Silence followed Lin Mu's words.
Then ca a low murmur of surprise.
Even the elders, who had seen countless geniuses across their long lives, were clearly impressed.
"Remarkable," one of them muttered.
The Transcendent Mountain Dwarf Elder nodded firmly.
"Good," he said. "That makes our coordination much simpler."
He stepped forward, his stance shifting into one of focus and readiness.
"I will handle the Earthen Armant Aspect," he continued. "You will control the Aspect of Heaviness."
Lin Mu listened carefully.
"You will activate it the mont my hamr strikes," the elder explained. "You will amplify both the force of the blow and anchor the material in place."
Lin Mu gave a slight nod.
"I've used that combination in combat before," he said.
The elder's smile widened.
"Then we begin."
The process resud.
The Fireforge Elder reignited the Dao Forge, its flas rising once more with intense heat fueled by Dao Traces and insights. The husk was placed upon the Flawless tal Anvil, its surface shimring faintly with restrained spatial energy.
The Rune Dwarf Elder stepped back slightly, maintaining control over the anvil rather than directly participating in the strikes. His role was now one of precision, ensuring that every impact landed with optimal effect.
The Mountain Dwarf Elder moved forward.
The Dao Embryo responded.
His Dao Shell transford, stone and earth gathering around it, growing outward, reshaping into a massive hamr. The Earthen Armant Aspect manifested in full, the weapon appearing both crude and perfect at the sa ti, as if it had been carved from the very foundation of the world.
He lifted it slowly.
The weight of it alone caused the surrounding space to tremble faintly.
Then he brought it down.
At that exact mont, Lin Mu acted.
He activated the Aspect of Heaviness.
The effect was imdiate and overwhelming.
The hamr's weight multiplied many tis over, its force magnified beyond normal limits. At the sa ti, Lin Mu extended the effect to the husk itself, anchoring it firmly against the anvil so that it could not shift or dissipate the impact.
The strike landed.
CLANG!
The sound reverberated across the entire realm.
The spatial barrier around the husk trembled violently. Its surface rippled, distortions spreading outward like waves across water.
The hamr rose again.
And fell once more.
CLANG!
This ti, a visible crack appeared.
Lin Mu felt a surge of satisfaction.
"It's breaking," he said.
The elders did not celebrate yet.
They continued.
Strike after strike fell in perfect coordination. Each ti the hamr descended, Lin Mu applied the Aspect of Heaviness with precise timing, ensuring that the impact reached its maximum potential.
The barrier weakened.
Layer by layer, it fractured.
The husk attempted to adapt, its spatial energy shifting and reorganizing, trying to reinforce itself. But the rhythm of the strikes prevented it from stabilizing. Each attempt at reinforcent was interrupted before it could fully form.
The cycle continued.
Heat.
Strike.
Crack.
Repeat.
The elders began to show signs of excitent.
"This is working," one of them said.
"We're close," another added.
Lin Mu remained focused, his senses locked onto the husk. He could feel its resistance diminishing, its defenses thinning.
They approached the final layer.
The Mountain Dwarf Elder raised his hamr once more.
Lin Mu prepared his technique.
The strike descended.
And just as it was about to connect… The husk reacted.
A sudden surge of energy erupted from within it.
The entire structure shone with blinding intensity, its surface glowing as dense spatial energy burst outward in a violent release.
The barrier did not simply defend.
It retaliated.
SHUA SHUA SHUA SHUA
Sharp shards of condensed spatial energy ford instantly, launching outward in all directions. They moved with terrifying speed, slicing through the air like blades ford from pure space itself.
The elders were caught off guard.
Cries of pain echoed.
Several of them staggered back as the shards cut into their bodies, leaving deep, clean wounds. Even their durable physiques could not fully withstand the attack.
Lin Mu's eyes widened.
The shards were heading toward him when instinct took over.
He activated his spatial skill, ld.
SHUA
The space in front of him solidified instantly, forming an invisible barrier. The incoming shards struck it and halted abruptly, frozen in place as if an insect trapped within amber.
Lin Mu exhaled sharply.
For a mont, everything stilled.
The shards hung in the air, suspended by his control over space.
Behind him, the others were safe.
The elders steadied themselves, their expressions turning serious once more.
The husk hovered above the anvil, still radiating unstable energy.
Lin Mu clenched his jaw slightly.
"This isn't over," he said.
The Mountain Dwarf Elder nodded, wiping a trace of blood from his arm.
"Good," he replied. "It ans we're close."
The sharp fragnts of spatial energy still hung suspended in the air for a few breaths after Lin Mu had frozen them in place with ld.
Their edges shimred faintly, carrying a dangerous brilliance that made it clear they had not lost their lethality even in stillness. Slowly, Lin Mu released his control, allowing the fragnts to dissipate into faint motes of spatial distortion that vanished into the Dao Forge's domain.
The elders, anwhile, showed no hesitation.
Despite the cuts that lined their arms and torsos, despite the lingering sting of the attack, they stepped forward again without complaint.
Their wounds began to close gradually, the natural vitality of Transcendent immortals already working to repair the damage. For them, injuries of this level were little more than inconveniences.
Lin Mu, however, did not share their calm.
His gaze lingered on the faint lines of blood that had appeared on their skin. He knew exactly how resilient these elders were. He had seen them withstand trendous force without so much as flinching. For them to be injured at all spoke volus about the nature of the energy they had just faced.
'This is only a husk,' Lin Mu thought, his expression tightening slightly. 'And yet the remnant spatial energy within it can still harm multiple Transcendents at once.'
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