Lin Wu had originally thought of digging down and hiding that way. But after learning from the system before that the Core condensation realm cultivators can use spirit sense to observe things with ease, even things that are hidden inside ground or rocks, he knew that it would be a bad idea.

They would definitely see the hole that would be left behind upon digging and he would also take some time to get to a certain depth. Considering his current size, even if he were to shrink before digging down, it would take up time, which he did not have.

Their speed also seemed to be rather great, and he knew that he had to act quick. There were few reasons why someone like core condensation realm cultivators would be coming to a dangerous area like this, and Lin Wu already knew one of them from the memories of the Half skeleton that he had eaten.

Lin Wu started to shrink at a rapid pace and started to use as much spirit qi as he could at once to speed up the process. It had taken him a while to shrink to half of his full size before, and he didn't have that time right now. The suffocating feeling was still there, and it was even worse than before because of the speed Lin Wu was shrinking at.

"Dammit! Just a bit more, quick, quick!" Lin Wu gritted his teeth in pain.

Finally, he had reached the smallest size that was possible for him right now and that too in less than thirty seconds. But Lin Wu was also at the edge of passing out because of pain and was barely hanging on. He looked at the counter and snapped out of the fainting spell.

25… 24… 23…

The count was going down quick and Lin Wu could even faintly hear the sound of wind tearing from the distance. It was evident that the fifteen core condensation realm cultivators were flying towards him.

'Let's just hope this works or I'm dead…' Lin Wu thought to himself.

He then triggered the innate skill of cellular crystallization along with cellular manipulation and started to change the shape of his body. Right now, Lin Wu was about two meters long and slightly less than two inches thick in diameter.

Lin Wu inserted the end of his tail into the ground and was now changing the segments of his body to change to become slightly elongated form from the previous circular one. The segments were created that way so that Lin Wu was able to move around flexibly, but now he was doing something that would result in an opposite action.

Small protrusions arose from the joints of his segments, and they interlocked with each other. This led to his body becoming stiff like a rod. His body became erect, as if it were a flagpole that was planted into the ground.

The timer window was now flashing red, and the numbers had reached the final two digits.

10… 9… 8…

"Just a bit more…" Lin Wu thought with pain.

Lin Wu had done some extensive modifications to his body, which would have been impossible if it were not for the upgrades to the proficiency levels of the innate skills brought about by the consumption of the bloodline samples.

Lin Wu now focused on the final part of his body that was the head. He started to elongate it while narrowing its width. He then extended two sharp spikes from the base of his head that were exactly at the opposite sides.

His head kept on becoming narrower until it started to look like a spear blade. And just the second that Lin Wu did this, the timer came to an end.

3… 2… 1… 0

WARNING!: Dangerous targets in sight.

The final warning resounded in Lin Wu's mind as he reeled from the pain. Although he had completed the process he had started, the danger was not over yet. His survival now depended on whether his disguise was good enough or not.

~Phew~

The sound of a sharp wind blowing came from behind Lin Wu as he looked in that direction. He could see the fifteen silhouettes that had appeared on the horizon. They were all dressed in robes that looked luxurious and pristine.

'They don't seem to be from the Royal court of the Ling Kingdom, their clothes are different from those in the memory. Who are they then? Some other organization or perhaps just a group of locals?' Lin Wu wondered.

Lin Wu saw one of the cultivators pointing towards him and speaking to the man that was in the front. The man seemed to have agreed to whatever he had said and approached him. Finally, the entourage of the fifteen cultivators came to land in front of Lin Wu in his modified form.

"Young master Shirong look!" The man who had pointed at Lin Wu before spoke.

"Oh? Bei Wen you were right, seems like a treasure alright." The man who was addressed as Shirong replied.

The man was about to walk forward when another one of the men suddenly shouted.

"Young master Shirong wait! It is not safe. We do not know if it is dangerous or not." The man warned.

Upon listening to the man's warning, the person called Shirong stopped in his tracks.

"Hmm, you are right. This is a forbidden area, we should be a bit more cautious who knows what dangers are hiding where." Young master Shirong said, "Ye Dai, you go and check that spear." He ordered.

"As you command, young master!" The man named Ye Dai said while tapping his chest with his fist.

He then went forward and scanned Lin Wu with his spirit sense.

~Ding~

——

WARNING!: The host is being probed by a hostile spirit sense... masking spirit qi fluctuation as defensive measures. The host will not be able to utilize spirit qi in this state.

——

'What? There's a feature like this too?' Lin Wu said internally.

"Whoa, cold!" Lin Wu yelped in his mind as he felt the cold fingers of the man suddenly being wrapped around his body.