He did not know how much time had passed.
Fifty minutes? Five hours? Five days? Or a full five hundred years?
In any case, for Lin Mu at present, time as a concept had long since lost all meaning.
On this winding, rugged mountain trail that seemed to have no end, he was like an ascetic monk, able only to move his legs forward mechanically, numbly.
Until he once again lifted his head with difficulty.
At the far end of his vision, that familiar wall of Black Blood Stockade — and further off, the fires of war on the frontal battlefield that had all but set half the sky ablaze — finally came into view.
"Haaa…"
Lin Mu let out a long breath of turbid air.
He lowered his head and glanced at the Dragon Trap Gu hanging at his waist. Even with his steady temperament, at this moment he wanted nothing more than to curse aloud on the spot.
Still, fortunately, Heaven does not seal off all roads for a man.
After this entire journey of crawling along like a tortoise, though his legs had nearly lost all feeling, the Primeval Essence within his aperture had at last accumulated a small amount once more.
Lin Mu finally had enough to spare to channel a healing Gu again, letting his strained arms and exhausted body recover a little strength.
"Tap, tap, tap…"
Lin Mu clenched his teeth, and his steps at last no longer swayed three times per stride as though he might topple at any moment.
He barely managed to raise his strolling pace to something approaching a brisk walk.
Though the crushing burden of the Dragon Trap Gu had not eased in the slightest, looking at Black Blood Stockade now faintly visible ahead, Lin Mu's long-exhausthed heart once again began to beat faster, beyond all restraint.
The incomplete Black Bone King Inheritance!
The Thousand Beast King required by the second trial was right there at his waist!
So long as he made it back to the rear mountains…
And at this moment, far off in Lin Mu's line of sight, where the flames soared into the sky.
The frontal battlefield.
BOOM—!!!
Lin Cang's iron fist slammed viciously into Li Mang once again!
Pale bone fragments flew everywhere.
Li Mang let out a muffled grunt, blood spilling from the corner of his mouth, his body sliding backward once more.
Lin Cang was about to press the advantage and finish this slippery old dog beneath his fist.
But he had only just taken one step forward when his gaze swept across his surroundings, and his movements abruptly halted.
The scene around him had changed at some unknown point.
The Black Blood Stockade clansmen who should have been fighting a bloody battle at his side and at his back, all those familiar faces, had now retreated to a place extremely far away.
And those wandering around this battlefield now were almost entirely Gu Masters of the White Bone Alliance.
As it turned out, in the unnoticed course of the fierce fighting, as Black Blood Stockade's line continuously collapsed and fell back, the position where Lin Cang and Li Mang clashed had already drifted far away from the clan's main force.
He, this Rank 4 Patriarch, was now situated in territory the White Bone Alliance's army had already advanced past!
Lin Cang whipped his head around to look at Li Mang across from him.
Li Mang was at that moment propped on his Bone Spine Scepter, chest heaving violently, clearly having expended no small amount himself.
He keenly perceived the change in Lin Cang's gaze.
Then he forced out a trace of a smile.
He had succeeded.
Though his own wounds grew ever heavier, he had in the end forcibly pinned Lin Cang down, allowing the White Bone Alliance's army to keep pushing forward!
"Old dog…"
Lin Cang clenched both fists tight.
This fight could not go on like this.
If the entanglement continued, even if he ultimately dealt with Li Mang, Black Blood Stockade would likely have already paid an unbearable price!
However, though Lin Cang wanted to leave, Li Mang clung like a maggot on the bone, willing to worsen his own injuries just to keep entangling him, refusing to give him any easy chance to break away.
And at this critical moment, on another part of the battlefield far off.
Squelch!
A Rank 2 elite of Black Blood Stockade had his chest run through by a bone spear and collapsed with a scream!
Grand Clan Elder Lin Zhen had also fallen into extreme danger at this moment.
Lin Zhen's sudden return earlier had temporarily broken the White Bone Alliance's offensive, but precisely because of that, he had become a thorn in the enemy's side that had to be removed.
A full four Rank 3 Gu Masters of the White Bone Alliance had already surrounded Lin Zhen completely!
Hair and beard bristling, Lin Zhen's Snow Silver Primeval Essence surged madly. He channeled the Metal Sever Leaf Gu again and again, several golden leaf blades howling and circling around him, forcing back the enemies who pressed in.
Relying on his abundant peak Rank 3 cultivation, he could still just barely hold his own against the four of them. But anyone with eyes could see that after the life-and-death restraint of the beast king battlefield, plus that headlong charge just now that spared no cost, both Lin Zhen's Primeval Essence and his physical strength had been depleted to an exceedingly dangerous degree.
What was more troublesome was that he simply could not fight with a free hand.
Behind him were large numbers of wounded Black Blood Stockade remnants.
The enemy was exceedingly cunning.
