Right at the moment, Lin Mu used meld to detach the vault from the ground, a change had happened.

~RUMBLE~

The heavenly tribulation clouds thundered and lightning arced across its edges.

~BOOM~

A bolt of white lightning fell from the sky and hit Alchemist Bilao, who had been prepared. A shockwave spread in the area, which was quickly stopped by the tribulation platform. The disciples and the elders watched with intent as smoke spread round Bilao.

A faint scent of burnt flesh could be smelled coming from the center of the platform where Bilao was sitting. 

"Is he dead?" 

"Did Alchemist Bilao withstand it?

"Heavens! Tribulation lightning is so scary!" 

Various words were spoken by the spectators as the patriarch Mudan lookedintently at Bilao. To him Bilao's survival meant great things, along with another peak master in the sect.

Lin Mu saw the tribulation lightning too, and couldn't help but stare at it. The power in it was as large as he had expected, but Bilao's fate was still unknown. By the time the smoke cloud dissipated, more people had gathered around the Pill peaks' area.

They were the disciplinary pavilion's members who were coming to find the thief as well. They had lagged behind Yi Deng, even though they had all left at the same time.

"Activate the restricting formations! We will not let the thief escape!" 

~shua~shua~shua~

Barriers started forming around the area, preventing Lin Mu's escape. Still, this was not enough to stop Lin Mu.

"Fade…" Lin Mu muttered as he disappeared in front of everyone's eyes.

Yi Deng's eyes went wide in shock, as he couldn't understand how Lin Mu did this. He couldn't perceive the spatial fluctuations accurately either because of the interference from the Heavenly tribulation.

They all looked around for traces of Lin Mu, assuming that he had merely turned invisible using some kind of technique or an item. But then a voice was heard from another side of the peak.

"HE'S HERE! COME QUICK!" 

"Dammit!" Lin Mu cursed, finding the route blocked.

Even with Fade, it was getting hard for him to move as the formation arrays caused the space to get harder to manipulate. These were the great barriers created by the formation array of the Tri Cauldron peony sect and when activated at full potential, would even restrain a nascent soul realm cultivator.

Lin Mu looked for routes of escape and his eyes went to the Herb Peak. But that soon turned to disappointment as he saw a green dome surrounding the Herb peak.

"Shaoyan Qianyu activated the defenses as well…" Lin Mu realized.

He was now surrounded on three sides by the disciplinary pavilion members and the peak master Yi Deng, who had bloodshot eyes and a rage filled face.

"YOU WILL NOT ESCAPE THIS! PREPARE TO DIE!" He shouted as a flaming dragon shot out of his palms.

Lin Mu blinked to dodge the Qi skill, but found the dragon to be following him. The other cultivators also took this chance to attack and troubled Lin Mu.

"Bah! I'll take care of them, too!" Lin Mu said before he clashed with the disciples. 

~clang~ clang~ clang~

The weapons landed on Lin Mu, whose body was easily able to withstand the hits. The mortal strengthening scripture was working perfectly. 

Seeing that their attacks were doing nothing to Lin Mu the disciples were surprised. They sent out more, but Lin Mu started to counteract this time. He exchanged a few blows with the disciples, but could not kill them.

"Don't let him leave!" Yi Deng said as he watched Lin Mu getting trapped.

There were now two peak masters facing Lin Mu. There was Yi Deng at his back and Shaoyan Qianyu at the front. The peak master of the herb peak had volunteered to defend and was now standing at the edge of the field.

~Rumble~

The people were suddenly stunned by a loud noise as thunder rumbled in the skies. Patriarch Mudan looked up at the sky and knew the second bolt was coming.

~Boom~

The second tribulation bolt descended from the sky before striking Bilao. The man was hit hard and had his clothes burned in multiple places. Still, Bilao had expected something like this and had taken a few precious medicines.

"He withstood it!" someone from the audience shouted.

Patriarch Mudan looked at Bilao for a moment before diverting his gaze to where Lin Mu was.

"Where do I go now?" Lin Mu said, seeing no avenue of escape.

Even he would have a hard time with these many cultivators and thus fighting them was out of the question. Then finally he came to a choice. Lin Mu gritted his teeth and flew towards the tribulation platform.

"STOP HIM! Don't let him near the tribulation platform." The patriarch ordered before he himself moved to block Lin Mu.

~Rumble~

The sound of thunder echoed in the sky as it got ready for the next tribulation lightning bolt. Seeing that there was more to come, Bilao was not scared and instead ate the pills that had been prepared by him.

He fully focused on himself and did not even look out of the area of the tribulation platform. 

"Flicker… Blink… Phase… Phase… Fade…" Lin Mu used all his skills as he moved towards the tribulation platform.

The peak masters were unable to restrain him due to his speed and the weird way by which he was moving. Some of them had a hunch that Lin Mu may be using spatial manipulation but they did not dare confirm it.

After all, even Dao shell realm cultivators would have a hard time using something like that. 

The disciples in the audience had the shock of their lives as they suddenly saw a stranger appear on the platform.

"Who's that!" someone shouted as they pointed at Lin Mu who had just reached the stage.

He had appeared out of thin air, thus everyone was confused. Bilao also noticed it and was dumbfounded.

But then another thing happened that made everyone flinch with terror.

~KABOOM~

The third tribulation bolt fell from the sky. 

But this bolt didn't hit Bilao… rather it went towards Lin Mu and struck him!

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