Chapter 312 - Enmity

Finally, while slashing around an opportunity appeared in front of Lin Mu's eyes and he used flicker to pass through the beast, making it a bit disoriented. The short sword returned to his hand, and he poured spirit qi into it, and not just any spirit qi but rather the liquid spirit qi.

This was the first time he had used the liquid spirit qi drops to amplify his short sword, and the effect was quite obvious. The short sword hummed with power, and a grey glow covered its edges. 

"HAA!" Lin Mu shouted as he stabbed the Short sword towards the beast.

Lin Mu knew that while a slash may be blocked by the metallic sheen of the beast's skin, a stab might not be. 

~Thuck~

~Splatter~

And just as he had expected, the short sword pierced through the neck of the beast rather effortlessly. But Lin Mu had underestimated the vitality of the beast, as it was still not dead, and while it cried in pain, it was still resisting him.

"Damn, this is one tough beast!" Lin Mu cursed.

"Trunk faced cows are known for their defensive abilities and vitality. Their bloodline ability not only increases this by threefold but also increases their offensive abilities by letting them grow extremely hard horns and tusks." Xukong quickly informed.

Lin Mu listened to his words but did not lose focus.

"If one stab didn't work, then ten more should do the trick," Lin Mu stated before drawing the short sword back.

But he found it to be stuck in the neck of the beast.

"What the…" Lin Mu uttered before he saw the muscles of the beast's neck twitch.

'The beast is using his muscles to squeeze the short sword?' Lin Mu realized.

Seeing that this would not work, Lin Mu immediately used another strategy. He used flicker and the short sword was effortlessly pulled out of the beast. No blood was stuck to the sword either, letting it stay clean and shiny.

"Huh, I gotta keep this in mind when I clean the short sword next time…" Lin Mu muttered with a little amazement.

The beast had clearly not expected for Lin Mu to do something like this and staggered due to it losing the pivot it was putting its strength in i.e. the short sword. It stumbled to the left, and Lin Mu had an idea in that instant.

He simply blinked to the side the beast was stumbling towards and pointed the short sword towards it.

~Shing~

~Slick~

In the next moment, the short sword was buried in the beast's jaw and pierced through the palate into the brain. Lin Mu didn't even need to push the short sword, rather the beast did it on its own as it had lost its balance and collided with the sharp tip.

The weight of the beast did most of the job and all Lin Mu had to do was to hold his ground, which was relatively easy, as the weight of the beast was sufficient for Lin Mu to handle. He had not tested his raw strength yet, but knew that he could easily lift a couple of tons.

The beast let out a few more grunts before all life faded away from its body.

~Shing~

Lin Mu withdrew the short sword and looked at it. He saw the blood covering it and thought of what he had learned before. He then used flicker and saw all of the blood that was covering the short sword separating from it and falling to the ground, leaving behind the shiny surface of the blade.

"That's convenient…" Lin Mu muttered.

He then kneeled down and probed the beast for the location of its beast core. He found it to be in the belly of the beast rather than the head or the chest which was a bit surprising to him. Still pushing these thoughts aside, he used the short sword to cut a hole before he pushed his hand inside.

It didn't matter to him that his clothes were getting bloodied, all he wanted right now was to get a closer look at the beast core. He fiddled around with the innards of the beast before he finally touched a small marble.

He could feel the hidden yet potent spirit qi that was contained within the beast's core and his heart throbbed with it. It was almost as if the beast core was alive and still had a pulse. He wiped the beast core clean and took a closer look at it.

The beast core was brown colored with yellow patterns printed on it. The yellow patterns looked like the horns and the tusks of the beast, which showed that this beast core belonged to a beast that had awakened its bloodline.

In the very next second that Lin Mu glanced at the beast core, he suddenly had a feeling of danger and the hair on his arm stood on its ends. Without hesitation, he used blink and appeared the maximum distance he could from the area, but his hand felt empty. The beast core had fallen.

Lin Mu looked at the scene and saw the reason behind it. His hand had been hit by a wind attack at the very instant he had activated the skill blink, which led to the beast core getting knocked out of his hand while he himself teleported away.

"No! That's mine," Lin Mu shouted as he looked at the people that had attacked him.

They were none other than the four disciples of the Tri cauldron peony sect that he had seen before.

"Very good junior brother," spoke the Senior brother as he clapped his hands.

"This beast core with an awakened bloodline will serve as the perfect gift for sister Ye Zi Jin." The eldest brother stated.

Lin Mu gritted his teeth as he saw the junior brother put the beast core in his pocket.

"Give that back, if you do not want enmity between us." Lin Mu wandered.

"Hahaha! Enmity? What right does a mere wandering cultivator like you have to say that? Just because you have a Little strength to kill an early stage core condensation beast?" The Senior brother taunted.

"He also seems to have some unique movement techniques, perhaps we should interrogate him a bit, what do you say brothers?" Spoke the junior brother adding oil to the fire.

As soon as Lin Mu heard that, it was as if the last straw was broken. The story that Jing Wei had told him came back to him, and his dislike of the sects climbed another step higher. 

Lin Mu knew that he could not let these men go now. Not only had they stolen the beast core that he had obtained, but they had also seen the skill that he used and were coveting him. The enmity between them was now sowed, and Lin Mu was determined to reap the crop, whether it be rotten or unripe.

"Careful junior brother!" The eldest brother yelled as he blocked Lin Mu's short sword that had come flying.

"YOU DARE!" The Senior brother yelled.

But suddenly Lin Mu disappeared in front of their eyes, but then they heard his voice.

"Boulder collapsing fist: First form- Impact!"