1853 Lin Mu Versus Feng Baxing

Afternoon Pine glowed in a yellow light and rejoiced in the Sword Intent that was pouring into it.

Both of Lin Mu's swords were being nurtured in the Sword Nurturing Boxes that Lin Mu had made and it would steadily make the sword stronger over time.

It was the same for Afternoon Pine, and it was certainly stronger than when Lin Mu had originally obtained it. The capacity for it to bear Immortal qi as well as Sword Intent was higher too.

~CRACK~

Thus with its attack, tens of yellow metal pine trees rose and struck the wind barrier that was surrounding Feng Baxing.

~CLANG~CLANG~CLANG~

The Azure winds ground against the Yellow Metal pine tree, trying to push them back while the trees tried to pierce them. The winds were spinning in the shape of a shield, which left the borders of it open, where the Pine Trees were trying to attack.

"Humph!" Feng Baxing simply brought his thumb, index and middle finger together, creating a triangular seal. 

The triangular seal mirrored the movements of the Azure winds and caused them to turn into three segments. The three segments surrounded Feng Baxing on three sides and turned into a three sided pyramid that protected Feng Baxing from all sides.

The Sword Intent from the Pine tree was trying to invade the shield and was slowly doing so. The Pine Trees were like syringes that were being used as the injection medium.

'His Sword Intent can still pierce my Azure Winds Shields?' Feng Baxing furrowed his brows.

While he had paid attention to Lin Mu's fights since the Quarter Finals, he didn't expect his Sword Intent to be this strong. Of course, he had no way of knowing that Lin Mu was finally using all of his strength and was even utilizing the Severing Heart Sutra to empower his sword attacks.

The combination of all this was just enough to overpower the shields of the man.

~shua~

But while defending, Feng Baxing forgot to notice that Lin Mu wasn't just waiting there. 

~TWANG~

The sound of a bowstring was heard as a flurry of arrows shot from behind him.

"Ugh!" Feng Baxing only noticed it when the arrows had reached within five meters of his shield.

The arrows hit the backside of the pyramidal shield and were snuffed out by the winds.

"It won't be enough." Lin Mu muttered and held Wonder Seeker firmly.

~RUMBLE~

A low rumbling sound was heard before a shield shaped object rose from Lin Mu's body. It soon expanded and the sound of heartbeats could be heard from within it.

~LUBDUB~LUBDUB~

"It's that Dao Embryo again!"

"Daoist Mu Lin is using it again!" the people in the audience shouted out loud.

They had seen Lin Mu use it in the previous rounds and knew that it was an earth Dao Embryo but did not exactly know what it was.

'When was the last time a cultivator with the True Earth Heart Dao Embryo was part of the Immortal Court?' High Elder Juxue though recognized it.

He had been part of the Temple of the Four Guardian  beasts for a long time and had even been one of the people in the past who had worked in the Immortal Court. As such he had a lot of information and had seen a lot.

High Elder Juxue tried to recall the last person who had this Dao Embryo and his expression became serious.

'It was that person… He disappeared a long time ago, I wonder if Daoist Mu Lin will be able to reach the same level.' High Elder Juxue thought to himself.

~WENG~

High Elder Juxue was brought out of his thoughts and was forced to focus on the fight again, as Lin Mu intensified his offense.

Wonder Seeker now had a stone arrow nocked on it and it seemed to be gathering a lot of Earth Elemental Immortal qi within it too. 

Faint lines appeared on the arrow, turning into runes of some kind. It was too small for the audience to see it and only Lin Mu knew what they were.

'Let's try this skill out,' Lin Mu thought to himself.

A couple seconds later, his attack was ready and he released the arrow.

~TWANG~

The arrow was shot and soared through the sky at a breakneck speed. At the same time, it glowed with white runes that flew out of it and rapidly turned into a formation.

"What is that!?" The audience was shocked.

"A qi skill? Or is it a formation?" they wondered.

"Stone Burst Pelting Arrow!" Lin Mu executed the skill.

Upon his command, the stone arrow exploded mid air and turned into a rain of sharp stones that rained down on to the pyramidal azure wind shield.

~WHOOSH~

Without waiting, Lin Mu used the bow again and shot the fiery arrows that didn't take longer than a moment to use. This bought him more time and allowed him to move while shooting.

At the same time, Lin Mu was observing how his new skill was doing.

The Stone Burst Pelting Arrow was actually a combination of a Formation as well as a qi skill. One could consider it a hybrid skill too and was one of the many skills Lin Mu had obtained from the now dead Eleventh Prince of the Holy Topaz Dynasty, Huangyu Shiyi.

He hadn't really used it before since there wasn't really the right situation for it. 

Plus it was a skill that was meant to be used on actual arrows. 

The original effect of the skill was to turn normal arrows into stone before exploding into a flurry of shrapnel. It was meant to be a wider attack meant for a small group of enemies.

But Lin Mu had changed it a bit and adapted it to his own stone arrows made through the use of his Dao Embryo. Much to his surprise, when used on a preexisting stone arrow, the effect was amplified and the power of the attack increased.