Chapter 823 - Ripping A Barrier

Lin Mu was currently guiding everyone around the ruins. They were circling from the western side since there were the least number of sect camps there. Plus with Lin Mu's spirit sense, it was easier for him to detect people and avoid them.

In about three hours, they finally reached the location that Lin Mu had decided on. 

"This is where we will be entering from?" One of the disciples asked.

"Yes," Lin Mu replied.

"But… there's nothing here." Another disciple said.

"To the naked eye, there is indeed nothing here." Lin Mu agreed and walked ahead before reaching out with his hand.

~ring~

A low humming sound was heard as a membrane appeared to stop Lin Mu's hand.

"What? Why can't we feel it?"

"Even my spirit sense can't detect anything there." 

"How is this possible?"

The disciples were truly confused now. Elder Weimin on the other hand, was impressed by Lin Mu. He knew just what level of skill and perception was needed for one to detect illusory formations on this level.

Even if he wasn't the head elder of the formation pavilion of the Noon Grass sect, his skill with formations was just inferior to Elder Liqiang. That was the reason why he was sent on the mission here.

The patriarch and the other higher ranking elders were currently in the Long Cloud sect, trying to negotiate a meeting without being forced to do something else. It was a delicate process that they could not abandon mid way thus they had to let others handle this.

"Hmmm… a combination of a bewildering formation that is imposed on a barrier? If I remember correctly, this one is a Sheltered Mirage formation array." Jing Luo identified.

"Is that so?" Lin Mu spoke.

While Lin Mu could somewhat tell how this formation array worked and what its components were, he didn't know the name of it. There were far too many formations and formation arrays in the universe and they could have multiple names, thus often it wasn't feasible to know them all.

Lin Mu too had focused on learning how they worked, rather than memorizing everything about each formation since it wasn't truly efficient. The clans and sects though, would rather have them learn about each formation individually.

Though this was mostly due to the fact that they did not know the Dao Script. If one knew Dao Script and could use it, the best way to learn the formations was to learn from the runes and inscriptions.

That way, even if you encountered a completely unknown formation, you would still be able to figure out its functions and workings.

"Do you know how to get in?" Elder Weimin asked Jing Luo, since he seemed to recognize the formation.

"I do… but unraveling this formation array will take at least five days." Jing Luo said, much to the disciples shock. "Plus, it is expanded in a rather large area, so finding the nodes will also take a while and they might be located in different areas." He added.

"This… how are we supposed to enter without alerting others, then? I don't think we can wait for five days either." Elder Weimin said with concern.

The other disciples were the same and didn't know why Lin Mu had brought them here if it was not possible to enter.

"I'm sure Lin Mu has a solution to this," Jing Luo said while taking a look at Lin Mu. "Don't you?" he asked.

"Of course…" Lin Mu said with a nod. 

His spirit sense spread around and observed everything in the area all at once. When his spirit sense spread overs the disciples, they couldn't help but shudder. They felt like all their secrets had been revealed just now.

Their defenses against spirit sense probes were nothing but air in front of Lin Mu. He didn't even look at them intentionally, his spirit sense was simply far too refined for them to be able to resist it.

A minute later, Lin Mu had gotten what he wanted and opened his eyes.

"Can you set up a spirit Qi isolating formation around us quickly?" Lin Mu asked.

"Sure," Jing Luo said and pulled out the pre-made components from his spatial storage treasures.

~shua~shua~shua~

He flicked several flags around and made gestures with his hands.

~HONG~

Runes appeared in the area and quickly assembled themselves into formations that spread into a dome shape around everyone. The flags acted as the borders of the formation and a node stone acted as the center that was buried under Jing Luo's feet.

The Noon grass sect was once more surprised by the speed and efficiency of Jing Luo.

"Hey, what was the record from last year's formation tournament?" A disciple whispered to his companion.

"Fifteen minutes for a simple barrier formation…" he answered.

"Damn… this is on a completely different level. Just two minutes…" the first disciple said in shock.

With the formation set up, Lin Mu gestured for everyone to take a step back.

~huu~

Lin Mu took a deep breath and entered a Stace. His right hand cocked back and spirit Qi started to swirl within it. A few seconds later, he punched forward!

Boulder Collapsing Fist: Second form- Piercer!

~Zoom~

~Kew~

Barely visible to the eyes of the disciples, a small projectile was shot out of Lin Mu's fist. Only Jing Luo and Elder Weimin saw it clearly. 

'So it's that technique… it managed to get through my defenses back then… wonder how strong it is now.' Jing Luo thought.

The needle easily pierced through the barrier, as if it were an eggshell. The moment this happened, the formation quickly tried to repair itself.

"Not so fast!" Lin Mu said before blinking right in front of him.

~DENG~

Lin Mu thrust his hands into the small gap that was made by the needle and was now closing up.

"Ha!" Lin Mu turned his hands to the side and pushed them in further.

~Crack~

"Heavens!" Elder Weimin couldn't help but exclaim.

"BREAK FOR ME!" Lin Mu said as he pulled apart the barrier with his bare hands.

His muscles flexed as the vital energy within his body stirred.

~KACHA~