Under this life-or-death impasse that felt like the abyss staring back.
Lin Mu forcibly severed that thread of panic that was about to spread, sinking all his consciousness into his aperture in a final desperate struggle.
"Wash it away!"
Lin Mu gritted his teeth. The vast ocean of peak-stage Primeval Essence within his aperture surged like a raging tsunami, wave after wave sweeping toward the Jade Tendon Gu.
He attempted to use his prized Primeval Essence to forcibly wash away that Rank 4 will deeply hidden in the Gu's core, or at least isolate it.
But this was like an ant trying to shake a tree—a fool's dream.
Between Rank 1 and Rank 4 lay three realm barriers as vast as natural chasms.
Even though Lin Mu's Primeval Essence had been refined by the Liquor Worm to the ultimate dark green, before that black-iron will belonging to Lin Cang, it was as fragile as a paper screen.
The waves of Primeval Essence washed over it, yet that entrenched will didn't produce even a single ripple.
Instead, it was like a sharp steel needle that easily pierced through Lin Mu's Primeval Essence wrapping, emanating an unshakeable metallic quality.
"It's not working! Primeval Essence can't wash it away!"
Cold sweat grew denser on Lin Mu's forehead.
He immediately thought of the Red Mud Gu he had used to perfectly conceal demonic path aura when delivering black market goods in Grey Street.
"Red mud, seal it completely!"
Dark red mud surged wildly within his aperture—one layer, two layers, ten layers...
Lin Mu, regardless of the cost, wrapped thick layers of red mud tightly around the Jade Tendon Gu. But after the attempt, his heart sank completely to rock bottom.
Not enough. Far from enough.
Though the Red Mud Gu was miraculous, it was ultimately just a Rank 1 Gu.
It could perfectly conceal Rank 1 or even early Rank 2 mundane auras, but a Rank 4 expert's will was extremely domineering and condensed, carrying intense spiritual penetrating power.
Even wrapped in ten or a hundred layers of red mud, as soon as they left this dense forest, under Lin Cang's terrifying wide-range spiritual scan, this disguise would still shine as brilliantly as a torch lit in the dark of night!
A dead end.
Watching the dense forest exit grow ever closer ahead, hearing the faint cheers from outside, Lin Mu felt as if he could see Death beckoning to him.
Under this extreme pressure, a scene suddenly flashed through Lin Mu's mind—the moment when he had just transmigrated into this world.
Back then, to survive in these man-eating Hundred Thousand Mountains, he had unhesitatingly crushed that Heat Source Gu with his own hands in front of the elder.
Surviving in this cruel Gu world was even more exhausting than walking a tightrope over a bottomless abyss. One moment of carelessness, and greed would doom you for eternity.
"Must I... destroy it with my own hands again, like before?"
A fierce glint flashed through Lin Mu's eyes. His fingers had already loosely gripped that priceless Jade Tendon Gu—with just a single thought, he could reduce this Rank 2 supreme Gu to powder.
But the next second, he held himself back.
"No, I can't even destroy it!" Lin Mu immediately rejected in his mind this seemingly survival-by-sacrifice approach.
The reason Lin Cang hadn't grown suspicious yet was because the will he'd left behind was still deeply buried within the Jade Tendon Gu's dormant state.
If Lin Mu forcibly crushed the Gu now, the instant the Jade Tendon Gu died, that Rank 4 will would inevitably awaken and dissipate!
Once the will dissipated, Lin Cang would instantly sense the anomaly and immediately lock onto this area.
When they traced back from there, everyone who had taken this path out would be thoroughly searched—and he would still be a dead man!
Couldn't erase it, couldn't hide it, couldn't destroy it.
This Rank 2 supreme Gu that so many dreamed of had now become a "hot potato" in Lin Mu's aperture, capable of blasting him to smithereens.
"There must be a way... there must be a logical method to break through..."
Lin Mu raised his head, his gaze piercing through the dim forest, staring fixedly at that figure ahead who was walking briskly forward in a foul mood.
Lin Feng.
Watching this top seed's slightly stiff gait—born of anguish over his lost treasure—an extremely bold, crazy, yet perfectly logical solution to the current situation struck Lin Mu's mind like lightning!
At this moment, the distance to the forest exit—where the family's upper echelon waited in that bright open space—was less than a thousand meters.
Walking at the front of the squad, Lin Feng was in an extremely foul mood.
