When Lin Mu heard the cry, he could feel the very fabric of space shake.
"NO! It's about to escape into the void!" The second Dao Shell realm high elder realized.
They were in the Dao shell realm and were decently learned about the space to know what this situation meant. The invader being able to pass freely through the void like this meant that they were against something really difficult.
~shua~
The Elders tried to do something to restrain the invader's figure and created a barrier around it.
~SCREECH~
But the figure didn't care for it at all. It continued to scream and the space started to tremble even more. The barrier seemed to be helpless against it.
"The barrier is useless! It is breaking the very space itself, we need a spatial barrier to stop it!" Jing Luo spoke up.
High Elder Sunsen had a complex expression on his face and didn't know what to do. Neither he nor the other elders knew of any spatial barrier, nor were they proficient in formations that could do the same.
But just as they were about to give up, a word was heard.
"Meld!"?
Then under their stunned faces, the space in front of them froze. The screeching of the Invader stopped as well, and absolute silence descended in the area. The Invader's figure stopped moving as well and its smoky aura that flowed was frozen too.
"It's paralyzed?" The elder who had his hand touched by the invader's figure asked.
"No… the very space is frozen. If it was paralyzed, there would still be some movement, this is not that." The second High Elder spoke.
They then looked at the source of the word that was spoke and saw Lin Mu with his hand extended. Strong spirit Qi fluctuation were coming from him and it was obvious that it was he that had stopped the Invader in its place.
The high elders were certainly shocked as they knew how difficult something like this was, not to mention the way Lin Mu had done it.
'Proficient in the Spatial element?' High Elder Sunsen thought.
"Jing Luo, set up a restraining formation around the area!" Lin Mu ordered.
"On it!" The man replied and quickly sent seven flags flying.
The flags were planted around the area where meld was holding the space frozen and runes started to rise from them. Jing Luo's fingers rapidly moved as he wrote a few runes in the air with spirit Qi.
The runes flitted across the flags and formed a dome around the area, thereby barricading the Figure of the invader in it. The runes were like ribbons that lowered and tried wrapping around the invader's figure.
Lin Mu stopped meld and the invader started struggling again.
~SCREAM~?
The screeching scream of the invader was even louder this time and forced the elders to close their ears again.
"DAMMIT! THIS LITTLE BASTARD!" The High Elder cursed and threw out what looked like a teapot.
The teapot's lid opened and it flipped before covering the Invader within it. The screams of the invader were greatly suppressed, allowing them to take some relief in it.
"That is one annoying thing." The Second elder said.
~Twang~
But it seemed like their struggle had not ended yet. Like an elastic string being broken, one of the ribbons that was holding the Invader snapped, allowing the invader greater freedom of movement.
"SHIT! This won't be enough to hold it." Jing Luo said.
"We need to seal it in something or it will escape." High Elder Sunsen said.
"I don't think I have anything that can seal something like this. Normal barriers are useless as it will just escape." Jing Luo replied.
"We can't call in the others from the sect either, this thing will escape before that. Since it can directly enter the void, normal methods are invalid." High Elder Sunsen stated.
"What do we do now, then?" The Elder who had been injured by the invader questioned.
Lin Mu too had the same question in his mind and was wondering what could be done.
"Use another beast as its host, a weaker one. Then just restrain the beast as you would any normal one." Xukong came in at the last moment.
"THAT'S RIGHT!" Lin Mu exclaimed. holds © this.
"Do you have something?" Jing Luo asked seeing Lin Mu's reaction.
"Yes!" Lin Mu said before giving Little Shrubby a command in his mind.
~WHOOSH~
The beast sprinted away at blinding speed, his destination unknown.
"What do you want to do?" The High Elders asked.
"We don't need anything special to seal it. We simply need to give it what it wants." Lin Mu replied.
"Huh?" Their confusion was understanding, but it would soon be answered.
~GROWL~
Little Shrubby returned with something on his back. It was a small rabbit beast that seemed to be terrified and trembling non-stop. Being caught by someone like little Shrubby was obviously not something very pleasant for a small and weak beast like it.
One of the prosthetic hands moved and brought the Rabbit beast towards the invader.
~TWANG~
Another ribbon broke and the Invader started moving even harder.
"I can't hold it much longer." Jing Luo stated.
"You don't have to anymore. Just release it!" Lin Mu replied.
"Are you sure?" Jing Luo confirmed.
"Yes!" Lin Mu said with surety.
Jing Luo nodded and twisted the rune in front of him, releasing all the ribbons. Elder Sunsen raised the teapot as well, allowing them access.
~Weeng~
The ribbons disappeared in a wave of spirit Qi and the invader was free again.
"LITTLE SHRUBBY, NOW!" Lin Mu shouted.
~WHOOSH~
The Rabbit beast that was being held by the prosthetic hand was thrown towards the invader's figure. Like a stone entering a pond, the rabbit created ripples on the surface of the invader's figure.
The rabbit was barely five percent the size of the invader's figure and disappeared quickly.
Everyone watched on intently, ready to act if the invader tried to escape again.. Lin Mu's spatial perception was also active and he was watching it with a hawk's gaze.