Deep in the dim underground, that familiar stone door stood silently in the darkness.
Lin Mu halted his steps, drew a deep breath, and unfastened the Dragon Trap Gu from his waist, its burden still feeling crushingly heavy.
Unlike the first stone door, which had required a specific Gu worm to serve as a "key" in its recess, this second stone door had no place for anything to be set into it.
In its place were dark red patterns that interwove and sprawled like the blood vessels of a human body, covering the entire surface of the door.
Lin Mu stepped forward and, without much hesitation, pressed the Dragon Trap Gu sealing the Crimson Armored Giant Lizard King against the spot at the center of the door where the patterns were densest.
"Hummm—"
As Lin Mu slowly poured in his Primeval Essence, the patterns on the stone door seemed to come alive in an instant.
Those dark red lights lit up rapidly, spreading in from all directions, firmly coiling around and wrapping up the Dragon Trap Gu.
Immediately after, a powerful yet obscure force ran along those blood-colored patterns, penetrating straight through the Dragon Trap Gu's seal and probing toward the Crimson Armored Giant Lizard King trapped within.
"Hssss—!"
Faintly, Lin Mu seemed to hear a muffled, pained hiss come from inside the Dragon Trap Gu.
That force carried no intent to attack. It was more like an exceedingly crude inspection of the state of the living creature within.
Whether it was alive.
Whether it had reached the Thousand Beast King level.
Whether it truly met the inheritance's requirements.
A full half a cup of tea's time passed.
"Click."
An exceedingly crisp sound of a mechanism came from within the stone door.
That probing blood light gradually withdrew.
The next moment, the entire stone door began to emit a muffled rumble, slowly retreating to either side.
As for the Dragon Trap Gu, it was held fast at the center of the stone door by the blood-colored patterns, impossible to remove for the time being.
Lin Mu glanced at it but was in no hurry to deal with it.
Since the inheritance had already acknowledged the Crimson Armored Giant Lizard King within, it meant the second trial was truly complete.
What mattered more right now was what lay beyond the door.
He straightened his robes and strode into this entirely new secret chamber.
The moment he crossed the threshold, a strong sense of familiarity struck him.
The layout here was almost identical to the inheritance chamber he had entered the first time.
At the very center still stood that awe-inspiring statue of the Black Bone King, carved from black bone; below the statue was likewise placed a pitch-black offering table.
However, when Lin Mu's gaze landed on that offering table, his steps could not help but pause slightly.
"This…"
His pupils slowly contracted, and his originally steady breathing grew unconsciously heavier.
When he had opened the inheritance the first time, only two Amber Gu, used for long-term sealing of items, had been placed on the offering table.
But this time—
on that broad black offering table, six crystal-clear Amber Gu were arranged in perfect order!
And at the very center of those six amber crystals, an extraordinary Gu worm exuding a faint scholarly air lay quietly — a Bookworm.
Six Amber Gu in total.
Lin Mu did not even need to draw close to clearly sense the powerful auras sealed within them.
Six Rank 3 Gu worms!
"Six Rank 3 Gu worms…"
Lin Mu stared at the offering table for several breaths, the light in his eyes growing brighter and brighter.
No wonder the second trial had demanded the live capture of a Thousand Beast King.
This reward was indeed worthy of that level of difficulty.
Lin Mu strode forward, but did not immediately touch those Amber Gu. Instead he first picked up the Bookworm set at the center.
A wisp of Primeval Essence slowly probed into it.
The next moment, a vast flood of information surged into Lin Mu's mind like a tide.
As he read on deeper and deeper, the look in his eyes gradually changed.
Surprise.
Comprehension.
And finally, it turned entirely into excitement he could not conceal.
"So that's how it is…"
Lin Mu slowly set down the Bookworm and looked once more at the six Amber Gu on the table.
These were not six Rank 3 Gu worms piled together at random.
