The moment that slight youth came to a stop, the entire grounds fell into a silence like death.
In that vast training plaza, the breath of thousands seemed to be collectively strangled in an instant. The air congealed to its absolute limit — so still that the fall of a single pin would have rung out clear as a bell.
"Hah... hah..."
Lin Xingyuan stood at the forty-fourth step, his chest heaving violently, fine beads of sweat finally seeping through on his forehead.
He looked at the branches ahead, still laced with invisible resistance, and exhaled between labored breaths:
"I... can't go any further."
Those words — slightly raw, carrying even a trace of exhaustion — fell upon that dead-silent plaza.
And yet they struck like a thunderbolt crashing down from the ninth heaven, jolting every last person back from their stupor in an instant.
"Forty-four steps — my god, forty-four steps!"
"A-grade! That's genuine, undeniable A-grade aptitude!"
"Black Blood Stockade has produced a once-in-ten-thousand A-grade genius!"
A roar of cheers and cries of disbelief erupted like a volcano that had been building pressure for a hundred years, detonating the entire grounds in one cataclysmic instant.
Up on the high platform, the elders could no longer keep their seats.
One by one they shot up from their grand chairs, leaning toward each other in urgent whispers, eyes blazing as they fixed on the youth in the forest. Each of them immediately began working their informants and connections, frantically digging into the boy's background.
Yet amid that fever-pitched atmosphere — Lin Feng, who had occupied the best position on the platform, now sat as though on a bed of needles. He felt the blood in his veins running cold in waves.
He stared fixedly at the youth standing at the center of all attention — the one who had stolen every last shred of his glory — and found himself unable to keep still.
Lin Feng understood the weight of aptitude and potential better than anyone.
If everyone were B-grade, then with his father's deep backing as a Grand Elder, combined with his own efforts and political acumen, the position of Black Blood Stockade's next Patriarch would have been his without question — a foregone conclusion.
But this was A-grade.
A-grade aptitude meant an Aperture that recovered Primeval Essence at extraordinary speed. It meant cultivation without bottlenecks.
With the clan pouring resources into him in an orderly fashion, Rank 3 would come as easily as drinking water. Rank 4 would follow naturally. And even Rank 5 — even the legendary realm of Gu Immortal — held a faint, genuine possibility.
It was a crushing, absolute superiority in potential. The kind that drove men to despair.
Lin Feng's breathing grew involuntarily heavier. Across that face of his — ordinarily as refined and composed as polished jade — a flash of twisted darkness passed, deeply concealed but unmistakably there.
In sharp contrast to Lin Feng's brooding silence, Lin Xue stepped forward on the other side of the platform.
She looked down at the clamoring scene below, raised her voice, and announced clearly:
"Honored Elders! This child's name is Lin Xingyuan. He is an orphan taken in and raised under my Medicine Hall. I have personally looked after him since he was young!"
Lin Xue's voice was crisp and pleasant, yet carried an unambiguous declaration of claim.
"I saw that though he had no one to rely on, he had sharp brows and bright eyes — a boy of early wisdom — and I have nurtured him with great care all along. Today's result proves it: A-grade aptitude, as expected. This is a great blessing for our Black Blood Stockade!"
With those words, spoken without fanfare, the boy's allegiance was quietly settled. Lin Xingyuan had been branded with the Medicine Hall's mark before anyone could object.
Several of the influential elders' expressions shifted.
If an A-grade genius were to fall entirely under the Medicine Hall's wing, then within ten years, the power structure of Black Blood Stockade would be turned completely on its head. The Medicine Hall would stand unchallenged above all others.
"Lin Xue, girl, that's not right! An A-grade genius is the hope of the entire clan — he should be handed to the Punishment Hall to be tempered in combat!"
"Nonsense! He should be placed under our Internal Affairs Hall with the highest allocation of resources!"
In an instant, every faction abandoned any pretense of elder dignity and began shouting over one another to stake their claim. The solemn, imposing platform devolved in moments into a raucous marketplace.
At the outer edge of the crowd, Lin Mu stood with his arms folded across his chest, watching everything in quiet observation.
There was a faint ripple in his mind — but only faint.
His perspective had long since ceased to be confined to this small corner of the Southern Border.
"A-grade?"
"No matter how exceptional the aptitude, it is nothing more than a threshold on the road to strength. Throughout history, how many A-grade geniuses have died before their time? How far one ultimately goes still comes down to character and method."
