Chapter 445: Preparations For Tribulation

Lin Mu was on his way to the capital city of Shuang Qian Kingdom. The distance was of about ten days if one went on a horse but for cultivators that went there flying on their spirit weapons, it would take them three to four days.

But Lin Mu was gonna reach there much earlier than that. He didn't have an exact estimate since he had never been to the capital city but judging from the distance it took little Shrubby to travel previously, he was guessing a day or two.

Little Shrubby had monstrous stamina and could maintain his full speed for at least twelve hours before he had to rest for a couple of hours. Still, this was greater than a cultivator flying on their spirit weapon as depending on their cultivation base, they would have to rest after every couple of hours or risk depleting their spirit Qi too much.

Only Adult stage Nascent soul realm cultivators could fly for long periods of time on their own and were faster than Little Shrubby. But compared to an infant stage or even a child stage Nascent soul realm cultivator, he was already faster.

Lin Mu had gotten a map long ago from Wu Lim city and thus didn't need to ask anyone for directions. Not to mention that there were signboards that showed the path to the capital city everywhere on the road.

The capital city was located slightly south of the center of the kingdom. It was the largest city of course and had a lot of people living in it and around it. There was a military base located a short distance from the city and a smaller one within the city itself.

These were important points for Lin Mu, as he needed to know them if any conflict were to occur. Entering the city itself wasn't going to be difficult, and he would be able to enter just by showing his identity as a cultivator or paying some tax as a commoner.

Unlike Wu Lim city or other major cities of the kingdom, here cultivators were rather common and as such had more liberty. Though Lin Mu didn't know if they will be recording identities here as well.

He was leaning on the likelihood of it and as such would just sneak into the city if it so came to it. Thankfully, with the ridiculous amount of money he had, gathering information in the city would not be that difficult.

"The first stop in the city will be at the mercenary union's branch then. They should have an information supplying section where I can pay to get it. I don't know how much confidential information will be available but it should help me with the overall situation of the cities.

And if this contains the information about trades and shipments, I may even be able to figure out the location of Gu Yao." Lin Mu muttered to himself.

Lin Mu looked in the distance and saw another city there. This was none other than Xianwei city, which had a lot of merchants and mercenaries working here. If it were normal time, he would have even thought of visiting but right now he wanted to stick to his plan.

Unless something came up that needed him to visit the city, he would not be going there. Lin Mu was traveling through the more rugged path that was filled with trees and shrubs so as to avoid being seen. The thing was even if one did spot him all they would see is a blur but they will definitely spot him.

Till now Lin Mu had not seen any cultivator travel on beasts, thus he didn't know if he should do it openly. Perhaps the sect disciples would do it, but in this place, it may be rather unfamiliar and would only bring attention to him.

Time passed and now it was time for little Shrubby to rest. They stopped near a hill that had a few villages nearby and prepared some food while watching the people working in the distance. 

Lin Mu had already gone past the area where the winters were considered to be strong and thus the number of villages here was much higher than in the north. If one split the kingdom in half, the southern part would contain about seventy percent of the population, while the north would have thirty percent. Such was the population density of the kingdom.

The land in the south was more prosperous, and the earth was fertile due to which a lot of farming could be done here. 

After they finished eating, Lin Mu waited for Little Shrubby to rest up. He cultivated in that time and sensed his core that was fully saturated. He didn't know when the heavenly tribulation would be arriving and thus wanted to be ready for it.

"Senior, what kind of preparation should I do for the heavenly tribulation?" Lin Mu questioned.

"Hmm… there are many things that can be done. The only question is whether you can afford them or if you have the resources for them. If we take the example of a common sect disciple that was about to undergo heavenly tribulation to break through to the Nascent Soul realm, they would have elders acting as their Dharma protectors, defensive treasures that can reduce the impact of the tribulation lightning and supportive pills as well.

Some sects may even have tribulation platforms set up for their disciples. Tribulation platforms allow the cultivators to observe the person undergoing the heavenly tribulation safely without risking the chance of inviting the wrath of the tribulation themselves.

The platforms would even help reduce the power of the tribulation and depending on its specificity, would even reinforce the cultivator. But string up such tribulation platforms is expensive for smaller sects and most of them are specific depending on the cultivation technique the cultivator uses and are destroyed during the tribulation, thus becoming a single use disposable.

There are multiple use ones that can be used by nearly cultivator despite their cultivation technique, but those ones are immensely difficult to set and require the support of formation masters, alchemists, and even spirit tool refiners to set it up." Xukong explained.