The patriarch of the West Ocean Sect had been feeling strange since the moment the chaos had started. As soon as he found out that the formation arrays had stopped working, he had assumed the worst.

But the worst in his mind was that his lord Gu Yao had come and did what he had told him before. As his lord, he didn't need his permission and could enter the mines whenever he wanted.

That was also why he had not acted personally and gone to the mine, merely sending others to check up on it. Though that was still doubtful for him, since his lord would at least notify him, even if it was at the very last second.

He knew what was happening outside the sect and that his master had mounted an offense against the Noon Grass sect openly this time. He had been informed of it and had been told to prepare for a retaliation from the other sects as well.

There was no saying if the top three sects might act at this point, as they all knew openly going against the Noon Grass sect and restricting the Long cloud alliance directly by unknown experts will definitely bring attention to their heads.

But when the explosions happened and the vault was attacked, he was sure that this was not his lord. This was some other intruder and perhaps from the Long cloud alliance too.

And seeing Lin Mu, he was sure that it was the latter. After all, there was no way someone would attack their sect like this.

"Time to end this…" Lin Mu muttered and flicked his hand.

~CLANG~

The Shark Punishing whip snapped back and was sent flying to the side. Ma Yun immediately swung the whip again, but it hit nothing but air. The three Bull Sharks also ended up hitting nothing and seemed to be searching for their target.

"Huh? Where did he go?" Lin Mu was no longer there.

"Patriarch! Behind you!" the elders shouted.

They tried to help him too, but were a bit too slow to reach him.

"Slow." A voice was heard behind the patriarch.

"Wha—" the patriarch barely turned around and saw the figure of Lin Mu standing behind him when a golden fist came towards him.

~CRACK~

He was hit in the chest and felt his bones crack. The golden first was like a heavy flail hitting him at full swing.

"Argh!" The patriarch cried in pain as he was sent flying.

"PATRIARCH!" The elders shouted and rushed towards him.

~shua~

But before they could do much, Lin Mu disappeared again and appeared behind the patriarch.

"How is he doing that?!" The elders were confused.

Lin Mu's golden fist slammed into the back of the patriarch, breaking more bones and making the man spit out blood.

~COUGH~

The patriarch was sent flying once more. holds © this.

"GET TO THE PATRIARCH!"

"ACTIVATE THE OCEAN END SLAUGHTER FORMATION ARRAY!"

The elders quickly got into action. Knowing that the man in front of them was not simple, seeing as how he could move fast and catch their patriarch off guard.

~shua~

Lin Mu appeared at the location where the patriarch was flying towards and kicked out, making the patriarch bend like a cooked prawn.

~BOOM~

~KACHA~

More bones broke in the patriarch's body as his spirit Qi turned chaotic.

'Why can't I react? What is this man?' Ma Yun was lost.

He was doing his best to react and mobilized his spirit Qi to defend, but Lin Mu was giving him no chance. Before his spirit Qi could even finish one circuit to execute a Qi skill, it was broken apart by his attack.

Even his attacks were strange. At first there was no outer effect to it, as if it were a pure physical attack. Even then, the power of the attack was no less than that of a powerful Qi skill.

If it was just that and the patriarch was injured, he would be able to handle it. He was faster all a Dao Treading realm expert and could use his spirit Qi faster than most could think.

But then after the punch made contact with his body, sharp spirit Qi would suddenly appear out of nowhere, assaulting his meridians, breaking apart the spirit Qi he had mobilized.

The sharp spirit Qi was like hundreds of blades, slashing apart his own spirit Qi.

'How can the spirit Qi enter my body, though? It is impossible to break my defenses like that. I didn't even sense them being broken.' Ma Yun thought.

And while he was thinking this, another kick hit him from the back, this time shattering his leg and making it bend at an unnatural angle.

"GAH!"

Unfortunately for Ma Yun, he didn't know that this was something Lin Mu had learned very recently.

'Never though metal spirit Qi would work like this for me…' Lin Mu thought to himself.

Lin Mu had spent some time learning about the properties of the metal spirit Qi and knew that it could be used in many ways. The most common method being, amplifying the sharpness and power of spirit weapons.

But there were other ways to use it as well. For Lin Mu, who had a body which was basically covered with gold, using metal spirit Qi was as easy as breathing. Thus, taking his entire body as a weapon, Lin Mu amplified it and this gave rise to a new effect.

His spirit Qi could breakthrough the defenses of a cultivator and attack them internally. This was why it was so hard for the patriarch to resist. But Lin Mu also knew that if he slacked even a bit, the man would be able to recover quickly.

The only reason why Ma Yun was helpless right now was because this was his first time seeing something like this. Lin Mu wasn't so stupid as to think that a long lived expert like him would not be able to find a solution before that.

'Need to end it before that.' Lin Mu decided as he gathered more power.