Besides, his own cultivation progress had already far outpaced anything a so-called A-grade aptitude implied. If it came down to a true comparison of foundations, he was the greater anomaly by far.
Compared to an A-grade youth who had not yet grown into his potential, what interested Lin Mu far more was the imminent reshuffling of power within Black Blood Stockade that Lin Xingyuan's sudden emergence had set in motion.
His gaze was deep and still.
He observed Lin Feng's expression shifting between dark and light on the platform, and Lin Xue's barely concealed satisfaction, his mind turning at speed — calculating how to extract the greatest possible advantage for himself from the internal storm that was about to break.
Just as the argument on the platform was escalating toward open chaos —
Boom.
A figure like an iron tower descended from the air at the rear of the crowd, footsteps never pausing, moving with urgent, forceful speed.
Black Blood Stockade's Rank 4 Patriarch — Lin Cang.
The moment he arrived, he paid the elders no attention whatsoever. His eyes locked onto the youth in the forest, and his voice rang out like a thunderclap — carrying, unmistakably, a rare tremor:
"It is truly A-grade?! Truly A-grade?!"
Elder Kuangxu dared not delay for even a moment. He stepped forward at once and recounted the entire test from beginning to end, word for word.
Lin Cang listened. Then he threw his head back and let out a roar of laughter — unbridled, exhilarated, and full-throated:
"Ha ha ha ha! Good! Excellent! Heaven truly blesses Black Blood Stockade!"
With the Patriarch's arrival, the crowd's attention finally converged once more on the youth named Lin Xingyuan.
The boy was doing his best to project an air of cold composure — but under the weight of so many stares, the white-knuckled fists clenched at his sides betrayed every bit of the nervousness and awe he was struggling to contain.
Lin Cang strode forward and seized Lin Xingyuan's wrist in one motion, channeling his Primeval Essence to probe the boy's Aperture.
Three breaths later — the fierce joy on Lin Cang's imposing face deepened into something almost feverish:
"The Aperture is fully ninety-five percent open!"
"With aptitude like this — Black Blood Stockade may yet produce a Rank 5 Gu Master!"
The moment those words landed, every elder and Gu Master in the vicinity shed their last shred of doubt and broke into a wave of effusive flattery.
"Heaven blesses Black Blood Stockade! Long live the Patriarch!"
"Only with the Patriarch's boundless fortune could such a qilin child descend upon us!"
Watching the mood reach its peak, Lin Cang turned sharply.
"This child — I intend to take him as my personal disciple and instruct him myself. Lin Xue — do you have any objection?"
Lin Xue's thoughts moved in an instant. She knew full well that this boy's future was without limit — the Medicine Hall could never hold him.
With the Patriarch's endorsement, and herself already the older sister who had raised him, the Medicine Hall would not be left without its due when he grew into his power.
She bowed with immediate and graceful deference:
"For Xingyuan to receive the Patriarch's personal guidance is a fortune he could not have earned in several lifetimes. Xingyuan — what are you waiting for? Greet your Master!"
Lin Xingyuan was young, but he understood how to read a situation.
He dropped to his knees on the bluestone with a resounding thud, his voice carrying a mix of overwhelmed gratitude and shy hesitation:
"Thank you for your great kindness, Patriarch. This... this disciple is willing!"
"Good! A fine disciple — rise, rise!"
Lin Cang pulled him to his feet with one hand. The mood was warm and jubilant on all sides.
Riding the wave of that elation, Lin Cang swept his arm wide and issued his decree with the magnanimity of a man whose cup was overflowing:
"Pass my order! The entire stockade is to feast and celebrate for three days! In honor of our A-grade genius!"
"The Patriarch is wise!"
A thunderous cheer shook the surrounding mountains. Every person rejoiced and leapt with delight at this sudden, heaven-defying fortune that had fallen upon their clan.
Yet amid that vast ocean of celebration — Lin Mu's gaze cut through the jubilant crowd with precise clarity and found the far corner of the high platform.
There — Lin Feng, who should by all rights have been Black Blood Stockade's foremost prodigy, basking in glory and adulation — had his head bowed low, half his face swallowed by shadow.
The hands clasped behind his back were clenched so tightly that his fingernails had driven deep into his palms. A thin line of crimson welled up and dripped slowly to the ground.