Barely three hours had passed since Lin Mu left Grey Street.
When that tattered wooden door hanging with air-dried organs was pushed open again, Old Ma, who had been napping on the counter, opened his cloudy single eye reflexively.
Thud.
A slightly damp leather bag was casually tossed onto the hard counter, emitting a heavy, muffled sound.
Old Ma woke up completely with a shudder.
He glanced at the bag but didn't rush to check the Primeval Stones inside. Instead, his gaze, like a searchlight, nailed dead onto Lin Mu standing before the counter.
No strong bloody stench. No ragged, heavy panting.
Even that wide black bamboo hat wasn't tainted with the slightest shred of the desolate night dew and dust from the periphery of Black Wind Ridge.
Unscathed.
Stormy waves rose instantly in Old Ma's heart.
He knew better than anyone what kind of virtue that buyer "Wild Dog" had. That guy had stirred up a hornet's nest, and fatal enemies were tailing him at any moment.
He had assumed that even if Lin Mu could retreat in one piece from this trip, he would definitely have experienced a tragic, vicious battle, fleeing back covered in wounds and reeking of blood.
But he never expected that this black-robed person before him would return in the exact same state he had left!
As if he had merely taken a stroll in his back garden and casually crushed a few bugs along the way.
"A ruthless character—and one with unfathomable strength!"
The laziness and probing on Old Ma's face retracted completely, replaced by the absolute respect a businessman showed a top-tier expert.
"Brother Lin's methods, this old man is thoroughly convinced."
He even skipped the step of verifying the goods. He directly pulled out two heavy money bags from a secret compartment under the counter, pushing them respectfully toward Lin Mu.
"These are your deposited Primeval Stones, and the agreed-upon runner's fee. An extra fifty stones is a little personal token from this old man, to welcome you back."
Lin Mu didn't stand on ceremony.
He pocketed the three hundred Primeval Stone reward and kept the deposited principal as it was. His expression remained flat, as if he had done an insignificant trifle.
"Money and goods cleared. Now, time to talk about that clue."
Hearing this sentence, Old Ma's expression instantly became incomparably solemn.
He limped to the door, extremely cautiously locking the already tattered shop door dead, and pasted a soundproofing talisman over the crack before returning to the counter.
A bean-sized oil lamp was lit. The dim yellow light stretched and twisted their shadows on the wall.
"Brother Lin, have you ever heard of the 'Flower Wine Monk'?"
Old Ma lowered his voice, mysteriously throwing out a name.
The moment he heard this title, Lin Mu's eyelid beneath the bamboo hat twitched violently. An extremely ominous premonition suddenly surged in his heart.
But he couldn't show any abnormality.
He could only pretend to have heard of it slightly, pondering aloud: "That Rank 5 Demonic Cultivator who ran rampant in the Southern Border centuries ago, even causing several large clans to issue a joint bounty? Said to be a flower-picking thief guilty of countless crimes."
"Right, that's him!"
Old Ma's eyes flashed with gossip and fanatical light, launching into an incessant narration of that secret history of the Southern Border:
"Hundreds of years ago, this Flower Wine Monk fled to Qing Mao Mountain, attempting to commit crimes in the Gu Yue Village."
"As a result, he was seen through by the fourth-generation Clan Leader of the Gu Yue clan, and a world-shaking battle erupted between the two."
"It's said that the Flower Wine Monk was beaten until he knelt and begged for mercy. The fourth-generation Clan Leader was benevolent and intended to spare his life."
"Who knew the demon would suddenly launch a sneak attack, heavily injuring the Clan Leader. Furious, the Clan Leader struck him dead on the spot, but ultimately passed away himself due to severe injuries."
This was the official history proclaimed by the Gu Yue clan.
Although not widely circulated, the fact that Old Ma could dig it up proved his terrifying intelligence network spread across the Southern Border.
Lin Mu listened quietly, not interrupting.
At this point, Old Ma suddenly changed the subject.
His withered fingers tapped heavily on the tabletop, throwing out the blockbuster he believed to be invaluable:
"But this old man, through various extremely hidden channels, found out that this is actually a false image the Gu Yue clan used to put gold on their own faces!"
