Upon her chant, the red rods moved like rockets towards Lin Mu. He weaved through them and successfully dodged them, but that was not Ku Waowen's goal at all.
~Clang~Clang~clang~
All of the red rods were impaled into the ground around Lin Mu and the Frost cloud was attracted to them like a magnet.
~swoosh~
The frosty wind brought on by the cloud was chilly and frost settled on to Lin Mu's Armor. Even then he could feel the chill penetrate it and spread to his skin.
"How is this going past the Armor?" Lin Mu was confused.
'There was certainly something strange amount that liquid she drank.' Lin Mu thought.
He tried to move, but realized that it was already late. Ice had covered the ground and the top as well. The rods worked like the bars of a cage while the frost became the concrete that coated them.
Lin Mu was now fully enclosed in the ice and was unable to move around much. The speed at which the ice spread was astounding, and it was as if the red rods had catalyzed them in some way.
"You should have taken the offer, now you can only blame yourself." Ku Waowen said with a chuckle.
Lin Mu didn't take that standing though and started to hit on the ice. The short sword that was close to him was now being used as an ice pick. The other weapons of Lin Mu fell to the ground controllably due to the frost restraining his spirit sense.
~bang~bang~bang~
The icy cage was far tougher than Lin Mu had expected and did not budge at all. His expression turned serious as he tried to find a weakness in the skill that had just been used.
"It's definitely not a formation, thus I can't use the normal method. I'll have to find some other way." Lin Mu muttered to himself and use his spirit sense to test out the cage.
But no matter how much he tried, his spirit sense could not penetrate the walls of the cage. They were similar to the repelling effect that was shown by the walls of the ruins that could restrain spirit Qi, but these went a step further and could even inflict damage.
The icy chill exuded from the cage's walls, threatened to drill through Lin Mu's spirit sense and penetrate his body. It was a scary feeling that made Lin Mu quickly withdraw his spirit sense; knowing this might not be the way.
Gritting his teeth, Lin Mu clenched his fist and hammered them down on to the walls.
~BANG~BANG~BANG~
The entire cage shook like a bull was raging within it, but even then there were no signs of damage that could be seen on it.
"Hahahah! My Xieye Yun Frost Cage isn't something the likes of you can break. It has the True Frost Essence of our tribe, which has been refined for over a thousand years. Even if you were at the Shell Expansion stage of the Dao Shell realm, it still won't be affected." Ku Waowen laughed.
Hearing the name of the liquid that she had drank, Lin Mu's mind quickly worked. He felt like he had heard something similar to that before.
"It should be similar to the Arctic Essence." Xukong suddenly spoke.
Lin Mu nodded his head as the memory appeared in his mind.
"Indeed, the Lost immortal once traded a large amount of fortune to obtain the Arctic essence. It is said to be one of the coldest materials one can buy and is very useful for those with ice physiques.
But it is also used in restrictive poisons and meridian freezing pills. No wonder it can prevent my spirit sense from passing through." Lin Mu replied.
"Not just that, those red rods made from her hair. They aren't simple either. They are providing the structure for it. And perhaps that is how she's controlling it too." Xukong suggested.
"Hmm… yes, now that I think of it, she didn't control the frost cloud with her spirit sense. She simply blew it out and even when it responded later, it only did to the sound. If the True Frost Essence is similar to the Arctic essence, then it should be impossible for her to do anything, not to mention swallow it like that.
She would have turned into an ice block if she even touched that bottle. This is probably an inferior version of it." Lin Mu replied.
A few ideas appeared in his mind, but then he saw something that changed his thoughts.
'She's not acting? Is she waiting for something? No… it's not that she's waiting, but rather she can't do anything!' Lin Mu understood.
"She might have already strained herself using their technique. Though with her cultivation base, if she could restrain you like this, she might have also been able to kill you with something lethal, after all, you are trapped.
But she hasn't done that." Xukong added.
"She has some other thoughts." Lin Mu muttered.
He looked at the old woman and decided to interact a bit.
"Fine… what is it that you want?" Lin Mu questioned.
"Hahaha! So the camel finally decides to bend, huh?" Ku Waowen snarked.
But Lin Mu kept his face still. The ice was very transparent and thus he could still be seen clearly. It was almost like a glass.
"So then… which sect are you from?" She questioned. "If they managed to hide you for this long, and you appeared, you must have found out about us, haven't you?"
Lin Mu already had a few answers ready for times like this spoke.
"I am from the Zither Wind alliance." Lin Mu stated.
Hearing this, the old woman frowned.
"LIES! There is nothing they can do that we won't find out." Ku Waowen said out loud.
"Oh? You mean the people being controlled?" Lin Mu said with a raised brow.
"Ahah, seems like we truly managed to fool the Northern Tribes. We already have a way to hide from your surveillance.. The people you control aren't all being controlled!" Lin Mu declared, stunning her.