The broken fragments of the earth beasts were shaking on the ground, as if they weren't dead yet.
"This is going to be a pain." Lin Mu got ready for a potentially tiring fight.
~Rumble~
The broken fragment 'melted' into the ground before reforming into the beasts.
~GUOAAAAAA~
The beasts roared at Lin Mu this time, anger and violence apparent in their eyes. They lunged at him, wanting to rip him to shreds.
~BOOM~
But the moment the first earth beast came close, it met Lin Mu's fist instead. Its entire body shattered and was shot back. The smaller fragments pelted the other earth beasts behind, damaging them in the process.
~SHING~
The spirit weapons flew around, slashing the beasts apart once more. But that was not enough as more such beasts took their place. The broken beasts simply returned to the earth for a few seconds before reforming.
"Is there no end to them?" Lin Mu said after killing six waves of the earth beasts.
They were seemingly immortal but Lin Mu knew that was not possible.
'They were made by that indigo ball in the center so if I get rid of it, that should stop them from reforming.' Lin Mu thought.
Deciding to end it in one attack, Lin Mu entered the stance for the Boulder Collapsing Fist and spun the energies within his arm. A few seconds later, his aura flared up and strong energy fluctuations emanated from his arm.
Boulder Collapsing Fist: Third Form- Devastator!
A pink ribbon of energy shout out of Lin Mu's hand and spun in a spiral while destroying everything in its path. A two meter deep gully was left on the ground even though the energy had not touched it at all.
The Earth beasts that were in its path were turned into dust as well and the pink ribbon of energy reached the target effortlessly.
~BANG~
The pink ribbon of energy struck the indigo ball of light and it was as if the air was cracked. A barrier had appeared around the indigo ball, blocking the path of the Devastator.
"Won't be stopped that easily." Lin Mu could sense that the barrier was being eroded by the pink ribbon of energy.
~GELELELLELELE~
As if sensing that it was on the failing side, the indigo ball let out a cry. This triggered a wave of pressure to fall over the area, and cracks stared to spread all over the ground.
"You will not leave!"
"Your soul will be mine!"
The voice spoke once more, but this time it was a lot more clear.
'Is that a woman?' Lin Mu could now differentiate the voice and found it to be feminine.
~shua~
And just as he thought that, he saw the aura around the indigo ball flare up. It changed shape and took the form of a woman. The figure had no features and even its clothes could not be made out.
It was like a simple outline of a woman with long hair.
But what was not simple was the energy fluctuations coming from her.
"What is that even..." Lin Mu was scared at this point.
And it wasn't because of the eerie appearance of the woman, but because of the strange energy she was seemingly releasing. It was certainly beyond any spirit cultivator, and seemed to be greater than an Immortal cultivator too.
'It may not be on the same league as Senior Xukong, but it is definitely not any average immortal cultivator either.' Lin Mu thought to himself.
From the many descriptions and information about the immortals he had obtained till now, Lin Mu was dead sure the woman's figure wasn't just at the First, second or any Immortal Tribulation realm.
"If anything, it might be at the peak..." Lin Mu muttered to himself.
For the first time in a long while Lin Mu was feeling fear. His back was covered in cold sweat and goosebumps covered his skin.
'I can't stay here any longer, I need to leave!' Lin Mu decided.
~SHUA~
Deciding to put caution to the wind, Lin Mu poured as much spirit qi as he could into the ring triggering it to create a spatial portal.
~RIP~
Though instead of a stable portal, what appeared in front of Lin Mu was a spatial tear.
A spatial tear was and portals were technically the same thing, they only difference was in their stability and safety. A portals was a safe way to traverse the void, while a tear was a risky and unstable mode.
One took a lot of energy to stabilize while the other created a tear haphazardly in the weak points of the spatial fabric. Considering Lin Mu's dire situation, he needed the process to be fast and thus even a tear was fine for him.
~SCREECH~
The woman's figure let out an inhuman screech, seeing that her prey was about to escape. Dark tendrils shout out from her back, chasing down Lin Mu. And just as he was about to enter the tear completely, he was caught!
"ARGH!" Lin Mu felt a searing pain on his foot.
It was his left food that had been caught and it felt like burning coals had been placed on it. Lin Mu's great defenses were seemingly nothing against the dark tendrils.
'Her energy... its is of a way higher quality than the spirit qi. My defenses are like paper against it.' Lin Mu struggled to pull his foot out of the tendrils grasp, but was unable to do much.
"You will not leave! Your soul is mine!" The woman's figure roared.
No matter how much Lin Mu tried, his strength was simply not enough to go against the dark tendrils. He felt like he was an ant trying to pull a carriage.
'Her cultivation base is way beyond my state right now.' Lin Mu realized.
He tried to call for Senior Xukong, but he was still in his dormant state. Lin Mu had hoped that he might be able to wake up considering he had done so just a while ago, but there was no success.
Lin Mu was starting to fall into despair, unable to find a solution. He used all the skills he had, even going so far as to use his Dao Embryo to break the dark tendril.
Right now his Dao Embryo was the strongest method of attacking that he had, but even that was useless against this.
~shua~shua~shua~
More tendrils started coming towards him, and just a couple seconds later another one wrapped around his other leg.
"MELD!" Lin Mu used more of his spirit qi, wanting to directly sever the tendrils using meld.
~SPARK~
But much to his dismay, the power of the spatial skill seemingly stopped upon touching the tendrils. Or more like, they were resisting the change to the very space itself.
Lin Mu's heart fell upon seeing this, as he knew what this entailed. He recalled Xukong's words.
'A strong enough cultivator can resist and even freeze the changes in space even if he or she does not have skill with the spatial element.'
While wondering how he could get out of this predicament, Lin Mu didn't realize a change in his Dantian. Or more accurately the new bracelet that was on his nascent soul.
It let out a bright light which traveled out of his Dantian and then extended out from his body!
~HISS~
The dark tendrils were like clay meeting the sea and directly melted away from the light.
"NOOOO!" the woman's figure screamed in pain.
Lin Mu didn't dare to think what had just happened and decided to take the opportunity to escape.
~shua~
His body successfully passed through the spatial tear and entered the lesser void. He was now out of the 'atmosphere' of the asteroid from earlier.
Turning around Lin Mu could still see the asteroid in the distance. His legs were still burning in pain, but he simply ignored it for the time being, knowing that it was imperative to find a way back to the Rust Sky world.
'Doesn't seem like she can come after me here...' Lin Mu's eyes were locked onto the asteroid which was now covered with dark clouds.
Faint screams were also heard coming all the way here, only making Lin Mu more anxious.
'If that light was just a few seconds later, I might not have survived.' Lin Mu understood.
He realized his mistake and etched this fact into his mind.
"I've become complacent in the Xiaofan world. I cannot behave the same way here... it is not at the same state anymore. I am but a mere ant here..." Lin Mu said to himself.
Furrowing his brows, Lin Mu found himself running out of air.
'The ring should have more air.' Lin Mu pulled out some stored air from the ring and breathed it, extending the time he could stay in the lesser void.
His eyes narrowed and spatial perception activated so that he could find a way back.
