Chapter 3715: The Forges Go Cold And Guessing Game |
Among Lin Mu’s companions, only a few knew his real age.
The beasts knew.
The Saintess knew.
Xukong obviously knew.
But none of them had ever bothered mentioning it.
As for Lin Mu himself, he simply never thought it mattered.
Still, now that the topic had appeared, everyone became curious.
Meng Bai rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
"It must be a significant number if they are celebrating it this seriously, right?" he guessed.
For immortals and high level cultivators, birthdays were rarely celebrated every year like mortals did.
Most cultivators below the Immortal Realm only celebrated every hundred years or at particularly auspicious ages. As for immortals, celebrations every thousand years were more common.
Anything less than that often felt trivial.
Thus the others naturally assumed Lin Mu was reaching some major milestone.
Jing Wei, however, merely smirked into his mug.
Meng Bai instantly noticed.
"You know!" the boy accused immediately.
"Of course I know," Jing Wei laughed.
"Then tell us!" Meng Bai pressed.
Jing Wei shook his head leisurely.
"No."
"Senior!" Meng Bai complained.
Jing Wei only seemed more amused afterward.
Even Daoist Chu became interested. .
"You might as well tell us," the old daoist said. "Now I am curious too."
Still Jing Wei refused.
He had long since realized none of them knew Lin Mu’s actual age.
And now that he had noticed this, he suddenly found the situation extremely entertaining.
After a while, even Cattaleya joined in.
"At least give us a clue," she demanded.
Jing Wei pretended to think deeply.
Then finally he raised one finger.
"There is a one in the number," he declared.
The room went silent.
Meng Bai blinked several times.
"That helps absolutely nothing," Daoist Chu muttered.
Jing Wei laughed loudly.
The group immediately began guessing afterward.
"A thousand?" Meng Bai asked first.
Daoist Chu frowned slightly.
"That feels... strange," he admitted.
Lin Mu was clearly talented and young by immortal standards, but after everything they had experienced together, imagining him as over a thousand years old somehow felt wrong. Besides, his personality did not match it either.
Elyon spoke thoughtfully afterward.
"Ten thousand then?"
This time everyone rejected the idea instantly.
"No chance," Cattaleya snorted.
"He’s insane," Daoist Chu said. "But not ten thousand years old insane."
Jing Wei nearly spat out his ale hearing that.
Still, no matter how much they questioned him afterward, he refused to answer.
And eventually the discussion devolved into increasingly ridiculous guesses.
Meanwhile, the dwarves continued preparing enthusiastically.
Entire streets within Mantleheim became decorated with carved metal banners and glowing rune lanterns. Massive tables were assembled near the central district. Lava resistant stone platforms were raised for drinking contests, wrestling matches, and musical performances.
Several rune dwarves even created floating formations that projected giant fiery symbols into the air above the city.
One particularly enthusiastic fireforge dwarf tried creating an enormous flaming sculpture of Lin Mu using molten metal.
Unfortunately, it ended up looking more like an angry goat headed man wielding a hammer.
The sculpture was immediately mocked by the entire district.
Still, the atmosphere only became more lively afterward.
As for gifts, the dwarves took the matter strangely seriously.
At first many thought of forging something for Lin Mu.
But after remembering the weapons he had already created alongside the elders, they slowly abandoned the idea.
Trying to gift Lin Mu an ordinary immortal weapon after helping forge Stasis and Collapse felt almost insulting.
Eventually the dwarves settled on a different approach.
Some searched their ancestral storages for rare treasures.
Others brought ancient wines.
Several offered unusual minerals or artifacts gathered from distant worlds.
A few older dwarves even donated treasured mugs and drinking horns that had remained within their families for generations.
Meanwhile, the dwarven elders who had stayed behind near Lin Mu eventually learned about the celebration too.
After discussing briefly among themselves, most of them returned to Mantleheim to assist with preparations.
Only a single elder remained behind to wait for Lin Mu.
And over time, even that elder started feeling increasingly awkward.
Especially after seeing the growing scale of the celebration.
Two weeks passed quietly like this.
Inside the ring, Lin Mu continued observing Xukong’s work attentively.
The process truly was astonishing.
The spatial formations woven into Stasis became increasingly complex over time. Lin Mu slowly started recognizing fragments of their purpose. Some controlled energy flow. Others stabilized spatial conversion. Several acted as layered restraints.
And deeper within the spear, he could sense something else too.
A sleeping presence.
The faint trace of consciousness within the spear had indeed been sealed carefully.
By the end of the second week, the process was finally complete.
Xukong slowly withdrew his threads.
"There," the giant spider said calmly.
Lin Mu immediately took Stasis and inspected it carefully.
The changes were subtle.
From the outside, the spear looked almost identical.
Yet internally, it had transformed greatly.
Lin Mu tested it directly within the ring.
This time, when he infused ordinary elemental Qi into the spear, it no longer converted automatically into Spatial Qi. The energy flowed naturally while the deeper spatial properties remained dormant beneath the seals.
It was perfect for Meng Bai.
Lin Mu smiled.
"Thank you, senior."
Xukong merely nodded lazily.
"It is a good weapon," he replied. "Take care of it."
Lin Mu bowed respectfully before withdrawing his consciousness from the ring.
Back outside, his body slowly opened its eyes.
The lone dwarven elder waiting nearby immediately straightened up.
"You are finally awake!" the elder said.
Lin Mu stood slowly while storing the spear away.
"Sorry for the wait," he apologized politely.
The elder waved his hand hurriedly.
"No problem! No problem at all!"
Still, Lin Mu quickly noticed something odd.
The elder was acting strangely.
Far too strangely.
The old dwarf kept glancing away awkwardly while scratching his beard repeatedly.
Several times he looked like he wanted to say something before stopping himself.
Lin Mu narrowed his eyes slightly.
"Is something wrong?" he asked.
The elder froze for half a second.
Then he laughed loudly in an extremely forced manner.
"Wrong? Nothing wrong! Absolutely nothing wrong!"
Lin Mu stared at him silently.
The elder sweated slightly.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" he complained.
Lin Mu’s suspicion only deepened.
Something was definitely happening.