Seeing the message from Little Shrubby sent a wave of excitement through Lin Mu's body and he couldn't wait to meet him. 

"Do you want to wait here?" Jing Luo asked.

"No, we'll continue onwards. Little Shrubby will catch up with us before we even finish half our journey to the capital." Lin Mu replied.

"Very well. It doesn't matter since we can't match his speed anyway. Haha." Jing Luo chuckled.

The two of them started flying again while Lin Mu kept on checking up on Little Shrubby. He could feel the link between them strengthen by the minute, just a little. But that little amount was still enough to make him feel happy.

'It means he's getting closer.' Lin Mu thought to himself.

It also made him wonder about another thing, just how large little shrubby was now.

"Oh yeah, you were the last one who saw little shrubby, right? How big is he now?" Lin Mu questioned. "Was he bigger than the time I was still awake?" 

"Yeah, he did grow a bit after you entered seclusion." Jing Luo replied.

"Ah, I see." Lin Mu nodded his head.

Though despite hearing this, Lin Mu had a hunch that he might be in for a surprise soon.

But there was another thing that happened which Lin Mu had not expected, even after half a day had passed, Little Shrubby had yet to reach him. Jing Luo felt the same and was a bit concerned.

"This is strange. With his speed, he should have reached us in this time from the frontier." Jing Luo spoke. "Did he get caught up somewhere?" He wondered.

Lin Mu closed his eyes and felt Little Shrubby, still sensing the link getting stronger.

"No, he's certainly getting closer. And it has been a constant speed from what I can tell." Lin Mu replied.

"Hmm… that's strange." Jing Luo furrowed his brows but then an idea appeared in his mind. "Unless… he went beyond the frontier?" 

"Beyond the frontier? Did you tell him to do that?" Lin Mu asked.

"No… going beyond the frontier would be of no use. Or rather it could cause more problems. The barrier there is something we know little about. It was made later on and is set up by the Northern Tribes, so there can be some unknown traps around and beyond it." Jing Luo replied.

"A barrier? You mean the pear's belt?" Lin Mu asked, finding it unknown to him.

"No, this barrier is new. It wasn't there before. We don't know when exactly it was made since no one has actually entered the forbidden continent in many centuries, but our guess is that the Northern Tribes set it up for something entirely else." Jing Luo replied.

Lin Mu thought to himself and wondered why the northern tribes would do something like this. After all, they were the 'prisoner' and the wall was built to keep them in. Why would they build a wall of their own?

But then it struck Lin Mu.

"No way… can it really be that simple?" Lin Mu muttered in disbelief.

"What? What did you think?" Jing Luo inquired.

"If someone reached the Immortal Ascension realm, for example… the other stronger cultivators in the Great Zhou continent, maybe the sects or at the very least the three Ancestors of the top three sects should have felt it, right?" Lin Mu asked, knowing that Jing Luo should have some more information about being from the Jing clan or at least a basic understanding.

"Yes. They will very much know it! It is no joke when someone reaches the Immortal Ascensions realm. From what I learned from Grandfather a long time back, the very skies themselves would call out the day someone reached the Immortal Ascension realm.

There won't be a tribulation, but every cultivator in the world would sense something had happened, even if they were merely at the Qi refining realm. The very spirit Qi of the world would shake and tremble at the birth of another Immortal Ascension realm cultivator." Jing Luo answered detail.

"Just as I thought… Then let me ask you this… would it be possible to hide something like this?" Lin Mu asked.

Jing Luo's brows rose up high before furrowing deep into a valley as his expression darkened. He too guessed what Lin Mu was getting at with his words here.

"Hiding the phenomenon… it hasn't been done before. Though I guess that was because there was no reason to hide something like that… but I reckon with enough preparation, study and resources, a formation array could be set up that could restrain all this. 

Perhaps even completely isolate the region where the cultivator is having a breakthrough." Jing Luo explained.

"Seems like that's it then… it was right in front of us too…" Lin Mu muttered, finding it ironic.

~Sigh~

"Seems like we were fooled… this entire time." Jing Luo spoke.

"What can I say? It was the obvious thing to think of… But I guess the Northern Tribes really did outplay us. No one would expect them to do something like this." Lin Mu agreed.

"Though… doing something like this won't be easy. The level of skill needed to make a formation array like that. I can only estimate it would need someone on my level." Jing Luo replied.

"The Northern Tribes have done far greater things in the past with their knowledge of formations. Perhaps they even got some knowledge from the higher worlds on how to set up better ones that could be made by weaker cultivators.

Though despite all that, the Northern Tribes certainly did have talent with formations." Lin Mu stated.

"Hmmm… We'll need to inform this to the alliance. Can you send me to the Kong plane?" Jing Luo asked.

"Sure." Lin Mu replied.

~shua~

The runes shone on his back and took both of them to the Kong plane where Jing Luo quickly sent a quick message to the alliance and both of them returned.

But when they did, they found a shadow towering over their location.

"Huh?" 

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