Faced with the burning pursuit of the two highest authorities of Black Blood Stockade, Lin Mu did not answer at once.
He first turned his head to glance at the tightly sealed, heavy stone door of the secret chamber, then, without any change in expression, swept his gaze around, a distinct trace of wariness showing in his eyes.
How seasoned Lin Cang was — he immediately understood his meaning.
"Hum—"
Lin Cang raised his hand, Primeval Essence surging within his apertures, and directly mobilized a Sound Isolation Gu.
A layer of grey light film, almost imperceptible to the naked eye, rapidly enveloped the entire secret chamber like an inverted giant bowl, utterly severing all sound between this place and the outside world.
"Now you may speak."
Lin Cang settled back onto the main seat, his gaze even sharper than before.
Lin Mu deliberated for a long while, as though carrying out one final weighing in his heart, before lowering his voice and lightly throwing out an opening thread.
"Patriarch, some days ago, the clan's frontline young talents suffered exceedingly precise assassinations one after another."
"Within this, I fear there is a mole stirring trouble in the dark, is there not?"
At the mention of this topic, Lin Cang's expression instantly sank dark.
He slammed a palm down heavily upon the table, jolting the tea in the cup so that it splashed out, and shouted sternly:
"Hmph!"
"This matter I have already ordered the Punishment Hall to investigate rigorously in secret!"
"Once this mole is dragged out, I will most certainly flay his skin and pull his tendons — I will absolutely not let him off lightly!"
Lin Mu coughed lightly with exceeding naturalness.
"To be frank, in order to protect myself, this subordinate early on planted an informant in the periphery of the White Bone forces."
"Previously, because the situation was unclear, this subordinate rarely contacted him. But just last night, he specially entrusted someone to deliver a secret report into this subordinate's hands."
Hearing this, Lin Zhen, seated to one side, slightly narrowed his eyes, scrutiny showing in his gaze.
"Is this person reliable?"
"Could this White Bone Stockade spy be deliberately laying a trap for you?"
Lin Mu did not embellish anything on the Wild Dog's behalf, but instead answered with exceeding pragmatism:
"In reply to the Grand Clan Elder — this person is exceedingly greedy for wealth, and also extremely covetous of his own life."
"When he encounters danger, the very first thought in his head is absolutely to flee; there is no speaking of any loyalty at all."
"But precisely because of this, this subordinate dares to conclude that he would absolutely never dare use a head-losing matter of this magnitude to deceive me."
Lin Mu looked straight into Lin Zhen's eyes, the corner of his mouth curving up slightly into an arc.
"Because he knows in his heart, better than anyone,"
"that the price of deceiving this subordinate is absolutely more terrifying than betraying the clan."
This near-domineering logic instead caused Lin Zhen's tightly furrowed brows to relax slightly, and a trace of hard-to-detect approval even flitted through the depths of his eyes.
"You are rather candid."
Lin Zhen nodded.
"Speak. What exactly does that intelligence report concern?"
Lin Mu drew a deep breath and slowly spat out that piece of news, enough to make everyone's expression change.
"Li Mang is secretly preparing a beast tide."
"And his target…"
"is precisely Black Blood Stockade."
The instant these words came out, the air within the secret chamber seemed in that single instant to be utterly drained away, abruptly falling into a dead silence in which a dropped needle could be heard.
Lin Cang's fingers, which had all along been stroking the celadon teacup, for the first time truly came to a stop.
Lin Zhen's brows knit tightly.
As an experienced veteran powerhouse, he did not immediately believe it.
"A beast tide?"
"Though the beast herds within the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains are ferocious, each has its own territory, and moreover they have utterly different habits — some are even as incompatible as fire and water with one another."
"Even if that Li Mang could spend a heavy sum to hire several Rank 3 Enslavement Path Gu Masters, how could he simultaneously control every wild beast within a radius of several hundred li?"
"What is more, a large-scale beast tide of this magnitude is often influenced by the climate of heaven and earth, appearing only once every several years, or even once every dozen or more years."
"It has not been long since the last Southern Border beast tide passed — with what would that Li Mang manufacture such a natural calamity out of thin air?!"
Faced with Lin Zhen's challenge, Lin Mu did not forcibly argue.
He merely lowered his head calmly and responded in a low voice:
"This subordinate also does not know exactly what means Li Mang has employed."
"But upon that intelligence report, there were indeed, truly, only two words written."
"Beast tide."
Hearing this, Lin Cang neither affirmed nor denied it.
He did not fully believe it, but as the head of a clan, he would absolutely not dare treat this kind of intelligence — which could bear upon the survival of the entire clan — as a trifle.
