In the vast darkness of the night, a thought — wild and intoxicating beyond all reason — took root in Lin Mu's mind and grew without restraint, like weeds splitting through stone.
"What if... I kept both Red Iron Relic Gu for myself?"
The moment that thought surfaced, Lin Mu's heart skipped a beat.
His true cultivation was Rank 2 initial stage. But through the refinement of the Rank 2 Four-Flavor Liquor Worm, the quality of his Primeval Essence was solidly maintained at the Rank 2 middle stage level.
If he consumed the first Relic Gu now, his base cultivation would surge to Rank 2 middle stage. Combined with the Liquor Worm's refinement, he would command the combat power of a Rank 2 upper stage cultivator outright.
And if he consumed the second one as well...
Rank 2 peak stage.
It had to be said — from the day he opened his Aperture and set foot on the path of a Gu Master, barely a year had passed in total. And from the day he broke through to Rank 2, only a little over a month had gone by.
This kind of progress — like riding a rocket, in complete defiance of all natural order — would be enough to make every so-called genius in the Southern Border die of shame on the spot.
What kind of person could resist such a temptation? An ascent to the heavens in a single step.
Lin Mu's footsteps paused in the dark alley. His breathing grew heavy.
Yet in no more than three heartbeats —
That surge of fervor rising in his eyes was forcibly, ruthlessly extinguished by a wall of absolute reason — cold as ice that had lain frozen for ten thousand years.
The reality was this: to secure the first Relic Gu through the sealed bid, he had already spent every last piece of liquid capital he possessed.
Even counting every miscellaneous sum he had accumulated before, he had no more than three thousand Primeval Stones left to his name.
He simply could not produce four thousand five hundred Primeval Stones to settle the debt with Jia Fu.
If he swallowed the Gu tonight and failed to pay tomorrow, a sharp operator like Jia Fu — a titan of the merchant world — would grow suspicious in an instant.
He might even go directly to the supposed "beneficiary," Lin Feng, to verify the story face to face.
And even if he somehow scraped together enough stones to pay.
Given Jia Fu's seasoned nature and his investment interest in Lin Feng, he would absolutely drop hints to Lin Feng afterward — indirectly, but unmistakably.
The moment Jia Fu discovered that Lin Feng had received no Red Iron Relic Gu whatsoever...
The entire web of lies Lin Mu had woven would unravel in an instant.
What awaited him then would be the combined fury of the Jia Clan Caravan and the upper echelons of Black Blood Stockade's Lin Clan — a relentless, kill-or-be-killed pursuit.
"Is it worth it — throwing away everything I've painstakingly built, becoming a rat that everyone wants to beat to death, all for a single Rank 2 Relic Gu?"
Lin Mu weighed the costs and gains with cold precision.
And there was more.
Directly beneath the main hall of Black Blood Stockade's clan grounds lay the true treasure of the Black Bone King — a Rank 5 tyrant's legacy.
The very first layer of that inheritance, given freely as an entry-level reward, had already yielded a Rank 3 supreme-grade White Silver Relic Gu.
The rewards waiting deeper within would be obscenely generous beyond imagination.
If he defected now, any future attempt to slip back beneath that hall and unlock the subsequent inheritance would be harder than ascending to heaven.
"Compared to the core inheritance of a Rank 5 great cultivator, the scope of a single Rank 2 Relic Gu is simply too small."
Lin Mu snuffed out the thought of keeping it with decisive finality.
His gaze sharpened once more — deep and calculating.
"Lin Feng just suffered a humiliating defeat at the sealed bid. Right now, he is desperate for power, and his state of mind is at its most vulnerable."
"Selling this Gu worm to him will absolutely yield a price more terrifying than anything today's auction produced."
"Use Lin Feng's money to cover the deficit from buying the first Gu — and walk away with a handsome profit on top. Maximizing the gain is the only rational choice."
His mind made up, Lin Mu did not hesitate. He changed course away from the Silent Stone District and turned toward the heart of Black Blood Stockade.
The scene shifted — to Lin Feng's private residence.
Inside the lavish study, the atmosphere was as suffocating as frozen water.
Crack!
A fine porcelain teacup was hurled to the floor and shattered.
"Who was it?! Who took what was mine?!"
Lin Feng paced back and forth across the study like an enraged lion.
That face of his — always so refined and flawless — was now dark with fury, twisted almost beyond recognition by the force of his anger.
He had never imagined it.
For the sake of that Red Iron Relic Gu, he had spent nearly every stone of wealth he had accumulated over these past months, along with the privileged resources the clan had just allocated to him, and submitted what he had been absolutely certain was an unbeatable bid.
And he had still lost.
The steward's sound transmission had told him plainly: someone had bid higher. The item had been handed over on the spot and taken away.
Who? Lin Xue of the Medicine Hall? Lin Yan, that madman from the Punishment Hall?
Or that Demonic cultivator who had been making such a loud show of himself outside — Dustlord?
Whoever it was, the humiliation of having something he had been certain of snatched from his grasp — and the helpless feeling of events slipping beyond his control — was driving Lin Feng, a man accustomed to holding everything in his hands, to the edge of madness.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
At precisely that moment, as Lin Feng's fury churned with nowhere to go, a knock at the door rang out with spectacularly poor timing.
"Get out! I'm seeing no one!" Lin Feng snapped.
"Young Master... it's me. Lin Mu." The voice from outside was deliberately lowered — and carried a faint, urgent edge.
At that name, Lin Feng forced his anger down a fraction.
Anyone else, and he would have had them dragged out and beaten.
But given Lin Mu's staggering combat performance during the True Transmission Competition, his reliable steadiness, and the goodwill he had built by voluntarily offering up the Jade Tendon Gu — Lin Feng drew a sharp breath and wrenched the door open.
He was frowning, about to demand what Lin Mu was doing here at this hour.
But before he could get a word out —
Lin Mu did not greet him as he normally would. Instead, his eyes were blazing with light, and without so much as asking permission, he pushed his way into the study.
Once inside, Lin Mu turned and pressed the heavy door firmly shut behind him. He then moved quickly to the window and checked that the latch was secure.
This entirely abnormal behavior — bordering on outright presumption — instantly transformed Lin Feng's fury into sharp suspicion and wariness.
"Lin Mu, what are you playing at? In the middle of the night—"
Lin Feng's brow was furrowed, the reprimand already forming on his lips.
Lin Mu turned around and crossed the room in quick strides.
Like a devoted supplicant bearing a priceless relic, he reached into his robes with both hands — trembling faintly — and produced a small, exquisite jade box with solemn deliberateness.
His voice was hoarse, barely able to contain the excitement and fervor pressing up from beneath.
"Young Master... the Red Iron Relic Gu."
Click.
Lin Mu's thumb flicked the latch of the jade box open.
In an instant, a warm, enticing crimson light spilled out from within — casting its glow clearly across Lin Feng's stunned face.
The moment Lin Feng's eyes landed on what lay inside the box, his pupils contracted to the size of pinpoints.
Every last trace of fury, humiliation, and scheming that had been coiling in his chest — all of it was flung to the far corners of the sky in the face of that crimson light.
He stood as though struck by lightning, eyes locked onto that translucent Gu worm, his breathing turning ragged and heavy.
"What?!!"