Night in the Southern Border always reeked of blood.
Halfway up Broken Soul Mountain,the Black Blood Stockade loomed like a dormant beast,obscured by the sky-filling grey-black"Iron Wire Miasma."This poisonous fog was as viscous as mercury.A single breath could rot through a mortal's vitals.Yet,to a Gu Master,this was merely the baseline for survival.
Creak.
A small window in the academy dormitory was pushed open a crack,emitting a faint,tooth-aching groan.
A thin figure flipped out of the window.His movements were feather-light,landing silently like a civet stalking its prey.The youth's name was Lin Mu.Sixteen years old.A branch family descendant of the Black Blood Stockade.
Just three days ago,at the"Aperture Awakening Ceremony,"under the gaze of the entire clan,he had awakened B-grade aptitude.
Aptitude was the foundation of a Gu Master's cultivation.In this world,"Man is the spirit of all living things;Gu are the essence of heaven and earth."
If a mortal wished to transcend,they had to nurture,use,and refine Gu in the aperture situated three inches below the navel.Aptitude was divided into four grades:A,B,C,and D.A-grade meant genius;D-grade meant mediocrity.
B-grade aptitude meant Lin Mu's aperture could only hold sixty to seventy percent Primeval Essence.While superior to the masses,he was destined never to touch the clouds of the true peak.
"This is the world of Reverend Insanity.Cold,cruel,and devoid of reason."
Lin Mu crouched in the weeds,his fingertips brushing against the damp,bloody soil.As a transmigrator from Earth,his greatest reliance wasn't some nonexistent system,but the survival laws revealed in the novel Reverend Insanity within his memories.
Although this wasn't the Gu Yue Village,and the demon named Fang Yuan was nowhere to be found,the rules of the Southern Border's Hundred Thousand Mountains remained universal.The clan system,resource allocation,and even the ecological habits of Gu worms—none of it changed.
"The geography differs,but the survival logic of the Southern Border villages is identical."
Lin Mu lowered his center of gravity,his gaze sweeping over the strictly guarded logistics area of the Black Blood Stockade like a falcon.His greatest fortune since transmigration was precisely this.
He did not need to confront that reborn demon,Fang Yuan,whose schemes ran as deep as an abyss.In front of that true devil,the current Lin Mu wasn't even qualified to be a chess piece.
To struggle for a glimmer of life in this man-eating world,his only recourse was to avoid the black hole of karma that was Fang Yuan.He had to use his foreknowledge of the world's underlying laws to intercept opportunities that had not yet materialized.
Only then could he survive.Thoughts flashed through Lin Mu's mind—the subtle clues buried in the text of his past life...
In his previous life,he had deeply studied Fang Yuan's early development in the Gu Yue Village.He knew that Southern Border Gu Master settlements were mostly built near spirit springs.The backyards of mess halls—perpetually damp and reeking of aged wine—often had dry wells soaked in the remnants of spirit spring veins.
There was a high probability of birthing a top-tier support Gu worm capable of purifying Primeval Essence—the Liquor Worm.
In the original work,this was the first secret treasure that started Fang Yuan's demonic path.It was his core advantage that allowed him to crush his peers at the Rank 1 realm.And in this world,the rarity of the Liquor Worm remained terrifyingly high.Even the clan elders of the Black Blood Stockade likely hadn't seen one.
"If Fang Yuan could find it in that well,there is no reason I can't find it here.The environmental conditions are identical.Behind the mess hall is the exit of Broken Soul Mountain's Yin vein..."
Lin Mu took a deep breath,silently counting the time.
Over the past three days,he had mapped out the patrol patterns.The Black Blood Stockade patrol changed shifts every two quarters.He had less than a hundred breaths of time.
He agilely avoided a distant patrol squad.The guards held lanterns housing"Firefly Gu."Their ghostly green light swayed in the miasma,exuding an aura of the netherworld.Lin Mu held his breath,pressing tight against the slick stone wall.He felt his heart slamming against his ribs,every beat bringing a rush of tinnitus.
He was gambling.
Gambling on the blind spots of the Black Blood Stockade's patrol,and gambling on his grasp of this"world's law."
Moments later,a dry well,buried in weeds and partially collapsed,appeared around the corner of the mess hall.
A trace of cold,extremely mellow wine fragrance pierced the damp air,drilling into Lin Mu's nose.Although a heavy stone weighed down the wellhead,it couldn't fully mask the refreshing aroma—a scent that only belonged to a thousand-year-old vintage.
"Correct,this is the aura!When a wild Liquor Worm is dormant,it frantically absorbs the essence of heaven and earth,expelling impurities as mellow wine.This scent is ironclad proof of its existence!"
Unprecedented brilliance erupted in Lin Mu's eyes.He exerted force in his arms,veins bulging like earthworms on his tender skin.Slowly,controlling the sound to the extreme,he pushed open a corner of the stone slab,feeling the biting chill rising from the bottom.Without hesitation,he slid down the mossy well wall,descending into the dark abyss like a gecko.
The bottom of the well was incredibly cold,piled with rotting leaves and broken porcelain.In this dank depth,the air seemed frozen solid.In the center of the debris,a weak,warm,jade-like white light pulsed with a rhythmic breath.
It was a fleshy worm the size of a thumb,its body white as suet and textured like warm jade.It was curled up on a broken shard of a wine jar,looking clumsy and adorable,emitting an intoxicating alcohol vapor.
