"Lin Mu, step forward!"
The Deacon's icy voice struck like a death sentence, piercing straight through Lin Mu's eardrums.
Three breaths. That was all the time remaining before Elder Kuangxu's hand—the hand that held absolute power over life and death—would press down upon him.
The queue ahead had cleared. The Elder had just finished inspecting a student drenched in cold sweat.
He flicked the moisture from his fingers, those hawk-like eyes carrying a suffocating pressure as they swept toward Lin Mu's direction.
A death trap.
Lin Mu stood frozen in place, outwardly resembling a wooden chicken. But inside his mind, thoughts raced at breakneck speed.
The winter wind, the clamor of voices, the distant rumbling of the Iron Thread Miasma—all of it faded into nothing.
His world narrowed to two things: the lethal Heat Source Gu hidden in his aperture, and Elder Kuangxu's approaching figure.
"Run? Absolutely impossible. Punishment Hall's Rank 2 experts surround me on all sides. The moment my foot moves, I'd be carved into mincemeat."
"I must get rid of this Gu!"
In that lightning-flash instant, Lin Mu's thoughts exploded like wildfire:
"Force it out with primeval essence? No. Gao Xiong was a Rank 1 Upper Stage Gu Master who had refined this Gu for years. His will-imprint was iron-clad."
"Erasing that aura in mere breaths? Impossible unless I was a Refinement Path Grandmaster! If the Elder's divine sense detected any lingering trace, it would be caught red-handed. Immediate execution."
Dead end.
"Then... frame someone else?"
Lin Mu's peripheral vision flickered to the figure ahead. Lin Qiang—the bully who'd tormented the original owner of this body.
The bastard was trembling so hard his legs knocked together, his collar hanging loose with a visible gap.
With Lin Mu's enhanced burst speed, if he moved fast enough, he could flick the Gu into that pocket during the chaos...
"Not only would I clear my own name, I'd be killing with a borrowed knife!"
Lin Mu's fingertip twitched. Killing intent surged.
"No!"
Reason crashed down like ice water.
"Elder Kuangxu is at the peak of Rank 2—his senses are terrifyingly acute. Dozens of Punishment Hall eyes watch from every angle."
"Pulling tricks under such scrutiny is like snatching meat from a tiger's maw. One clumsy movement, one yelp from Lin Qiang, and I would be beyond salvation."
"Too risky. Can't gamble on this."
One breath had passed. Elder Kuangxu took a step forward, his gaze locking onto Lin Mu.
Only one option remained.
The most cowardly option. The most pathetic. The most heart-wrenching.
"Sacrifice the rook... to save the king."
"Throw it away."
The moment this decision crystallized, Lin Mu's heart seized violently, as if crushed by an invisible fist.
"That's a Heat Source Gu! Market price: at least three hundred Primeval Stones!"
"For the penniless Lin Mu, this is an astronomical fortune. Enough to buy ten jars of Green Bamboo Wine to feed my Liquor Worm. Enough to purchase a full set of defensive Gu. Enough to support six comfortable months of cultivation!"
Throwing it away meant dumping his first pot of gold straight into the gutter.
Greed howled. Reason sneered.
"Money, or your life?"
"In this world, only the living matter. A corpse clutching mountains of gold is still just rotting meat."
The instant this truth crystallized, Lin Mu's eyes shifted—from struggle, to clarity, to the stillness of a frozen lake.
He moved.
Just as the Deacon prepared to bark another reprimand, Lin Mu's left foot "accidentally" caught Lin Qiang's heel. His body lurched forward in a dramatic stumble.
"Ow! Are you blind?!" Lin Qiang whipped around with a curse.
"S-Sorry, my lace came loose, I tripped..."
Lin Mu's face was a mask of flustered panic as he apologized, his body crumpling into a pathetic crouch.
Every motion radiated servility and disorder—the perfect image of a sheltered branch family youth who'd never seen the world.
But in that split second when his head dipped low, hidden beneath his billowing sleeve, his right hand blurred across his lower abdomen.