"That Flower Wine Monk didn't die on the spot back then! He escaped, and in some hidden place on Qing Mao Mountain, he left behind his life's inheritance!"
"And within that inheritance, is a top-tier auxiliary Gu he relied on for his fame—the Liquor Worm!"
Old Ma stared dead at Lin Mu, as if expecting to see an expression of utter shock and ecstasy on the other's face.
However, Lin Mu beneath the bamboo hat was expressionless at this moment; in fact, his facial muscles were faintly twitching.
Shock? Ecstasy?
Right now, his heart was bleeding, even roaring madly!
"Of course I fucking know he didn't die! Not only do I know he left an inheritance, I also know that inheritance is hidden behind a secret wall underground in Qing Mao Mountain, and inside is a Photo-Audio Gu and a bunch of top-tier Gu worms!"
"But that is Qing Mao Mountain! That is the starter village of that killing star, Gu Yue Fang Yuan!"
Lin Mu cursed madly in his mind.
"Asking me, a mere Rank 1 Peak Gu Master, to run to Qing Mao Mountain now, right under the nose of the 'Great Love Immortal Venerable'—who possesses five hundred years of Demon Venerable memories, kills without blinking, and sacrificed his entire clan—to steal his beginner cheat?"
"That's not called seeking opportunity; that's called delivering my head on a silver platter from a thousand miles away, just in case I wasn't dying fast enough!"
Lin Mu took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the urge to strangle Old Ma to death.
He knew clearly that in the common sense of native Southern Border Gu Masters, a definite clue to a Rank 5 Demonic Cultivator's inheritance was absolutely a priceless treasure.
If he acted dismissive or uncaring right now, it would not only severely insult Old Ma's intelligence network but also arouse extreme suspicion.
He had to finish acting out this play.
Thus, Lin Mu deliberately made his breathing a bit heavier, pretending to be shaken by this massive revelation.
After a long silence, he slowly nodded, his voice hoarse:
"This intelligence... is indeed fatal enough. A Rank 5 inheritance, a top-tier Liquor Worm... Old Ma, you really are willing to invest capital, daring to leak even this kind of fatal news."
"Hehe, seeking wealth in danger, right?"
Seeing Lin Mu "stunned," Old Ma's vanity was greatly satisfied. He stroked his beard.
"I also pieced this news together by pure coincidence. Qing Mao Mountain is far away, and the Gu Yue clan is powerful. This old man doesn't have the fate to take it."
"If Brother Lin is interested, this is a great opportunity to soar into the sky."
"We'll talk about it later. Qing Mao Mountain is thousands of miles away. This matter requires long-term planning."
Lin Mu brushed it off vaguely.
Like a mute eating bitter herbs—forced to swallow the bitterness in silence.
This was a true portrayal of him right now. Risking his life to deliver a batch of goods, only to exchange it for "useless intelligence" he already knew and absolutely dared not touch.
But reason quickly regained the high ground.
"I can't go to Qing Mao Mountain. It will be at least half a year before the next large caravan passes through Black Blood Stockade."
Lin Mu rapidly calculated the current situation in his mind.
"This means that for the next half year, my route to obtain a second Liquor Worm and fuse the Rank 2 Four-Flavors Liquor Worm is temporarily hopeless."
Once he broke through to Rank 2, without a higher-rank Liquor Worm for refinement, his proud "Primeval Essence Quality" crushing advantage would vanish instantly.
He would revert to an ordinary Gu Master, forced to compete in attrition with main line descendants holding deep foundations like Lin Feng and Lin Xue.
"Since the advantage in Primeval Essence quality is about to be lost, I must forcefully make up for it through 'Gu worm quality'!"
A sense of crisis followed like a shadow, forcing Lin Mu to adjust his strategy immediately.
He raised his head, his gaze like a torch, sweeping over the dark shelves behind Old Ma, filled with bottles, jars, and sealed Gu worms.
Since the money couldn't be taken away, he would turn it all into strength.
"Old Ma."
Lin Mu's voice returned to cold rationality. "Since I'm already here, you can't let me go back empty-handed."
"Bring out all the good goods in your shop."
He patted the bulging Primeval Stone bag in his chest that had just been credited.
"Tonight, I'm going on a major shopping spree."