The instant Lin Mu slowly opened his eyes, the three who had been locked in a fight to the death within the chamber all came to a halt at once.
The clouds of dust and broken stone drifted slowly down.
The chamber, so violent only moments ago, fell into an eerie dead silence.
The reason was simple.
Before this, Lin Mu had sat with his eyes shut, a lamb for the slaughter — whoever seized control of him would have the chance to pry the secret of this underground inheritance out of him.
But now, he was awake.
An awake Lin Mu was a very different matter from one who could not resist.
Of the four present, Lin Mu had the lowest cultivation at Rank 3 middle stage, yet he had become the decisive factor in breaking the balance among the three!
Lin Cang and Li Mang were long since at the end of their strength, and while Wu Xiang's condition was somewhat better, fighting two at once had drained her considerably as well.
None of the three could be certain of defeating the others outright, and whichever side the newly awakened Lin Mu leaned toward — even if he only acted once at the crucial moment — would be enough to tip these scales of life and death in an instant!
As for Lin Mu himself.
He sat on the cold ground, his gaze sweeping somewhat dazedly across the three before him.
In the outside world, perhaps only a few short days had passed; but in his own perception, he had already walked through an entire lifetime.
To go from a hospital bed, old and surrounded by children and grandchildren, back to this ruined chamber brimming with killing intent — the shock of it left his mind dazed for a brief moment.
And so the chamber remained in dead silence for several breaths.
"Lin Mu!"
The first to break the silence was Lin Cang, Patriarch of Black Blood Stockade.
The Patriarch, drenched in blood, stared fixedly at Lin Mu and, with all the authority of a clan's head, barked out a low command:
"Why are you sitting there in a daze?! Strike now and help me kill that old dog Li Mang!"
"The Mountain Protection Grand Array outside has already been broken! The White Bone Alliance's army is slaughtering our clansmen! Do you want to stand by and watch Lin Ping, watch Lin Feng, all of them die out there?!"
Lin Cang truly was desperate.
The sounds of slaughter outside drifted faintly through the collapsed mountain belly. For every additional breath of delay here, there was no telling how many more Black Blood Stockade clansmen would fall.
However, no sooner had his words fallen—
"Heh. So quick to claim the moral high ground."
Wu Xiang, blocking the way before Lin Mu, lightly wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth and let out an openly mocking, cold laugh:
"Great Patriarch Lin, now that you see he's awake, you suddenly remember he's a child of your own clan?"
"Just a moment ago, while his eyes were still shut and you and Li Mang were turning the world upside down right beside him, I didn't see you feeling so tender toward your own junior."
Having his intentions laid bare in front of everyone, Lin Cang's cold, hard face sank at once, and he roared back on the spot:
"Enough of your slander! You, a skulking demonic witch of unknown origin — what qualifies you to sow discord before this old man?!"
Having roared it out, Lin Cang paid Wu Xiang no further mind. Those bloodshot tiger eyes locked onto Lin Mu, his voice rolling down like muffled thunder:
"Lin Mu, you're an intelligent man. Open your eyes and see the situation for what it is!"
"This woman is protecting you for no reason at all — what else could she be after but the thing you carry?! Go with her, and you'll be putting yourself at a tiger's mercy!"
"Those people outside are your clansmen! Black Blood Stockade is the place that bore you and raised you!"
Faced with Lin Cang's forceful pressure, Wu Xiang naturally would not yield a single step.
She did not even turn her head, merely tilting her face slightly, glancing at Lin Mu behind her with those mesmerizing eyes, her tone languid:
"Little fellow, clansmen are dear things, to be sure. But don't forget — the way certain people were looking at this underground inheritance just now wasn't the least bit cleaner than anyone else's."
"If you really do fall back into his hands, just how much of this great fortune you worked so hard to obtain will be left to you in the end? That's rather hard to say."
For a moment, Lin Cang and Wu Xiang faced off without yielding an inch, the tension between them almost palpable.
And while these two Rank 4 experts tore each other down and fought over where Lin Mu would belong.
Li Mang, standing off to the side covered in blood, had instead become the calmest person present.
