In the innermost pocket against his chest, that cold, hard pitch-black bone plate faintly emanated a profound, ancient Dao mark pulsation.
Lin Mu could clearly sense the anomaly, but he knew perfectly well that now was absolutely not the time to investigate this mysterious spoil of war.
He took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing his racing heart and the greed in his eyes.
Then he hunched his back, put on an expression of utter exhaustion, and silently stood behind Lin Feng—who had just severed the snake's head and was now caught in a tempest of emotions.
The dust had settled.
As that enormous snake head crashed heavily into the muddy water, the point display in the outside plaza froze completely.
This marked the end of the three-day-and-night wilderness survival examination.
No matter how filthy, despicable, and calculating the process had been, Lin Feng's championship in this competition was now an ironclad, indisputable fact.
The waterfall's edge now resembled a flesh-and-blood slaughterhouse.
The poisonous fog gradually thinned under the torrential rain.
On the battlefield's periphery, the survivors who had barely escaped the Jade Tendon Gu's counter-damage and the toxic deluge lay collapsed in the mire, gasping for breath.
Though casualties were severe and the sixteen-person alliance was nearly annihilated, fortunately the core members of the three major seeds had deep foundations and managed to preserve their lives.
Near a pile of rubble not far away, Lin Xue's originally pristine black robes were now tattered beyond recognition, her snow-white skin covered in bloody marks from toxic burns.
She leaned breathlessly against Lin Ze, who was also coughing blood incessantly. Those eyes that were always cold now glared fixedly at Lin Feng standing atop the snake's head.
That gaze was filled with bone-deep resentment and unwillingness.
She was seething with hatred, yet utterly helpless.
Because the competition rules explicitly forbade squads from killing each other. And Lin Feng had indeed not raised his blade against them.
He had even entered under the banner of "saving fellow disciples." He had simply used the rules with extreme shamelessness, used them to exhaust the Beast King, killing with a borrowed knife, then jumped out at the perfect moment to pluck the peach.
Lin Xue bit through her lip, tasting salty blood. She could only bitterly lament that she had ultimately underestimated the extreme hypocrisy and malice hidden beneath Lin Feng's gentle, immortal-like facade.
This coalition's defeat ultimately stemmed from intelligence failure. No one had anticipated that the wounded Python King still harbored the Jade Tendon Gu—that mutual-destruction trump card.
This silent standoff of resentment and unwillingness didn't last long.
As the trial time reached zero, the seal on this lawless zone was declared lifted.
"Quickly! Medical teams, enter! Clear the site!"
Accompanied by the sounds of air being torn, family guards and high-rank medical Gu Masters stationed outside began flooding into the canyon like a tide.
When these family elders and rescue personnel saw the ground littered with severed limbs and the pools blackened by toxic blood, the air didn't erupt with much mournful wailing.
The leading Punishment Hall steward merely swept a cold glance over the corpses reduced to bloody water, expressionlessly crossing names off a roster one by one.
This was the cruel foundation of the Gu world.
In a family like Black Blood Stockade, having chosen to become a Gu Master and enjoyed status and resources ordinary people could never attain, one naturally had to be prepared to die in the wilderness at any moment.
Death was the norm here.
The atmosphere wasn't tragic—only a suffocating coldness and silence.
Family guards skillfully gathered the still-identifiable remains while medical Gu Masters rapidly performed emergency vitality infusions on core seeds like Lin Xue and Lin Yan.
As for the deceased ordinary disciples, the family would only issue their families a meager Primeval Stone compensation according to cold regulations.
"Young Master Lin Feng, the Patriarch and Family Elders have been waiting at the plaza for quite some time. Please come with us to receive the True Inheritance coronation."
A steward from the Internal Affairs Hall quickly approached Lin Feng and bowed respectfully.
By all rights, as the undisputed champion squad that had slain a Rank 2 Beast King with a single sword strike, this should have been their moment to walk proudly and bask in universal admiration.
But as Lin Feng's squad followed the guards on their return to the plaza, the atmosphere was terrifyingly oppressive—a hundred times heavier than when they'd arrived.
