The morning training grounds were bitterly cold. The wind cut like a blade across exposed skin.
Hundreds of students from the Lin Family Academy had trickled in, their faces pale, shivering in the frigid air.
But surrounding the training grounds stood rows of fully armed Punishment Hall Gu Masters.
They wore the black-and-red uniforms of the Punishment Hall, gripping naked blades, their eyes sweeping coldly over every face present.
That killing intent silenced the noisy students instantly, leaving them frozen like cicadas in winter.
Lin Mu hunched his shoulders and stood at the back of the crowd, minimizing his presence as much as possible.
His gaze drifted quietly toward the high platform ahead.
There stood an elder in crimson robes, his hair a wild mane of red.
This was the man who held true power over punishment in Black Blood Stockade—Elder Kuangxu.
A peak Rank 2 cultivator, notorious for his brutal methods and violent temper.
At Elder Kuangxu's feet lay a corpse, hastily covered by a white cloth.
Though concealed, the dark red bloodstains seeping through were impossible to ignore.
"That's..."
Lin Mu's pupils contracted slightly.
He recognized that frame. It was Gao Xiong—the man who had died by his hands last night.
Elder Kuangxu surveyed the crowd. Those hawk-like eyes burned with barely suppressed fury.
"Last night, at the Hour of the Ox!"
His voice was hoarse and low, yet it carried clearly across the entire grounds.
"The captain of our clan's Third Patrol Squad, Gao Xiong, was brutally murdered near the dry well behind the rear kitchen!"
Whoosh—
A wave of suppressed gasps swept through the crowd.
The patrol captain, killed? Inside the stockade itself?
For these students still living in their ivory tower, it was unthinkable.
Elder Kuangxu flicked his sleeve. A gust of force tore away the white cloth.
A mangled heap of flesh—barely recognizable as human—was exposed to all.
Retch—
Several female students in the front row went deathly pale and doubled over, vomiting. Even the young men who fancied themselves brave were trembling, terror plain on their faces.
It was too gruesome.
This wasn't a fight. This was torture.
"Look at these wounds!" Elder Kuangxu jabbed a finger at a gash so deep it exposed bone.
"The blade work is chaotic, savage, completely without technique! The victim suffered immense torment before death! Such cruelty is NOT the work of any Righteous Path clan!"
"The Punishment Hall's investigation discovered fragments of clothing left behind by a Demonic Path lone cultivator, as well as evidence clutched tightly in the victim's fingers!"
Elder Kuangxu raised a filthy scrap of hemp cloth, his teeth grinding together.
"This is the signature style of a Demonic Path fiend! They infiltrated our stockade, failed to steal what they came for, and killed in desperation! This is an open provocation against the Lin Family of Black Blood Stockade!"
Hearing this, Lin Mu—hidden among the crowd—felt the taut muscles in his back relax ever so slightly.
"It worked."
"My script was adopted perfectly."
The clan's leadership had predictable thought patterns.
After seeing that deliberately misleading scene of torture, their instinct was to point the finger outward—at those Demonic Path lone cultivators who roamed these Hundred Thousand Mountains like wild dogs.
"Demonic Path fiends deserve death at the hands of all!"
Elder Kuangxu's Primeval Essence surged, his red hair whipping wildly.
"I have ordered the entire stockade sealed! All patrol squads are to mobilize immediately! Scour every mountain, search every corner—find that rat!"
The students below roared with righteous fury, pumping their fists.
Lin Mu pumped his fist too, his face a mask of indignation.
Beneath his lowered eyelids, there was only calm.
But just as Lin Mu thought this crisis had passed—
On the high platform, Elder Kuangxu's tone shifted abruptly.
"However!"
The single word silenced the entire grounds.
Elder Kuangxu's gaze turned cold as a viper's, sliding slowly over each young face below.
"Demonic Path fiends are cunning and unpredictable—masters of disguise. Since the killer infiltrated without a trace, who's to say they aren't hiding among you? Or perhaps... they've left some tracking method on your bodies!"
Lin Mu's heart skipped a beat.
Ice shot up his spine and into his skull.
"To ensure nothing is overlooked—and for your own safety."
Elder Kuangxu waved his hand. A squad of expressionless Punishment Hall Gu Masters immediately moved forward, sealing every exit from the training grounds, surrounding the hundreds of students completely.
