Evergreen Pillars forest, and Lin Mu knew better than to go in blind.

It was best to be aware of the area and know a little about it before they engaged in wild combat.

Besides, Lin Mu also had a different goal this time.

His goal was to practice the Litany Of The Verdant Forest.

And for that, he needed to be undisturbed.

As such, it didn't make sense to cause chaos in the forest and paint a target on his back. After all, the death of a strong beast would lead to other beasts trying to take over the area and expand their territory. And since Lin Mu's scent would be there, it was likely they would come seek him out.

The more intelligent beasts would also see him as a threat and would want to get rid of him.

Though the same problem wouldn't apply to Little Shrubby, as he was a beast himself, and would only be seen as more of a competition.

"Let's head in." Lin Mu said after having observed the area enough.

"Okay." Little Shrubby said and flew down.

They didn't want to bring too much attention, and as such, didn't fly above the Bamboo forest. Doing that would only make themselves stand out, and the beasts and other denizens would become aware of them. 

Another thing was that Lin Mu felt like there was something more to the forest as there were no other beasts flying above it.

'If not even bird beasts are flying above it, it could mean there is some danger to it. Best not to do it until I know more.' Lin Mu thought to himself.

~thud~ thud~

The two landed on the ground and decided to walk on foot. 

"Shrink down, Little Shrubby. It'll be easier for you to maneuver in the forest." Lin Mu suggested.

"Alright." Little Shrubby replied and quickly shrunk.

He didn't turn into a normal sized cat though. Instead, he became the size of a normal panther. It was the perfect size for the forest and would allow him to move with no issues between the densely packed bamboo trees.

Lin Mu spread his Immortal Sense to the maximum and walked into the forest. His Immortal Sense observed everything within a ten kilometer area around him, allowing him to learn what was present.

"So this is the Evergreen Pillar Bamboo…" Lin Mu muttered and placed his hand on one of them.

It was about a meter thick, and five hundred meters tall. 

Compared to normal bamboo, it was massive, but compared to the others in the forest, it was on the smaller side.

But that wasn't all, as Lin Mu also felt a decent amount of Wood Element from them.