"Kill!"
No wasted words. The white-haired youth standing on the high ground swept his bone spear forward, as if Death itself had issued the order to reap.
Above the canyon, the Gu Masters of White Bone Stockade—who had long been lying in wait—struck as one.
Several pallid bone spears shrieked through the air, raining down from the cliff face like a deadly storm. Simultaneously, massive boulders were pushed loose, thundering down toward the squad that had just been thrown into chaos.
"Don't panic! Circle formation! Defend!"
Lin Feng roared, his longsword sweeping out. A golden arc of sword qi cleaved apart a bone spear aimed at Lin Wan'er.
Two of his subordinates immediately moved to assist, helping Lin Feng construct a solid defensive line in a semicircular formation, shielding Lin Wan'er to prevent her from being targeted.
Lin Mu didn't force any action. He simply maintained his position in the formation at the appropriate moments, performing like the most unremarkable member of the team.
However, not everyone possessed his composure.
Zhao Yuze, positioned at the squad's outermost edge, had already been scared witless.
From the moment they entered the forest, he had been on the verge of collapse. The continuous forced march had also severely depleted his Primeval Essence.
Now, faced with this scene of real bloodshed, his legs had turned to jelly.
As a hothouse flower who had never seen blood, his first instinct when confronted with this overwhelming killing intent wasn't to hold formation and defend—it was to flee.
"Stay away! Don't kill me!"
Zhao Yuze screamed, completely forgetting that his teammates were behind him. He spun around to run back. This movement left his completely unguarded back exposed to the enemy.
"Idiot!" Lin Feng's eyes nearly split from rage.
Thwack!
A bone spear pierced straight through Zhao Yuze's right arm. The tremendous impact sent his entire body flying, pinning him brutally to the ground.
"Ahhh—! My arm! Help! Help me!"
Zhao Yuze clutched his spurting wound, rolling madly on the ground. His shrill screams instantly shattered the fragile morale the squad had just managed to establish.
"Shut up! Get on your feet!"
Though Lin Wan'er's face had gone deathly pale, she still gritted her teeth and rushed forward, activating her healing Gu to try to stop his bleeding.
"Leave that waste! Hold the left flank!" Lin Feng bellowed, channeling Primeval Essence for a counterattack.
The formation had gaps now, but it could still barely hold.
Yet in the next instant, a cruel, mocking light flickered in the eyes of the white-haired youth standing atop the cliff.
"Found the breach."
His figure blurred, and he descended from above like a great white bird, his bone spear riding the momentum of his fall, aimed straight at Zhao Yuze where the formation had collapsed.
"No—!"
Watching the bone tip rapidly expand in his pupils, Zhao Yuze's survival instinct instantly overwhelmed his reason. He actually shoved aside Lin Wan'er, who was treating him, and scrambled on all fours to hide behind Lin Feng.
This push sent Lin Wan'er stumbling to the ground. The left flank of the entire formation was instantly torn wide open.
The white-haired youth landed, a savage grin curling his lips. The bone spear didn't pause for an instant—he simply thrust it forward in a smooth continuation of his descent.
Squelch.
Zhao Yuze's fleeing steps froze.
The pallid bone spear had entered through his back, emerging from his chest, lifting his entire body into the air like a candied hawthorn on a stick.
"Cough... save..."
Blood foam surged from Zhao Yuze's mouth. His hands clawed weakly at empty air as his eyes rapidly lost focus.
His body twitched futilely on the spear. Blood dripped from the spear tip, quickly pooling into a small, glistening puddle of red.
The white-haired youth flicked his wrist, flinging the corpse away like garbage. Then he leveled his spear tip and led his remaining five subordinates in a wolf-pack charge toward the surviving four.
"Damn it!"
Lin Feng watched Zhao Yuze's gruesome death. There was no grief in his eyes—only the fury of being sabotaged by a stupid teammate.
"Iron Armor, rise!"
Facing the white-haired youth's ferocious assault, Lin Feng held nothing back.
His entire body's skin instantly took on the metallic luster of black iron, as if he had transformed into a statue cast from metal.
Rank 1 Peak—Iron Armor Gu!
Clang!
The white-haired youth's bone spear struck Lin Feng's chest, actually sparking on impact, leaving only a white scratch.
Rather than retreat, Lin Feng advanced. His longsword hummed as razor-sharp Metal Path Primeval Essence flooded the blade.