Lin Cang quietly mobilized a Sound Transmission Gu hidden within his sleeve, swiftly relaying a command out.
Having done all this, his gaze once again fell back upon Lin Mu.
"You do indeed harbor many secrets upon your person."
Lin Mu still kept his head lowered, maintaining his respectful posture, not picking up this thread.
"However, it does not matter."
Lin Cang waved his hand magnanimously, the bearing of a Rank 4 powerhouse laid fully bare.
"In extraordinary times, our Black Blood Stockade will never bury a meritorious subject, still less will it covet the fortuitous opportunities of its own people."
"Earlier, the Storage Hall publicly posted a bounty of twenty thousand Primeval Stones for taking the heads off the shoulders of those male-and-female fiends."
"Now, you have beheaded that masked man."
"The ten-thousand-Primeval-Stone reward is yours."
"Beyond this, the intelligence and military merit your squad obtained on this trip are truly no small amount."
"I once promised that whoever slays an enemy figure of leader rank may apply to the clan for the highest grade of reward."
Lin Cang's tone was generous, and he made the decision on the spot.
"Early tomorrow morning, the several of you may enter the clan's Gu Storage Cave."
"Within the core region, each of you may select a suitable Gu worm as reward!"
"Moreover, in your battle with that male-and-female pair of fiends, both your bodies and your apertures were not lightly wounded."
"After collecting your rewards, I grant you special dispensation: within seven days you need not go to the front again — remain at ease in the rear and recuperate."
Lin Mu naturally, with exceeding good sense, showed a grateful expression, rose to his feet, and gave Lin Cang a deep bow.
"Many thanks for the Patriarch's consideration!"
"This subordinate will most certainly grind his bones to powder to repay the clan!"
This perilous secret meeting — named an inquiry, but in truth an interrogation — was thus quietly dissolved amid Lin Mu's half-true, half-false responses.
...
At the same time.
Several dozen li away from Black Blood Stockade.
Deep within the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains.
Several figures stood at the edge of a massive underground rift valley.
Among them, a short and stout Earth Path Gu Master slowly crouched down and pressed both hands firmly against the ground.
Rank 3 Primeval Essence surged forth.
A Gu worm resembling an earthen-yellow earthworm rapidly bored deep into the earth along his palms.
"Rumble, rumble…"
A muffled sound came from the depths of the earth.
The ground began to tremble faintly.
The originally solid and stable underground rock strata, under the influence of the Gu worm's power, slowly shifted out of place.
A water vein buried deep in the earth was forcibly severed, then drawn toward another region.
Within the valley that had lost its water source, countless wild beasts began to grow restless and uneasy.
At the same same, the other three Enslavement Path Gu Masters each mobilized their respective Gu worms.
Sharp, bizarre beast cries spread out in all directions along the mountain wind.
They did not attempt to control every wild beast within a radius of several hundred li.
That was simply not realistic.
What they needed to do was merely to drive out the several most crucial beast herds.
A herd of black-armored wild boars that had originally lived within the valley, having lost their water source, began to charge about restlessly, and ultimately migrated outward in droves.
They soon burst into the territory of a group of red-eyed mountain apes.
The two sides immediately erupted into a tragic slaughter.
The red-eyed mountain apes, fleeing in panic, then burst one after another into the domain of another beast king.
One chaos triggered another, greater chaos.
Like the first domino to fall.
Panic began to spread ever outward along the intricate, tangled food chain and territories of the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains.
Amid the darkness.
A colossal creature that had slumbered for many years slowly opened its pair of blood-red eyes.
A low, suppressed roar rolled forth from the depths of the cave.
The gravel upon the ground kept leaping in time with that terrifying roar.
An Enslavement Path Gu Master standing at the edge of the rift valley, gazing at the distant mountain forest that was gradually growing restless, slowly showed a trace of a cold, sinister smile upon his face.
"The first step is done."
"At this rate, within a few days, the first batch of beast herds will burst out of the deep mountains."
"And the direction of their advance?"
The short and stout Earth Path Gu Master slowly raised his head.
His gaze crossed over layer upon layer of mountains and fell toward the direction where Black Wind Ridge lay.
"Where else could it be?"
"Naturally… it is…"
"Black Blood Stockade."
And beside this group of Gu Masters, there stood yet another exceedingly inconspicuous figure.
That person's clothing was tattered and ragged, and his whole body was so filthy that its original color could scarcely be made out.
He hunched his back, both hands stuffed tightly into his sleeves, half his body shrunk into the shadows, as lowly as if he were dust.
However.
Those eyes, hidden beneath disheveled strands of hair, were silently and soundlessly watching everything that was happening here.
It was none other than the Wild Dog.