1381 A Secretive Technique

Now over a day had passed since the Immortal Tribulation had been completed by Lin Mu. He was still in his pillar like form and his body could not be seen due to being hidden behind the pillar.

Several changes had happened to it, such as the fact that it had turned from a translucent form into an opaque form. From time to time, Lanbao would also see random pieces of stones being attracted to the pillar, before being consumed by it.

These stones were what were turning the pillar opaque, giving it a more physical form.

It was unknown just how many materials had been consumed by it either. But it did allow Lanbao to guess another thing.

'The meteors... were they absorbed by him too? At least one part of them certainly were or we would have seen more fragments of them scattered around.' Lanbao reckoned.

Finally on the start of the second day, Lanbao saw a change on the pillar.

~SHUA~

The runes were stimulated by something and quickly merged into individual symbols. These symbols then shrank and disappeared into the depths of the pillar.

"It's shrinking?" Lanbao next saw the pillar itself shrink.

It caved in from the top and bottom first, taking the form of a oval and two longer tubes. Then it shrank from the middle, taking the form of a rectangular box and two more curved tubes attached to it at the top.

One could now see that it was taking on the same form that Lin Mu had while executing the skill.

~Crack~~crack~crack~

Finally, when the entire pillar had shrank down into what looked like a coating, it cracked. Lin Mu's skill and clothes were revealed from the gaps in the crack and slowly the spread more.

~KACHA~

A few seconds later, it all shattered revealing Lin Mu who was still standing in the same posture. His eyes were closed but the stern expression on his face showed that he was still in a trance of some sort.

"Lin Mu?" Lanbao lightly called out.

Hearing the sound, Lin Mu's stern expression changed and his eyes twitched.

"W-what... where..." his eyes flickered open as he glanced at the mermaid standing in front of him. "Lanbao?"

"You're awake! You're finally awake!" Lanbao jumped around in joy.

Lin Mu furrowed his brow and tried to recall what had happened.

'The Immortal Strengthening Scripture... The Earth Immortal Tribulation... Tempering of the skill...' Lin Mu felt a few memories appearing in his mind.

After about thirty seconds, he finally gathered his wits, understanding all that had happened.

"Are you okay?" Lanbao asked, seeing that Lin Mu had not spoken much even now.

"Y-yes... Sorry for making you all worry." Lin Mu apologized. "I didn't know it would turn out like this." He added.

"It's fine, no one got hurt so that's good." Lanbao nodded her head.

Lin Mu looked around the area as a frown appeared on his face. "But this place has been damaged greatly." He spoke.

"This is nothing, it'll recover on its own." Lanbao assuaged his worries. "Don't forget I'm the artifact spirit so I know the best."

"Really? Were the arrays not damaged from the tribulation?" Lin Mu looked at the sky not finding any holes in it.

"Since it was an Immortal Tribulation it cannot be stopped by normal arrays. The defensive dome of the Deep Sapphire Island might be strong but it cannot stop a tribulation either.

It simply passed through it unhindered." Lanbao explained.

~Phew~

Hearing this, Lin Mu took a breath of relief. He would have hated it if the Deep Sapphire Island was damaged because of his actions.

"Congratulation on surviving a Meteoric Earth Immortal Tribulation." Lanbao finally said.

"A Meteoric Earth Immortal Tribulation?" Lin Mu raised brow. "That's what it was called?"

"Yes! Its a variant Earth Immortal Tribulation that only one person has survived. At least according to the records of the Haima Tribe." Lanbao replied. "Though now that number is up to two." She added.

"Hmm... seems like it." Lin Mu gazed at his hands as tiny runes flickered on its surface. 'So there was such a secret hiding in the Mortal Strengthening Scripture.'

"Looks like my choice was right at the start. This technique was perfect for you." Xukong's voice appeared in Lin Mu's mind.

"Perhaps senior. But it wasn't just that I also had great luck." Lin Mu replied.

"Oh? Did the skill also give you more information?" Xukong questioned. "Even I didn't know the skill was going to be like this. None of the users seem to have reached this point." He added.

"That is true. The number of conditions that need to be fulfilled for this to happen are quite high after all." Lin Mu replied.

"Oh? What are they?" Xukong asked with interest.

It was not often that such a great part of information was hidden from him. 'Did even they not know about it?' Xukong recalled the time when he had obtained this skill.

Not knowing Xukong's wonder, Lin Mu continued to speak.

"The first condition to progress this skill is to have fully competed the Mortal Strengthening Scripture to its peak. The second condition is to have a natural affinity to the earth element.

The third is to reach the Immortal Realm and on the first tribulation I have to take would have to be the Earth Elemental Immortal Tribulation. If I had taken any other, I would have not activated the next form of the skill at all." Lin Mu explained.

"Hmm... looks like the skill was truly underestimated." Xukong spoke.

"Yes... the defenses it offers are far greater than before." Lin Mu spoke as a faint ebony colors light flickered on his body.

"And it has qi skills contained in itself too right?" Xukong asked recalling the posture that Lin Mu had used.

"Yes. It has several of them, but I only learned the first Sky Prop. It allows me to activate its defenses to the maximum which can allow me to endure the Immortal Tribulation." Lin Mu answered.