Lin Mu had not heard of any beast that didn't have a Dantian and was now confused. Xukong on the other hand, narrowed his eyes as something appeared in his mind.
"Could they be… no, that's not possible." Xukong suddenly spoke.
"What's the matter, senior? Do you know something?" Lin Mu questioned.
"That beast… it's similar to a race of creatures that are found in the universe. I mean them having no Dantian and not their appearance." Xukong replied.
"So they can be linked? Did they mutate from that?" Lin Mu asked.
"No, that does not seem possible. Those creatures I'm talking about… they cannot possibly appear in this world. But them having no Dantian seems familiar. Do you see that crystal? That thing is similar to a core that a being can form in the core condensation realm." Xukong explained.
"Hmm… so that means that beast is at the core condensation realm?" Lin Mu asked.
"Not exactly. Those crystals are basically a form of modified vessel that works as a Dantian for them. If you take them out, they should die rather quickly. But I doubt they will be easy to get to." Xukong replied.
"I see… I'll attempt this first." Lin Mu said and in the next moment, he blinked to the top of the beast.
"Huh?" his companions were a bit surprised but then saw Lin Mu thrust a short sword towards the beetle like beast.
~CLANG~
A loud sound was heard and it was like metal hitting metal.
"Damn, its carapace is very strong. Even a high grade spirit sword is unable to pierce through?" Lin Mu was a bit surprised.
He had simply used the force of the sword and had not particularly used his own strength or spirit Qi. This was because Lin Mu wanted to see how the others would fare against the beast.
He was sure that he could kill the beast, but it was more important if the others could do so as well.
~SKEEEEEE!~
The beast let out a strange screeching sound and was angry at seeing Lin Mu hit him. It even sounded a bit hurt, and it was obvious that even if there was no damage on the surface, the beast had definitely been hurt internally by the impact.
Blink!
Lin Mu teleported to the back of the beast and swiped the short sword at the joints of the beast.
~slick~
~thud~
~SKWEEEEEEEE~
This time the attack was successful and managed to cut off the tail of the beast. Dark blood splattered from the joint, spilling on the ground.
"So joints are its weak point…" Lin Mu said before he teleported again and let the beast squirm in pain.
~SHING~
~CRACK~
The next moment, his short sword was thrust against the open mouth of the beast. It first struck its mandibles, which were broken and then pierced the interior of its mouth.
"Mouth is another weak point, though the mandibles might be harder for others to get through…" Lin Mu muttered as he flickered and dodged the swipe of the beast's sharp leg.
Appearing above its body, Lin Mu stabbed straight down to the black-blue crystal embedded into its back.
~SHATTER~
The moment Lin Mu's sword hit it, the crystal shattered like glass and scattered around the beast.
~SCREEEEEEEE~
The beast thrashed around and squirmed for a few seconds before falling silent, dead.
Lin Mu scanned the beast with his spirit sense one last time to ensure that it truly was dead. He could feel the active aura of the beast fading away, which confirmed it for him that it was dead.
"Truly strange…" Lin Mu muttered to himself.
~shua~
A few moments later, he could feel the spirit Qi in the area increase.
"Huh? The crystal fragments… they're evaporating?" Lin Mu noted.
The crystal fragments were letting out spirit Qi as they evaporated and also some bluish gas that faded away after a few seconds. Lin Mu tried to sense what the gas was but could not really identify it.
He walked back to everyone that had been observing and spoke.
"I reckon you all know where to attack now?" Lin Mu asked.
"We do senior!" The disciples said in unison.
"Good. And if you want to, you can also try to get the crystal from their bodies. They have spirit Qi in them and can be used for other things as well. Though don't force yourself since the beasts can be strong." Lin Mu advised.
"Yes, senior!" The disciples replied in unison.
With this done, Lin Mu continued to take the lead and walked forward. Jing Luo joined him at the side while Elder Weimin stayed at the very back to ensure they were not ambushed.
"So what else did you learn from that beast?" Jing Luo asked.
He knew that Lin Mu was testing out the beast and probably had picked up on something.
"Those crystals on their backs are the vessel that they used to store spirit Qi and as long as you break them, they will die." Lin Mu replied.
"I see, like a Dantian then… but how do we judge their strength? The disciples may be in trouble if they fight a beast stronger than them." Jing Luo asked.
"I'll be fighting each different of the beasts that we encounter first and judge their strengths. The one that I fought just now was at least at the Nascent soul realm considering its general speed, but the defense is rather high too." Lin Mu replied.
"Hmm… encountering a Nascent soul realm beast right away… its not right." Jing Luo muttered.
"Yeah, I don't think they should have appeared right at the front. From all that we've heard, they only appeared mid way to the next floor. We'll need to be careful since the situation in the ruins has certainly changed since the last time." Lin Mu warned.
"Yes… I'll keep an eye out too." Jing Luo said and went back.
Lin Mu nodded his head and focused on the beasts that were about to just appear.
