In the underground chamber, Lin Mu's eyes — gleaming in the darkness — slowly closed.
Drawing on the crimson middle-stage Primeval Essence refined by the Four-Flavor Liquor Worm, he sank once more into the quiet stillness of consolidating his cultivation.
Yet even as he retreated into seclusion, the terrifying butterfly effect of the grand gathering he had orchestrated was already unfurling across Black Blood Stockade and its surrounding region like a hurricane.
The White Silver Relic Gu on the third floor of the treehouse — starting price thirty thousand, a heaven-defying treasure — was certainly extraordinary.
But for ninety-nine percent of the Gu Masters in these ten-thousand-li mountains, a Rank 3 cultivation base and a price tag of tens of thousands of Primeval Stones were simply too far out of reach. That was a strategic resource reserved for high-ranking elders willing to bleed for it.
It was the Rank 2 Red Iron Relic Gu on the second floor that was the true absolute hard currency of this land.
It could unconditionally elevate a Rank 2 Gu Master by one minor stage, with no side effects whatsoever.
Whether it was a rising young talent desperate to leapfrog the competition and establish absolute dominance...
Or an aging elder approaching the end of their prime who wanted to give their descendants a decisive edge...
This Gu worm was a weapon of mass destruction for all of them.
At Qing Mao Mountain, even Fang Yuan had sold off his possessions and emptied everything he had just to barely secure a treasure of this caliber against his peers.
And now?
Under Lin Mu's commercial orchestration, this gathering had grown to an unprecedented scale, drawing in countless figures from hundreds of li around.
The market for this supremely cost-effective hard currency had been magnified without limit, and the buyers eyeing this piece of meat had become vast in number and ravenous in appetite.
On the outer fringe of the southern caravan camp, a crude teahouse thrown together by wandering rogue cultivators.
The place was a mixed bag of all sorts. The air reeked of cheap tobacco and sweat.
As the gathering's momentum swelled, the Rank 2 Gu worm — once known only among the upper echelons of the major clans — had become the most eagerly discussed topic among these low-ranking rogue cultivators and common folk.
"Did you hear? Young Master Lin Feng of Black Blood Stockade — the one who just took first place in the True Transmission Competition — is about to break through to Rank 2!"
"He's the only son of the Grand Elder. This time, the Red Iron Relic Gu is practically already his. It's basically decided!"
A burly man with a face full of stubble gulped down a mouthful of coarse tea and spat out gossip he had clearly picked up from gods-knew-where.
"Hmph. I wouldn't be so sure."
A wiry, monkey-faced rogue cultivator beside him let out a cold laugh and shot back immediately.
"You think Lin Xue from the Medicine Hall is just going to sit there? Ever since she lost badly to Lin Feng in the competition, she's been training day and night — turning shame into drive."
"This is a sealed-bid open auction — highest offer wins. She has the entire Medicine Hall's financial backing behind her."
"Those old men will never let Lin Feng's faction dominate unchallenged. They'll fight to the last Primeval Stone."
"Exactly! And don't forget — Li Huang, the young lord of White Bone Stockade! White Bone Stockade just took a massive financial hit and they're seething. Li Huang would go red-eyed for a Relic Gu that can boost combat power instantly!"
The teahouse erupted into a chorus of overlapping voices, faces flushed, arguments growing heated and tangled.
They spoke as though the ownership of the Red Iron Relic Gu had already been settled — like outsiders who barely understood the real political landscape, yet held court at the drinking table with sweeping, confident declarations.
Ignorant, yet fervent.
Deep within Black Blood Stockade, a heavily guarded private cultivation chamber.
"Break!"
With a low cry — like a caged beast finally breaking free — a wave of Rank 2 initial-stage Red Iron Primeval Essence surged and rolled through the sealed room.
Lin Feng sat bare-chested, his entire body drenched in sweat.
He snapped his eyes open.
Feeling the crystalline membrane within his Aperture complete its transformation at last, the perpetually grim face broke into a smile — wild joy and ferocity twisted together.
He had finally achieved Rank 2.
On the stone platform beside him lay the withered, desiccated husk of a strange Gu worm.
Rank 1 — the Wall-Stabilizing Gu.
Going back half a month — before the Jia Clan Caravan had officially arrived at Black Blood Stockade — the great Southern Border merchant Jia Fu had, with great secrecy, dispatched a rider at full speed to deliver this exceptionally rare Wall-Stabilizing Gu directly into Lin Feng's hands.
The Gu worm had been rain after a long drought, perfectly resolving the urgent crisis of Lin Feng's unstable Aperture walls.
This was Jia Fu's method.
Cast connections in every direction. Place bets on every side.
As long as one of them rose to prominence in the future storms of the Southern Border, the Jia Clan would reap returns a thousandfold.
The true nature and cunning of a successful merchant — laid bare in full at this moment.
"The Red Iron Relic Gu..."
Lin Feng clenched his fist, feeling the faint sting of his nails pressing into his palm, ambition burning in the depths of his eyes.
He knew that once he secured that Gu worm, he could leap instantly to Rank 2 middle stage — leaving Lin Xue, Lin Yan, and the rest utterly behind, and becoming the absolute, undisputed king of Black Blood Stockade's younger generation.
But the ones with their eyes on this prize were far more than just these young talents.
In another residence deep within Black Blood Stockade.
Several powerful elders sat in their high-backed chairs, berating the steward before them with red-rimmed eyes.
These were the senior figures backing Lin Ze of the Storage Hall.
Watching Lin Ze be eliminated from the competition with severe injuries, seeing the Storage Hall's line of succession on the verge of dying out — these doting old men could no longer sit still.
They had already made their position brutally clear within their own circle: even if they had to pile Primeval Stones until their hands bled, they would seize that Red Iron Relic Gu for Lin Ze and force him into Rank 2 to save face.
The Righteous Path factions had already descended into frenzied calculation and desperate fundraising in the shadows, all for the sake of this single Relic Gu.
On the Demonic Path side, undercurrents were stirring as well.
"Did you hear? That Dustlord — apparently he's got his eye on the Red Iron Relic Gu too."
During a lull in trading, a stall owner leaned toward a neighboring vendor with an air of conspiratorial excitement.
"Who? Never heard of him."
"Hah, I knew you wouldn't know. Not long ago, that Dustlord killed seven or eight Gu Masters — in a single move."
The stall owner's face lit up with animated enthusiasm, as though he himself had been both participant and witness to the slaughter.
At the climax of his telling, his whole body shook with exaggerated mimicry of the Dustlord's technique.
"With so many big players all wanting a piece of this Gu worm — looks like there's going to be quite a show."
The seventh day — the deadline for the Red Iron Relic Gu's sealed-bid auction — was drawing ever closer.
Openly declared geniuses who would accept nothing less than victory. Family fortunes being stripped to the bone behind closed doors. Arrogant, newly arrived Demonic Path outsiders crashing onto the scene like a river dragon invading foreign waters.
Every faction, like a pack of starving wolves that had caught the scent of blood, had already locked their jaws around each other's throats in the shadow of the Three Star Cave.
Beneath the surface glamour and noise of the great market, the undercurrents surged like a raging sea.