"I won."
Not far away, the Boar King's carcass loomed like a small mountain, its charcoal-like body slowly losing its searing glow.
But Lin Mu knew the moment for relief was fleeting.
If he collapsed now to savor the thrill of survival, this man-eating Black Wind Ridge would swiftly remind him what it meant to double down on death.
Lin Mu clenched his teeth, forcing his spasming body upright, dragging his leaden feet step by step toward the Boar King's head.
He bent down and retrieved a shard of broken stone pillar from the rubble, its edge sharp as a blade.
His steel saber had long since rolled its edge in the earlier struggle, and the Iron Leaf Gu could no longer be activated with his Primeval Essence depleted.
Then, expressionless, he raised that jagged shard high and drove it viciously into the Boar King's left eye socket—already caked over with mud.
"Beasts have vitality far beyond humans. Playing dead and counterattacking is common. Never let your guard down."
Squelch.
The stone punched through into brain matter. The Boar King's massive body, seemingly dead beyond question, convulsed violently.
Its four hooves kicked wildly at the air, and a bone-chilling, gurgling rasp escaped its throat.
A full dozen breaths passed before that final nervous reflex subsided completely.
Lin Mu released his death-white fingers and dropped onto the rubble. Only now did that wire-taut nerve finally dare to slacken by half a fraction.
"Too close."
He gasped for breath but didn't rush to process his spoils. Instead, he strained to activate his aperture.
"Red Mud—go."
A dark-red streak of light flew from his aperture—the Red Mud Gu, exhausted yet triumphant.
Though weary, faced with the Beast King's carcass brimming with vital essence, instinctive greed overwhelmed fatigue.
The Red Mud Gu slipped through the massive wound at the Boar King's throat, diving deep into the chest cavity, heading straight for the heart still faintly warm.
That was the heart's essence blood—the wellspring of a beast's entire vitality.
Moments later, Lin Mu felt a warm current flowing back through their mystical bond, nourishing his body.
It was like sinking into a hot spring. After devouring quantities of high-grade essence blood, the Red Mud Gu channeled the purified life force to its host.
When it emerged again, the layer of dried red mud on its surface—having soaked in the Boar King's highly corrosive heart blood—had become moist and softened, even taking on an eerie oily sheen.
Lin Mu caught the subtle change immediately: "Even the red mud was corroded and softened? This Boar King's blood has terrifyingly strong acidity."
Meanwhile, the muscles that had been seizing from "toxic blood infiltration" gradually relaxed.
That maddening post-battle fever that felt like it might burn out his brain was soothed by a cool, calming sensation.
"Using battle to sustain battle—this is the Demonic Path's way."
Lin Mu felt his strength returning, his gaze deep and contemplative.
After gorging on essence blood, the Red Mud Gu's dark-red luster had partially recovered, though it still appeared somewhat dim. It let out a satisfied burp, burrowed back into Lin Mu's aperture, and sank into deep hibernation.
The continuous high-intensity exertion had overdrawn its reserves; that healing had been its final effort.
"Now comes the harvest."
With some strength restored, Lin Mu immediately began the dissection.
His rolled-edge saber couldn't cut through the Boar King's back armor, but slicing along the soft belly flesh posed no difficulty.
When he parted the diaphragm and thrust his hand into the scalding chest cavity, his fingertips touched something hard and burning hot—like a chunk of red-hot charcoal.
Lin Mu's heart leaped. He pried it free with force.
It was a beetle the size of a fist, black as coal, its surface etched with magma-like patterns. It lay in a near-death dormant state, like a piece of charcoal still breathing, radiating astonishing heat.
Rank 1 Peak: Charcoal Stone Gu!
A peak-grade Gu worm combining defense, searing heat, and crushing force—the core asset that had allowed this Boar King to dominate the outer regions.
"Excellent."
Lin Mu swiftly wrapped it in layers of damp cloth to insulate the heat, then tucked it into his shirt.
Looking at the several hundred jin of prime beast meat on the ground, a flicker of regret crossed his eyes—but cold rationality immediately severed it.
"Can't take it."
Extra weight would severely slow him down, and the scent of blood in a nighttime jungle was a death warrant.
"Bite off more than you can chew, and you'll choke. What you can't carry is garbage."
He cut only the hardest, most defensive slab of Charcoal Stone hide from the Boar King's back, rolled it up and strapped it to his back, then knocked out both tusks as mission proof.
The remaining hundreds of jin of flesh and blood—all abandoned.
