1689 A Cold Drain



A flash of red and blue intermingled as the collision of two powers happened.

~BOOM~

Fire and Ice clashed, spreading a wave of energy that reached all the way to the border of the ring.

~HUMM~

The barrier surrounding it prevented the energy from washing over the audience and protected them. But despite that, several people could see that the power of the attacks was massive.

"This… How did he do this?"

"Isn't he a sword cultivator who had Sword Intent? How is his bow attack even stronger than his sword skills?" 

The people in the audience were stunned by Lin Mu's power. After all, in their eyes, he was just at the first tribulation stage of the immortal realm. They didn't know the sheer amount of immortal Qi that was within his body, nor the fact that the bow he was using was a high grade immortal weapon.

Lin Mu and Xukong had long since concealed the energy imprints of the High Grade immortal weapons.

Afternoon Pine, Ocean Raker and Wonder Seeker would merely be seen as normal low grade weapons. Or even if their power was exceeded, it would only seem to be at the mid grade immortal weapon level.

They had done this a while back, as Lin Mu knew revealing the true identity of his weapons could also be problematic. Not to mention, it would be easier to track his identity depending on the weapons he used.

Thankfully, Afternoon Pine was a rather mundane looking sword and one could find several others like it. Thus, Lin Mu could use it openly as he wanted. The only issue was with Ocean Raker and Wonder Seeker, as they had unique forms.

Still, to the audience, they looked like the basic immortal weapons a cultivator was expected to use in a tournament like this. This only made them think that the reason why Lin Mu could exert this much power was due to his sheer skill.

"Can it be that he's also proficient in the Dao of Bows?" someone wondered.

"That is a tall order. Highly unlikely." Many were quick to deny it.

"No… If his skills are really this good. Then it makes sense." The old man in the audience spoke once more.

"What do you mean?" the people sitting around him asked.

"Compared to his cultivation base, his skills are quite high. If you think about it, it's obvious that he has focused on raising his skill with his weapons as well as his comprehension of the Daos of Sword and Bows." The old man replied. "He is someone who might be talented in comprehension rather than cultivation." He guessed.

The people who heard it were left wondering about it, but needed to focus on the ring as the scene finally cleared.

~WHOOSH~

A chilly wind swept over the ring, clearing out the smoke and mist that was covering it. 

"They're both fine!" The audience finally saw.

On the ring, Lin Mu stood on top of an ice crystal that was about three meters tall some distance from the ice lotus flower, which was also intact and seemed to be unaffected. While Mei Nienzhen stood in the same position as before. Her expression was also the same and it didn't seem like she was affected by it.

"So you survived…" she muttered in a barely audible voice.

"Did you wish to end it quickly?" Lin Mu replied in a similar voice, only being heard by his opponent.

~Sigh~

Mei Nienzhen let out another sigh and extended her hand. The beautiful ice lotus flower let out another wave of energy as the stamens on it glowed in iridescent light. Lin Mu sensed the energy being channeled into the stamens and knew that something was up.

~TWANG~TWANG~TWANG~

He quickly drew the bowstring and shot three arrows nonstop. The fiery arrows flew towards the Ice lotus but were stopped mid way.

~ZING~ZING~ZING~

The stamens of the Ice Lotus released rays of light that accurately struck the fiery arrows, freezing them in place!

'She froze them?!' Lin Mu was surprised.

He could still feel the flames burning on the arrows, as their energy had not dissipated. But despite that, there was still ice encasing them, blocking them successfully.

~THUD~THUD~THUD~

The three arrows fell to the ground lifelessly before dissipating naturally. 

"Interesting." Lin Mu sensed the fine change that had happened. 'The energy of the arrows was actually absorbed…' 

The arrows merely looked like they had dissipated naturally, but in reality, they had been drained of energy. The ice crystals had quickly taken all of the Qi contained within it, letting the flames die out.

Mei Nienzhen's expression was still cold but if one looked closely, they might be able to see one of her finger's trembling.

~TWANG~

Lin Mu didn't let her have a break and shot another arrow. 

~ZING~

Another ray of light shot from the stamens of the ice lotus and encased the fire arrow. Lin Mu didn't waver and shot another arrow.

~TWANG~

~ZING~

This arrow met the same fate as before and was turned into a ice chunk that crashed into the ground. 

~TWANG~TWANG~TWANG~TWANG~

But as if Lin Mu didn't care about that, arrows kept on coming. He shot nonstop for thirty seconds, having sent at least twenty arrows in this time.

"What is he doing?"

"He's just wasting Qi at this point."

"Yeah, his attacks are getting nullified with ease."

The people in the audience started to feel like Lin Mu now had a disadvantage. While he had an explosive start, now it seemed like they had judged him too fast. 

"Ahh~ Mei Nienzhen is simply amazing!" the youth from before didn't forget to sing her praises. "That Mu Lin simply cannot match up to her talent!" 

~SLAP~

"Shut up, brat and watch." The youth's uncle slapped his head again, forcing him to go silent.

A frown was on his face as he turned back to look at the ring.

"Huh, what!?" but then his expression turned into shock.