Each harboring their own secrets.
Walking at the front, Lin Feng's face was dark as water, not speaking a word. His hand gripped the longsword that had severed the snake's head, veins bulging on the back of his hand.
He'd won the competition, become a true disciple, but the Rank 2 supreme Gu he'd been dreaming of—the one that could have transformed his combat power—had become a handful of rotten flesh reeking of Iron Leaf!
He felt like a fool who'd been played. This championship felt like a massive joke.
With nowhere to vent his rage, it could only transform into a chilling low pressure that hung over the squad.
Behind him, Lin Wan'er and Lin Zhong clearly sensed the tangible killing intent emanating from their captain.
Neither dared breathe loudly, deliberately muffling even their footsteps to the minimum, fearing they'd trigger his wrath.
As for the "hero" Lin Wuxie, having hard-tanked the Rank 2 python's charge and suffered the terrifying backlash from forcibly activating his Food Path power, he had fallen into a semi-conscious state.
Lin Mu was half-supporting him, stumbling forward one unsteady step at a time.
Phew...
Walking at the very back of the squad, Lin Mu secretly released a breath after confirming the surrounding guards' attention was all on Lin Feng and no one was watching him.
The journey back was long, and the dense forest was still filled with thick fog that hadn't yet dissipated.
Lin Mu felt it was time to examine his true spoils of war.
He split off an extremely concealed thread of consciousness, quietly sinking into the depths of his aperture, preparing to inspect that Rank 2 Jade Tendon Gu.
He wanted to see if he could use this return journey to secretly refine it with Primeval Essence, completely erasing its wild demonic beast's berserk imprint.
However.
The instant Lin Mu's thread of Primeval Essence touched that dormant jade-green beetle—in that infinitesimally small moment.
THUMP!
Lin Mu's heart felt like it had been struck by a heavy hammer, violently skipping a beat!
An extremely terrifying sensation—like a hundred thousand mountains pressing down on him—instantly fed back through that thread of Primeval Essence from the Jade Tendon Gu's core into his soul!
Lin Mu discovered with utter horror.
Inside this Rank 2 Jade Tendon Gu that appeared to be dormant from overexertion, in the deepest part of its green carapace, lurked an extremely concealed yet despairingly massive high-rank Gu Master's aura!
That aura was heavy, cold, carrying a metallic quality of looking down upon all living beings.
"A Rank 4 expert's residual will!"
Lin Mu's pupils contracted to pinpoints, and every hair on his body stood on end.
He instantly understood.
That was Patriarch Lin Cang's aura!
When Lin Cang had stuffed this supreme Gu into the Blood Jade Python as bait, how could he possibly not leave a contingency?
This concealed Rank 4 residual will was an extremely sophisticated locator and surveillance probe!
It was a deadly chain meant to monitor this precious Gu's movements and prevent anyone from secretly pocketing it!
"Damn it! Old fox!"
Lin Mu's palms instantly broke out in cold sweat, dripping between his fingers.
A dead end.
A true life-or-death dead end had descended without any warning.
Lin Mu looked up. At the end of the dense forest ahead, the light representing the exit was already faintly visible. He could even hear the deafening cheers from the plaza outside.
Once they returned to that open family plaza.
Under Patriarch Lin Cang's terrifying Rank 4 spiritual perception coverage, the Rank 4 aura residue hidden in his aperture would shine as bright as a torch in the darkness, instantly exposed!
When that happened, the "loyal and righteous" collateral branch lucky star would immediately become an insider who had stolen the family's treasure.
He would be instantly discovered, then seized on the spot by the enraged Rank 4 Patriarch and the equally furious Lin Feng—his soul searched, his skin flayed, dying without a burial ground!
"What do I do! What can I do!"
The exit's light grew closer and closer. Each step felt like walking on a countdown to the gates of hell.
Lin Mu's brain kicked into overdrive like gears under maximum load, frantically searching through endless panic for that infinitesimally small chance of breaking through.