Of course, the "surprise" Lin Mu anticipated didn't keep him waiting long.
After leaving Grey Street, he concealed his tracks the entire way, venturing deep into the outer regions of Black Wind Ridge.
Night wind passed through the dense, twisted canopy, producing mournful wailing sounds.
The intermittent growls of wild beasts in the distance added an air of grimness to this lawless land.
Lin Mu moved nimbly through the forest, his toes touching down on fallen leaves as lightly as a feather.
He wasn't in a hurry to travel, instead stopping at intervals to carefully discern changes in the air currents.
After approximately two hours, a ruined, abandoned mountain god temple appeared in the darkness.
Broken walls and debris cast twisted shadows under the pale moonlight—this was the meeting point Old Ma had arranged with the demonic buyer.
Lin Mu didn't stand foolishly inside the temple waiting like some greenhorn fresh out of the mountains.
That was a path to death.
He arrived a full hour early, then with a light shift of his body, used the cover of moonlight to leap onto a dead tree beside the ruined temple.
He concealed himself silently among the dense branches, a golden gleam flickering faintly in his left eye as Eagle Eye Gu was slowly activated by Primeval Essence, his vision rippling outward like water.
He didn't just watch the temple but swept his gaze across every high point within several hundred meters, the depths of grass patches, even the blind spots among scattered rocks where someone might hide.
In a place like this for a transaction, whoever thought the environment was safe wasn't far from death.
Only after confirming there was no ambush did he silently slide down.
The Blood Scent Gu deep in his aperture maintained its minimum level of alert as he dissolved completely into the shadows behind the temple's altar, like a drop of ink.
In wilderness transactions, caution was the foundation of survival, and silence was the best armor.
As midnight approached, extremely faint footsteps accompanied by the soft sound of crushing dead leaves drifted in from outside the temple.
The newcomer was like a bird frightened by the twang of a bow, stopping and starting, crouching down to observe for long periods every three steps.
Through the moonlight streaming through the large hole in the roof, Lin Mu made out the other party's appearance—a ragged, emaciated rogue cultivator emanating unstable Rank 1 Upper Stage Primeval Essence fluctuations, clearly someone who had long been in a state of extreme tension and scarcity.
This was the demonic buyer Old Ma had mentioned, codename "Wild Dog."
Wild Dog was extremely cautious, even somewhat neurotic.
He stopped at the ruined temple's entrance, first sniffing the air with twitching nostrils, then pulled out a handful of grayish-white pungent powder from his robes and carefully sprinkled it in a circle along the threshold.
Lin Mu recognized the substance—some cheap "Scent-Breaking Powder" used to mask odors.
Only after finishing this did Wild Dog slip into the shadow-shrouded main hall, glancing back every few steps.
"Messenger from Grey Street?"
Wild Dog lowered his voice, trembling, his hand pressed tightly against the worn Gu pouch at his waist.
"Receiving goods."
A hoarse voice, cold without a trace of warmth, emerged from the shadows behind the altar.
Wild Dog was so startled he nearly activated his attack Gu on the spot.
Before he could react, two soft whooshing sounds rang out as two grayish, ordinary-looking stones were tossed from the shadows, rolling precisely to his feet.
Wild Dog instinctively recoiled, staring fixedly at the two stones.
Only after confirming they weren't going to explode or release deadly poison did he crouch down and pick one up as carefully as if it were a gold nugget.
He dug hard at the dark red mud shell with his fingernail, prying off a corner.
The instant the mud shell cracked, a wisp of aura unique to Gu worms seeped out.
Wild Dog's eyes instantly lit up with frightening intensity.
A flash of barely concealed greed and wild joy crossed his sunken, withered face. For a rogue cultivator like him, such black-market goods were dangerous but excellent refinement materials.
"What skill! To seal even this level of aura so completely—that old fox Old Ma really didn't cheat me!"
