856 The Fifth Floor

Having learned new things from Senior Xukong, Lin Mu felt a little better and the slight depressive state he had after the fight had faded away. Learning new things would always fix his mind and help improve his mood.

"You should head on now. It's not good to tarry anymore." Xukong reminded Lin Mu.

"Ah yes!" Lin Mu said and jumped into the gap that had been created in the formation array.

While it seemed like Lin Mu had talked to senior Xukong for a while, in reality, it had barely been five seconds since he split open the formation array, thus it didn't seem that different to the others that were watching.

~shua~

Ten seconds after Lin Mu entered the formation array, it closed up behind it and went back to its normal state. Lin Mu looked at it and nodded his head.

"Just as I thought. The moment meld's effect ended, the split formation array's realigned." Lin Mu muttered.

While it did look like Lin Mu had destroyed the formation array, it was not so. Rather than that, he had simply dislocated them and expanded the space between them. Meld was still working and the sword intent was simply used to force the opening to be created.

Other than that, the fomentation array was intact. What Lin Mu had done here was the same as him ripping open the barrier surrounding the ruins. Expect here the target was a complex formation array that would cause a lot of damage to him and the surroundings if he attacked it directly, unlike the relatively simple barrier.

In simple words, he got the same result using a different method.

Once Lin Mu was gone and the formation array closed behind him, the disciples were nervous.

"Will he be fine?" A male disciple questioned.

"If he was sure of doing this, he should be fine." Someone answered.

The disciples looked at the person who was none other than Jing Luo and nodded their heads. Here Jing Luo was the closest person to Lin Mu. Of course, this excluded Little Shrubby, but he wasn't exactly a 'Person'.

"Though… is it just me, or did Senior Lin Mu look different?" A male disciple questioned.

"What do you mean?" His companion asked.

"Now that I think of it… he did seem 'bigger'." A female disciple chimed in.

"He did! Didn't he?" The male disciple agreed.

"Nonsense. How can he just grow bigger all of a sudden? You two must be mistaken." Another disciple said in a dismissive tone.

The two disciples who seemed to be in agreement, looked on awkwardly and realized that it did seem unlikely to have happened.

"I think it was just the robes that he was wearing that made it seem like that. He changed them from the ones before." The disagreeing female disciple added.

"Oh yeah, that must be it. Those robes were probably the cause." They said after thinking for a bit.

Jing Luo who had heard this little conversation too, thought over it and felt like Lin Mu was different as well.

'Hang on… his shoulders got wider. They are a bit closer to my own now.' Jing Luo realized.

***

While the people were having different thoughts and conversations outside of the Formation array, Lin Mu was looking around the fifth floor.

"This is wider than the previous one… though still smaller than the third floor." Lin Mu said as his spirit sense spread around and assessed the area.

He realized that there were some areas where his spirit sense could not enter and was being restricted, similar to the upper floors.

On top of him existed the formation array which formed the roof of the entire floor. Unlike the previous one, it was always active and visible here. Its layers could also be seen far more in detail.

Lin Mu could see run down rooms in front of him. Most of them seemed to be closed, but a few of them had doors that had either crumbled over time or had completely disappeared. He turned back and saw a dimly lit passage at the other end of which he could only see a dark blue sphere.

A cold and unease aura radiated off the sphere, and he felt like he should not approach it carelessly.

"Is that what's being hidden by this tomb?" Lin Mu wondered.

While he felt like he should check it right away, he knew that was not the right choice.

'I should see what else exists here. Going there straight might just be a trap, after all this place was controlled by Kushao for a long time. Who knows what he has done with it.' Lin Mu reckoned.

With that in mind, Lin Mu decided to check the rooms in front of him first. There were easily over fifty rooms here currently and they were all of similar sizes. Walking into the first room that had no door, Lin Mu could see some ruined Stone furniture.

There was what clearly looked like a bed and a shelf carved into the wall itself. Then there was a mottled cloth lying on the floor, which turned to dust the moment Lin Mu stepped onto it.

"Just how old is this stuff?" Lin Mu couldn't help but question.

Having observed that there was nothing in this room, Lin Mu went on to the next one.

'This one still has its door intact.' Lin Mu thought.

He placed his hand on the door handle and pushed it as hard as he could. At first, it was a bit difficult, but once he added some extra force, it finally moved.

~CREAK~

A very rough grating sound was heard and it felt like gravel was being crushed. Dust fell from the door and a couple of seconds later, it finally opened.

The moment Lin Mu stepped into the room, he flared his nose.

"That stinks!" Lin Mu said as he held his breath.

He looked around and saw a similar layout to the previous room, except one addition. There were a couple of pill bottles kept on the shelf.