However, Lin Cang's so-called "mercy and consideration" didn't even last a full day.
On the very second morning of the intermission, its cruel and cold true nature was revealed.
The External Affairs Hall and Internal Affairs Hall jointly issued an urgent announcement that detonated the entire Black Blood Stockade. It was the detailed rules for the clan tournament's final stage—the "Wilderness Survival Assessment."
Only then did everyone suddenly realize: those seven days of rest weren't for healing injuries at all, but time allotted for various factions to "recruit soldiers and horses"!
The notice spelled it out in black and white: the upcoming "Top 16 to Top 8" arena battles would determine the final eight. These eight contestants would automatically become "captains" of the eight teams for the wilderness survival battle.
The real highlight came next—team-building privileges.
To comprehensively evaluate future true disciples' leadership, connections, and resource allocation abilities, the rules allowed each captain to form a five-person squad.
Besides the captain, the remaining four slots were highly particular: two had to be selected from competitors who advanced in the tournament but didn't make the Top 32.
To test the captain's judgment, rules also permitted recruiting one eliminated Top 32 contestant (such as the heavily injured Lin Ze or the upset-eliminated Lin Wuxie).
Furthermore, they even allowed conscripting one "non-participant" from within the clan system as support!
The moment the rules dropped, the entire stockade erupted in chaos.
What did this mean?
It meant the tournament was no longer a solo show of individual martial prowess, but a comprehensive meat grinder combining faction resources, social connections, and team tactics!
Various factions began moving frantically like sharks smelling blood, pulling in powerful experts ahead of time, promising all manner of rewards.
The Black Blood Stockade appeared calm on the surface, but undercurrents surged beneath, interests weaving into a vast and intricate web.
Meanwhile, in the quiet Steward's quarters on the External Affairs Hall's second floor, Lin Mu reclined in his armchair, a faintly perfumed letter pinched between his fingers.
Lin Ping had delivered it secretly at dawn. The seal bore a pale golden hyacinth—Lin Feng's private mark.
"The Top 16 matches haven't even begun, yet Young Master Feng is already constructing his 'dream team.' This arrogance that treats the Top 8 as certain—it certainly fits his style."
Lin Mu unfolded the letter.
The wording was uncharacteristically courteous, even carrying the tone of a superior trying to win someone over. Lin Feng requested that Lin Mu take the sole "outsider" slot and join his wilderness team.
After all, in Lin Feng's eyes, this "white glove" Lin Mu was watertight in his work, possessed exceptional reconnaissance abilities, and had proven his cold combat proficiency in the Blood Forest battle.
Most importantly, Lin Mu was a collateral branch member with leverage held against him—an ideal support role and expendable scout when the moment required.
Hiss—
Lin Mu flicked a weak spark of Primeval Essence from his fingertip, igniting the letter and watching it turn to ash in the bronze basin. A cold smile tugged at his lips.
"A stepping stone? Exactly what I wanted."
He naturally wouldn't refuse.
These past months of secluded cultivation had caused his strength to surge dramatically—he needed exactly this kind of high-intensity melee to verify his current combat floor.
Moreover, following the top seed would let him legitimately enter the most resource-rich trial zone while perfectly concealing his own edge.
However, since this was a collaboration, he naturally had to carve out his own slice of the pie.
Lin Mu picked up his brush and wrote just one short line on his reply:
"Willing to serve Young Master unto death. Additionally, regarding the 'eliminated Top 32 contestant' slot—this subordinate already has a candidate in mind, one who will surely ease Young Master's burdens."
After handing the reply to Lin Ping for delivery, Lin Mu watched the sky darken outside his window, his gaze growing deep.
That "candidate"—he had long since made his calculations.
...
Deep into the night, cold wind howled.
The most remote Rotten Shed District of Black Blood Stockade had once again fallen into deathly silence.
From within that drafty, decrepit straw hut, suppressed gasps of agony emerged intermittently.
Lin Wuxie curled up on the muddy ground, fingers clawing desperately at the frozen earth, nails already cracked and bleeding.
The inhuman backlash from his incomplete Food Path had arrived on schedule once more. The incompletely digested beast path Dao marks rampaged through his meridians, making it feel as if countless venomous snakes writhed beneath his skin.
He rolled in the mud, veins bulging on his forehead, eyes bloodshot, yet he clenched his teeth and refused to let out a single scream.
He was waiting.
Like a dying believer awaiting divine intervention, desperately waiting for that "mysterious senior brother" to bestow the antidote.
Creak—
The broken wooden door finally swung open.
Cold wind carrying moonlight poured inside, elongating the shadow of the arriving figure.
Lin Wuxie's entire body trembled violently. Fighting through the tearing agony, he raised his head full of hope.
But in the next second, the hope in his eyes instantly froze, replaced by extreme horror and barely controllable killing intent!
Standing at the door was not that profound senior brother shrouded in black light, wearing the faceless wooden mask.
It was a man in neat cyan robes, with an unremarkable face, who ordinarily sat high above—External Affairs Hall Steward Lin Mu!
"You... how can it be you?!"
Lin Wuxie's heart plummeted into an abyss.
His secret was exposed! This clan Steward had discovered his abnormality!
In that instant, the demonic Gu Master's savage nature completely overwhelmed his bodily pain. Murderous light blazed in Lin Wuxie's eyes.
Like a lone wolf cornered to desperation, he forced his agonized body up, both hands suddenly transforming into pitch-black eagle talons, ready to kill without hesitation to silence this witness!