He eagerly stuffed the stone into his robes, fumbling to untie the money pouch at his waist.
"This is the remaining balance in full, count it..."
However, at the very instant his fingers touched the money pouch—
The Blood Scent Gu deep in Lin Mu's aperture suddenly began trembling violently in his Primeval Sea without any warning!
The vibration was unprecedentedly intense, carrying a sharpness that almost tore through his perception.
A thick, nauseating aura of blood evil, mixed with undisguised killing intent like raging waves, was approaching the ruined temple at an extremely alarming speed.
"Rank 1 Peak!" Lin Mu's gaze turned ice-cold in an instant.
In that moment, the first thought that flashed through Lin Mu's mind was: Trap!
This Wild Dog was trading openly while secretly bringing backup to pull a double-cross!
Green light surged at Lin Mu's fingertips.
Iron Leaf Gu had already quietly condensed, that cold, deadly edge locking directly onto Wild Dog's completely unguarded back of the head.
For him, the safest approach was to first kill this suspected decoy rogue cultivator, then use Dust Escape Gu to flee far away.
But at the very instant his killing intent erupted, Lin Mu keenly perceived the other party's state of collapse.
Wild Dog had also sensed that aura. But he showed no cold smile of a successful scheme.
On the contrary, his complexion instantly changed from pale to a deathly ashen gray.
His legs gave out and he collapsed directly to the ground, the money pouch falling as Primeval Stones scattered everywhere.
His entire body shook like a sieve, his eyes filled with bone-deep despair and disbelief.
That kind of fear from the depths of the soul was something no acting could imitate.
"How is this possible... how is this possible!" Wild Dog let out a breakdown-induced shriek from his throat.
"I clearly... clearly sprinkled the Scent-Breaking Powder! How could he still track me here!"
The iron leaf Lin Mu had been ready to fire stopped dead at his fingertips.
His brain calculated at lightning speed, sorting out this chaotic situation: Not a double-cross—a vendetta!
This Wild Dog was a stray dog being hunted by an enemy, and that enemy had somehow, through sheer coincidence, caught up at this critical moment of the transaction.
Lin Mu silently cursed his bad luck.
He had countless movement techniques that could let him quietly leave without involving himself in this mess.
But if he left like this, Wild Dog would certainly die.
Those two blood-tainted black-market goods would become a severed thread, and the Primeval Stones at Old Ma's place along with the crucial "Liquor Worm" lead would sink forever into oblivion.
"Wild Dog cannot die yet." Lin Mu's gaze became extremely cold—the indifference that came from calculating gains and losses.
In his logic, Wild Dog was no longer a living person at this moment, but a "critical node" worth over a thousand Primeval Stones and a piece of key intelligence.
Touching his money meant cutting off his path.
"Those who touch my money—death without pardon!"
"BOOM—!"
An explosion rang out as the ruined temple's already tottering wooden door was blasted into splinters by a brutal force, tiny wood fragments scattering in the moonlight.
A burly rogue cultivator covered in bulging muscles, a vicious scar across his face, strode in with large steps.
He wielded a notched iron great ring-blade, its surface still bearing dark red bloodstains that hadn't yet dried.
Rank 1 Peak Primeval Essence pressure poured out unreservedly, shaking loose tiles from the temple roof to fall with a patter.
"Hahahaha! Wild Dog! You gutless beast, why don't you keep running!"
The blade-wielding rogue cultivator laughed wildly, his blade tip angled toward the ground, killing intent filling the air.
He then caught sight of Lin Mu in the shadows but merely gave a contemptuous cold snort, clearly not putting this slender "middleman" in his eyes.
"You there hiding in the shadows—get lost! Today I'm only butchering this wild dog. Dare to meddle, and I'll chop you up along with this broken temple!"
Lin Mu stood in the shadows, his eyes lowered. He said nothing.
His only response was the surging of ink-green Primeval Essence within his aperture, rising like an angry tide.