Chapter 3500: Obsolete Directions
Chapter 3500: Obsolete Directions
"...The Butterfly Kingdom?" the staff member repeated slowly.
"Yes," Elyon said. "The capital city."
The man hesitated, then shook his head. "I... don’t recall such a place."
Elyon blinked. "You don’t?"
"No," the man said, looking slightly embarrassed. "I’ve worked here for decades. I can’t recall a Butterfly Kingdom."
He turned to another staff member nearby. "Do you know where the Butterfly Kingdom is?"
The second man frowned deeply, thinking hard. After a few seconds, he shook his head as well. "No. Never heard of it."
They asked a third.
Then a fourth.
Each response was the same.
"I don’t know."
"I’ve never heard of it."
"Are you sure that’s in this world?"
The atmosphere grew strange.
Meng Bai glanced at Lin Mu. "Uh... Master?"
Lin Mu’s expression had grown serious.
Elyon’s brows furrowed as he replayed memories in his mind. "That can’t be right. The route data was clear. Fifteen Ryze World. Butterfly Kingdom Capital."
Daoist Chu crossed his arms. "Unless the data is outdated."
The chain of questioning eventually reached a supervisor, an older man with graying hair and a perpetually tired expression. He listened to their question, frowned deeply, then shook his head as well.
"I don’t know of any Butterfly Kingdom," the supervisor said. "Not in the current era."
Lin Mu’s eyes narrowed. "Current era?"
The supervisor paused, then seemed to realize something. He hesitated, then said, "Wait."
He turned and walked toward a back room, motioning for them to wait. Several minutes passed before he returned, carrying a stack of old records and ledgers.
Dust puffed into the air as he placed them down and began flipping through them, his fingers moving carefully, reverently even.
"...Here," he muttered after a while.
He looked up at them.
"There was a Butterfly Kingdom," the supervisor said slowly. "But it fell over a hundred years ago."
The words landed heavily.
"...What?" Meng Bai blurted out.
Elyon stiffened. "Fell?"
"Yes," the supervisor said. "The Butterfly Kingdom collapsed roughly one hundred and twelve years ago."
Silence followed.
Lin Mu looked at Elyon. "Was our route wrong?"
Elyon shook his head immediately. "No. I confirmed it at the departure hall. The route leads to the Butterfly Kingdom’s capital."
Then his expression shifted.
"...But," he added slowly, "that route data might not have been updated."
Daoist Chu nodded grimly. "Given how little traffic this world sees, it’s entirely possible the route remained active even after the destination ceased to exist."
Lin Mu exhaled through his nose. "Meaning we followed correct instructions... that were obsolete."
Cattaleya clicked her tongue. "Great."
Lin Mu turned back to the supervisor. "Where was the Butterfly Kingdom located?"
The supervisor flipped a few more pages. "On another continent. South of here."
"How far?" Lin Mu asked.
"At least three months of travel," the man replied. "That’s assuming normal immortal flight."
Lin Mu nodded calmly. "That won’t be an issue."
Cattaleya smirked. "Little Shrubby could do it in days."
"Still," Lin Mu continued, "is there a teleportation array leading there?"
The supervisor shook his head. "Not directly. The only teleportation array that goes toward that region is located in the last city on this continent’s southern shore."
"And how long to reach that city?" Daoist Chu asked.
"A month," the supervisor replied. "At best."
Lin Mu frowned slightly.
The path ahead was no longer straightforward.
They had arrived expecting a kingdom and found ruins instead. The destination they needed no longer existed, and the infrastructure leading to it was fragmented, outdated, and slow.
Still, Lin Mu inclined his head respectfully. "Thank you. This was helpful."
The supervisor nodded. "If you wish to learn more, Blue City would be your best bet. There are scholars there. Merchants. People who travel more."
"That’s what we’ll do," Lin Mu said.
The group turned and left the Teleportation Hall once more.
As they rose into the air and flew toward Blue City, Lin Mu looked ahead, his mind already adjusting.
This journey, it seemed, was about to become far more complicated than expected. Thankfully, getting to the city was no issue and they reached Blue City in barely a few minutes of casual flight.
No rush, no pressure, no need for speed. Lin Mu barely felt the distance pass beneath his feet as the land rolled by, sparse forests giving way to cultivated fields and then, finally, clustered rooftops.
And as soon as the city came into view, the reason for its name became immediately obvious.
Blue.
Almost every roof was blue.
Not the same shade either. Some were deep sapphire tiles that caught the sunlight and reflected it softly. Others were faded cerulean, washed pale by time and weather. A few were almost teal, while others leaned closer to indigo.
From above, the city looked like a calm pool of layered blues, broken only by narrow streets and the occasional courtyard garden.
Meng Bai squinted as they hovered briefly above the outskirts.
"...This shouldn’t be called Blue City," he said slowly.
Lin Mu glanced at him. "Oh?"
"It should be called Blue Town."
Cattaleya snorted.
Lin Mu didn’t immediately disagree. Instead, he let his Immortal Sense spread, taking in the full scope of the place. The walls. The streets. The buildings. The people moving below.
"It is a city," Lin Mu said after a moment. "Just... not by Immortal Realm standards, I guess."
They descended gently and landed just outside the city gates, choosing to enter on foot rather than drawing unnecessary attention. From the ground, the scale of Blue City became even more apparent.
The entire city was barely five kilometers across.
From one wall to the other, Lin Mu could practically see the curve of it if he focused. There were no towering districts, no vast clan compounds, no floating pavilions or suspended markets. The tallest structure was a watchtower near the eastern wall, and even that would barely qualify as a modest building in most Immortal cities.
"For a mortal world," Lin Mu continued thoughtfully as they walked toward the gate, "this would be a perfectly respectable city."