In the hall, not all of the indents and scratches were filled with blood.
Only very specific ones were filled with the blood and once Lin Mu saw all of them, he could make out a very specific shape. It was not like any character or letter he had seen, and neither was it any pattern he was familiar with.
~WEEENG~
The pattern lit up and glowed in a blood red light.
~HUALA~
A very strange energy erupted from the pattern and snuffed out all of the spirit qi in the air. The energy rushed towards Lin Mu and coated his body. Lin Mu could not dodge it and found his control over spirit qi falling rapidly.
"HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?!" Lin Mu exclaimed.
He could understand if the spirit qi in the air was restrained, but even the spirit qi in his own body was not in his control anymore. His dantian was soon covered in the same strange energy and he was unable to use any spirit qi at this point.
"Ehehehehe! Do you like that? DO YOU FEEL THAT!" Ku Waowen said out loud.
A deep frown appeared on Lin Mu's face and knew that he had been fooled.
"She was making this thing the entire time… She never wanted to kill me from the start, she was just making it seem like it." Lin Mu understood.
"She used the same method that you used earlier." Xukong spoke.
His voice though, was eerily calm. Lin Mu didn't particularly notice it as he was more focused on the situation at hand. He felt both humiliated and lost at this.
'I thought I had everything under control.' Lin Mu realized he had done the very thing he had long decided not to do: underestimating his opponent.
Gritting his teeth, Lin Mu slammed his foot creating spiderweb like cracks in the floor and shot towards Ku Waowen.
"I DON'T NEED SPIRIT QI TO DEFEAT YOU!" Lin Mu said staunchly.
Ku Waowen was a taken aback by Lin Mu's action.
'This kid… how is he doing this?' Ku Waowen thought.
While she had understood that Lin Mu was strong, she didn't know that his strength didn't just come from spirit qi. Lin Mu was a body cultivator as well and had the same strength as that of an Adult Soul Stage Nascent Soul realm cultivator that was at the very peak just with his body.
A casual punch of his could break apart boulders and turn them to dust, which was something that normal cultivators would need to use spirit qi to do. They would have to first amplify their body with spirit qi and reinforce it, or they would end up injuring themselves.
But this effect was temporary and would only last as long as they maintained that state. It also consumed their spirit qi continually as long as they kept it active. But Lin Mu was not like that. Even if he had no spirit qi, he would still stay like that.
Not only that, if he ever lost his spirit qi cultivation base, his body cultivation would always be there. Crippling that was not a simple thing.
~BANG~
Lin Mu's fist buried into the ground where Ku Waowen was standing and missed her.
"Dammit!" Lin Mu cursed and looked around to find her again.
With the loss of his spirit sense, he couldn't react as fast as before either.
"Seems like there are more secrets to you than I thought. You will be the perfect gift for ancestors. They will be happy to pry out each and every secret of yours!" Ku Waowen said in a happy tone.
Lin Mu saw her standing in the air on the opposite side.
Her hands moved again and made a few patterns.
"Totemic Dungeon Seal! UNLEASH!" Ku Waowen recited.
~HONG~
~CLANG~CLANG~
~SHING~
The moment her chant ended, tens of chains that were bloody rose up from the ground. They clasped onto Lin Mu and wrapped around his body.
Three chains wrapped on each of his limbs, four wrapped on his waist, navel, chest, and neck.
The chains were then stretched taut and Immobilized Lin Mu. His neck was pulled back, making him feel very uncomfortable.
"Ehehehe! I thought just restraining your spirit qi would be enough, but this monkey has more tricks than that. Let's see what you can do with our Totemic Seal." Ku Waowen laughed.
Lin Mu's eyes darted around as much as they could in his orbits and tried to find a solution. He couldn't find anything that seemed like it would help him and he didn't recognize the pattern to be a formation either.
'What is this? It's not a formation, and neither is it a qi skill…' Lin Mu was lost.
"It's a totemic technique. They are similar to bloodline skills but have far greater restrictions on them." Xukong informed.
"Huh? What restrictions does this one have then?" Lin Mu questioned.
"I don't know." Xukong flatly answered.
"What do I do now?" Lin Mu asked, his tone low.
"That is up to you. This is now a trial for you. You will have to figure out a solution for yourself. You got into this and you will have to get out of it yourself." Xukong stated firmly.
Lin Mu's expression fluctuated, but he gritted his teeth. He knew that it was his mistake he had let it continue this far.
'If only I stopped her earlier, this would not have happened…' Lin Mu thought to himself.
He tried to pull on the chains and exerted his strength, but was unable to do anything.
~CLANG~
Instead, the chains only tightened their grip on his body, making him grunt in pain.
"Ahahaha! There is no use. Breaking the Totemic Seal of my clan is impossible for your kind!" Ku Waowen insulted.
Numerous thoughts, including self blame went through Lin Mu's mind. He was reminded of his companions that were still waiting for him upstairs and what their end would be like if Ku Waowen got to them.
This lit a fire in Lin Mu's heart and his eyes turned bloodshot.
"I… can't let that happen… NO! I WON'T LET THAT HAPPEN!" Lin Mu declared out loud.