The news swept swiftly through the whole of Black Blood Stockade at a speed like that of a plague.
Lin Mu!
Had now, in fact, already reached the cultivation of Rank 3 middle stage?!
The entire Black Blood Stockade was instantly and utterly in an uproar.
One had to understand.
In Black Blood Stockade as it now stood, Rank 3 middle stage was already, in solid fact, combat strength at the clan elder level!
It was a backbone force truly capable of holding up a portion of the sky for the clan!
Facing the abruptly boiling discussions that erupted across the entire stockade, Lin Mu walked among the crowds, yet his expression still held little ripple.
He had long anticipated this.
Indeed.
This had in the first place been an open scheme he had deliberately carried out.
His cultivation had now reached Rank 3 middle stage.
Without the aid of an exceedingly rare upper rank aura restraining Gu, a change in realm of this magnitude might perhaps still be concealed from ordinary clansmen, but it could absolutely never be concealed for long from Rank 3 and Rank 4 powers such as Lin Cang and Lin Zhen.
Since it would be exposed sooner or later, then he simply would not hide it!
Rather than continuing to cover and conceal, letting Lin Cang and those clan upper echelons harbor suspicion in the shadows, digging out his secrets bit by bit, it was better to step forth openly and unhurriedly.
To draw the gazes of every last person in the entire stockade onto himself!
The more people.
The greater the reputation.
The higher the merit.
The heavier his own weight within Black Blood Stockade would be!
By then, even if Lin Cang still harbored doubts in his heart, should he wish to easily move against him, he would have no choice but to consider the repercussions within the clan.
This was the first move Lin Mu had meticulously prepared for himself after emerging from seclusion.
To force the palace!
He would carry the war merits, renown, and strength he had accumulated over these days, and force Lin Cang— to acknowledge his position and status!
Very soon.
Under the gaze of the multitudes.
Lin Mu strode into that main hall which had only just undergone a bloody purge.
And when Lin Cang, seated in the head position, truly perceived that aura belonging to Rank 3 middle stage upon Lin Mu's person, even with this Rank 4 warlord's depth of composure, the hand holding his teacup could not help but pause slightly.
And in the depths of his eyes, a trace of shock and astonishment flashed uncontrollably.
Rank 3 middle stage!
Lin Cang quietly regarded the young man standing below the hall, his expression calm, neither servile nor arrogant.
For the first time, he realized that he had, it seemed, still vastly underestimated this collateral branch brat named Lin Mu.
Such a speed of breaking through realms.
It was even more astonishing than Lin Xingyuan, who possessed grade A aptitude!
But now.
The news had already spread as though it had sprouted wings.
The whole of Black Blood Stockade, high and low, even part of the frontline squads, already knew that a Rank 3 middle stage Gu Master of tender years had been born within the clan.
Moreover, this person had, not long ago, just rendered great service in the war.
The most crucial point being— only a short while ago, Black Blood Stockade had just publicly executed a Rank 3 middle stage clan elder who held real power.
A great battle was imminent.
The clan was precisely at a juncture with no successors to fill the gaps, with hearts unsettled, urgently in need of a boost to morale.
With circumstances aligned to such an exquisite degree, Lin Cang had no reason whatsoever to publicly question or suppress Lin Mu at this critical joint.
After a brief silence, within the great hall, upon Lin Cang's stern face, an exceedingly hearty smile suddenly bloomed.
"Good!"
"What a fine Lin Mu!"
Lin Cang even rose from his seat, striding down the steps, and clapped Lin Mu heavily upon the shoulder.
"You have indeed not failed the covert attention and cultivation the clan has given you over these years!"
The moment these words came out, those clan elders in the great hall who had still been immersed in shock and suspicion were all taken aback.
Cultivation?
Covertly cultivated by the clan?
Lin Mu's own heart also stirred slightly.
The corner of his mouth could not help but curve into a barely perceptible arc.
But immediately after, he had already understood this old fox Lin Cang's meaning.
Lin Cang was smoothing it over for him.
He was also manufacturing, for the whole of Black Blood Stockade, a reasonable explanation for "why a collateral member could rise so swiftly."
And so.
Lin Mu exceedingly naturally took half a step back and bowed his head deeply.
His tone, moreover, brimmed with gratitude and loyalty.
"Were it not for the clan's covert cultivation."
"Were it not for the Patriarch bestowing this good fortune."
"How could I, Lin Mu, have the standing I do today."
