Lin Mu's pupils contracted to pinpoints.
A sheet of cold sweat broke across his back in an instant, and beneath his wide robes, his legs gave a deeply undignified, involuntary tremble.
If the caravan went to Qing Mao Mountain, it would inevitably conduct enormous transactions with the Gu Yue Clan.
And Jia Fu — investigating the circumstances of Jia Jinsheng's death — would come into deep and inescapable contact with Fang Yuan.
"My entire development path is virtually identical to Fang Yuan's. I'm practically his mirror image."
Lin Mu's mind let out a silent, terrified roar.
"If I agree to Jia Fu's offer and follow the caravan to Qing Mao Mountain — Jia Fu will have me standing on his left and Fang Yuan standing on his right."
"With Fang Yuan's terrifying instincts, one glance would be all it takes."
"One glance. And he would know something was wrong."
Absolutely not.
The red warning lights in his mind blazed furiously.
Before he had the absolute power to protect himself — or to flip the table if needed — he could not afford to meet Fang Yuan. Not now. Not under any circumstances.
Lin Mu swallowed with great difficulty and forcibly crushed the terror rising in his chest — the kind that came from staring death in the face.
He slowly raised his head to meet Jia Fu's eager gaze.
His expression shifted in an instant — becoming one of profound sincerity, deep sorrow, and a grief too thick to dissolve.
He reached for the most unassailable, most irrefutable shield in the entire Southern Border Gu world, where feudal propriety reigned absolute.
Filial piety.
"Brother Jia's generosity is something I carry in my bones. I would gladly give my life in repayment..."
Lin Mu's eyes reddened slightly at the rims.
His voice came out rough and low as he rose and bowed deeply toward Jia Fu.
"Brother's caravan spans the Southern Border — I have long admired it with all my heart. And yet... of all virtues, filial piety stands first."
"On their deathbeds, my late parents took my hand and left me a solemn final command."
"They made me swear to remain at their graves in Black Blood Stockade, keeping vigil in mourning, until I came of age and completed my coming-of-age rites — only then would I be permitted to travel far and leave the clan."
Lin Mu sighed, his face a portrait of helpless resignation.
"There is still more than a year before I come of age. If I were to abandon my parents' dying wish for wealth and glory, what face would I have left to stand beneath heaven and earth?"
He lifted his gaze — clear and resolute.
"I ask for Brother's understanding. Give me one year. When the mourning period is fulfilled, I will personally go to the Jia Clan and hold Brother's stirrup myself."
Silence.
A long silence settled over the study.
The reason was entirely reasonable, and perfectly aligned with the values of the Righteous Path — an invisible wall that stopped every word of Jia Fu's recruitment pitch cold.
In the Southern Border, Righteous Path clans prized loyalty and filial piety above all else.
A young man who refused a temptation of this magnitude in order to honor his parents did not provoke Jia Fu's irritation.
On the contrary, it deepened his admiration for Lin Mu's character considerably.
"Good! Well said — of all virtues, filial piety stands first!"
Jia Fu slapped the table hard, visibly moved.
He strode forward and took Lin Mu by the arm, pulling him upright with a sigh of genuine feeling.
"With such pure devotion in your heart, Brother, if I pressed any further, I would be the one putting you in the wrong."
"One year is nothing. I can wait."
Jia Fu made the promise with magnanimous ease.
Seeing Lin Mu's loyalty and character proven beyond question, Jia Ping — who had sat quietly throughout — now rose with a smile.
He lifted an exquisitely crafted rosewood box in both hands, walked to Lin Mu, and held it out.
"Brother Lin, since the Chief has already said we'll be family sooner or later — consider this a deposit from the Jia Clan. Do not refuse it." Jia Ping smiled.
Lin Mu accepted the box with some surprise and opened it gently.
Inside, two items rested in silence.
The first was a purple jade token carved with intricate cloud patterns.
"This is the highest-tier personal token of our Jia Clan. Presenting it is the same as presenting me in person." Jia Fu explained with sweeping confidence.
"From this day forward, anywhere in the Southern Border where you encounter a Jia Clan caravan, you may purchase any goods at a standing twenty-five percent discount."
Lin Mu's pupils contracted slightly. Twenty-five percent off.
That was an absurdly generous insider price — if used to trade in goods, the margin alone could make a man obscenely wealthy.
Then his gaze moved to the second item, and his heart skipped another beat.
It was a Gu worm no larger than a walnut, its body a translucent amber, as though sleeping — strange and rare.
A Rank 2 Information Path Gu of exceptional rarity — the Synchronized Sound Gu.
"This is a message-transmission Gu unique to our Jia Clan. It comes as a paired set — parent and child. The one in your hands is the child."
Jia Fu clapped Lin Mu on the shoulder, his tone carrying the weight of absolute authority:
"Within this year, if you find yourself facing a life-or-death crisis in Black Blood Stockade — if someone moves against you — simply crush the child Gu."
"Within several hundred li, the parent Gu held by my caravan will resonate violently."
"Whatever forces are arrayed against you — our Jia Clan's iron-blooded escorts will ride through the night and reach you. Your life will be guaranteed."
A private army, available to summon at any time.
Half an hour later.
Lin Mu walked out of the Three Star Cave's first-floor private room, the rosewood box cradled in his hands.
A cold autumn wind blew into his face, chilling the inner robe that had been soaked through with cold sweat.
Even now, his mind felt faintly disordered — as though he had just woken from a dream of wild extremes.
He weighed the heavy box in his hand and drew a slow breath through his teeth.
"Jia Fu values me to this degree. He was even willing to part with a strategic-level rescue Gu as a deposit..."
Lin Mu glanced back at the towering treehouse, and something unnamed stirred in his chest.
"It seems that in this cold and brutal world of Gu Masters — whether Righteous Path or Demonic Path — the resource that is always the rarest, always the most precious, is irreplaceable talent."
He turned the thought over quietly in his mind.
"Once the White Bone Stockade crisis is resolved. Once I've uncovered every secret buried in the Black Bone King's inheritance... going to join the Jia Clan a year from now seems like... a path genuinely worth walking."