Demon beasts were a rather peculiar breed of creatures. Due to how proliferated the demon race and the beast race were across the many worlds, they could be found almost everywhere.
Many beasts often had traces of demon bloodlines in them and the only thing that mattered was if it was pure enough or not. If it was pure, they would be able to awaken it and become a Demon Beast.
If it was not pure enough and had a lot of bloodlines mixed, it was called impure. Beasts with this were unable to awaken it, but there were still some beasts who, through some stroke of luck or a fortunate encounter, manage to awaken that bloodline.
The Ugly beast in front of Lin Mu could be considered to be one of those lucky beasts. It very clearly had a muddled bloodline, and its effects could be seen on its physique. The most common difference that was there between Demon beasts and normal beasts was the fact that they could actually gain humanoid forms way faster.
Even in the Nascent Soul realm, there were several demon beasts who managed to gain a humanoid form. And the higher their cultivator base went, the closer they could get to a true human form.
Lin Mu looked at the ugly beast who looked like a mix between a goat, an elephant, and heavens know what other demons. It was now rushing towards Lin Mu with certain anger in its eyes.
"Let's get rid of this ugly beast first…" Lin Mu said as he blinked to the back of the beast.
~THUD~
A punch hit the back of the ugly beast, making it flinch in pain.
~GRRR~
~CRACKLE~
Sparks flew as Little Shrubby's claws tore into the sides of the beast. But its thick skin prevented it from getting injured. The rock like skin was almost impenetrable to attacks and only Lin Mu's blunt attacks seem to be working.
"A thick skinned one huh… well I've seen more thick skinned people than this," Lin Mu said as he blinked to the side of the beast's head and punched again.
~DENG~
Its head was rung like a bell, and it let out a loud cry.
"UGAAAAAA! HURTS!" The Beast said.
Hearing this though, Lin Mu was surprised.
"Huh, it speaks?" Lin Mu said.
"Oh? This is a surprise… impure demon beasts like these are usually mindless and act on instinct. In fact, their intelligence can be even lower than normal beasts as a side effect of a mixed and muddled bloodline." Xukong replied.
~ROAR~
Little Shrubby took the opportunity while the beast was crying to shoot out a fireball.
~BOOM~
The fireball exploded on the ugly beast's face and some of it even got into its mouth that was open due to it crying out in pain.
"UGAAWWWWWWW!" The beast cried even more and shook his head around.
Lin Mu dodged its blind swings effortlessly and looked at the beast with curiosity.
"Wait a minute though… it's fine that he's speaking… but he's speaking in Dao Script, isn't he?" Lin Mu realized.
"It must have learned it from somewhere. It can't just do it spontaneously, can he?" Lin Mu added.
"Actually… that's probably how it did. Just like Little Shrubby, it must have had some bloodline memories." Xukong replied.
Lin Mu nodded his head and decided to focus on the task at hand.
~deng~deng~deng~
Each of his fist attacks was powerful and made the ugly beast flinch.
"Let's try the weapons…" Lin Mu said as he drew out the Short sword.
~CLANG~
But the moment he hit the beast, the sword was blocked by its tough skin. Lin Mu furrowed his brows and drew out the Iron Thorn Spear instead. He then sped ahead and thrust it towards the Ugly beast.
~WENG~
In another surprise to Lin Mu, even the strong and sharp Iron Thorn Spear was unable to do much to the beast's skin.
"Just what the heck is this beast?" Lin Mu wondered.
"Hmm… this is indeed quite peculiar. For it to resist High grade weapons like this… I can only think of a few demon beasts that might be able to do so. And if this beast has their bloodline, then it is quite likely the reason for his high defenses." Xukong replied.
"Seems like blunt attacks are the way to go for now," Lin Mu said and put away the weapons for now.
He steeled his fists and blinked to the beast's forehead.
~DENG~
"GUARAAA! Die BUG!" The ugly base replied and blocked with his fists.
Lin Mu's fist and the ugly beast's arms made contact, and both of them were pushed back slightly. The brown armor of the Mortal Strengthening Scripture appeared and blocked the recoil for Lin Mu, but the Ugly beast was not so fortunate.
~CRACK~
A crack appeared on its rocky skin and a faint red layer could be seen beneath it.
"So Qi amplification works… need to target the weaker spots and seams in its skin," Lin Mu learned.
But as he was looking, his eyes widened.
"Huh? He's already healing?!" Lin Mu observed the crack in its skin closing up and whatever blood that was about to drip out was absorbed back in.
"I now know what Demon beast that is… it's definitely a Demon beast with a troll's bloodline. They have strong defenses like this and good regeneration. But on the other hand, they have low intelligence, no talent in using spirit Qi for Qi skills and are also greatly dependent on their bodies." Xukong said.
"A troll… I'll keep that in mind." Lin Mu said, as he quickly thought of some possible solutions.
Since the beast could regenerate whatever wounds Lin Mu made, he reckoned he would have to either make bigger wounds that took longer to heal or prevent them from healing somehow.
While thinking, he continued to dodge and attack the Ugly beast which Lin Mu now knew was a mixed Troll Demon Beast.