They were not necessarily confident of killing a peak Rank 3 in a short time, but they continuously launched feints from the flanks, forcing Lin Zhen to go rescue those low-rank clansmen.
"Despicable!"
Lin Zhen roared in fury.
To shield several young clansmen who had been forced into a dead corner, he had no choice but to abandon the optimal evasion route and turn to take the blow head-on.
Shk!
A sharp bone blade seized the opening and left a bloody gash on his back, so deep the bone showed through!
Lin Zhen's body staggered.
Savage light blazed in the eyes of several enemy Rank 3 Gu Masters, and they immediately pressed in!
And behind him, that stretch of line that had barely been stabilized finally showed signs of collapse once again.
In the distance.
Lin Cang saw this scene with perfect clarity.
He knew that if he continued to be pinned in place by Li Mang, then not only Lin Zhen — his own blood brother who had shared life and death with him for years — but even the clan's remaining Rank 3 elites might all be finished here today!
"Get out of my way!!!"
Lin Cang let out a heaven-shaking roar.
Within his aperture, Light Gold Primeval Essence erupted violently!
Disregarding his own defense, a terrifying iron fist that abandoned any path of retreat blasted the entangling Li Mang forcibly back!
Seizing that exceedingly brief gap, Lin Cang wheeled around and charged straight for the battlefield where Lin Zhen was surrounded!
"You're not leaving!"
Li Mang coughed out a mouthful of blood, his gaze sinister, and immediately forced up his Primeval Essence to pursue relentlessly.
As these two highest combat powers moved, the Rank 4 level clash that had until now remained far off finally began to shift toward Black Blood Stockade.
...
The sun sank behind the western mountains.
This savage slaughter, which had continued from early morning all the way to dusk, still showed not the slightest sign of abating.
And at this moment, Lin Mu, dragging those heavy steps, had finally returned to Black Blood Stockade.
But when he saw clearly the scene before him, he could not help but halt his steps.
Was this still the Black Blood Stockade he knew?
Those shops, once so noisy and bustling, had now completely changed appearance.
The entire stockade was like an iron pot brought to a boil, thrown into utter chaos.
Everywhere were figures with panicked expressions, rushing about in haste.
"Hurry! Get this batch of blood-staunching herbs to the front line!"
"Move! All of you, move aside!"
Several mud-covered low-rank Gu Masters carried stretchers dripping blood, shouting themselves hoarse at the clansmen around them to make way.
On those stretchers, the wounded — limbs severed, some with organs exposed — let out wails that made the scalp crawl.
The shops on both sides of the street had long since bolted their doors.
The mortal servants, along with the elderly, the weak, women, and children, carried bundles and packs on their backs, following behind the flow of people with faces full of terror, desperately moving deeper into the stockade.
Lin Mu stood at a street corner and even recognized, within the chaotic crowd, several Deacons he had seen before at the External Affairs Hall.
Only now, these people were either drenched in blood with vacant eyes, or their faces were full of panic. They no longer looked anything like they once had.
In the distance came the faint roar of Gu worm offensives detonating, and distress signals still burst in the sky from time to time.
"Have you heard? The line in the southeast has completely fallen!"
"The front line's pulled back again! I saw it with my own eyes — Grand Clan Elder Lin Zhen is gravely wounded, and the Patriarch is leading everyone back toward the main stockade!"
"It's over, it's all over, the White Bone Alliance's forces will be fighting their way in any moment now…"
Rumors and reports, truth and falsehood indistinguishable, all steeped in despair, spread ceaselessly through the crowded throng.
Watching this scene before him, Lin Mu's mood — slightly excited over the inheritance he was about to obtain — sank bit by bit along with it.
It was not that he had never considered Black Blood Stockade might lose.
But actually returning here, seeing with his own eyes these once-familiar streets, shops, and clansmen reduced to such a state, left a strange taste in his heart after all.
"When the nest is overturned, how can any egg remain whole…"
Lin Mu murmured softly.
Then he drew a deep breath and calmed himself once more.
He lowered his head and glanced at the Dragon Trap Gu at his waist.
For now, the most practical thing is still to complete the second trial of the Black Bone King Inheritance and get that reward in hand.
Having made up his mind, Lin Mu did not linger any longer on the chaotic streets.
He kept his posture low and, taking advantage of the night and the unending flow of people, moved toward the rear mountains without attracting notice.
...
Night fell completely over Black Blood Stockade.
The torches burning everywhere along the streets lit those terrified faces in flickering light and shadow.
Lin Mu passed through one chaotic district after another and finally drew near the area of the rear mountains.
However.
When he rounded the last bend, panting for breath, and looked from afar toward that one road that led to the rear mountains— his steps abruptly halted.
Utterly unlike the scenes of chaos elsewhere in the stockade— up ahead, at the entrance to the rear mountains, there were still several guards with severe expressions, torches in hand, firmly holding the road.