They formed an entire, exceedingly mature Blood Path and Earth Path dual cultivation combat system, personally organized by the Black Bone King!
The Bookworm's records were exceedingly detailed. Not only were the functions, strengths, weaknesses, and feeding methods of each of the six Gu worms recorded with perfect clarity, but even the ways they paired with one another, as well as possible future refinement directions, were fully explained.
The six Gu worms interlocked link by link, forming a system unto itself.
And the true core of this system was only one—
the Rank 3 Blood Rock Gu.
Taken on its own, this Gu worm's effect was nothing extravagant.
Its function was to blend the Gu Master's own blood qi with the earth qi of the outside world, forming an exceedingly special dark red substance — "blood rock."
But the Black Bone King had left an exceedingly arrogant annotation in the Bookworm.
[Though the Blood Rock Gu is mediocre alone, once joined with the other Gu, it can turn rot into wonder.]
The remaining five Rank 3 Gu worms existed almost entirely around the Blood Rock Gu.
The Rank 3 Blood Heart Gu, the auxiliary core. Once channeled, it could greatly accelerate the circulation of one's own qi and blood, making Blood Path Gu worms activate faster and more fiercely, while increasing their power accordingly.
But this enhancement was not without cost.
What it consumed was the Gu Master's own essence blood.
Channel it for too long, and at best one's qi and blood would run dry; at worst, one's foundation would be harmed.
The Rank 3 Earth Qi Gu, an Earth Path auxiliary Gu worm.
It could draw upon the earth qi in the ground underfoot, providing the entire system with an unending Earth Path foundation.
But it likewise had obvious limitations.
The user had to maintain contact with the ground.
Once off the ground for too long, or hovering in midair by relying on a flight Gu worm, the Earth Qi Gu's might would rapidly decline.
The Rank 3 Rock Armor Gu, a defensive Gu worm.
Used alone, it was a Rank 3 defensive Gu of decent quality; paired with the Blood Rock Gu, it could make blood rock swiftly cover the entire body, forming an even more solid defense.
The Rank 3 Blood Spear Gu, dedicated to attack.
Once channeled, it could condense one's own blood qi into a sharp blood spear; incorporate blood rock as well, and the spear's stability and penetrating power could be further increased.
The last one was the Rank 3 Earth Quake Gu.
This was an exceedingly rare auxiliary Gu worm.
It could temporarily store up the recoil force a Gu Master endured, or that conducted up from the earth, then concentrate and release it in the next movement.
It could be used to strengthen the close-quarters explosive power of fists and legs, or coordinated with other offensive Gu worms to concentrate force into a single point.
However,
what truly concerned Lin Mu was not these six Gu worms themselves.
It was the two Killer Moves recorded at the end of the Bookworm.
"This is the true foundation of a Rank 5…"
Lin Mu slowly exhaled, his gaze turning utterly serious.
Gu worms could be refined.
They could also be bought with large amounts of Primeval Stones.
But a mature Killer Move system, personally deduced by a peak Rank 5 expert and finalized only after countless attempts, was absolutely not something that could be measured in Primeval Stones alone.
What was truly precious here was the experience the Black Bone King had accumulated over years of cultivation.
The first Killer Move — Blood Rock Battle Armor.
It was composed of four Rank 3 Gu worms: the Blood Heart Gu, Earth Qi Gu, Blood Rock Gu, and Rock Armor Gu.
Once they were channeled simultaneously according to a specific rhythm, blood qi and earth qi would rapidly condense through the action of the Blood Rock Gu, then be stabilized into form by the Rock Armor Gu, coating the Gu Master's body in a layer of thick, dark red blood rock armor.
The characteristics of this Killer Move were exceedingly distinct.
Frontal confrontation.
Overwhelming defense.
And extremely strong lower body stability.
So long as both feet stood upon the earth and the earth qi remained unbroken, Blood Rock Battle Armor could produce an effect far surpassing that of any single Rank 3 defensive Gu.
