CHAPTER 2287  EXPLOSIVE EXCAVATION

Lin Mu's immortal sense sank down into the ground, and observed everything on its way.

In this, the first thing he noticed was the rich presence of Death Qi in the soil and rocks. This bothered him since using Immortal Sense became extra hard. He had to maneuver between the Death Qi to go downward but that wasn't possible in all parts.

It was okay if it was smaller pockets of Death Qi mixed in the soil, but when there was a large chunk that simply prohibited one, Lin Mu had to take the long route around it, causing his Immortal Sense to be strained.

His Immortal Sense was already the best among everyone here, and his control over it was also higher than most. As such, if not for him others wouldn't even be able to attempt the same.

Lin Mu felt like he had entered a labyrinth with no sign of the exit.

Still, he didn't stop and kept on going deeper and deeper. Têxt belongs to .

'If anything, the higher concentration of Death Qi alone is a sign there is something here.' Lin Mu thought to himself.

But after about a kilometer of depth, Lin Mu met what felt like a massive wall of Death Qi. It was the same as a Death Qi boundary, but underground.

'Is this how the Death Qi usually is?' Lin Mu wondered. 'It stays underground until it is time for a Boundary on the ground to shift?' he thought.

It was a reasonable thought, as Lin Mu and the others hadn't been able to probe the ground before properly. The Death Qi had often been just below the surface, making it hard to see just what was inside there.

But now it had become a lot more 'porous' on the top and condensed at the bottom.

~Shua~

Lin Mu withdrew his immortal sense, knowing that it couldn't help anymore.

"What happened?" Crown Prince Feng Shun asked.

"There's definitely something down there. A dense layer of Death Qi is blocking me." Lin Mu replied. "Though at least we can go deeper than usual here." He added.

"We can?" Daoist Chu asked before trying it himself. "Ugh… I don't think I can." He was stopped by the scattered Death Qi alone.

The others tried too and some of them got farther than Daoist Chu, like Crown Prince Feng Shun, and Lady Kang, but the others either failed before Daoist Chu or did the same as him.

"You got past all that?" Ziran asked.

"The first layer is hard to get through, but there are paths in it." Lin Mu answered. "Its after that where the real barrier stands. A thick layer of Death Qi that's hard to estimate." "Hmm… what do you suggest we do?" Monk Hushu inquired.

"Well, even if we can't check with our Immortal Sense. There is more ways to do it." Lin Mu said as he clenched his fist. "Give me a bit of space." He said.

That was more than enough for others to guess what Lin Mu was about to do and they all flew up into the sky.

~huu~

Lin Mu took a deep breath and stood in the punching stance as a vast amount of energy stirred within his arm.

His Immortal Essence and Earth elemental Immortal Qi spun together in his arm, turning into long ribbons that came together. They eventually melded together into a helix and spun at a great speed, turning into a blur.

Then another set or such ribbons mixed into it, while it was also mirrored in Lin Mu's other hand. The new set of ribbons mixed together as well, turning into another helix.

Now there were two blurred helices in Lin Mu's arm that continued to spin at a speed that was quite dangerous.

'Merge!' Lin Mu finely control the unstable energy ribbons and allowed them to come together.

Finally, they had turned into a double helix structure that revolved at a steady pace.

~CRACK~

~SHUA~

Lin Mu's bones popped as he cocked his hand back. The Longgui Bulwark Armor also formed around him, providing him with additional protection of the recoil that was about to come.

"Mountain Collapsing Fist: Third Form- Earthen Devastator!"

A dark brown double helix was released from his hand, passing through the rock gauntlet with ease. Under the gauntlet, Lin Mu's knuckles ended up getting bloodied as the skin ruptured under the power of the double helix.

Though Lin Mu's arm wasn't as strained as the first time he had used the Mountain Collapsing Fist. He still remembered its effects, and this was his first time using it with the Earth Elemental Immortal Qi.

Thus, he wondered what the scope of effects would be, though he already had a hunch about it. Which was also why he had chosen it as the skill to use right now.

~RUMBLE~

The dark brown double helix directly entered the ground, as if it were a diamond bit drill and bore a straight hole down.

Normally he would have picked Phase to survey the ground, but the presence of Death Qi made it impossible to pass through it with that. The skill would be interrupted with the Death Qi, harming Lin Mu in the process.

Thus, the best way to see what was underground would be to simply dig.

But instead of digging with a shovel, Lin Mu took the more explosive option of blasting it apart.

~TREMBLE~

The ground started to shake lightly at first, but soon the vibrations turned into full scale tremors. And eventually the tremors transformed into a quake!

~BOOOOOOOOOOM~

A thunderous sound was heard as the earth split apart!

First a massive fissure that spanned at least five hundred meters formed, but then it started to collapse on itself. The soil, rocks and everything in between that composed this part of the ground started to crumble and turn into fine dust as Lin Mu's energy ravaged through it all.

The Death Qi that was present in it was simply destroyed in the process, as the power contained in the Mountain Collapsing Fist was too high.

~BOOM~ BOOM~ BOOM~

Explosions could be heard coming from the large fissure, but nothing could be seen inside it as it was dark in it. And these weren't fiery explosions either, but rather those of pure energy and shock waves that spread through the earth.

An entire minute passed while the explosions, and tremors continued to happen. Everyone that was watching it was left stunned, as they hadn't expected such an effect.

The fissure also kept on expanding longitudinally and had already reached the three kilometer mark!

It was no shorter than when the Chimeric Seed had triggered the Death Qi guesser to sprout everywhere.

In some levels, it was also stronger, as the force was directed inwards into the compressed ground. Since the ground could not compress anymore, it fractured under the vibrations, and the force continue to transfer without a stop.

And since the Death Qi was getting eliminated with it too, the group could sense better now.

Another minute passed as the explosions started to reduce. And two more minutes later, they had almost faded away leaving a gaping maw in the ground.

~huu~

Lin Mu took a deep breath as he assessed the condition of the area. "That…" Daoist Chu was left gobsmacked at the scale of the damage.

"That's one way to excavate…" Crown Prince Feng Shun spoke, feeling no less shocked.

But they didn't know the true extent of the damage yet, as they were only seeing the fissure on the top. Lin Mu, who was already scanning it with his immortal sense, knew that the depth was greater than its width!

"The Death Qi barrier is broken." Ziran stated, seeing it with the Eyes of Underdark active. "Can you see what's there?" Lady Kang asked, trying to get over the situation.

"There are roots… lots of them." Ziran narrowed his brows. "We should be able to go down now." Lin Mu said, having assessed the fissure. "The Death Qi no longer stands in our way… and considering what Ziran just said, we have our target down there too." He added.

With that said, the group had little to wait for, though they were still a bit shaken by the impact of the attack. A few of them couldn't help but wonder if they would be able to withstand something like that. And even if they could, how much damage would they endure from it.

Some also wondered if they could inflict that much damage themselves and realized that they couldn't.

Perhaps only Lady Kang and Crown Prince Feng Shun had skills capable of replicating something like this. But even then, the force of the attack wouldn't penetrate as deep as Lin Mu's had. It would spread more on the surface, but wouldn't be able to go deep.

In fact, it might even be flashier than this, but the power of this skill was still greater. At least that's what Crown Prince Feng Shun assessed in his mind.