94: Chapter 94 The Final Chapter of the Return Journey

Just as dawn was breaking, Lin Muchen and Shen Yueru packed their things, extinguished the campfire, and continued their journey.

This last stretch of the road went quite smoothly, without any more trouble cropping up.

By noon, the familiar silhouette of the Qinglan Sect's mountain gate appeared in their sight.

"We're here," Shen Yueru said with a sigh of relief.

"Yeah, let's split up," Lin Muchen said. "You go hand in your mission, and I'll go to the Mission Hall. Enter through the side gate, don't use the main entrance. Keep a low profile."

"Understood."

The two split up near the Sect's side gate. Shen Yueru headed toward the female Disciples' area, while Lin Muchen made a turn and headed straight for the Mission Hall.

There weren't many people in the Mission Hall, just two Disciples on duty who were yawning.

Lin Muchen walked over and placed the bag containing the mist hiding grass on the counter.

"Handing in a mission. Collecting mist hiding grass."

The Disciple on duty opened the bag, looked inside, and counted.

"Thirty-four stalks, exceeded the requirement. Five hundred base Sect points, an excess reward of one hundred and forty, totaling six hundred and forty. identification token."

Lin Muchen handed over his identification token.

The Disciple swiped a few times on a jade tablet and returned the token.

"Done, the points have been recorded."

Lin Muchen took the token and turned to leave.

System, bring up the points panel.

[Current points: 3,040.]

Not bad.

Without stopping, he went straight back to his residence.

He closed the door and slid the bolt into place.

"System, exchange for an 'Intermediate Isolation Formation Plate'."

[Confirming exchange for 'Intermediate Isolation Formation Plate'. Consuming 2,500 points.]

[Exchange successful.]

[Current point balance: 540.]

A palm-sized black Formation Plate appeared in his hand, covered in dense silver patterns.

Lin Muchen placed the Formation Plate on the floor in the center of the room, then pulled the Ledger out of his Storage Pouch and placed it right in the middle of the plate.

Next, he took out several Low-Grade Spirit Stones and placed them into the slots around the Formation Plate according to the positions indicated by the System.

"Activate."

He injected a trace of spiritual power into the center of the Formation Plate.

Buzz—

The silver patterns on the Formation Plate instantly lit up, forming a faint silver light shield that tightly enveloped the Ledger.

The light shield flickered a few times before stabilizing.

It's done.

Lin Muchen could feel that the faint, uncomfortable aura that had been emanating from the Ledger was now completely cut off.

It was as if it had vanished from the world.

"System, scan it. Can you still detect the aura of the Ledger?"

[Scanning...]

[No aura leakage from the Ledger detected.]

[The Intermediate Isolation Formation Plate is operating normally. It can effectively block all detection methods at or below the Foundation Establishment Stage and has a strong interference effect on Golden Core Stage detection.]

Perfect.

Lin Muchen breathed a sigh of relief.

This thing was a ticking time bomb, but now he had finally managed to cut the fuse for the time being.

He sat down cross-legged and closed his eyes.

His consciousness sank into his Dantian.

Origin Star.

Chen Tribe.

The tribe was quite lively; men were reinforcing the fences, women were processing game, and children were running around in the open spaces.

Elder Yan was squatting by the altar, drawing something on a wooden board with charcoal.

"System, exchange for 'Simple Early Warning Rune Network (Tribal Perimeter)' and 'Reinforced Fence Blueprint (with Simple Strengthening Runes)'."

[Confirming exchange. Consuming 540 points.]

[Current point balance: 0.]

[Items have been deployed near the altar of the Chen Tribe on Origin Star.]

Two animal skin scrolls appeared out of thin air next to the altar.

Elder Yan was startled and hurriedly knelt to kowtow, muttering prayers under his breath.

After a while, he cautiously opened the animal skin scrolls and began to read.

After reading for a bit, his eyes lit up. He stood up and shouted a few times toward the tribe.

Soon, several young men ran over.

Elder Yan pointed at the animal skin scrolls, explaining with both words and gestures.

The young men nodded and split up to take action.

Some of them took one of the scrolls and began burying small stones carved with runes around the perimeter of the tribe.

Others followed the blueprints on the other scroll, starting to chop trees and process lumber to replace and reinforce the existing fences.

