At that moment, Lin Mu stood high in the tree canopy, watching the tragedy unfold below with perfect clarity.
"That's it?"
His eyes held not a trace of sympathy—only a mocking sneer as he shook his head helplessly.
"Truly a bunch of pampered geniuses raised in a greenhouse."
Lin Mu watched the panicking Gu Masters below, mercilessly dissecting the stupidity of their rigid tactics in his mind:
"Did they really think those back-and-forth exchanges on the tournament stage, stopping at first blood, was all there was to combat?"
"They actually believed that facing a berserk wild boss—a Rank 2 variant beast that once dominated an entire region—it would follow rules like an arena match? That it would politely wait for their front line to position themselves, let them raise their shields, then spread into formation for a turn-based game?"
The veteran hunter's gaze was cold and venomous.
"The essence of wilderness melee has never been about formations."
"Against a colossus with absolute dimensional superiority in size, speed, and strength, any static deployment is just offering yourself as a live target. So-called 'front-line tanking,' in the face of absolute mass disparity, is simply hand-delivering snacks to its door."
Watching the Blood Jade Python raise its head again, preparing to spew venom, Lin Mu had already calculated the only possible path to victory:
"At times like this, the only chance is to abandon all bullshit formations! Sixteen people, everyone swarming together like a pack of rabid dogs, launching indiscriminate, suicidal harassment from all directions!"
"Only by thoroughly muddying the waters, making it unable to protect both head and tail, turning its massive body into a liability—only then can assassins and main attackers find that fatal weakness at its vital point, where the reverse scale was torn away!"
"But going up one by one in an orderly line to die like this..."
Lin Mu coldly observed the alliance below, now beginning to cower in fear.
"Utterly idiotic."
The situation before the waterfall was collapsing precisely because of this idiotic formation.
The heavy stench of blood exploded through the sickly green miasma.
The two Earth Path Gu Masters who had been whipped into broken ragdolls by the serpent's tail had paid with their lives to teach these greenhouse geniuses an excruciating lesson.
But those capable of winning the tournament championship were not truly fools.
"Scatter! Abandon frontal defense! Everyone scatter!"
Seeing the front line instantly annihilated and Lin Ze coughing blood from severe injuries, Lin Xue—standing at the rear of the formation—demonstrated exceptional battlefield judgment.
Her cold eyes showed no panic as she shouted commands that cut through the beast's roar and the crowd's screams:
"Don't cluster together as live targets! Use the surrounding rocks and terrain for cover, spread out! Form an encirclement, harass from all directions!"
This was the correct choice—currently the only path to survival.
But at this life-or-death moment, the terrified ordinary disciples couldn't process orders; they only wanted to retreat and flee.
"Hold your ground! Anyone who retreats, I'll kill them myself right now!"
To steady the collapsing morale, Lin Xue no longer hid in the rear.
Green light blazed within her aperture as the Spring Revival Gu's stimulation sent her blood surging.
She charged forward, pushing her Step Wind Gu's speed to its absolute limit. Her entire form became a weightless black blur as she closed instantly on the berserk Blood Jade Python's mountain-like head!
Clang!
Lin Xue's reverse-gripped iron dagger stabbed viciously at the Python King's cheek, producing only a crisp metallic ring.
The blade couldn't even pry loose a single scale, leaving not even a white scratch.
Rank 1 iron against a Rank 2 variant beast's body was simply a joke.
But Lin Xue didn't care. This had always been a probing strike.
The instant she used the recoil to twist gracefully in midair, the Iron Leaf Gu concealed in her left palm flashed with dark light, transforming into an extremely cunning blue-black blade.
It sliced viciously into a gap beneath the Python King's jaw where a scale had slightly lifted!
Hiss—
Blood sprayed. The Iron Leaf Gu barely tore open a shallow wound.
Though the injury was like a mosquito bite to the thirty-meter Python King, this provocative strike completely ignited its fury!
"HISSSSS—!!!"
The Blood Jade Python's massive body began thrashing wildly through the canyon, its thick tail sweeping everything around it like a giant iron whip.
The pool exploded, boulders shattered into the air. A brutal, formationless melee officially commenced in the depths of the extreme yin territory.
Chaotic battle was the stage for the strong—and the meat grinder for the weak.
In this relentless thrashing with no blind spots, the Python King's terrifying tonnage became the ultimate killing machine.
Two rogue Gu Masters who had moved too slowly out of fear, trying to hide behind a boulder, were pulverized along with the thousand-pound rock by the sweeping tail.
They couldn't even scream before their bones shattered and their flesh smeared across the cliff face.
"Don't be afraid! Its movements are slowing! It's bleeding!"
But after paying the terrible price of several lives, the remaining dozen elites finally began reading the giant beast's rhythm.
Especially Lin Yan.
The Punishment Hall's mad lion displayed terrifying combat instincts and suicidal ferocity in the chaos.
Like an unshakeable plaster, he locked onto the scabbed-over stump of the broken horn atop the Python King's head and the penetrating wound at its vital point—where Lin Cang had torn away the reverse scale, still seeping poisonous blood.
"Explode for me!"
Lin Yan roared wildly, flames on his fists burning to their peak.
Using agile footwork, he closed dangerously on the Python King's weak points again and again, recklessly driving his metal-melting flame punches deep into that torn wound at the vital point!
Hiss!
The wound seared by flames a second time, the Python King convulsed violently in agony.
An unavoidable tail sweep, trailing a sonic boom, whipped toward Lin Yan as he hung in midair, his momentum spent.
If this tail connected solidly, Lin Yan would absolutely be snapped in half!
"Lin Yan! Fall back!"
At the critical moment, a bulldozer-like rotund figure crashed into the battlefield from the side.
It was Lin Ze, who had been sent flying earlier!
Under the Medicine Hall's support team pouring healing without regard for cost, he had forcibly suppressed his internal injuries. The faint golden phantom of his Rank 2 Golden Bell Gu materialized again across his body.
GONG—!!!
A sound like a massive temple bell reverberated through the canyon.
Lin Ze had taken this fatal blow for Lin Yan.
The golden bell phantom shuddered violently; Lin Ze's mouth bled again from the impact. But he gritted his teeth and didn't retreat a single step.
The illusion of advantage quietly descended in that moment.
In front stood Lin Ze—battered but barely functional as a turtle shell drawing fire.
In the center, Lin Yan—the suicidal madman unleashing devastating damage at the weak point.
On the flanks, Lin Xue—using supreme speed to harass and draw aggro like an annoying fly.
This iron triangle tactic miraculously began functioning in the chaos.
Wounds multiplied across the Blood Jade Python's body. Its once translucent crimson scales were now pitted and scarred.
The fatal wound at its vital point especially continued deteriorating under Lin Yan's flames, staining the pool black with streams of poisonous blood.
"It's almost finished! Push harder!"
The alliance's morale soared.
The remaining Gu Masters stopped merely dodging and began unleashing their best techniques, bombarding the Python King with Gu effects of every color.
Everyone believed victory was within grasp. The massive point reward seemed almost within reach.