It was as if invisible waves spread wherever the ribbon of energy touched and these waves fragmented everything. The wooden trunk of the tree kept on splitting into smaller pieces until they were as small as fingernails.
All of this seemed as it if took a long time, but in reality, it happened in an instant.
Then, it happened.
~KABOOM~
The tree could no longer withstand and exploded, spreading all the fragments forwards. A sonic boom accompanied this as Lin Mu himself was thrown back due to the impact. The sonic boom was delayed but was impactful.
The ribbon of energy then detonated upon itself, being unable to maintain its form, resulting in another explosion. By now, the ribbon of energy had already traveled beyond the tree and created a stormy wind that bent the trees around it and made them bald.
All the leaves of the trees were blown away as a wave of energy spread around in the area.
The forest had now become absolutely silent.
~Huu~
~Huu~
~Huu~
Lin Mu took labored breaths as he laid down on his back, having been knocked back. While he still had most of his spirit qi and vital energy, the impact that he had felt had rocked him to his core. He could still feel his ears ringing and his head trembling.
He didn't even notice the blood that was spilling from his right hand, which had now become injured. A minute later, Lin Mu was able to gather his wits and sat up straight, looking at his injured arm.
The skin of his fingers and knuckles had been torn and cut, as if someone had slashed it with a knife. Blood kept on dripping from it and a stinging pain assailed Lin Mu.
"Damn, this…" Lin Mu cursed in pain.
He then withdrew the healing pills and popped a lesser wound restoration pill into his mouth. He closed his eyes and chanted the calming heart sutra, trying to suppress the pain while the medical properties of the alchemical pill healed his hand.
The effect of the pill to a minute to show as the injured skin of Lin Mu's hand started itching. Soon the bleeding stopped and the skin started scabbing over. Ten minutes later, the wounds were gone and replacing them were multiple brown dried scabs.
~Phew~
Lin Mu took a breath of relief as he touched the scabs and found them to be rather stiff. He tried moving his fingers and found that to be difficult. The scabs had made his skin tight, which made it harder to move and the impact of the attack had also numbed his muscles.
"It should be fine after a day. You just need to rest your right hand for now." Xukong spoke up.
Lin Mu felt a bit better after hearing Senior Xukong's words and stood up, wanting to take a look around.
"What the…" Lin Mu muttered in shock as he saw the devastation that he had caused.
The grass all around had been uprooted and dirt had been unearthed in a circular radius. The tree that was once in front of him was no longer there, and even the ones around and beyond it were broken while some were bent.
The leaves of the trees that were close by were shredded and the others were all blown away, leaving the trees bare. Tens of broken branches were lying around mixed with the fragments and splinters from the desired tree.
"This form of boulder collapsing fist is immensely stronger than the previous ones. The qualitative change in energy is what caused such an effect. I have to say… I didn't expect this. Not to mention you did not even use a lot of your energy. You barely used ten percent of both vital energy and spirit qi." Xukong praised feeling surprised himself.
"That's true senior. But, while the consumption of the energy is less, I still can't use this form of boulder collapsing fist consecutively. The most I would be able to do it is two times, once each with both of my hands. Anything beyond that is impossible for now." Lin Mu replied as he glanced at his hand.
"Hmm, that is true but not for long. Once you reach the absolute peak of the body tempering realm, you should be able to bear it with almost no injuries. This is already an improvement from before. Another thing is, even if you can only use it once with a hand, you can still increase its power beyond this." Xukong speculated.
Lin Mu then realized the true potential of this technique.
'If I increase the output to fifty percent from both spirit qi and vital energy, what would be the effect?' Lin Mu wondered to himself.
"I advise you that you should not go beyond twenty percent output for now. I fear that even after reaching the peak of the body tempering realm, you will not be able to bear the recoil. But fear not, once that time arrives I have something that will help you greatly and will allow you to exceed it, perhaps." Xukong advised.
"I understand senior." Lin Mu was now getting even more curious about what Senior Xukong was gonna give him after reaching the peak of the body tempering realm.
He was now looking forward to it and couldn't wait to see it. But he knew that being impatient would do him no good, and the best thing was for him to steadily continue his cultivation.
"Now that you've seen the effects. I believe these techniques deserve names of their own. It would do no justice for them to be nameless." Xukong suggested.
Lin Mu's eyes lit up as ideas started popping up in his mind. He thought of their effects and the characteristics the three different forms showed to match words that would suit them.
He scratched his head in contemplation as he thought of potential names that he could use. Lin Mu ended up spending thirty minutes on it before he finally thought up names for it.
"I have decided…"
