Lin Mu could see that the sphere that had just appeared from the Troll's body was incomplete. It only had half of its structure actually solid, while the other half was just made out of a glowing outline.
"So he's mid way through the Shell Genesis stage of the Dao Shell realm." Lin Mu muttered, seeing the sphere.
But now that the Troll had just released its Dao Shell, Lin Mu knew that it was time to end it. Usually, a cultivator or a beast would not use their Dao Shell directly until it was in the Shell completion stage.
Only after it was in that stage would its true power would be unleashed. If used before that, while the Dao shell was very strong, it was still a bit sensitive and if damaged could kill the cultivator in the worst case and regress their cultivation base in the best case.
"GURAAAAA!" The Troll raised the Half formed Dao Shell over its head and swung it towards Lin Mu.
Lin Mu's eyes widened as the Dao Shell moved at a great speed.
~SHUA~
He dodged at the best speed he could with his body but was still a tad bit slower.
"Dammit, BLINK!" he was forced to use his Ring's skills again.
"You can stop now. You should have already gotten used to your body. Best end this fight now." Xukong recommended.
"Yes senior." Lin Mu said as a serious look appeared on his face.
He blinked several hundred meters away and got ready for the next part.
~BOOM~
The Dao Shell crashed into the spot Lin Mu was in previously and created a loud explosion. Rocks, stones, and soil were shot everywhere as clouds of dust covered the area.
"UGUAAAAAA!" The Troll beast shouted as the Dao Shell rose back up into the air.
This cleared up the dust and one could now see a crater that was over ten meters deep and a hundred meters wide.
"That… is certainly strong." Lin Wu muttered.
"It is indeed… but that is also the crudest way one can use their Dao Shell. If they had a special kind of a Dao Shell or if they changed its shape, it could have far more power." Xukong replied.
Lin Mu took note of this and decided to ask Senior Xukong more about it later in the future. He had known that there were several different ways of using the Dao Shell and different forms that could be made.
Some cultivators even decided which form to make depending on the kind of a Dao Embryo they had the confidence to form. Though there were many more that just stayed with the default shape which was that of a sphere and went with it.
A sphere shaped Dao Shell could technically contain each and every Dao Embryo, but the size of it would often need to be far larger than it would have to be if that Dao Shell was specific to that Dao Embryo.
For example, if someone's Dao Embryo was in the form of an Axe, it would make far more sense to make a Dao Shell that was in the shape of a rectangular rather than a sphere. Not only would this take far less energy, but it would also be a lot more time saving.
There were some that would take it even farther and make their Dao Shell the same shape as that of their Dao Embryo. This would make their Dao embryo fit into the Shell very snugly, like a sword in a sheath.
But in the case of a low intelligence beast like the Troll here… it was evident that it would never be doing something like that. Its decision to pull out a Dao Shell at this stage was already plenty of evidence that it was not really thinking properly.
If it were any other Cultivator or even a beast, they would have likely thought of ending the fight far earlier. And if they had no confidence to do so, they would have chosen to retreat.
But the Mixed Blood Troll Demon beast had its strong body in his favor. Its low intelligence was covered by its defenses and allowed it to fight without a care for a long time.
"UGAAAAAAA!" The Troll yelled again as it raised the Dao Shell and shot it towards where Lin Mu was.
Lin Mu had already taken this time to rest his body. The Mortal Strengthening scripture was back in full power and the armor had been awakened. The spirit Qi was also seething within his body and flowed like gushing rivers within his meridians.
"Oho! This is far better than before." Lin Mu said.
"Of course, now you have control over both aspects of your cultivation, the spirit Qi and the physique. It will only get better from now." Xukong said.
Lin Mu clenched his fist and felt the air explode within it.
"This is way better… I feel like I'm four times as strong as I was earlier." Lin Mu said in disbelief.
"That might not be that off from the reality. There is a reason why Qi and body dual cultivators are so strong and hard to find. Many people yearn for it but only a few are able to reach that point." Xukong replied.
Lin Mu nodded his head and felt the spirit Qi seethe within his meridians and Dantian. It was as if it was excited to act and was asking Lin Mu to use it. But the surprises were just about to start.
Within Lin Mu's Dantian, there were three different colored pools of spirit Qi. One of the pools was mostly colorless and looked like water. This was the attribute less spirit Qi. It was in the majority and covered over eighty percent of the total volume.
Then there was brown colored spirit Qi pool. This was the earth attribute or earth elemental spirit Qi. Its volume was around fifteen percent of the total spirit Qi present in his body.
And then finally there was a red pool of spirit Qi. This was none other than the fire attribute or the fire elemental spirit Qi. This was in the smallest quantity, being a mere five percent of the total.
But it was also this very spirit Qi that was currently the most excited. Ripples could be seen in the pool and some parts of it were even fizzing over. Seeing this, Lin Mu suddenly got an idea.
"It's worth a try. Maybe I'll get to learn something new." Lin Mu muttered to himself before looking towards the troll beast.
His eyes narrowed, and he flew back while also using blink as much as he could.
"UGUAAAAAAA!" The Troll Beast was of course, pissed again since Lin Mu ran away.
It didn't leave Lin Mu and ran towards him. Of course, by now Lin Mu had already put about two kilometers of a distance between him and the Troll. After gaining this distance, he did not move as he had enough of it now.
"Let's try it now…" Lin Mu said and placed his fists on his sides.
He stood in the horse stance and closed his eyes.
~THUD~THUD~THUD~
The Troll ran toward Lin Mu, who had closed his eyes as if he didn't care about it anymore. Every step of the Troll shook the earth, and tremors spread far and wide from it. Lin Mu though, didn't care for any of it and just focused on himself.
A change was occurring within his body right now. The spirit Qi and vital energy both were agitated. Spirit Qi started to enter his hands and so did the vital energy. But here, the vital energy went into another reaction and started to collide with itself.
If it were anyone else, their body would have been greatly damaged due to this, But Lin Mu's was beyond tough at this point. The vital energy wisps collided and twisted around each other like snakes in a pit.
Soon, they melded together and released waves of energy. A few moments later, they had turned into a liquid form and were no longer in the form of wisps. The Vital energy had turned into Vital essence!
Once this was done, the vital essence started to grow and spin inside Lin Mu's right hand. It reached a specific orbit and stayed there while spinning. The spirit Qi that had arrived in his hand from the meridians also did something similar and picked an orbit of itself.
At this point, both of the energies tried to collide together due to being so close and spinning, but Lin Mu forcefully prevented that. He gritted his teeth and pulled them apart while letting them continue to spin.
It was like holding two strong magnets apart and pulling a third one at the same time. It was not an easy task. Lin Mu put a part of his attention on this while using another part to control something else.
His spirit sense went to his Dantian and pulled out some of the Fire Attribute spirit Qi that he had stored there. With just a little prodding, the fire elemental spirit Qi ran like an eager child awaiting candy and arrived in his hand.
There it pushed its way between the spirit Qi and the vital essence and caused a new change. The red energy spun rapidly and formed the axis between the two other energies that were spinning.
~shua~
As if a certain equilibrium was achieved, the three energies merged perfectly and Lin Mu opened his eyes.
At this moment, the troll was just in front of him.
BLINK!
Lin Mu arrived at the top of the troll's head and punched straight down.
"BOULDER COLLAPSING FIST: Third Form- Flaming Devastator!"
In the next moment, it was as if a lance of fire shot out of Lin Mu's hand, letting out a blinding red light.
