Ku Waowen was quickly working on a different thing than what she had come here for originally. Her plans had seemingly been flipped on its end, due to Lin Mu's appearance. And in addition to that, the revelation about the spies was far too much for her to bear alone.

Her clingers flitted across the formation array as she made one change after the other. There were some runes being added, and some removed, though she didn't change any layers of it.

Lin Mu observed this and guessed what she was doing.

'She's trying to draw spirit Qi from it?' Lin Mu furrowed his brows.

He was a bit confused as this was a complex thing to do as a formation array would hide sensitive functions like this deeper into its middle layers. This would prevent anyone from accessing it.

And what Ku Waowen was doing was certainly that. But it was stranger since she was not altering any layers at all and was only working on the surface.

"How is this possible?" Lin Mu muttered.

"She may have a key to the formation array. Since it was set by their ancestor, they likely have something that allows her to control it." Xukong suggested.

"Hmm… seems like it. But I can't sense what that is from here. Not without my spirit sense." Lin Mu replied.

But Lin Mu couldn't wait for something to happen on its own. He needed to take the initiative.

'I can't let her do as she feels. She's probably trying to make contact with the Northern Tribes. Even if she does make it, she can't reveal who caught her. The information reaching them might be a good option and will throw them off though.' Lin Mu thought to himself.

With a plan ready, Lin Mu decided to be even more daring.

~huu~

Taking a deep breath, Lin Mu looked around him and tried to memorize everything he could. Then the very next moment, he disappointed into thin air.

"Fade," Lin Mu appeared in the parallel world. This content belongs to Nô/velDra/ma.Org .

The vast emptiness of the strangely comforting to him and he paused briefly before moving again.

"It should be about here…" Lin Mu said, recalling the layout of the hall.

He moved to a certain location and came to a halt before deactivating fade. Since the Xieye Yun Frost Cage could restrict spirit Qi, Lin Mu didn't know entirely if Fade would work or not, since Flicker, Blink, and Phase didn't work in there.

Meld was out of the option too, as using it this close to his body could gravely injure him.

But seeing Fade work like normal was relieved and allowed him to finally escape it. Appearing near the ceiling of the hall, Lin Mu instantly entered an offensive stance. Vital energy stirred within his arm as Lin Mu poured a larger than normal amount into it.

Boulder Collapsing Fist: First Form- Impact!

He descended from the ceiling like a meteor, and Ku Waowen was too late to stop him.

"NOOO!" She yelled as Lin Mu reached the top of the formation array.

~KABOOM~

The defensive layer that had automatically activated by the fomentation array shattered almost immediately and the ones that appeared after that were shattered as well. Lin Mu's attack breached the initial defenses and finally struck the uppermost layer of the array.

The impact broke it apart and the spirit Qi contained within it exploded uncontrollably. The explosion of a formation was often very dangerous, as the spirit Qi contained within it was very structured.

But when this structure was forcefully shifted, it would lead to the spirit Qi channels within it conflicting and leading to a volatile reaction. Most formation arrays would have a safety for preventing this even if a layer was broken, but that safety was unless when Lin Mu had directly attacked it.

"AAAARHGH!" Ku Waowen spat out a mouthful of blood as she was shot to the other corner of the hall.

Lin Mu was similarly sent to the opposite corner and sustained some damage as well.

~Crack~

~SHATTER~

The Armor of the Mortal Strengthening Scripture broke almost instantly and his body had to bear the rest of the damage. Protecting his head with his hands, Lin Mu soldiered on as he finally slammed into the wall.

~BANG~

His body created an indent into the wall as cracks spread around from it.

"UGH!" Lin Mu grunted in pain.

His back, arms, and head ached in protest, but he forcefully endured it. Spreading his spirit sense around, he quickly assessed the situation in the room, while also eating a bunch of healing pills simultaneously.

"YOU!!!!! YOU SWINE!!! YOU BROKE IT!" An enraged voice could be heard coming from the back of the smoke cloud.

~WHOOSH~

With the sweep of her hand, Ku Waowen blew away all the smoke and cleared her field of vision. She then saw Lin Mu standing on the other end. Her anger spiked as she sped ahead.

A silver lance appeared in her hand and she aimed it towards Lin Mu's head.

"YOU'LL PAY FOR THIS!" She shouted as her eyes turned bloodshot.

Lin Mu observed the blood leaking from her lips and nose and knew that he had managed to injure her far more than before.

'Her spirit sense should have gotten injured as well since she was connected to the formation array when it exploded.' Lin Mu reckoned as he took out a shield from his storage.

Putting it in front of him, his body was entirely hidden behind it.

~DENG~

The Silver Lance hit the broad shield for a fraction of a second before piercing through with ease.

~BANG~

The lance directly pushed the shield along with it and was stuck half way through it before embedding into the wall behind it. But Ku Waowen did not fall for it and immediately flipped around to intercept another attack.

~CLANG~

"You can't fool me twice!" She said as Lin Mu used a long sword to attack her.

Their eyes locked as the battle entered a sensitive period.