Early the next morning, when Lin Feng pushed open his courtyard gate and appeared once more before the eyes of Black Blood Stockade, everyone was secretly taken aback.
The Lin Feng of this moment had donned a fresh, spotless white robe once more.
His face was like polished jade, refined and gentle, an agreeable smile hanging at the corner of his mouth that made all who saw it feel as though bathed in a spring breeze.
It was as if the downtrodden, battered young master of the past stretch of days had never existed at all.
The confusion, dejection, and gloom that had clung to him for days had been swept away entirely, in the span of a single night.
In his dealings with others, he had wholly recovered his former grace — indeed, he had become even more approachable than before.
The arrogance once buried deep in his bones, and his contempt for the branch clan's disciples, were now concealed deep, deep down — like a venomous snake that had fully withdrawn its fangs and coiled away in the shadows.
Faced with this reborn transformation of Lin Feng's, the people of Black Blood Stockade all fell into the same misconception.
In everyone's eyes, Lin Feng had accepted his fate.
He had been utterly won over by Lin Xingyuan's insurmountable aptitude, and had willingly humbled himself, content to serve in the future as a worthy minister and foil assisting the new king.
For a time, an exceedingly optimistic rumor even began to circulate among the common folk.
"Truly Heaven blesses our clan! Now, above, we have a Rank 4 Patriarch holding the fort, and below, Lin Xingyuan and Lin Feng — the twin prodigies of Black Blood — supporting one another, one as lord and one as aide. The prosperity and rise of our Black Blood Stockade is now ordained by the Heavenly Dao!"
Such talk soon reached the ears of the upper echelons.
Though Patriarch Lin Cang was at this moment burning with anxiety over the abnormal activity in White Bone Stockade's deep rear, when he heard the rumors of Lin Feng's transformation, his taut nerves could not help but ease a little.
Feng'er has grown up after all. He's finally become sensible...
A trace of gratified relief rose in Lin Cang's heart.
Yet as for the truth of the matter — in all of Black Blood Stockade, likely only the two people directly involved, Lin Mu and Lin Feng, understood it most clearly.
...
Within the dim underground chamber, Lin Mu sat cross-legged.
His expression was more focused than it had ever been, his entire mind sunk into the glowing spheres of light suspended before him.
Before him, two dazzling orbs of light gave off a brilliant radiance.
As Primeval Essence poured in unceasingly, the materials within the orbs collided, fused, repelled, and were forcibly fused again — all in violent turmoil.
What Lin Mu was employing at this moment were precisely the damaged Gu worm and specially prepared auxiliary materials he had gathered back then from the cave of that fellow Earthling, "Kevin."
Kevin's methods are potent, but the impurities are lethal. Only through stripping them away can there be rebirth.
Lin Mu silently recited that unique Gu recipe left by his fellow countryman, his hands shifting like butterflies weaving through flowers, straining to maintain the Primeval Essence at its absolute limit of output.
After several hours of tug-of-war and torment—
Hmmm—!
Accompanied by an exceedingly strange halo of clear light that carried a certain purifying quality, the violent orb of light in midair finally stabilized completely and contracted.
Lin Mu's taut nerves at last relaxed.
In the center of his palm now rested a strange Gu worm — its entire body a translucent, crystalline substance, shaped like a miniature leech.
Rank 2 — the Dialysis Gu. Refinement, successful!
Without a moment's pause, Lin Mu immediately sent word and summoned Lin Wuxie into the chamber.
At Lin Mu's direction, he very smoothly refined this Dialysis Gu.
The Gu worm turned into a streak of flowing light and vanished into Lin Wuxie's aperture in an instant.
In that instant, a wondrous ripple spread out through Lin Wuxie's body.
This ripple was like an exceedingly fine and precise invisible filter, and it began to frantically purify and strip away the filthy, defiled bestial impurities accumulated within his aperture from his long habit of swallowing wild beasts alive.
"Ngaaah—!"
Lin Wuxie's whole body shook violently.
Black blood and foul sludge, reeking with stench, began to seep out from his pores. But he clenched his teeth hard and endured this baptism that felt like bone being scraped and marrow drawn out.
At his side, Lin Mu stood with his hands clasped behind his back, the Primeval Essence within him coiled and ready.
He stood coldly on guard as his protector — the instant anything went out of control, or any fatal accident occurred during the process of stripping away the impurities, he would strike without the slightest hesitation to suppress him.
Moments later, when the last trace of rank, foul black blood had been expelled from the body—
BOOM!
An aura of unprecedented clarity and might erupted from within Lin Wuxie.
His eyes snapped open, and the murky, savage bestial red light in their depths dispersed entirely, replaced by pure, wild joy.
"It worked!"
He had finally succeeded in suppressing and purging the filth and backlash within his body.
That long-suppressed and vast foundation, accumulated over time and now bursting forth, surged like floodwaters through a broken dam — carrying him across, in a single stroke, the barrier that had troubled him for so long. He formally stepped into the Rank 2 realm!
Watching Lin Wuxie break through successfully, his strength undergoing a qualitative transformation, Lin Mu let out a long breath.
The all-out war between Black Blood Stockade and White Bone Stockade was imminent.
Lin Mu understood better than anyone that on a battlefield of flesh and blood such as this — a veritable meat grinder — any long-term talent and potential were empty things.
Only immediate combat strength held firmly in one's hand was the finest chip for staying alive and seizing profit from the chaos.
Moreover, the reason he had risked exposure to reveal his Rank 2 peak stage trump card to Lin Feng was not merely to break him psychologically and take him firmly in hand.
His true aim was so that, in the coming all-out war between the two stockades, he could perfectly exploit Lin Feng's privileged background as the "son of the Grand Elder" — to build and lead, with full legitimacy, a "vanguard squad" that enjoyed a high degree of autonomy!
As the saying went, under a heavy reward there must be a brave man. Every time the two clans fought to the death, the clan would inevitably open a "military merit board" to spur the Gu Masters into throwing their lives onto the pile.
Lin Mu's ultimate scheme was to borrow Lin Feng's gleaming, glamorous shell to lead this squad — to reap spoils of war frantically on the battlefield and earn military merit to the greatest possible extent.
He needed a colossal amount of military merit to exchange for the core resources within the clan's treasury, and thereby pave the great road to his charge toward Rank 3.
Next, all he needed to do was wait quietly in this final calm before the storm.
Wait for that Patriarch of White Bone Stockade, Li Mang, to unleash the first move — the one that would raise a monstrous tide of blood and slaughter.