But Lin Mu gave him no chance to fight desperately.
Facing Lin Wuxie's man-eating killing intent, Lin Mu didn't even blink.
He regarded him like a stray dog struggling in mud, casually pulled a small paper packet from his sleeve, and tossed it precisely at Lin Wuxie's feet as if discarding garbage.
Tap.
That familiar sound of the packet hitting the ground, along with the faint chill emanating from it, froze Lin Wuxie's violent motion mid-air.
The antidote! Ice Heart Powder!
Lin Wuxie stared with bloodshot eyes, looking at the packet on the ground, then at Lin Mu standing with hands behind his back. His brain instantly crashed.
"Eat it, then shut up and listen."
Lin Mu's voice was flat as water, yet carried an unquestionable authority.
Lin Wuxie's throat bobbed. No longer caring about killing intent, survival instinct drove him to pounce forward, tear open the packet, and wolf down the medicinal powder inside.
The cooling medicinal power dissolved instantly, suppressing the boiling beast blood within.
As reason reclaimed the high ground, Lin Wuxie gasped heavily, staring at Lin Mu with unprecedented shock and confusion:
"You... who exactly are you? Where's Senior Brother?!"
"Don't bother looking."
Lin Mu gazed at Lin Wuxie slumped on the ground, eyes deep as an ancient well, and began weaving—in an extremely calm tone—the monstrous lie that would shatter all the other man's psychological defenses:
"Senior Brother has already left Southern Border."
"There was a change in the sect. He was urgently transferred to 'Central Continent' to execute Shadow Sect's highest classified mission."
Central Continent! Shadow Sect!
These two thunderous terms from the original novel—representing the highest-level games of this world—were tossed out by Lin Mu in an almost casual tone.
This was a complete "information dimension reduction strike."
For Lin Wuxie, who had never even left Black Wind Ridge, "Central Continent" was a legendary paradise, and "Shadow Sect" a mysterious behemoth.
These secrets, grand enough to suffocate, instantly elevated Lin Mu's standing.
"Let me reintroduce myself."
Lin Mu leaned down slightly, looking at Lin Wuxie's face frozen in shock, a cold, arrogant arc curving at his lips:
"I, Lin Mu, am just like you. We are both hidden pieces left on the Black Blood Stockade chessboard before Senior Brother departed."
"Impossible... you're a clan Steward! You're clearly Lin Feng's man!" Lin Wuxie reflexively objected, but his voice came out weak from lack of conviction.
"Foolish."
Lin Mu sneered coldly, straightened up, eyes filled with a superior's pity for an idiot.
"If I didn't wear righteous path skin, didn't infiltrate this center of power, how could I gather intelligence for the sect?"
"How could I stand here delivering the antidote bestowed by Purple Mountain True Monarch to trash like you?"
"Did you think your perfect exit in the preliminaries was just good luck? If I hadn't covered your tracks from below, your clumsy Food Path tricks would have long been seen through by that Rank 4 brute Lin Cang!"
Truth mixed with lies, reality intertwined with fabrication.
Lin Mu used a condescending attitude to perfectly string together all the previous coincidences.
Lin Wuxie's defenses completely collapsed.
Yes—if they weren't sect brothers, if it wasn't Senior Brother's arrangement, why would this lofty Steward know he needed the antidote?
Why would he know the secrets of "Shadow Sect" and "Purple Mountain True Monarch"? Why would he risk coming here to save him?
Feeling the completely calmed blood qi within, then recalling the vast shadow of "Shadow Sect," the last trace of doubt in Lin Wuxie's heart was finally replaced by fervent worship.
He struggled to turn over, knelt on both knees, and bowed his head deeply, as if finally finding his true anchor.
Seeing the timing was right, Lin Mu retracted his sneer. His tone became utterly severe, establishing absolute subordination:
"Senior Brother instructed before leaving: from now on, I will distribute your antidote monthly. Your life, your actions—I command them all!"
"If you dare show the slightest defiance or expose the sect's secrets, the righteous path won't need to act—I'll flay you alive first!"
"This disciple would never dare harbor second thoughts! I am entirely at Senior Brother Lin's command!" Lin Wuxie kowtowed heavily, utterly devoted.
Lin Mu nodded with satisfaction.
"Now, the sect issues your first mission. In three days, register as an 'eliminated contestant' to join Lin Feng's wilderness trial team. Understood?"
"Yes!"
...
When he left the Rotten Shed District, it was already the second half of the night.
Lin Mu walked in the chilly night wind, in an excellent mood. This trick of stealing the sky and changing the sun was played simply perfectly.
Not only did he take down this terrifying immediate combat power, Lin Wuxie, without shedding a single drop of blood, but more wondrously, he fabricated out of thin air a "Mysterious Senior Brother in Central Continent" for himself as a shield.
Even if Lin Wuxie had an accident and was caught in the future, the black pot would be carried by that ethereal "Senior Brother" and "Shadow Sect," fundamentally untraceable to him, Lin Mu, this "hidden pawn forced into the game."
Lin Mu calculated the upcoming squad framework in his heart, unable to resist shaking his head and laughing.
"Right now, only three people are confirmed. But this combat power configuration at the Rank 1 level can already be considered a terrifying monster asylum..."
In the night, Lin Mu looked up toward the direction of the martial arts square, a trace of anticipation flashing in his eyes.
"In the upcoming field trial, those self-righteous clan heaven's prides are in for it."