Lin Wu approached one of the checkpoints where the cultivators were standing around. There were no other people at this checkpoint, unlike the other ones due to this being a rarely used route.

"HALT!" The cultivator at the front shouted.

"Who are you? State your identity." They asked while their spirit sense spread towards Lin Mu.

Lin Mu could tell that one of these cultivators was at the core condensation realm and that was the one who was using his spirit sense. 

"Greeting, I am Wu Lian a wandering cultivator." Lin Mu said giving a fake name.

The core condensation realm cultivator sensed his cultivation base and a serious expression appeared on his face. 

"He's at the peak stage of the core condensation realm," He whispered to his companions.

They too showed similar expressions and became even more alert.

"What is your business here?" They asked.

"My business? Oh, it is just…" Lin Mu said and started chanting.

A second later the eyes of all the cultivators went dull, and they entered a daze. There were ten cultivators here but all of them had been affected at the same time. Lin Mu had used nothing but the severing heart sutra.

He had not seen its effects after he reached the peak stage of the core condensation realm and thus had expected it to be much stronger than before. And that was exactly what happened here.

'Go ahead, little shrubby.' Lin Mu said through his link.

~Zoom~

In the next moment, a blur passed by them, but they did not notice it. Lin Mu glanced and saw that Little Shrubby had already gone far enough and stopped chanting the severing heart sutra.

"… I'm here to visit the city and buy some things. I need to get spirit tools and also sell some of the resources that I do not need anymore." Lin Mu continued.

"Huh?" The cultivators felt a bit strange for a moment and looked around.

"Is there a problem?" Lin Mu asked with a friendly smile.

"No… nothing. So what did you say again?" The core condensation realm cultivators asked.

"Oh, I said I was visiting the capital city to buy and sell things." Lin Mu repeated.

"Hmm… wait a little bit." The cultivator replied before turning to his companions.

"Check and see if he matched anyone wanted or blacklisted." He said.

"Yes, senior." The others replied and looked through some information that was stored in a jade slip.

It took them a minute before they spoke again.

"Everything seems normal, senior," they replied.

The core condensation realm cultivator nodded his head and looked at Lin Mu.

"Give me your communication jade slip, it needs to be marked before you can enter the capital's region. Entering and exiting the city will require this mark and if you lose your jade slip, you will have to pay a fine and may even have to go through a trial if any convictions are found to be made against you." He explained.

"Alright, that will be fine." Lin Mu said before handing him his communication jade slip.

The core condensation realm cultivator took it and placed it on a small table that was kept to the side. The top of the table was made of metal and some carvings could be seen on it.

~shua~

Some runes appeared from the table before embedding themselves into the jade slip. After that was done, the core condensation realm cultivator picked up the jade slip and handed it back to Lin Mu.

"Can I go ahead now?" Lin Mu questioned.

"Yes, you can." The core condensation realm cultivator replied.

Lin Mu nodded his head and jumped into the air, where a short sword appeared below his feet. 

~Zoom~

He flew past at a great speed, leaving the cultivators behind who finally lifted their serious expressions.

~phew~

"Senior, who was that? Have you heard of any wandering cultivator that is at the peak stage of the core condensation realm?" one of the junior companions asked.

"From the name he told us Wu Lian, I can't recognize him. If my memory serves right, there isn't anyone that is in any of that tame in the cultivation sects either so he is telling the truth about being a wandering cultivator." The core condensation realm cultivator answered.

"Shouldn't he have been a bit more famous? It's like he never existed. From his appearance he looks young too, probably in his forties." Another disciple said.

"Hmm… that is true. Though now that we have this information we can update the sects about it." The core condensation realm cultivator stated.

"I'll do it right away, senior." One of the juniors replied before talking out a commutation jade slip and holding it.

He closed his eyes for a few seconds and then opened them. "I've sent the information ahead."

***

Lin Mu landed after going a sufficient distance away from the cultivators. He soon spotted little Shrubby, who was waiting in a small patch of trees.

"Let's go ahead." Lin Mu said and got onto his back.

Lin Mu had to circle around the perimeter of the blockade till he found a checkpoint where there were fewer people guarding. He didn't want there to be additional public as his plan would have probably not succeeded then.

Lin Mu didn't exactly know how many people he would have been able to affect using the Severing heart sutra and thus had tested it out on some beasts that he found nearby. He was able to control fifteen of them at once, but they were all weak beasts that were at the body tempering realm. 

Thus Lin Mu estimated that he should be able to control at least that many cultivators as well. And thankfully the checkpoint he had found had only ten cultivators guarding it, which had made his work easy for him.

Lin Mu's plan was to actually do what he had said to the cultivators at the start. It was just that he would be buying more things than just resources in the city. He hoped that his identity would not be found out for a while, but he knew that it would eventually be found.

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