Walker Of The Worlds

Chapter 3883: Sneaking Within The Vault Prison

Phase would fail here as Formation barriers naturally interacted with spatial fluctuations. Attempting to phase through them would immediately trigger their defensive mechanisms.

Flicker, however... Worked through an entirely different principle.

Rather than existing within another dimensional layer, Flicker momentarily displaced Lin Mu’s position itself. The movement lasted less than a heartbeat. For almost everyone, that duration would accomplish very little.

But for Lin Mu it was more than sufficient.

SHUA

He activated Flicker and his figure blurred. For less than a second, the prison barrier ceased to matter and Lin Mu reappeared outside the cell. The entire process finished before the surrounding formations could even complete a response.

Little Bull calmly turned around and looked back at the sealed prison. The barrier remained perfectly intact, and the cell still appeared occupied.

At least until someone looked inside.

Lin Mu quietly brushed the remaining dust from his tattered robes. He quietly glanced down the empty prison corridor while the barrier behind him remained completely intact. From the perspective of the prison formations, everything still appeared perfectly normal.

The cell door was closed and the arrays remained active. Nothing had triggered an alarm.

A faint smile appeared on Lin Mu’s face. ”It seems Flicker truly was the correct choice.”

He looked in the direction Taegong had departed. ”I should at least learn what he intends to do.”

Being falsely imprisoned was troublesome but remaining ignorant would be far worse. Lin Mu quietly walked through the corridor and his footsteps produced almost no sound. He deliberately slowed his pace and every few steps he paused to inspect the surrounding formations.

The prison possessed layers upon layers of defensive arrays.

Most were sealing formations, several strengthened the walls while others reinforced the prison cells themselves. There were also surveillance arrays woven into the structure, though they did not appear particularly active.

Lin Mu extended his Immortal Sense and the familiar resistance immediately met him. The prison completely isolated perception. His Immortal Sense could barely expand beyond his immediate surroundings before striking another invisible wall.

He withdrew it. ”Expected.”

Fortunately... Immortal Sense was only one of the methods available to him.

Lin Mu activated Spatial Perception and the world transformed. The prison walls became translucent outlines as Formation arrays appeared as intricate webs woven throughout the mountain.

Their structure spread in every direction like glowing roots beneath the earth.

Most importantly, living beings disturbed the surrounding Spatial Fabric in subtle ways. Lin Mu carefully examined everything around him but saw nothing, no cultivators, guards or even servants.

The entire prison seemed deserted.

”So, I’m alone.” He quietly continued forward as several minutes passed.

The corridor eventually reached a staircase carved directly into the mountain. Lin Mu paused and saw that there were no branching passages or side chambers. The staircase represented the only path onward.

”He must have gone up.” Lin Mu carefully inspected every step before climbing.

His attention remained focused upon the surrounding formations. If Taegong truly controlled this entire area, there should have been detection arrays capable of reporting unauthorized movement.

He found surprisingly few.

Several sealing formations crossed the staircase but none reacted toward him.

He stopped midway and studied them more carefully. ”They’re active.”

The arrays certainly functioned as Lin Mu could see energy flowing through every rune. Yet, nothing acknowledged his presence.

A possibility slowly formed within his mind. ”Is it because I’m not recorded in it yet?”

The prison arrays clearly had not accepted Little Bull as an official prisoner. Taegong had thrown him into a cell but he had never completed any formal registration process. Perhaps the prison still considered the cell empty.

Lin Mu quietly nodded. ”That would explain it.”

If so, his window of opportunity remained open only until Taegong officially entered him into the prison records. Lin Mu increased his pace slightly and the staircase ended a short while later.

A modest corridor appeared before him.

Unlike the prison below, this level felt almost domestic. Several sturdy wooden doors lined one side of the hallway and formation lamps illuminated everything with a warm golden light. Lin Mu approached the nearest door.

Spatial Perception confirmed the room beyond stood empty so he quietly opened it.

The hinges barely made a sound before Lin Mu stepped inside.

”A bedroom.”

The furnishings were simple, consisting of a large wooden bed, several cabinets, a bookshelf containing a few cultivation manuals and clothing neatly folded upon a nearby chair. The room appeared occupied.

Nothing suggested luxury and it all seemed to be practical.

Lin Mu quietly left.

The second room proved equally straightforward. ”This should be a cultivation chamber.”

The floor contained circular qi gathering and vitality channeling formations. Several training dummies stood along one wall and Weapon racks remained mostly empty while the vitality and qi within the room felt considerably denser than outside.

Taegong, likely cultivated here regularly.

Lin Mu closed the door once more.

The third room contained shelves reaching almost to the ceiling. There were boxes, Jade slips, Formation materials, spare robes and various other supplies.

”A storage room.” Nothing unusual.

The final door remained.

Lin Mu slowed his breathing and Spatial Perception extended toward the room. At first, he almost missed it as the presence concealed itself remarkably well. Ordinary perception would have mistaken it for another formation fluctuation.

Only because Spatial Perception observed disturbances within the Spatial Fabric itself did Lin Mu notice something different.

A mass of Qi that was small but far too unstable to be an array. It was clearly a person.

”He must be inside.” Lin Mu carefully studied the room’s protective formations.

The entrance possessed a barrier strong enough to stop ordinary intruders. The interesting part lay elsewhere. The formation concentrated entirely upon the doorway. The surrounding walls lacked internal sealing arrays.

Lin Mu’s lips rose in a faint smile. ”A convenient design.”

He activated Flicker and for the briefest instant his body bypassed the doorway’s barrier. Immediately afterward, he entered Phase and his figure merged directly into the stone wall.