Lin Muchen "watched" for a while, and after confirming they could understand and execute the instructions, he withdrew his consciousness.

The defensive System now had a basic framework; it could be slowly perfected later.

He opened his eyes and looked out the window.

It was still early.

It was time to handle the next matter.

Lin Muchen stood up, leaving the Intermediate Isolation Formation Plate and the Ledger in the room—since they were protected by the Formation, they were safe.

He went out and circled around behind the female Disciples' area, following the location Shen Yueru had mentioned earlier.

That area was indeed remote and overgrown with weeds; almost no one ever went there.

He found the abandoned storeroom.

The door was broken, leaning crookedly against the frame.

Inside, it was piled high with broken wooden boards and rotten baskets, smelling of mildew.

Shen Yueru poked her head out from behind a pile of junk.

"Over here."

Lin Muchen walked over.

Shen Yueru moved a few broken crates, revealing a wooden cellar door on the ground behind them.

She lifted the cover, revealing a ladder underneath.

"Go on down. I'll keep watch up here."

Lin Muchen nodded and climbed down the ladder.

The cellar wasn't large, only about ten feet square, but it was quite dry.

In the corner stood a broken table and two old chairs, with an oil lamp on the table.

Shen Yueru also climbed down and replaced the wooden cover.

She lit the oil lamp.

The dim yellow light illuminated the cellar.

"Is this place okay?" Shen Yueru asked.

"It's fine, hidden enough." Lin Muchen pulled over a chair and sat down. "I've handled the Ledger, using a Formation to isolate its aura. It should be safe to take it out and copy it now."

"Then let's begin."

Lin Muchen took the Ledger out of his Storage Pouch—before coming out, he had temporarily deactivated the Formation to retrieve it.

He then took out the blank booklets, brushes, and ink he had prepared beforehand.

Each taking a booklet, they faced the Ledger and began to transcribe it stroke by stroke.

The cellar was very quiet, with only the rustling of brush tips across paper and the occasional crackle of the oil lamp's wick.

The Ledger contained quite a lot of content; besides names and amounts, there were also some simple transaction records and dates.

Lin Muchen memorized the information as he copied it.

Commander Zhao's name was indeed in there, appearing quite a few times.

But besides him, there were other names. Looking at their official titles, some were from other departments in Black Rock City, and there were even the names of two Outer Sect Deacons from the Qinglan Sect.

"Good grief," Lin Muchen whispered. "This water is even deeper than I thought."

Shen Yueru had seen it too, and her expression was not good.

"I've heard of these two deacons; they usually seem quite upright."

"Appearances can be deceiving," Lin Muchen said. "Keep copying."

The two stopped talking and buried their heads in their work.

After copying for about two hours, they finally finished the last page.

Lin Muchen put down his brush and stretched his wrists.

Shen Yueru also let out a long breath.

"Finally finished copying."

Lin Muchen took the two copies and carefully cross-referenced them with the original Ledger.

The content was identical; no issues.

He put the original Ledger back into his Storage Pouch.

"I'll keep the original. We'll each take a copy and hide them separately," Lin Muchen said. "Find a place in this cellar to bury yours. As for mine... I'll find another spot."

"Okay."

Shen Yueru took one of the copies, dug a small hole in the corner, wrapped the booklet in oilcloth, buried it, then leveled the earth and stepped on it to pack it down.

Lin Muchen also put away his copy.

"Alright," he blew out the oil lamp. "We have cards in our hands now. Next, let's see how Commander Zhao makes his move."

The two climbed out of the cellar, replaced the wooden cover, and moved the junk back to its original place.

When they stepped out of the storeroom, it was already getting dark outside.

"Let's head back," Lin Muchen said. "Keep a low profile lately. Cultivate when you should, do missions when you should, and act as if nothing happened."

"Mm." Shen Yueru nodded. "Contact me immediately if anything happens."

The two split up and headed back separately.

As Lin Muchen walked back to his residence, he went over the day's events in his mind.

The Ledger was handled, the copies were made, and the Origin Star's defenses were strengthened.

Everything that needed to be done was done.

Next, it was just a matter of waiting.

Waiting for the wind to rise.

Or waiting for the storm to blow over.

He pushed open the door to his room.

The Intermediate Isolation Formation Plate was still running, and inside the silver light shield, the Ledger lay quietly.

Lin Muchen closed the door and slid the bolt into place.