Chapter 3996: The Infuriated Daoist Bone Ruler

Daoist Bone Ruler slowly dusted the sleeve of his robe and his eyes settled upon Lin Mu.

"You!" For the first time since his arrival, his calm expression showed genuine anger.

The word carried tremendous pressure as the surrounding air trembled, but Lin Mu’s smile only widened slightly. He could see the change in Daoist Bone Ruler’s demeanor as until this point, the Head of the Law Divisions had clearly been testing him.

Lin Mu could tell the first strike had been powerful enough to crush the bones of an ordinary Fifth Tribulation Immortal, yet Daoist Bone Ruler had deliberately controlled the amount of strength behind it.

The second exchange had also been restrained. His enormous stone palms had managed to trap the man for several moments, but Daoist Bone Ruler had endured the attack without suffering any meaningful injury.

The battle had therefore reached an interesting point. Daoist Bone Ruler was beginning to understand that the strange elder standing before him possessed strength far beyond what he had initially anticipated.

The problem was that this only made the man’s suspicion stronger. After all, from the beginning, Daoist Bone Ruler had believed Lin Mu was an imposter.

The ancient Junior Elder Zhenyu had been a Fifth Tribulation Immortal and a powerful body cultivator in his era. He had been talented, arrogant and ambitious, yet there had been no record suggesting that he had ever reached the Transcendent Immortal Realm.

More importantly, the Mad Demon Depths had never produced any sign of a Transcendent Tribulation during the period when Zhenyu supposedly remained inside. Daoist Bone Ruler knew the Heavenly Guardian Stream Sect’s monitoring formations extremely well.

A Transcendent Tribulation was an extraordinary event, and the fluctuations created by such a tribulation could not simply vanish without notice. If someone had undergone one within the Mad Demon Depths, the sect would have detected it.

But there had been no such record. That meant the man before him could not simply explain his survival by claiming to have repeatedly undergone Transcendent Tribulations. At least, that was what Daoist Bone Ruler had believed.

His original theory had been much simpler.

An unknown cultivator had entered the Mad Demon Depths, somehow acquired information about Junior Elder Zhenyu, obtained a tool capable of obscuring his cultivation, and then escaped through the breach.

It had... seemed plausible.

Perhaps the stranger possessed some powerful concealment treasure. Perhaps he had obtained part of the Mad Demon’s legacy. Or perhaps he had even found something within the depths that allowed him to imitate the ancient elder.

Daoist Bone Ruler had considered all of those possibilities and in reality he was very close to reality. What he had failed to account for was the sheer physical strength of the man standing before him.

His first strike had been blocked by a palm, while his second attack had been deflected by a sheet of water. Then the stranger had manipulated the earth around him with a degree of control that defied conventional understanding.

There had been no obvious Immortal Qi fluctuations and there had been no recognizable Dao skill’s manifestation. There had been no use of any formation, weapon, tool or talisman that might allow something like this to happen.

It had simply happened.

Daoist Bone Ruler’s eyes became increasingly serious as he understood whatever Lin Mu was, he was considerably more dangerous than the imposter he had imagined.

"I was holding back," Daoist Bone Ruler finally said and his voice had become colder. "I intended to restrain you and bring you back to the Law Division for questioning."

Lin Mu raised an eyebrow. "How considerate."

Several elders felt their hearts tighten.

Daoist Bone Ruler continued as though he had not heard the sarcasm. "Since you refuse to cooperate, I have no reason to continue holding back."

The pressure surrounding him suddenly changed.

WHOOSH!

A terrifying wave of aura exploded from his body and the heavens seemed to darken for an instant. The ground trembled while the surrounding Immortal Qi surged violently. Then the clouds above the Mad Demon Depths scattered as an overwhelming Transcendent might swept across the plains.

This time, the disciples finally understood something they had failed to realize earlier. The terrifying pressure they had felt when Daoist Bone Ruler first arrived had never been his true combat aura, that had simply been his natural presence.

He had been suppressing himself from the beginning and now he was releasing his strength. Several High Elders immediately retreated farther and the weaker elders found their breathing becoming difficult.

Even the disciples who were hundreds of meters away felt their bodies becoming heavy.

One of the Man Peak elders stared toward Daoist Bone Ruler with solemnity. "He is serious now."

Another elder nodded. "Head Bone Ruler has finally decided to use his full strength."

The Bone Ruler in Daoist Bone Ruler’s hand began to glow.

Woom

At first, the light was faint, before countless runes emerged across its surface. One after another, ancient symbols appeared around the weapon.

SHA SHA SHA SHA

They rapidly expanded into formations and the formations floated around Daoist Bone Ruler like enormous rings of light. Lin Mu’s eyes immediately became focused and his perception swept across them.

The runes were quite intricate as each formation contained several layers, and every layer connected with the next through precise energy channels. Lin Mu studied them for only a moment before understanding their meaning.

’Discipline.’ One enormous symbol formed behind Daoist Bone Ruler.

’Restraint.’ Another appeared above him.

’Control.’ A third formation emerged to his left.

’Punishment.’ A fourth manifested to his right.

Then came the final symbol. ’Repentance.’

Lin Mu’s eyes gleamed. ’Interesting.’

The formations were not simply decorative, they were part of the Bone Ruler itself. The weapon’s aura continued rising and the pale ruler began expanding. Its length increased rapidly, from ten, to twenty, then to fifty and finally to a hundred meters.

Soon it had become an enormous ruler suspended above Daoist Bone Ruler. The ancient runes embedded within it shone with terrifying brilliance as the formations surrounding the weapon merged into its surface.

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