The supreme glory of slaying a Rank 2 Beast King couldn't fill the enormous psychological gap of not obtaining the Jade Tendon Gu.
He had no desire to maintain that gentle-as-jade, approachable "banished immortal" persona right now. His entire being radiated an unapproachable, irritable low pressure.
Suddenly, Lin Feng's brow furrowed slightly.
He sensed that Lin Mu, who had been obediently trailing at the back of the squad, had somehow silently quickened his pace and was already approaching his side.
"Get back to the rear. Don't bother me."
Lin Feng, in his terrible mood, didn't even glance at him. He lowered his voice to a cold bark and was about to wave his hand to dismiss this tactless collateral branch member.
However, the instant he turned his head, Lin Feng's words caught hard in his throat.
He noticed that Lin Mu's expression right now was extremely wrong.
Those eyes that usually seemed dull and submissive were now bloodshot. Not only was the feigned exhaustion gone, but they carried an extremely covert fervor, tension, and a desperate resolve that cared for nothing else!
How shrewd was Lin Feng? He immediately sensed keenly that Lin Mu had something extremely confidential—possibly even life-or-death—to tell him.
"Stop."
Lin Feng abruptly halted, raising his right hand.
He took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the irritation in his eyes, and turned to Lin Wan'er and Lin Zhong behind him:
"The fierce battle just now consumed a great deal of everyone's Primeval Essence. We're about to leave the forest to meet the Patriarch and the Family Elders—we mustn't lose our composure. Rest here for half a quarter-hour to recover Primeval Essence."
Then he gave a meaningful look. "Lin Zhong, take Wan'er to stand guard fifty paces ahead. No one is to approach."
"Yes, Young Master."
Though the two didn't understand why, under Lin Feng's authority, they obediently retreated to the distance.
As for the already unconscious Lin Wuxie, Lin Feng also checked his breathing. After ensuring safety, he looked around, and only when certain there were no third pairs of ears nearby did he turn and walk behind a large, shadowed boulder, setting up a simple sound-isolating barrier.
"What are you playing at?"
Lin Feng stared at Lin Mu before him, his tone frigid, carrying an impatient air of being disturbed. "My patience is limited. This had better be important enough."
Lin Mu didn't waste words, nor did he bow in greeting as usual.
He leaned in mysteriously toward Lin Feng, nervously scanning their surroundings. Then, in that dark corner behind the boulder, he slowly opened his right hand that had been tightly clenched.
"Young Master, look at what this is."
Lin Mu's voice was pressed extremely low, even carrying an irrepressible tremor.
His palm opened.
In that mud-stained palm lay a beetle covered entirely in jade-green patterns, as if carved from the finest emerald, currently in slumber, emanating the faint luminescence unique to Rank 2 Gu.
Lin Feng's breathing stopped completely the instant he saw this beetle!
"The... the Jade Tendon Gu?!"
His usually deep eyes suddenly went wide, his pupils undergoing a violent earthquake, his face filled with undisguisable disbelief.
He could never have dreamed that the thing he had spent so long searching through the Blood Jade Python's reeking snake head for—digging until his hands were covered in rotten flesh without finding it—had been in the arms of this usually unremarkable support all along!
The tremendous joy of recovering what was lost surged through Lin Feng like an electric current, making him instinctively reach out to snatch that longed-for treasure.
However, Lin Feng was ultimately no ordinary wastrel.
The instant his fingers were about to touch the Jade Tendon Gu, the suspicion and cunning in his bones instantly overwhelmed his joy.
His hand froze in midair.
Lin Feng's head snapped up, his handsome face appearing somewhat distorted in the dim light.
Instead of reaching for the Gu, he stared at Lin Mu with extreme vigilance—like a hungry wolf catching the scent of a trap.
A stormy barrage of questioning, mixed with a superior's killing intent, smashed down over his head:
"How do you have the Jade Tendon Gu?!"
"We were fighting for our lives up front—how did you get it while avoiding everyone?"
"Why didn't I see it in the snake head earlier? Why didn't you say anything then?"
"Furthermore..."
Lin Feng's eyes were as sharp as knives, as if wanting to pierce through Lin Mu's soul:
"Since you have already deceived the heavens to cross the sea and obtained such a top-tier item, why are you giving it to me now?!"
"Lin Mu, what exactly are your ulterior motives?!"