"From this moment, no one leaves! Collateral branch or direct line—it doesn't matter. Each of you will step forward for inspection!"
Elder Kuangxu's aura flared—the overwhelming pressure of a peak Rank 2 cultivator. His voice was hard as iron.
"I will personally probe your apertures! To see if any of you carry demonic taint... or are hiding something that shouldn't be there!"
The moment those words landed, Lin Mu felt his mind go blank with a deafening buzz.
His hands and feet turned to ice.
"This is bad."
"This is really, really bad."
Last night, after returning to his dormitory, he had schemed carefully.
He had resisted the burning temptation and hidden the heaven-defying Liquor Worm in the filthiest corner he could find, successfully avoiding the risk of a body search.
But for all his calculations, he had been defeated by a single moment of greed—
In the corner of his aperture, he was still suppressing that Heat Source Gu!
It was loot he had casually taken after killing Gao Xiong at the bottom of the well. Worth a full three hundred Primeval Stones.
For Lin Mu, who had nothing to his name, it was a fortune too painful to abandon.
Last night, he had focused all his attention on concealing the Liquor Worm—the most obvious prize.
Some part of him had assumed that as long as the Heat Source Gu stayed hidden in his aperture, as long as he didn't take it out, he'd be fine. Once the heat died down, he could sell it for a tidy sum.
But he had overlooked the most fatal detail:
This Gu worm had been refined and nurtured by Gao Xiong for years!
Though currently dormant and weakened, deep within its body lingered traces of Gao Xiong's unique Primeval Essence aura and will imprint.
Given three to five days, such residue might naturally fade.
But only a few hours had passed. There was no time to erase it!
The moment Elder Kuangxu's Primeval Essence entered his aperture, no sophisticated detection would be needed.
A single sweep, and he would sense that familiar aura—the unmistakable signature of Gao Xiong—emanating from the Heat Source Gu.
Caught red-handed.
Lin Mu could have a hundred mouths and still couldn't explain why a patrol captain's Gu worm was sitting in a mere student's belly.
"Damn it... I guarded against the crime of possessing treasure, but I failed to guard against the attack of my own greed!"
Bitter regret flooded his heart.
If only he hadn't been greedy for that small advantage last night. If only he had disposed of the Heat Source Gu like he did the Liquor Worm—crushed it, thrown it away—he would be completely safe right now.
But it was too late for regret.
He watched as the Punishment Hall Gu Masters took out their registry and began maintaining order.
The shadow of death crept toward him, step by step.
"Lin Shan, step forward!"
The first student called stumbled up, legs shaking.
Elder Kuangxu's face was expressionless. A calloused hand pressed against the boy's lower abdomen.
A flash of crimson Primeval Essence.
"Aperture normal. No foreign objects. Next!" He shoved the youth aside coldly.
The inspections were fast. Brutally fast.
This crude probing left nothing hidden. It was like stripping someone naked for all to see.
"Lin Shui, clear!"
"Lin Huo, clear!"
"..."
As name after name was called, Lin Mu felt like a condemned prisoner awaiting execution.
He counted the heads in front of him. Each count was a hammer blow to his chest.
Ten more people.
His mind raced frantically.
Expel the Heat Source Gu now and throw it away?
Impossible. Punishment Hall Gu Masters surrounded him on all sides. Under so many watchful eyes, the slightest movement would be spotted instantly.
Use Primeval Essence to forcibly mask it?
Useless. The mental sense of a Rank 2 cultivator was razor-sharp. Trying to conceal it would only accelerate his death.
Eight more people.
Cold sweat rolled down his temple, stinging his eyes, but he didn't dare wipe it away.
He could feel the damned Heat Source Gu inside his aperture trembling faintly, as if sensing the danger outside.
Five more people.
The Punishment Hall executor calling names was already casting casual glances in his direction.
The next name seemed to be on the tip of his tongue.
Lin Mu gripped the hem of his robe until his knuckles went white.
In this desperate moment, his gaze swept inward, across his aperture.
Besides the fatal Heat Source Gu, there was the Liquor Worm—the thing that had transformed him overnight—and a mere ten percent of his Middle Stage Primeval Essence remaining.
Where is the way out?
If he sat here and waited for death, in three breaths, it would all be over.
"Lin Mu, prepare!"
The executor's cold voice rang out like a death warrant.