Chapter 440 - A Speedy Ride
Morning came and Lin Mu woke up with the prodding of Little Shrubby. The sky was rather gloomy today and thick clouds could be seen. Lin Mu stood up and stretched a bit before being pulled by little Shrubby to cook.
Little Shrubby had already gone out beforehand and hunted some beasts for them to eat.
"Well… this will save us some time." Lin Mu said before beginning to cook the meat.
Soon they finished the breakfast and Lin Mu got prepared to leave. Today would be the first time he would be returning to civilization in a long time. He had spent a lot of time in isolation and even with senior Xukong being there; he now desired to see some other humans.
Though he knew he would ha be to be a lot more cautious, as there was no saying what was going to happen out there.
Lin Mu was now sitting on the back of Little Shrubby and tightly holding onto his fur.
"You ready, master?" Little Shrubby asked.
"Yup, let's go." Lin Mu answered.
This was the idea that Lin Mu had gotten yesterday. He had seen now little shrubby was faster than the spirit sword and how it could carry heavy beast corpses in his mouth and run at the same pace with no problem.
This led Lin Mu to believe that he may be able to ride Little Shrubby and travel that way. He thus asked him about this a few minutes ago, and the beast agreed right away.
"Start a bit slower and speed up as I tell you." Lin Mu added.
He knew that if Little Shrubby started sprinting from the very start, he would be sent back flying due to the momentum. He needed to hold on tight so as to be safe. Lin Mu watched on as the trees around him became a blur and wind assaulted his face.
~WHOOSH~
His hair fluttered in the wind as Little Shrubby ran through the forest. It jumped from tree to tree, traveling in a straight line. Lin Mu leaned a bit forward so as to reduce the wind resistance and squinted his eyes to see ahead.
The incoming wind had made it hard for him to see, but soon he got suede to it.
"WOOHOO! This is amazing!" Lin Mu cried out in joy.
A few minutes had passed and by now Lin Mu had gotten habituated to the current speed of little shrubby.
"You can go faster now," Lin Mu said.
"Okay," Little Shrubby replied before speeding up.
~Zoom~
The wind tore as little Shrubby leaped over the trees, its red fur shining under the rays of sunlight that escaped from the gaps of clouds. Beasts were scared as they felt him approach and made way for it.
While running like this little Shrubby's aura was in full display and waves of spirit Qi were emanating from his body as well. It was evident that it was now using spirit Qi to amplify its strength further. Even his spirit sense was extended out to catch the incoming obstacles before it could see them.
'His spirit sense is actually the same range as mine.' Lin Mu thought.
"You should refine your spirit sense further, I think you should be able to increase it by multiple folds by now." Xukong reminded.
"Ah yes, senior." Lin Mu responded.
He couldn't refine his spirit sense when he was in the Sleepscape and thus it had stayed the same length as it was before. Lin Mu knew it would be much easier than before to refine his spirit sense further due to the progress in his cultivation base.
Currently, Lin Mu was heading in the eastern direction and was not going to the Northern town directly. He didn't know what the situation would be like there and it also had a higher chance of having cultivators there.
Thus, the choice he had made right now was to head to the villages in the eastern part of the region. They were much smaller and mostly farmed for grains. Lin Mu knew there would be less security here, relatively speaking and the best choice for him right now.
If Lin Mu were traveling normally, even with his increased cultivation base, it would have taken him about three days to reach the village. But now, with Little Shrubby, the entire journey of hundreds of kilometers was reduced to a single day.
By the time night fell, Lin Mu could already see the farms on the horizon.
"You can stop here." Lin Mu said,
"Okay," Little Shrubby replied before slowing down and eventually coming to a halt.
Little Shrubby had learned to slow down and not abruptly stop when he was carrying Lin Mu, as when they had done this before in the afternoon, Lin Mu had been launched ahead into a tree.
He definitely did not want a repeat of that and thankfully Little Shrubby was able to stop properly. Lin Mu got down from his back and jumped on his short sword to fly up, so that he could get a clear look at the village.
It was night time, so the area was mostly dark and barely any lanterns could be seen. Because the grains had been planted, there was always a danger of the crops being burned due to an accident. Because of this, they would avoid keeping lanterns or any fire sources out near the farms.
At the center of the village where the houses were more densely packed, Lin Mu could see more light.
"I should start from there." Lin Mu muttered to himself and got down.
"You stay here for a bit, I'll call you if I need you." Lin Mu said.
"Alright." Little Shrubby replied.
Lin Mu was just about to leave, but then a thought made him stop.
He looked back at little Shrubby and spoke, "oh and no cooking. I don't want to give out our location to them."
"Okay…" Little Shrubby replied with a slightly disappointed face.
Lin Mu nodded his head and went to the village; with each step, he sank into the ground and then disappeared.