Walker Of The Worlds

Chapter 3080: Testing The Slingshot

Meng Bai spared her a quick grin between strikes but continued to fight.

Cattaleya snorted softly, amused by the sincerity. Then, when she saw two more golems trying to flank him again, she switched weapons mid-motion. With her free hand, she pulled a strange-looking slingshot from her belt and loosed a shot in the blink of an eye.

"Trying to go after the kid again, huh?" She frowned. ’There’s either someone controlling them, or they have at least a certain level of intelligence.’

A small marble whistled through the air and struck one golem directly between its glowing eyes, the impact cracking the stone and making it stagger. Another marble followed immediately, striking the second golem’s knee and sending it toppling.

In less than two minutes, the wave was over. The last golem crumbled under Lin Mu’s casual backhand strike. The dust settled, revealing the tunnel littered with fragments of stone.

They moved on, the glowing talismans shifting with them. The tension never eased—every echo, every flicker of shadow was suspect.

Along the way, more stone guardians emerged in staggered waves. None were as large in number as the first group, but they came in varied shapes—long-armed crawlers that clung to the ceiling, heavy quadrupeds that charged down the tunnel, even serpent-like golems that slithered along the floor.

Meng Bai found himself fighting side-by-side with Cattaleya in several skirmishes, and it was during one such fight that he noticed her peculiar way of switching between her massive greatsword and the slingshot. It wasn’t just a secondary weapon—it was clearly a central part of her combat style.

When they finally reached a lull in the attacks, Meng Bai’s curiosity got the better of him.

"That slingshot of yours... it’s unlike any I’ve seen before," he said, wiping dust from his face.

Cattaleya glanced at him, then grinned. "Wanna try it?"

Meng Bai blinked, surprised. "Seriously?"

"Why not?" she said, pulling it from her belt and holding it out.

He took it reverently, inspecting the sleek frame that was a hybrid between a jade like material and metal.

There were no elastic bands, just a rigid Y-shaped structure with strange etchings carved into it. He turned it over a few times, frowning. "Uh... how does this even work?"

Cattaleya chuckled and stepped closer. "Imbue your qi into it."

He did as instructed, sending a stream of his Spirit Qi into the frame. The moment it flowed through, shimmering golden bands appeared between the arms of the slingshot, humming faintly with power.

"Now pull," she said.

Meng Bai hooked a finger into the golden string and tugged. The resistance was immediate and immense—like trying to drag a mountain. His muscles strained, and veins stood out along his arms as he pulled with all his might, amplifying his body with every scrap of Spirit Qi he could muster. Even then, he could only draw the string back a couple of inches—nowhere near the full length.

He finally released it with a sigh, shaking his head. "I can’t... it’s like trying to bend iron while being a baby."

Instead of mocking him, Cattaleya smirked approvingly. "That’s a Titan String Slingshot. Designed for dual Body and Qi cultivators. Most people can’t even make the bands appear, let alone pull them."

Meng Bai blinked. "So... I did pretty well?"

"Better than well," she said. "If you can pull it at all at your stage, that’s a sign you’ve got more raw strength than you realize."

He couldn’t help but grin at the praise, even if he handed the weapon back with a sheepish look.

Lin Mu’s gaze lingered on the Titan String Slingshot as Meng Bai reluctantly handed it back to Cattaleya. The faint trace of curiosity in his eyes didn’t go unnoticed.

"You want to try it too?" Cattaleya asked, tilting her head with a small grin.

Lin Mu shrugged lightly. "Why not?"

He took the slingshot from her hands without hesitation. The moment his fingers curled around the grip, his qi flowed naturally into the weapon. This time, however, the strings that materialized weren’t the golden strands that had appeared for Meng Bai.

Instead, they shimmered with an intricate mix of white and deep crimson, intertwining like molten metal and moonlight. The aura they emitted had an almost tangible pressure to it.

’He can bring it to full potential already?’ Cattaleya’s brows shot up.

The two colored energy showed that both Immortal Qi and Immortal Essence were being used to activate the slingshot.

In her experience, only a handful of cultivators had ever managed to activate the Titan String Slingshot at its maximum draw capacity—and certainly not on their first attempt. Even among dual Body and Qi cultivators, mastering the string’s resistance was an achievement that took years of training. Yet here Lin Mu stood, holding it as if it were nothing more than a hunting toy.

Without any visible strain, Lin Mu drew the string back. The cords emitted a resonant, metallic twang, and the air itself seemed to tighten with the stored energy.

"You want some ammo?" Cattaleya offered, already reaching for a pouch of smooth, immortal-grade marbles.

Lin Mu shook his head. "I can make my own."

Cattaleya paused, curious, and then her eyes widened as she watched a metallic sphere form in Lin Mu’s free hand. It wasn’t just forged metal—it was metal elemental immortal qi condensed into an impossibly dense form, each ripple of energy humming with deadly precision. Even without touching it, she could feel the sheer weight behind it, like it could crush stone just by being dropped.

"That’s... a qi skill?" she asked quietly.

Lin Mu nodded. "Something I’ve refined for a while now. Might be quite suitable with this."

He placed the sphere in the slingshot’s pouch, his stance adjusting ever so slightly. Then, without further warning, he released.

The explosion of force that followed was like thunder trapped in the confines of the tunnel. The projectile didn’t simply fly—it tore through the air, the qi sphere unraveling mid-flight into a colossal illusory ballista bolt. Its sheer size seemed out of place in the cramped space, yet it moved with impossible speed, ripping through stone and earth as if they were paper.