Everyone watched with gaping eyes as the battle reached its apex.
The storm continued to rain down lightning and sharp stones, while sharp winds ripped everything apart. Lin Mu's form couldn't be seen at all and only the loud sounds could be heard.
Feng Baxing poured all that he had into this one final attack and was close to reaching his limit.
"Hahaha! No one can survive this!" Feng Baxing laughed thinking that he had succeeded.
But in his folly he had forgotten that if he had really won, the formations would have been triggered and both of the would have been teleported out.
And yet, that had not happened.
Feng Baxing had become ignorant in his mix of fury and joy of crushing Lin Mu.
Second after second passed and Feng Baxing's Immortal Qi finally dropped to the minimum.
~SHUA~
The storm in the sky started to fade while the sharp winds stopped.
~THUD~THUD~THUD~
The rocks flying in the air also fell down with the winds no longer capable of carrying them. The falling rocks looked like hail falling from the sky, but they weren't made out of ice.
With that, the tempest came to a breeze end and only dust was left in the area.
"What's happening?" The people in the audience could still not see anything.
The people weren't shouting though, as everyone was too anxious about the outcome and were trying to keep silent. They held onto the edges of their seats, and slowed their breaths. Some even went so far as to stop blinking entirely as they didn't wish to miss even a moment.
And after about ten seconds of silence, a low peal of laughter was heard.
"Haha." The laughter seemed to be a bit casual, as if appreciating the situation.
But no one could tell who would laugh like this at a crucial moment.
"No way… The High Elder?" The people sitting near the platform saw it well enough.
The old man overseeing the match was the one who had laughed. He had a smile on his face and his beard fluttered lightly with his laugh.
"Why is he laughing?" The people wondered.
'So this was his goal from the start huh… A good choice.' High Elder Juxue thought, knowing it was over for Feng Baxing. 'Though it is yet to be determined how he fares after all that.' He reckoned and messaged the formation masters to be ready for any problem.
Back in the Spatial Plane, Feng Baxing was standing there dumbfounded.
Well standing was a little incorrect as the man's legs were bowing due to the weakness filling him. The Shearing Hurricane Fan was also lying on the ground nearby, no immortal Qi fluctuations coming from it.
Any experienced cultivator could tell that he Peak Grade Immortal Weapon had gone into dormancy for the time being.
In this state, the weapon wouldn't even respond to its owner unless it was empowered again.
~Thud~
Feng Baxing's legs couldn't take it anymore and he finally fell to his knees.
"How… how is this… possible?" He had snapped out of his ignorance and knew that he hadn't defeated Lin Mu.
If he had, then they would already be out of the Spatial Plane.
"AAHHHHHH! SHOW YOURSELF!" Feng Baxing lashed out with the final bits of Qi he had left.
~WHOOSH~
A thin wind blade shot from the swing of his hand and cut through the dust cloud, wiping it away.
~DENG~
And a moment later, the sound of something solid being hit was heard. The thin wind blade had evidently collided against something hard.
"Whoa!" The audience gasped in unison as they finally saw previously obscured scene.
"Is that a ice crystal? And is that Mu Lin inside it?"
"I don't think so… some other kind of crystal. But yeah, that's surely Daoist Mu Lin."
Millions of pairs of eyes spotted the dauntless figure of Lin Mu that was in the pose of holding up the sky. His eyes were unwavering and determination was clear on his face.
He hadn't moved from his position and was encased in a crystalline pillar that had faint runes flickering on it.
"What technique is that even?"
"Daoist Mu Lin called it Sky Prop?"
"Is it a body cultivation defensive skill?"
"Is there a technique like that in the Tyrant Bull Marrow Secrets?"
"Nope, this isn't from that technique. I don't think this is a body cultivation skill either."
The people were now wondering just how Lin Mu had done and what skill that was.
"You don't think… this is a Dao Skill do you?" someone finally wondered.
"Now that I think of it… Daoist Mu Lin's Dao Embryo is a earth elemental Dao embryo and his Dao Shell is a defensive shield too. It does make sense if this is his Dao Skill."
"Yeah, the crystalline structure is common in some of the Earth elemental skills. It could very well be his personal Dao Skill."
"That's a shame. I hoped to be able to learn it some day. A skill that can block an attack from a Peak Grade Immortal weapon while being empowered by a top tier skill… I'd take it any day."
"Hah! Perhaps you can start that by comprehending the Earth Element and then forming a Dao Embryo." Most people knew just how difficult it would be to replicate this.
~CRACK~
While people in the audience were discussing all this, a change happened in the battlefield.
"Look! It's breaking!" they all pointed to the crystal pillar.
~CRUMBLE~
The pillar that Lin Mu was inside finally broke apart into hundreds of runes which then dissipated automatically.
~huuuu~
This freed Lin Mu and allowed him to take a deep breath. His immortal sense immediately spread and assessed the situation. Being inside the pillar when Sky Prop activated meant that Lin Mu couldn't really use his immortal sense.
"We're still here, huh…" Lin Mu had half expected to be outside the Spatial Plane when the skill ran out. "But out of Qi…" he noticed Feng Baxing who had a red face.
~shua~
Lin Mu leaped and appeared next to the man before extending his hand and taking the token on his waist.
The man was too tired too move and as such couldn't even resist.
"You… You can't do this…" Feng Baxing said as his final struggle.
"Oh, I can and I have." Lin Mu replied. "You've already lost. Even if I don't do this, you will soon pass out due to Qi exhaustion."
"You're the same. Your Immortal Qi is almost gone too." Feng Baxing could tell that from the immortal Qi fluctuations coming from Lin Mu's body.
This was true as using Sky Prop from the Immortal Strengthening Scripture did basically use up all of his Immortal Qi.
"That might be true, but I still have my body." Lin Mu said clenching his fist.
~SHATTER~
The token was broken and the arrays of the spatial plane were finally triggered.
~SHUA~ SHUA~
In the next second, both the contestants were teleported out and found themselves in front of the gawking spectators.
"Daoist Mu Lin is the winner of the Tournament of the Four Guardian beasts!" The announcement was finally declared and was heard all around the Capital City.
"WOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" a cacophony of cries accompanied the announcement as the audience cheered with absolute excitement.