After finishing, Lin Mu didn't leave immediately.
He stared at the clean cut across the Boar King's throat, brow furrowing slightly.
"The wound from the Iron Leaf Gu is too neat—it clearly shows Lin Clan Wood Path characteristics."
"If someone with ill intentions finds this carcass and considers the Boar King's strength, it will raise suspicions."
"Better safe than sorry. I should destroy this corpse to avoid future complications."
Concealing one's abilities was the survival wisdom of the weak.
Lin Mu heaved up a massive boulder and brought it crashing down on the Boar King's head and neck wound.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
After a dozen blows, that clean incision had become an unrecognizable pulp of meat—looking as if it had been crushed by some immensely powerful blunt instrument.
Next, he used the surrounding terrain to create large claw marks and impact traces, fabricating the appearance of "two beasts fighting" or "an encounter with a stronger predator's strike."
Finally, along his retreat path, he scattered generous amounts of beast-repelling powder and sulfur. The pungent smell was enough to mask any human scent on him.
Only after completing all this did Lin Mu vanish like a ghost into the shadows of the boulder forest.
Half an hour later.
Lin Mu returned to that narrow, dry rock crevice. He dragged several large stones to completely seal the entrance, leaving only a few concealed ventilation holes.
True safety arrived only at this moment.
He stripped off his blood-soaked clothes and roused the sleeping Red Mud Gu, coaxing it to secrete some viscous blood-mud to coat all his wounds.
This crude physical hemostasis was rough, but it scabbed quickly.
Exhaustion crashed over him like a tide. Lin Mu leaned against the rock wall, but his hand clutched the Charcoal Stone Gu tightly.
He attempted to channel the last wisp of dark green Primeval Essence from his aperture, testing whether he could refine this prize.
Hssss—
The instant his Primeval Essence made contact, the savage, wild will belonging to the King of Beasts erupted from within the Charcoal Stone Gu like a volcanic explosion.
After all, this was a peak-grade wild Gu that had accompanied the Boar King for years—its wildness untamed.
As a Rank 1 Peak Gu, it instinctively resisted and suppressed Lin Mu's mid-stage Rank 1 Primeval Essence.
Forcing refinement would likely shatter Lin Mu's fragile aperture walls under the backlash.
Just then, the Red Mud Gu hibernating in the corner of his aperture trembled slightly.
A faint resonance between fellow Earth Path Gu worms caused it to instinctively seep out a thread of mud, barely wrapping around the agitated Charcoal Stone Gu and slightly suppressing that searing sensation.
"Can't refine it."
Lin Mu quickly cut off his Primeval Essence, his complexion pale. "The wild nature is too fierce, and its grade is too high. Forcing it will only destroy my aperture."
Though somewhat regretful, he wasn't disappointed.
"If I can't refine it, I won't. Selling it would be good too. A Rank 1 Peak Gu worm will definitely fetch a handsome sum in Primeval Stones—enough to replenish my cultivation resources."
By the faint light, Lin Mu began his post-battle resource assessment.
The advantages were clear.
Currently, his Primeval Essence quality had reached Rank 1 Upper Stage (after the Liquor Worm's purification).
His movement and defense system, the "Earth Ring Body," had proven itself in real combat. Financially, this Charcoal Stone Gu represented his greatest reserve.
But the disadvantages were equally fatal.
"The Stone Bullet Gu was a one-time consumable—already spent. The Iron Leaf Gu is sharp, but clearly inadequate for penetrating heavy armor. Most critically..."
Lin Mu touched his empty waist.
"The Heat Source Gu shattered long ago. Currently I only have the Swift Ant's vibration sense and the Red Mud Gu's thermal warning—neither exceeds ten meters in range."
"That's manageable in open terrain, but once I enter complex environments, I'm blind. Long-range reconnaissance—a complete blank."
In this crisis-ridden world, not seeing your enemy meant death.
"Must liquidate."
Lin Mu gazed at the scorching black coal in his hand, eyes dark with calculation.
But he couldn't sell it to clan-controlled caravans—they'd lowball him and might even press him about its origins.
"The only option is the neutral black market outside Black Wind Ridge. A place where all kinds gather, where they only care about money, not identity."
"I can get a good price there and avoid the clan's eyes—but unknown dangers lurk as well."
By now, he barely had the strength to protect himself.
But that was far from enough. He needed to convert the resources in his hands into immediate combat power as quickly as possible.
Lin Mu stared at the dim ceiling of the cave, listening to the howling wind outside, and slowly closed his eyes.