The barriers breaking was something a little out of expectation for both Ku Mi and Master Bell Mountain.
'I just reinforced it. How?' Master Bell Mountain was surprised.
While he knew that Lin Mu was targeting the weak points in the nodes, with the reinforcement that he had done, it should have still taken him a while more to do this. And till then, he would have reinforced the barrier once more.
In fact, Master Bell Mountain was actually changing the form of the barrier and turning it into a dome that was secretly surrounding Lin Mu. It was an illusion that made it look like a flat wall, when in reality it was only flat for a small distance and the rest was curling around Lin Mu at a certain radius.
While it was a good plan, it was unfortunately left incomplete after reaching the 60% mark. And not just that, Lin Mu directly shattered the barrier!
"DIE!!!!" Lin Mu's distorted voice was heard.
It was vastly different from his normal voice and felt like it had been scratched and turned hoarse.
"It speaks?" Ku Mi was surprised.
Lin Mu's eyes locked onto the woman and diverted towards her. She was the weakest person here and if he took her out, it would be easier facing the Immortal Ascension realm Master Bell Mountain next to her.
"Humph! You think you can harm my people in my presence?" Master Bell Mountain was infuriated.
While he was wary of Lin Mu and his demonic appearance, Master Bell Mountain couldn't just watch on and let one of his people die.
He clawed towards Lin Mu, creating waves in the air.
~DENG~
~WHOOSH~
The Ancestral Bell rang in sync and a gust of wind assaulted Lin Mu. The wind was like a large claw that pushed back Lin Mu.
But he was not one to back down from this at all. Gathering strength into his waist, Lin Mu twisted and kicked out, splitting apart the wind claw. Then, stepping on the air once more, Lin Mu lunged forward.
Ku Mi frantically retreated while creating tens of ice walls in front of her, trying to block as much as possible.
~CRACK~ CRACK ~ CRACK~
The barrier was the same as glass to Lin Mu and broke apart with ease.
"He isn't affected by the ice spirit Qi either?" Ku Mi wondered.
Each of the ice barriers was made from ice spirit Qi and had the side effect of tainting anyone who touched them with the cold frost. The frost would slow them down and might even affect their circulation of spirit Qi if it reached deep enough.
But all that seemed to be useless on Lin Mu as the frost couldn't even come close, seeming dissipating just upon touching the violent aura.
~CLANG~
This time Ku Mi had to physically defend against Lin Mu and took out a blue rod from her storage. The blue rod was another inheritance treasure of the Northern Tribes and she was given the authority of wielding it.
And worthy of being a legacy treasure, it actually managed to block Lin Mu.
"AH!" Unfortunately, while Ku Mi blocked Lin Mu's claws from touching her, the impact from the attack wasn't something that would just dissipate automatically.
The force transfered through the blue rod and spread through her arms and then into her body, sending her hurtling back. Her arms felt very sore, almost as if they had been broken. But upon checking, she could tell that they weren't broken, just that the flesh around her wrists was strained.
"Enough!" Master Bell Mountain acted, throwing out six small talismans that were barely the size of a coin.
"O' Ancestral Bell, bestow upon us the Hexathorn Formation!" Master Bell Mountain chanted.
~DENG~
The ancestral Bell rang in response and a pattern lit up on the bell. Then a small tapestry hanging from the side of the temple flew out. It was the size of a handkerchief and had a diagram drawn on one side of it, while on the other runes seemed to be written.
The tapestry flew towards the six small talismans at a great speed, almost looking like it had teleported. It then attached to the six small talismans, which started stretching out from the tapestry.
In just a couple of seconds, it turned into a three meter wide tapestry and the diagram on it became clear. It looked like a wide hoop that had six long thorns on the inside.
The tapestry flew over Lin Mu and turned to dust, which then transformed into runes and brought forth the real formation.
~shua~
Just like the diagram that had been drawn on the tapestry, a hoop formed around Lin Mu and thorns rose from its inside.
~SHING~ SHING~ SHING~
Lin Mu collided with the inner side of the hoop, with the thorns, and was stopped in his place.
"AH!" Feeling irritated, Lin Mu hit the hoop but didn't deal any damage to it.
Instead, the thorn started to grow more and locked Lin Mu in the center of the hoop.
"Your efforts are futile. The Hexathorn formation can even trap and kill a pseudo immortal ascension realm cultivator." Master Bell Mountain spoke, his tone cold.
One of Lin Mu's arms was also locked in place from a thorn, while the other was free. Lin Mu gripped the thorn and tried to break it but found it hard to do. It was as if the thorn was made out of tempered iron and was impossible to bend.
~CRACK~
Soon the thorns increased their force and finally pierced into Lin Mu's body.
"Finally." Ku Mi who watched it all from a distance, felt relived.
Lin Mu was no less than a bomb to her that could explode at any moment and needed to be contained.
'The Hexathorn formation should pierce through him entirely soon enough…' Master Bell Mountain thought.
But just a few seconds after he had this thought, his eyes narrowed.
"How?" he questioned upon seeing the surface of Lin Mu's skin crumble.