As the party in the worst condition, Li Mang understood better than anyone — today, he had all but lost the strength to fight for the inheritance directly.
If he stayed here and kept slugging it out, either Lin Cang or that mysterious woman might well take his old life!
In that case, then muddy these waters completely!
"Cough… cough, cough…"
Li Mang coughed out two mouthfuls of black blood, and on that old face of his, dry as withered bone, a bizarre cold smile suddenly stretched open:
"Truly marvelous…"
"Two old foxes with decades of experience, standing here spouting such pompous nonsense at a Rank 3 junior. Listening to yourselves, don't you find it laughable?"
His voice was hoarse as a night owl's, instantly drawing the attention of the other two.
Yet Li Mang did not look at them at all, fixing those cloudy, venomous eyes squarely on Lin Mu, seated with his legs crossed.
"Lin Mu, you brat. This old man has no choice but to admit it — this time, I truly did misjudge you."
"But the rear mountain has collapsed now, and the Black Bone King Inheritance is utterly exposed out in the open! You don't naively believe that with your paltry Rank 3 middle stage cultivation, you can still walk out of here today in one piece, do you?"
Having said this, Li Mang abruptly lifted his head and pointed at the grim Lin Cang:
"Lin Cang! You keep pressing him with Black Blood Stockade's clansmen, so this old man would like to ask you—"
"Do you dare swear a solemn oath, right to his face, that you don't harbor the slightest greed for this underground inheritance?!"
Immediately after, Li Mang whipped his head around toward Wu Xiang, grinning ferociously:
"And you, mysterious woman!"
"If you truly are so compassionate and merely wish to save his life, then with your Rank 4 middle stage cultivation, why bother skulking in the shadows, lurking in Black Blood Stockade all this time?!"
These two sentences were like two venomous daggers, stabbing straight into the hearts of both.
The air within the chamber froze instantly.
Lin Cang's expression was grim, but he did not take up the question.
To tell Lin Mu to his face that he had no designs on the Black Bone King Inheritance — not even he himself would believe it.
And the cold smile on Wu Xiang's face faded back somewhat as well.
She too had her own aims.
In the very instant the three sides fell to mutual suspicion and mutual restraint.
Li Mang's gaunt frame, under the cover of his own words, shifted ever so slightly — half a step toward the broken gap in the passage at the rear of the chamber.
He was looking for a way out!
Lin Cang and Wu Xiang noticed this at almost the same moment.
But strangely, neither of them moved at once to intercept him.
Their wariness of each other was one factor.
More importantly, the variable that truly decided the direction of this situation was still that Lin Mu who had yet to declare himself!
And under all three of those nearly tangible gazes, Lin Mu had maintained absolute silence from the moment he opened his eyes until now.
The brief daze had already receded; his mind had fully returned to clarity.
He understood perfectly that in this death trap ringed by Rank 4 combat strength, he had no standing whatsoever to interject or argue.
Any single word, or even a glance that was too obvious, could be taken by all three as choosing a side.
So at this moment, not moving and not speaking was the safest choice.
Receiving no response after so long, Lin Cang finally lost his patience entirely.
His fists slowly clenched as he stared hard at Lin Mu, barking in a low voice:
"Lin Mu!"
"I'll say it one last time — think this through carefully!"
"Behind you stands Black Blood Stockade!"
The atmosphere, in this moment, was strung to its absolute limit!
Lin Cang shifted his weight, ready to spring.
The Primeval Essence about Wu Xiang's body likewise stirred quietly.
Li Mang gripped the Bone Spine Scepter, his gaze flickering.
Yet in the very instant this fragile balance was about to be torn apart once again—
Crack.
An exceedingly faint, crisp sound came from the shadows behind Lin Mu without the slightest warning.
The sound was very soft.
But in the dead silence of the third chamber at this moment, it was unusually clear.
All four of them paused at once and whipped their heads around, casting their gazes toward the deepest part of the chamber.
There.
The statue of the Black Bone King, which had stood in the darkness all this while.
In the very center of its chest.
A jet-black fissure was slowly splitting open.