But the flaws were equally obvious.
Channeling several Rank 3 Gu simultaneously consumed an enormous amount of Primeval Essence; the Blood Heart Gu would furthermore continuously drain qi and blood.
And once he left the ground, the Earth Qi Gu would lose its support, and the power of the entire Killer Move would drop sharply along with it.
As for the second Killer Move, it was the true burst technique of the entire system — Blood Rock Pierce!
Blood Heart Gu, Earth Qi Gu, Blood Rock Gu, Blood Spear Gu, Earth Quake Gu.
A full five Rank 3 Gu worms participated together.
This Killer Move almost entirely abandoned attack range and sustained combat capability.
It did only one thing.
Concentrate and compress earth qi, blood qi, and the force stored by the Earth Quake Gu, all of it, onto that single point of sharpness formed by the Blood Spear Gu.
Then, erupt in an instant.
Forming an exceedingly terrifying penetrating attack.
Lin Mu closed his eyes and swiftly ran through the workings of this Killer Move in his mind.
A moment later, he opened his eyes again.
"Very strong."
With his current middle stage Rank 3 cultivation, if he could thoroughly refine this entire system and employ it with proficiency, Blood Rock Pierce would be enough to pose a genuine threat to a peak Rank 3 expert.
And once his cultivation advanced further in the future and he stepped into peak Rank 3, with the right conditions in place, this move would even be qualified to shake defenses at the Rank 4 level.
Thinking of this, Lin Mu's assessment underwent a complete change.
Six Rank 3 Gu worms were certainly precious.
But what was truly valuable was this entire package the Black Bone King had already polished to maturity for those who came after.
It was equivalent to saving him untold years of groping in the dark.
"No wonder…"
Lin Mu's gaze swept over the Amber Gu on the tabletop.
No wonder the second trial had been difficult enough to require capturing a Thousand Beast King alive.
Had the reward been merely a few ordinary Rank 3 Gu, it would not have matched such a threshold at all.
He wasted no further time, reaching out to inspect the six Amber Gu one by one.
Before sealing these Gu worms away, the Black Bone King had clearly already dealt with the wild wills within them.
Though they still needed to be refined anew, the resistance within was already exceedingly feeble, and the time required would be far shorter than for normal wild Rank 3 Gu.
Lin Mu immediately had a measure of it in his heart.
Given only a little time, these six Gu could truly be turned into his own combat strength.
But not now.
He put the six Amber Gu away again, then solemnly stowed that even more valuable Bookworm against his body before slowly straightening up.
A young Gu Master who had just obtained such a treasure might already have been unable to resist trying those two Killer Moves on the spot.
But Lin Mu did not.
What mattered most right now had never been "obtaining."
It was whether he could truly carry these things out.
He glanced at the now empty offering table and quickly reached a decision in his heart.
"Time to go."
The reward from the second layer of the Black Bone King Inheritance had already far exceeded his expectations.
But at this moment his Primeval Essence was still insufficient, and his physical condition could hardly be called intact.
Outside, Black Blood Stockade's outer defensive lines had completely fallen, and the White Bone Alliance's army had already sealed the entire stockade off.
Though this place was buried deep underground, it was by no means somewhere permanently safe.
What mattered most now was leaving here as quickly as possible, finding a chance to recover his condition, and then training this set of Killer Moves to true proficiency.
Only when he reached that step would these things truly belong to him.
Having made up his mind, Lin Mu felt not the slightest reluctance. He turned, preparing to leave the way he had come.
However,
in the instant he turned, the corner of his eye swept with utter casualness across the depths of the secret chamber.
The step Lin Mu had just taken abruptly halted.
His gaze froze, bit by bit.
Then he slowly turned his head.
At the deepest part of the secret chamber.
That third stone door, which by the pattern established before should still have been tightly sealed—
at this moment,
had actually already…
opened completely, without a sound.