Rank 1 Peak—Metal Rend Gu!
"Get lost!"
The sword light streaked like a rainbow, carrying an edge that could cleave gold and sunder jade, slashing viciously toward the white-haired youth's waist.
The white-haired youth's expression shifted slightly. He hadn't expected this seemingly pampered young master to possess such a hard turtle shell and such lethal counterattacks. He was forced to withdraw his spear to defend, his figure retreating explosively.
"Some skill after all."
The white-haired youth licked his lips, battle intent burning even fiercer in his eyes.
"I'll handle the front. You take the flanks—kill the healer first!"
At his command, two White Bone Stockade Gu Masters wielding bone sabers immediately circled around Lin Feng's front, slithering like two venomous snakes toward Lin Wan'er, who was backing up Lin Feng.
"Wan'er!"
Lin Feng was desperate to provide support, but the white-haired youth kept him locked down.
His two household guard fighters were also separated and surrounded by the enemy, too busy to help.
Just as those two bone sabers were about to fall on Lin Wan'er, Lin Feng roared.
He forced himself to take a heavy blow from the white-haired youth head-on—the armor on his left shoulder shattered, blood spraying—but he used the rebound force to forcibly spin around, hurling his longsword.
Thwack!
One attacker's arm was severed on the spot.
"Ahhh!"
That man screamed and stumbled back, but the other's blade still fell.
Lin Wan'er, however, was clearly far superior to Zhao Yuze. Rather than standing frozen, she twisted her body sharply, barely evading the killing blow.
Yet although she narrowly avoided this strike, the follow-up attacks came surging like a tide. Lin Wan'er could only flee in all directions, completely unable to focus on healing Lin Feng.
Though she possessed Rank 1 Middle Stage cultivation, under the clan's training system, her Vital Gu and subsequent Gu worms were all healing types. She had absolutely no direct combat capability.
On a battlefield, once the front line was breached, a pure healer like her could only retreat step by step, utterly unable to resist.
Yet amid this chaotic battlefield, there was one corner that remained eerily quiet.
That was Lin Mu's position.
The moment the formation shattered, he had shrunk back behind that massive marching pack, curling his body into a ball.
He looked like nothing more than a terrified porter, trembling helplessly.
At that moment, a Rank 1 Middle Stage Gu Master with a scarred, brutish face and bone saber noticed him.
He had originally intended to join the assault on Lin Wan'er, but spotting this isolated "soft target," he turned with a savage grin.
In his eyes, this fellow in gray cloth carrying a large pack was just another piece of trash too scared to even draw a weapon.
"Hey, kid, let me borrow your head!"
The brute strode over without the slightest caution, casually swinging his bone saber as if cutting down a weed, contemptuously slashing toward Lin Mu's neck.
Closer now.
Three steps. Two steps. One step.
Just as the bone saber was about to fall, just as the savage grin had fully blossomed on the brute's face—
Lin Mu, who had been "trembling helplessly," moved.
He didn't rise. He didn't draw a weapon.
He simply lifted his head slightly. Those eyes that had been buried against his knees were now cold as ice that had never thawed in ten thousand years.
Whoosh!
A dark, shadowy gleam shot from the gap in the marching pack without warning.
Too close! Too fast!
The brute had no time to react at all. He only felt a chill at his throat, then the world spun around him.
Iron Leaf Gu!
Propelled by high-grade Primeval Essence refined by the Liquor Worm, this iron leaf was sharp as a razor.
Squelch.
A hair-thin line of blood appeared across the brute's Adam's apple.
His saber swing froze in mid-air. His eyes bulged wide, fixed on the youth still crouching on the ground. A gurgling rasp escaped his throat as his hands tried to clutch his neck, but nothing could stop the blood that came gushing forth.
"You..."
Thud.
The corpse toppled stiffly, falling right at Lin Mu's feet.
Lin Mu's expression didn't change. He didn't even shift position.
He reached out one hand, grabbed the corpse's collar, and smoothly dragged this still-warm meat shield in front of himself, blocking the only gap by the marching pack.
Then he shrank back into the shadows once more, like a patient viper. Using the corpse and pack as cover, he coldly observed the battle unfolding nearby.
This was exactly the effect Lin Mu wanted.
"First one."
He counted silently, his fingers lightly stroking the Red Mud Gu hidden in his sleeve—still unused.