One old, one young.
One standing above.
One below the hall.
The two of them spoke words for the occasion which neither necessarily believed in much, yet in this very great hall, before the eyes of all, they cooperated with seamless perfection.
Lin Cang then took the opportunity to announce to the entire assembly.
That over these years, because of Lin Mu's outstanding temperament and remarkable performance, the clan's upper echelons had long since taken covert notice of him, and had appropriately tilted a portion of resources his way.
It was only because the frontline war situation was complex, compounded by the White Bone Stockade's frequent assassinations, that in order to protect this fine seedling who had not yet truly grown, they had all along concealed his true cultivation progress from outsiders.
Now, since Lin Mu had accumulated deeply and released it thinly, stepping into Rank 3 middle stage, and had further rendered illustrious war merits during the war, proving his loyalty and strength, there was naturally no further need for concealment.
Thereafter, under the exceedingly complicated gazes of all the clan elders, Lin Cang simply swept his hand and announced a major decision on the spot—
"From this day forth."
"Lin Mu is formally promoted to clan elder of Black Blood Stockade!"
"He shall be entered into a clan elder's seat, and shall take over the wartime resource allotment originally left vacant by Lin An."
"As for the enterprises under Lin An's name, they shall be dealt with after the Punishment Hall has completed its thorough investigation and settlement!"
In that moment, within the great hall, countless exceedingly complicated gazes, as though substantive, converged entirely upon Lin Mu's person.
Envy.
Shock.
Jealousy.
And even, deep awe.
That collateral branch youth who had once been an unknown in the school.
That minor figure who had always followed at Lin Feng's side, so often overlooked.
Had finally, on this day, stood squarely and openly within the true core of power of Black Blood Stockade!
"Clan Elder Lin Mu."
When the first deacon in the great hall to come to his senses addressed him thus in a respectful tone, within Lin Mu's slightly lowered eyes, at last a faint trace of a smile could not help but flash.
Done.
Next, so long as he used a clan elder's authority to replace, bit by bit, those Rank 2 Gu worms in his hands that were gradually falling behind his cultivation with true Rank 3 Gu worms, he could count this stage of accumulation as utterly complete.
He would truly possess combat strength befitting the Rank 3 middle stage realm.
This move.
Was indeed a fine move.
...
Only after the dust had settled did Lin Mu calmly express his thanks for the favor and withdraw from the main hall.
Not long after, he had already changed into those garments symbolizing a clan elder's status, and was walking the whole way toward his residence.
Along the way, clansmen and guards ceaselessly halted their steps, respectfully withdrawing to both sides of the road and bowing deeply.
"Clan Elder Lin Mu."
On the surface, Lin Mu's expression was calm, and he merely nodded slightly in acknowledgment.
Within his mind, however, he had already begun calculating at high speed.
A clan elder's resource allotment.
The Rank 3 Gu worms within the clan treasury.
His remaining military merits.
And how, exactly, he ought to use this new status over the coming stretch of time to fill in, as swiftly as possible, the Rank 3 Gu worm system he now so severely lacked.
However.
When Lin Mu walked up a mountain path of somewhat higher elevation and, by chance, turned his head to gaze off into the distance, his footsteps suddenly paused — exceedingly minutely, yet exceedingly stiffly.
In the distance.
The rear mountain.
That is, the stretch of area extending out behind the clan's great hall.
That originally dense expanse of mountain forest had, at some unknown point, actually been cleared out over a vast area into an open ground!
Great quantities of freshly excavated earth and broken stone, still carrying underground damp, were piled at the mountain's foot like so many small hills.
A batch of Gu Masters he had never seen before, radiating an obvious Earth Path aura, were ceaselessly coming and going within that area.
And the rear mountain region, which had originally been so remote as to be nearly unguarded, now already saw a great number of fully armed Punishment Hall Gu Masters with cold expressions!
A guard post every three paces.
A sentry every five.
The several small paths leading into the depths of the rear mountain had, moreover, already been utterly sealed off!
Lin Mu stood quietly upon the mountain path.
That trace of a smile still lingering upon his face faded, bit by bit, in the autumn wind.
The rear mountain…
Lin Mu's pupils contracted, exceedingly minutely.
That location.
What was buried down beneath there— no one in this world understood it more clearly than he.
That was precisely what he had previously opened by means of the Blood Attraction Gu— the Black Bone King's Rank 5 inheritance!