Lin Mu had been shooting arrows for a specific reason. He needed to judge and analyze just how Mei Nienzhen was actually absorbing the energy of the arrows and turning them useless.
Thus, he used the most straightforward way of doing this.
Shooting arrows non stop, Lin Mu used his immortal sense and observed how it all happened. It was a fast process, thus he wasn't able to grasp it in one go. But after several tries, he had managed to figure out the process.
'So the secret lies in the opposition of energies… She's forcefully using the energy of the Ice lotus to consume the Qi of the fire arrows. It's this fast because it is fire… countering Yang with Yin…' Lin Mu thought to himself.
While it looked like it had taken him a while in reality, not even a minute had passed.
~TWANG~
And thus, he drew the bow once more as another fiery arrow condensed on it. But when he released it this time, it wasn't stopped by the Ice lotus.
~ZING~
When the light ray from the stamens struck the arrow, it did weaken the flames, but the arrow wasn't stopped!
~CRACK~
Instead, the ice encasing the arrow was shattered as the half burning arrow continued.
~CLANG~
"Huh, What!?" it was now that the youth in the audience saw the scene.
Unlike before, Lin Mu's arrow had not been stopped successfully and had managed to hit the Ice lotus!
"There we go…" Lin Mu muttered as a slight smile appeared on his face.
~TWANG~
Then, without waiting, he shot another arrow, which was also struck by the light ray but was unable to be stopped.
~CLANG~
It struck the Ice lotus but did no visible damage.
"How is he doing this?" the youth was confused.
And he wasn't the only one either. The other people also realized that something had changed.
"Wait! His arrow! It's actually still there!" The people noticed upon looking closer.
Unlike the fire arrows which disappeared after colliding and had temporary forms, the current arrows were solid.
"Stone arrows?" The elder observed closely and noticed that the arrows were actually different.
"He's using physical arrows now?"
"I'm sure the energy from the arrows was the same as before."
"Yeah the Fire elemental immortal Qi is unmistakable."
To the others, it looked like Lin Mu had used external arrows instead of condensing them from a skill. Of course, what they didn't know was that these arrows were not normal arrows.
'I didn't think I'd have to use my Dao Skill this early…' Lin Mu thought to himself.
He was now using the True Earth Heart to create stone arrows that he would then coat with fire using the Scorching Sparrow Darts. It was a combination of skills he had used before too, but this time he had greatly increased the mass of the stone arrows.
"She can still slow the arrows down as well as reduce the power." Lin Mu muttered. "Seems like her skills work on all elements, just that they are strongest against fire." He had sensed the power of the stone arrows decreasing.
Of course, since they were condensed using a Dao Skill, they were resistant to interference, but there was still a limit to it. Mei Nienzhen was a lot stronger than Lin Mu had expected due to her skill.
~TWANG~ TWANG~
Lin Mu shot two more arrows before reducing the distance between them.
~ZING~ZING~ZING~
The Ice lotus responded by shooting more rays of light. It even shot a light ray towards Lin Mu's body.
~CLANG~
But before it could hit Lin Mu, he flicked it away with Afternoon Pine.
"Now I see…" Lin Mu's smile got wider as he saw only a few shards of ice on the sword.
Even if it was struck by the light ray, it had not been covered in ice like the arrows.
Mei Nienzhen's fingers were now trembling more, such that a few keen eyes in the audience had noted it already.
If one looked closer, one would see that her white fingertips had small red dots appearing on them.
~CLANG~
Lin Mu let go off the sword and let it float around him while he used Wonder Seeker directly.
~SLASH~ is the owner.
~TWANG~ TWANG~
Lin Mu used both weapons simultaneously stunning the audience.
"He can do that!?" The youth was astounded.
"Splitting one's immortal sense to use multiple immortal weapons is something several immortals can do. But to do it with this ease…" The old man was also getting intrigued by it all.
Mei Nienzhen kept on making seals with her fingers, controlling the Ice Lotus to shoot light rays at Lin Mu and his attacks. But the man only kept on getting closer.
In the entire process, two things were constant though. First was the position of Mei Nienzhen and the Ice lotus, and the second was Lin Mu's attacks. The tempo of the attacks was maintained, and didn't give Mei Nienzhen an opportunity to change her strategy.
The speed of the arrows forced her to keep on using the light rays. And even when she tried to hit Lin Mu directly, it was unless as Afternoon Pine would immediately respond.
Another thing Lin Mu had noticed was that the Ice Lotus could not absorb the Sword Intent. Thus if the sword was coated with it, the energy could not freeze it nor could it weaken it.
"He's almost there!"
Lin Mu was merely a meter away from the Ice lotus and its attacks had also sped up.
~ZING~ZING~ZING~
But even if it did that, Lin Mu's sword could easily keep up.
"I don't know why you are fighting in this way, but I may as well finish it now." Lin Mu spoke to the woman.
~SHING~
Holding the short sword, he directly slashed, splitting the Ice Lotus in half. And before its energy could explode out, Lin Mu spun around and shot an arrow.
The eyes of every one were locked onto the ring, as the arrow touched the forehead of Mei Nienzhen!