That rhetorical question — wrapped in a husky, languid laugh — drove into Lin Mu's chest like a blade.
He knew well that in the world of Gu Masters, concealing one's cultivation was not something that could normally be seen through at a glance, unless someone conducted a close, careful examination.
Even Fang Yuan in the original work had concealed his cultivation on multiple occasions.
Yet this figure hidden deep within the black market — without even showing her face, separated from him by layers of darkness — had called out his true nature in a single breath.
Old Ma, walking ahead of him, was equally dumbstruck.
Cold sweat poured down his wrinkled old face in sheets, and his legs had begun to tremble beyond his control.
Run.
That was the first instinct that flashed through Lin Mu's mind.
And in that life-or-death moment, an extreme thought flickered through him — should he activate the Dust Escape Gu right now, leave Old Ma here as a decoy, and buy himself a way out?
But just as Lin Mu's thoughts raced and his Primeval Essence began to stir —
"Never mind. Merely Rank 2 upper stage."
That lazy, languid woman's voice drifted through the darkness again.
"Even if Lin Cang himself came in person, I wouldn't give him a second glance."
"But... for someone your age to have cultivated this far, with such a solid physical foundation — your talent is not bad."
The words had barely faded when Lin Mu's vision went dark.
A dense, intoxicating fragrance — laced with lethal danger — enveloped him in an instant.
The next second, a pair of ice-cold jade hands settled lightly against his throat without any warning.
And what truly made Lin Mu's soul nearly leave his body — the woman's other hand was tracing downward along his chest, slow and deliberate as a venomous serpent winding through grass, pressing straight toward the Aperture at his lower abdomen.
Extreme panic swallowed Lin Mu whole.
What was hidden in his Aperture?
The Four-Flavor Liquor Worm lay dormant in there — and so did the Rank 3 White Silver Relic Gu.
If Primeval Essence was forcibly driven into his Aperture, every last trump card and secret he possessed would be laid bare in the open light.
There would be no surviving that.
Fight.
Killing intent surged in Lin Mu's eyes. He prepared to ignite every last drop of his Primeval Essence and go down fighting.
But in the instant he tried to move, he discovered with pure horror that he could not shift so much as a single finger.
The air around him had become an invisible cage harder than iron, pinning him completely in place.
He had no idea when it had happened, or what Gu worm had ensnared him.
The knife and the block. He was the fish; she was the blade.
Was he truly going to die here today?
At the moment Lin Mu sank into absolute despair, those ice-cold jade hands stopped.
They released no probing Primeval Essence toward his Aperture.
Instead, with a quality that was almost teasing, they traced lightly across his abdomen, made a slow circle — as though toying with something amusing — and then withdrew in an instant.
The fragrance receded. The irresistible binding sensation vanished from Lin Mu's body all at once.
"Hah..."
Lin Mu exhaled hard, his body swaying.
He raised his head. The figure had already arrived without a sound and was now reclining lazily against the cushioned seat at the head of the room.
She wore a thin, barely-there black gauze that concealed nothing of her striking, dangerous figure. Her skin was white as jade.
The face was one of boundless allure and charm — eyes that shifted and shimmered as though they could steal the soul from any man who looked too long.
But looking at that face — one that would send any man's blood rushing — Lin Mu felt not the faintest stir of desire.
Only a chill spreading across his back, his inner robes already soaked through with cold sweat.
Seeing the benefactor finally appear, Old Ma's legs gave out entirely. He dropped to his knees with a heavy thud.
Trembling all over, he called out — and even reached out to grab Lin Mu's trouser leg, desperately gesturing for him to kneel as well.
"Lord Wuxiang, please forgive this offense! Old Ma's eyes are failing him — bringing this person here carries no intention of harming you, I swear it! Please, my lord, see clearly!"
Watching Old Ma's comical display, the demoness called Wuxiang seemed to struggle to hold herself together.
She laughed until she swayed, the view at her chest rising and falling dramatically.
"Heh heh heh... a crippled old wreck and a wet-behind-the-ears little virgin — and they're going to harm me?"
Wuxiang shifted into a more comfortable position with languid ease, her beautiful eyes fixing on Lin Mu with undisguised interest.
"The moment you two stepped into the sensing range of my Rank 4 Spider Web Gu, I had you both read completely."
"Just now, I was only playing with the boy because I found him amusing. A solid, well-built frame, I'll give him that... What's your name?"
Spider Web Gu.
Lin Mu's heart lurched violently. He finally understood where that invisible binding had come from — and how she had seen through him in an instant.
This was an extraordinarily rare and terrifying Rank 4 territorial Gu worm. Once you stepped into the invisible web it wove, there was no escape, not even with wings.
He forced down the violent pounding in his chest. He did not kneel and grovel like Old Ma.
Instead, he gave a slight bow, clasped his fists, and lowered his head with measured respect.
"This one is Lin Mu, Chief Deacon of the External Affairs Hall of Black Blood Stockade. I have come today with an urgent matter to request your aid, my lord."
At the name "Black Blood Stockade," Wuxiang's captivating eyes gave the faintest, barely perceptible tremor. The smile on her face drew back by half.
She looked at Lin Mu with an expression that was neither quite a smile nor not one, her tone carrying a thread of probing curiosity.
"Oh? Black Blood Stockade has a problem, and instead of going to your Rank 4 Patriarch Lin Cang, you come running to me — a Demonic Path cultivator?"
Beside him, Old Ma saw his opening and immediately pressed his forehead to the floor in a respectful kowtow, hurrying to smooth things over.
"My lord, please see clearly — this young man made an enemy outside and has come seeking the Sparse Shadow Gu to preserve his life..."
"The Sparse Shadow Gu?"
Wuxiang let out a soft laugh, and her gaze sharpened in an instant.
"Ha — the beam above is crooked, so the one below follows. Someone taught by you, Old Ma, has a first-rate talent for making enemies."
She toyed with a lock of dark hair hanging across her chest.
"But... you know the rules here. Speak. Do you have any leads on the Black Bone King's inheritance?"
Hearing Wuxiang raise the condition herself meant there was still room to work with.
Old Ma immediately shot Lin Mu an urgent, barely-concealed look.
Lin Mu swallowed, and steeled himself to recite — with as much vivid detail as he could manage — the fragmentary Rank 4 inheritance information Old Ma had fed him in the secret passage.
He deliberately framed it as a closely guarded secret he had stumbled upon only after brushing with death.
What he did not expect was that when he finished, Wuxiang let out a long, deeply unimpressed yawn.
She didn't even lift her eyelids. She rolled over onto her side and muttered in a tone dripping with contempt and mockery.
"Dull. Tedious. Useless."
"Intelligence this stale and rotten — Old Ma, that tight-fisted old miser, fed it to you to fob me off with, didn't he?"
Wuxiang's cold eyes swept across both of them.
"That doesn't count. Come up with something that actually interests me — otherwise, you can see yourselves out."
"This..."
Cold sweat broke out across Lin Mu's forehead. He turned to look at Old Ma.
Only to find that Old Ma, still kneeling on the ground, now wore the face of a man staring at his own grave.