With the refinement room ready, Lin Mu left the two to work while Daoist Chu went to do his own research with the formations.

~shua~

Lin Mu closed the door behind him and activated the arrays to secure the room. After all, he had no idea how things could do thus it was better to secure it. Plus he was going to be dealing with materials that were rather dangerous such as the Black Hex Raven Tears.

"Let's see…

" Lin Mu took out the fragments of the Chimera Plant that he had fished out of the Death Qi river.

He placed them on a work bench and observed them. Among the five fragments, two were from the Roots of the Chimera Plant and three were from the trunk.

'Five fragments that I'll have to be prudent with.' Lin Mu thought to himself. 'I should test out the limits of its durability first.' He picked up the smallest fragment that had come from the Chimera Plant trunk.

It was barely an inch in size and could easily held by Lin Mu between his finger and thumb. While holding it like this, Lin Mu started to squeeze it, trying to see its limits.

"HA!

" Lin Mu didn't find much success with a single hand so he used both his hands to squeeze the fragment.

Veins bulged up in Lin Mu's hands as he continued to increase the force, and yet the Fragment showed no signs of bending or cracking.

~huu~

Seeing that even after five minutes of effort, the fragment was unaffected Lin Mu stopped.

"Physical strength won't work… I'll try other methods.

" Lin Mu muttered to himself as he then took out the swords. ~HUALA~

He infused Afternoon Pine and Ocean Raker with Sword Intent as well as Metal elemental immortal Qi as he decided to strike the fragment with as much power as he could. He already knew how durable they were so went with the highest power input right from the start.

~CLANG~

Sparks flew as Afternoon Pine Struck the Bark Fragment, but not even a single scratch was left on the fragment.

"Again!

" Lin Mu swung Ocean Raker, striking the Bark Fragment right on its side, leaving not even a faint mark.

"This is a lot tougher than I thought.

" Lin Mu knew his attacks were more than enough to split a mountain and yet such a tiny fragment had managed to survive.

"There's no way its invulnerable. The Chimera Plant's destruction resulted in most of its bark and roots getting destroyed too, thus there is definitely some limit to it.

" He tried to think of possible reasons.

The first one that stood out to him was the explosion that had appeared due to the infective skills that had penetrated the insides of the Chimera Plant.

"Perhaps that might work?

" Lin Mu wondered as he directly pulled his fist back. He placed the fragment on the ground, so that even if the damage from the skill spread, it would go straight down and not explode everywhere.

~HUALA~

Energy revolved in Lin Mu's arm as he quickly released a Metal Devastator!

~CLANG~CLANG~CLANG~CLANG~

Since he had released it in a controlled manner, the size of the skill was limited. Lin Mu had in fact used less than a percent of his Immortal Qi in this attack, hoping to control the collateral damage and limit it to the fragment itself.

And yet, all that happened was a flurry of sparks rising from the fragment and a spiral hole being dug into the ground.

~TREMBLE~ And a few seconds later the ground trembled, as Metal Devastator finally dissipated deep underground.

"Didn't work at all.

" Lin Mu furrowed his brows.

He sat down for a bit and thought over it all, before coming to a conclusions.

'The way the Chimera Plant was destroyed, the Death Qi that was contained within it certainly played a part. As such Death Qi might be needed to cause it to break again.' Lin Mu reckoned. 'But it is not something we can use, especially not at concentrations as high as that.' He knew.

The Chimera Plant had been destroyed due to the pressure that had built up inside it. The Death Qi had basically imploded, causing the entirety of the plant to break down. It was similar to how even a rock would shatter, if it was heated high enough and the fine water drops inside it would expand to crack it.

"Perhaps something else might work on this.

" Lin Mu thought of his skills and picked out another skill.

He stood in a stance again and pulled his fist back, gathering Immortal Qi inside it.

But this time he wasn't using Metal Devastator.

'Boulder Collapsing Fist: Second Form - Penetrator!' ~SHUA~

A thin needle of energy shot out from Lin Mu's fist and stuck the Bark Fragment.

~TACK~

A big blinding flash happened from it before the fragment was flung at sonic speeds!

~WHOOSH~

~SLICK~

Lin Mu felt pain on his cheek, as a warm liquid dripped down. Touching it, he felt the blood that was now leaking out from a cut.

"Damn…

" He took a deep breath.

~THUD~

And a second later, he heard the sound of something collapsing behind him.

"Shit, the table broke?

" he saw the table which was now cut diagonally. The cut was clean and had been done in one go. But this wasn't from the needle of Qi, as Penetrator had went down straight into the ground, leaving a tiny hole. Rather this was from the Bark Fragment that was hit by it and flung at great speeds. Not only did it cut past Lin Mu's face, it passed through the table and cut it down too!

Now everything on the table had fallen on the ground, while the Bark Fragment was lodged deep in the wall.

"Even the array didn't stop it.

" Lin Mu could see the crack on the array, as well as the flickering runes that had sustained damage.