Lin Mu was shocked seeing the Tree change like this.
But having seen it all, the ability to use runes, it able to respond as well as attack the people of the Grand Sky Pavilion, Lin Mu was now sure of one thing.
"The Violet Mystic Life Tree… It's Sentient!" Lin Mu exclaimed.
At the same time, a few new thoughts appeared in his mind that soon turned into desires.
'If I can take this tree… with the resources it can provide as well as the vitality it generates… the Sleepscape will be even better!' Lin Mu knew if he went ahead with this, it was going to be very risky.
Especially with the Grand Sky Pavilion being there, it was even more so. While it seemed like they were defeated, Lin Mu knew it was just a temporary setback for them. Lin Mu had seen the Elders that had arrived, they were at the Fifth Tribulation Stage of the Immortal Realm!
And there were several of them too. Just this alone showed that the Grand Sky Pavilion was taking this very seriously. If they didn't get the Tree now, they'll just keep on trying until even stronger members of their group arrive.
Lin Mu had heard from Alchemist Ruoxian how strong they really were and the backing they had. It was even said that there were elders who were at the Seventh Tribulation Stage of the Immortal Realm in seclusion back at their main palace.
If an expert like that decided to interfere, Lin Mu knew things could go bad very quickly.
'This is going to be a gamble… But it'll be worth it if I can succeed in it!' Lin Mu's eyes glowed with determination.
But before taking action, Lin Mu needed to assess the situation. After all, there was a big problem on his head right now.
"The immortal Qi has been suppressed…" Lin Mu muttered.
Even he was unable to utilize the Immortal Qi within his body, similar to the people of the Grand Sky Pavilion.
'It feels similar to the technique that the Northern Tribes used but of much high level…' Lin Mu thought to himself.
Since he had his body cultivation, Lin Mu wasn't that worried, but he also knew it had restrained his strength by a margin.
"That's not all," Xukong spoke up at this point. "The tree isn't just restraining Immortal Qi, it will also restrain all Qi skills." He reminded Lin Mu.
"Of course!" Lin Mu realized.
He tried to use his ring's skills and was unable to do so. Flicker, Blink, Phase, Fade and Meld didn't work at all.
"This makes it a lot more difficult…" Without the ring's skills, Lin Mu would not be having an easy time with the tree.
Not just that, but even escaping would be difficult since his skills were quite important for that.
And while Lin Mu was coming to terms with the inability to use any Qi skills, the people of the Grand Sky Pavilion had retreated outside the limits of where the barrier used to be.
"The Immortal Qi! I can feel it again!" someone exclaimed.
"I can feel my cultivation base again!" The others soon felt their power return.
The elder who was leading the people of the Grand Sky Pavilion furrowed his brows as he started at the Violet Mystic Life Tree that had transformed.
"This is not in any records… Seems like we are facing a mutant." The Elder spoke.
"A Mutant?" The people of the Grand Sky Pavilion repeated in confusion.
"Just know that we'll have to analyze the abilities of the tree first. We cannot rush in directly, we'll need to suppress the formations it is using first." The Elder ordered.
"Yes! elder!" They all responded.
The formation masters quickly got to work, while other members assisted them.
Lin Mu who watched all this, was impressed by how quickly the Grand Sky Pavilion had composed themselves.
"Having a competent leader surely makes a huge difference…" Lin Mu muttered to himself.
He watched as the Violet Mystic Life Tree continues its assault against the people of the Grand Sky Pavilion.
They had seemingly split their people into two groups. The first group was the Formation masters who were in charge of analyzing the arrays that the Violet Mystic Life Tree was using and the second group was in charge of protecting them.
The offensive formations used by the Violet Mystic Life Tree weren't just limited to the Fire Fall Offensive Formation either. Several more of them appeared and their attacks easily reached the place where the Grand Sky Pavilion members were working at.
Watching this, Lin Mu understood that the range where the Violet Mystic Life Tree could restrain Immortal Qi was only within the scope of the barrier.
'As long as it's within the barrier, only the Violet Mystic Life Tree can use formations and as such, Immortal Qi. Others will be restrained and will quickly get targeted by its offensive formations.' Lin Mu observed.
After observing for a couple of minutes, though, Lin Mu realized something.
"The Violet Mystic Life Tree does not attack directly… it only does so using the formations…." Lin Mu muttered as a plan started to form within his mind.
He avoided the line of sight of the Grand Sky Pavilion's members as he tried to approach the Violet Mystic Life Tree. He wanted to see if the tree would react if he directly touched it.
~BOOM~BOOM~BOOM~
Of course, the tree attacked him using the offensive formations, but Lin Mu simply dodged them or bore the impact. With his body, it wasn't that difficult for him to do both. The attacks that could kill Fourth Tribulation Stage Immortals were something that weren't even able to injure him.
Though with every impact, Lin Mu could feel the Immortal Essence within his body depleting.
'I can't just defend endlessly. Once my Immortal Essence runs out, my defenses will collapse…' Lin Mu understood.
Even if he had massive stores of Immortal Essence due to the Apertures, he knew better than to use them blindly.
