Lin Mu was certainly not expecting for such an effect to happen because of the boulder collapsing fist. Before when he used spirit qi with Boulder collapsing fist, the effect was completely different and now it was something else.
"Look at the next tree behind it," Xukong spoke.
Lin Mu snapped from his shock and went to the next tree that was at a distance of three meters from the previous one. There he saw that another small hole had been bored into it as well. Except this time, it didn't pierce all the way through and stopped about half of the way.
But that was not all. As the point where it stopped, the hole had increased in size as if the needle had exploded at the end. Lin Mu probed deeper with his spirit sense and saw internal cracks in the trunk of the tree. He reckoned that if some force was applied to the trunk, it may just split apart.
Wanting to see how much damage it had actually caused, he punched the tree without any spirit qi and vital energy. This was already enough as the tree quickly split apart.
~Crack~
~Thud~
The tree in question had the same thickness as that of the previous tree having a diameter of about half a meter. The cracks that were present inside it made it split into three irregular pieces. That collapsed on the ground diagonally.
The leaves of the trees were fallen all around and it had been broken from the middle.
"This… is amazing." Lin Mu muttered to himself.
"Indeed, I reckon this would be able to pierce through the defensive techniques and skill of other cultivators. Now you have a ranged attack as well that you can quickly switch to close ranged one." Xukong spoke.
"Hmm, now we only have the combined effect of spirit qi and vital energy left to see." Lin Mu said with a little excitement.
"Yes, but before that, you should rest and replenish yourself. Better to be in the optimum condition." Xukong advised.
"Yes, Senior." Lin Mu replied before sitting down to replenish his spirit qi.
Lin Mu took out a few spirit apples and started eating them. He hadn't made use of them for a while and thought that this was a rather good opportunity. He finished two of them and had replenished all of his spirit qi to the top.
Now all he had left was to replenish the vital energy.
'Hmm, should I cook again or just eat some of the leftover stuff from before? Bah, I'll just eat the leftover for now.' Lin Mu thought to himself before taking out some of the meat.
Quickly finishing it, he sat down to assimilate the vital energy. Although Lin Mu could have let his body replenish the vital energy on its own, eating the beast meat was a much quicker method than that since he had depleted about thirty five percent of his vital energy.
Twenty minutes later, Lin Mu opened his eyes and was full of energy again. He checked the area all around him, ensuring that there was nothing that could disturb him or perhaps harm him if he is temperately incapacitated after using the Boulder collapsing fist.
'Hopefully, I'm able to control it better than last time and don't get injured that bad.' Lin Mu thought to himself before entering the stance for it.
His breath melded with his technique and the vital energy in his body started roiling. It entered his arm and accompanying it this time was spirit qi. The two of them interacted with each other and seemed to be rather gentle, but that was only until they reached his arm.
Lin Mu had decided to use ten percent of his vital energy along with spirit qi as he wanted to be on the safe side but also wanted to see a potent enough effect. The vital energy was vigorous in action while the spirit qi was fierce.
Both of them started spinning and collided with each other. The collision got faster and harder until, they finally melded and formed something different. Unlike the spirit qi which was translucent white in color and vital energy that was pale reddish in color, this newly formed energy had a dual tone.
The energy itself was white, but its edges were pink.
The energy kept on spinning but did not change into a liquid form. It was as if the force was not enough for it to undergo further condensation, and thus it stayed in a mist form. Still, the power that could be felt from this streak of mist was not to be scoffed at.
It was as if the combination of vital energy and spirit qi cause a qualitative change instead of a quantitative one.
Lin Mu could feel that this energy was much more unstable than the spirit qi or vital energy. Not only that, but it also felt rather unnatural to him. He felt that if he didn't release this energy quickly, it would implode on itself.
Lin Mu could see the energy spinning faster and faster until it took the form of a small and flat ribbon that was spiraling. Finally, he felt that this was the maximum he could withstand and executed the technique.
"Boulder collapsing fist!"
~Hong~
A strange resonant sound hit Lin Mu's senses as the ribbon of energy was shot forward along with his punch. The energy left his fist and in the process, tore the skin of his fingers and knuckles, leaving them bloodied.
The ribbon of energy seemed to be moving in slow motion at first, but that was only an illusion caused due to how fast it was moving. It had left behind afterimages, making it seem as if a long ribbon was extending out of his fist.
The ribbon of energy finally met the first obstacle that was a tree. This tree was thicker than the ones Lin Mu had targeted previously and was about a meter thick in diameter. The ribbon of energy effortlessly mowed through the tree, splintering it in the process.