"Rank 1 Liquor Worm...My Liquor Worm."
Lin Mu's heart beat so fast it threatened to shatter his chest.In this Gu world,the Liquor Worm's effect was simply heaven-defying.It could purify Rank 1 initial stage Green Copper Primeval Essence into middle stage,and middle stage into upper stage.
This meant that although Lin Mu only had B-grade aptitude,with this Gu,his Primeval Essence quality would instantly equal—or even surpass—an A-grade genius!
He reached out a trembling hand,fingertips shivering from extreme excitement.Inside this shell of a youth named"Lin Mu,"the fires of ambition and desire were burning.
However,fate never intended to easily spare the greedy.
Thud.
Just as Lin Mu's fingers were about to touch the white light,a footstep sounded from the wellhead above.Faint,yet heavy with the weight of a boot striking the ground.
Lin Mu's body instantly froze.His breath felt forcibly severed by some invisible gravity.
"Captain,I saw a black shadow in the trees just now.Is it some brat sneaking out to steal wine?"A rough voice sounded above,laced with slight fear.
"Hmph.Activate the Heat Source Gu.Shine it down the well.Stockade rules:Trespassing in the mess hall is punishable by confiscation of all assets,fifty heavy strokes,and stripping of clan status."
The other voice was cold,devoid of any warmth.That was Patrol Captain Gao Xiong,a powerhouse at the Rank 1 Upper Stage.
Immediately,a scorching,blinding beam of orange-red light pierced the long-standing darkness of the well bottom like a red-hot steel blade!
Lin Mu's pupils shrank to pinpoints from sheer terror.
Heat Source Gu.Standard scouting Gu for Southern Border guards.It could sense the body temperature of all living things within fifty steps.In this narrow,damp well with no escape,it was Lin Mu's death knell.
"Damn it!I thought my plan was flawless."Lin Mu's brain spun madly.
If undetected,he was the future hope of the Black Blood Stockade.Once caught,however,embezzling a treasure of this level and violating curfew would lead those greedy clan elders to swallow him whole—perhaps even refining him into a Blood Slave.
In the time it takes for a spark to fly off a flint,Lin Mu displayed the ruthlessness in his bones.He plunged his hands into the freezing mire of rotting leaves and well water.The sludge,submerged for years,was bitingly cold.He rapidly smeared the nauseating,sticky liquid over his face,hands,and every inch of exposed skin.
This wasn't just to hide from sight.It was to use the low temperature of the mud to mask his body heat,which was boiling over from adrenaline.
He abruptly turned,curling into the darkest crevice of the well wall.
One hand clamped down deathly tight on the startled,struggling Liquor Worm.Its tiny mouthparts bit into the web of his hand in panic,drawing blood.The drilling pain nearly made him cry out,but he bit down on the tip of his tongue,forcing himself to calm down through the agony.
Hold breath.Focus.
Even his faint heartbeat seemed to slow down under some unknown willpower.
The orange-red light swept frantically across the well bottom.It grazed the stone shards,the broken bowls,and for a split second,the scorching light swept directly across his mud-caked back.
Zzz—
Lin Mu seemed to hear the faint vibration of the Heat Source Gu sensing heat.The Primeval Essence in his aperture fluctuated violently from the tension.
"Captain,there seems to be a temperature reaction down there?"the guard asked doubtfully.
Lin Mu stared fixedly at a tiny bug on the mossy wall,cold sweat sliding down his spine.
"This well sits on the remnants of a spirit spring vein;a temperature difference is normal."Gao Xiong sounded impatient."Look closely.Is the heat fluctuation static?If it moves,there's a rat hiding there."
The light beam stopped.
It was pinned dead on the corner where Lin Mu crouched.
Lin Mu was now a stone.He felt as if his blood had congealed.The slimy texture of the Liquor Worm in his arms—that warmth capable of defying the heavens—now felt as heavy as Mount Tai.
"This is the world of Gu Masters...Fang Yuan,oh Fang Yuan,did you also survive by walking such tightropes back then?"Lin Mu screamed silently in his heart.
One breath,two breaths,three breaths...
Time seemed infinitely stretched.Under that orange-red beam,Lin Mu underwent a judgment of life and death.
Finally,the pillar of light representing death slowly moved away.
"Indeed,nothing there.Just rotten leaves and the smell of moldy wine.Not even a rat.Let's go,check the bamboo forest in the back mountain.Brats often gamble there.Catching one or two will cover this month's drinking money."
"You got it,Captain.Like I said,with you patrolling the back mountain,who would dare act out?"The guard's voice dripped with flattery.
"Cut the crap.Move."
The footsteps faded.
Lin Mu remained motionless.He was waiting.Waiting to see if the naturally suspicious Gao Xiong would pull a sudden double-back.
A full seven and a half minutes passed.Only when the last trace of firelight vanished into the darkness did Lin Mu collapse to the bottom of the well,drained of all strength.His gasps for air were low and suppressed.
I did it.
He opened his blood-drenched palm.Amidst the blurred flesh,the jade-white Liquor Worm seemed even more lustrous after sucking his blood.
"It's not over yet."Lin Mu wiped the mud from his face,the suppressed ruthlessness in his eyes surging like a tide.
He knew Gao Xiong too well.That venomous snake would never go far.Perhaps he was lurking in some shadow right now,holding his breath,waiting for the prey to poke its head out before delivering the fatal strike.