A thought—and the aperture wall cracked open a sliver.
The dormant red beetle, wrapped in primeval essence, shot into his sleeve and slid into his palm.
His palm burned. His heart bled.
Lin Mu pretended to tie his shoe, pressing his hand flat against the cold, muddy ground.
Squelch.
A muffled sound so faint only he could hear.
The Heat Source Gu—vessel of his dreams of wealth—was pressed deep into the training ground's muck by his own hand.
"Farewell, three hundred Primeval Stones."
The entire sequence flowed like water. No wasted movement. No primeval essence leaked.
"Stop dawdling! Get up here!" the Deacon snapped impatiently.
Lin Mu scrambled to his feet, hastily wiping mud on his clothes, and scurried forward with a servile expression.
His breathing was ragged, his complexion pale—but this only made him look more like a frightened youth.
Elder Kuangxu paid the little scene no mind. In his eyes, these students were sheep awaiting slaughter. Incapable of making waves.
He extended a calloused hand and pressed it directly against Lin Mu's lower abdomen.
Hummm—
Tyrannical divine sense burst through, barging into his aperture without the slightest courtesy.
In that instant, Lin Mu felt as though his organs had been laid bare. Every muscle in his body clenched—then he forced himself to relax.
Inside his aperture, the lethal Heat Source Gu was gone.
Only his unremarkable natal Gu remained—the Iron Leaf Gu, its aura perfectly fused with Lin Mu's own.
Elder Kuangxu's divine sense swept through once.
"Hm?" He frowned slightly, detecting primeval essence marginally denser than typical Initial Stage quality.
Lin Mu's heart leapt into his throat.
"This kid... his cultivation progress isn't slow." The Elder muttered, then lost interest.
Some branch family children got lucky—chance encounters or gifts from elders. Slightly refined primeval essence was perfectly reasonable.
Most importantly—there was no trace of Gao Xiong's unique aura.
No Demonic Path signature.
"B-grade aptitude. Decent fortune. Cultivate diligently."
Elder Kuangxu withdrew his hand, offered a cold assessment, and waved dismissively. "Next."
The shadow of death evaporated in an instant.
Lin Mu felt like a drowning man hauled from the depths. His back was soaked through.
"Yes. Thank you for the Elder's guidance."
He bowed his head in respectful gratitude, the very picture of humble appreciation. No one could have guessed he'd just walked through death's door.
He walked toward the cleared queue on unsteady legs.
One step. Two steps. Three steps.
Safe.
Joy surged through Lin Mu—the wild elation of surviving disaster.
"I made it! Through sheer cold-bloodedness and the ruthlessness to sever my own tail, I carved a path to survival!"
But just as he'd taken five steps away—
Behind him came a sound. Muffled. Crisp. The unmistakable noise of something shattering.
Crack.
Not loud. But to Lin Mu, it struck like thunder.
That wasn't a snapping branch. That wasn't a tile breaking.
That was the chitin-rich shell of a living creature, crushed beneath an iron boot. The wet splatter of fluid.
Lin Mu's body went rigid. His stride hitched for half a beat before resuming its normal pace.
He didn't need to look back to know what had happened.
Elder Kuangxu's massive foot, clad in refined-iron war boots, had stepped forward—and landed precisely on that patch of freshly disturbed earth.
The rare Rank 1 Heat Source Gu, pressed into the mud in dormant slumber, had been crushed like a worthless bedbug beneath a Rank 2 powerhouse's careless tread.
It hadn't even managed a death cry.
Lin Mu did not turn around. He didn't dare. He couldn't.
But he could hear it clearly—the sound of three hundred Primeval Stones shattering. A dirge for wealth slipping through his fingers.
His hands, hanging at his sides, clenched into white-knuckled fists. Nails bit deep into his palms, drawing crescent moons of blood.
His heart bled. It spasmed with agony.
This pain cut even deeper than the brush with death moments before.
But his face remained calm as still water.
When a fellow student glanced his way with a questioning look, Lin Mu even managed to squeeze out a weak, simple-minded smile of relief.