Just as Lin Zhen was rushing to the frontal battlefield with the remaining clan elders in utmost urgency—
At the very center of the battlefield.
BOOM—!!!
Lin Cang's iron fist, unstoppable as a blade splitting bamboo, once again slammed viciously into the bone shield condensed by Gu worms before Li Mang!
This defense, woven from countless white bone spikes, held out for only half a breath under Lin Cang's violent impact before letting out a wail of unbearable strain and exploding apart!
The tremendous force sent Li Mang sliding backward, beyond his control.
His feet sank deep into the soil, plowing two furrows several zhang long into ground already soaked through with blood.
"Cough…"
Li Mang's throat turned sweet, and a shocking thread of blood trickled slowly from the corner of his withered mouth.
The bone armor that had originally covered his entire body was now riddled with dense cracks.
And across from him, Lin Cang's iron bones bristled coldly across his frame, the killing intent in those hard, cold eyes growing ever thicker.
Throughout the exchange up to now, Lin Cang had steadily suppressed Li Mang with his genuine Rank 4 cultivation.
Whether in frontal assault or close-quarters slaughter, he held an obvious advantage.
But the problem was— Li Mang was like an exceedingly tough bone to chew, one covered in poisoned thorns!
He had long since prepared for today's situation.
The Gu worms he had painstakingly assembled over these years centered on defense, entanglement, and sustained combat. The various methods of the Bone Path and Earth Path complemented one another, and with the Rank 4 level power sealed within the Bone Spine Scepter in his hand, he had actually managed to forcibly pin Lin Cang in place amid this storm of attacks!
Of course, maintaining Rank 4 level combat strength by force was by no means easy for Li Mang either.
His bone armor kept splitting apart, his wounds grew steadily heavier, and even the power sealed within the Bone Spine Scepter was being continuously consumed.
Yet Lin Cang simply could not crush him completely in a short span of time.
Beaten back, again and again.
Wounded, again and again.
Yet Li Mang always managed to tangle himself back in.
Lin Cang was never able to extract himself from this quagmire of a battle!
And while he was being held down by Li Mang— on the main battlefield below.
"Kill!"
"Charge in! Black Blood Stockade can't hold!"
The great army of the White Bone Alliance, relying on their advantage in numbers, was pressing forward ceaselessly like a tide.
Though the Gu Masters of Black Blood Stockade were resisting with their lives, with their highest combat strength pinned down and the outer defensive lines falling one after another, they ultimately could not stop this ever more ferocious assault.
Defensive line after defensive line was torn apart.
The originally broad battlefield was steadily contracting toward Black Blood Stockade's main encampment.
Retreat!
Retreat, and retreat again!
Panting, Li Mang glanced with the corner of his eye at the Black Blood Stockade line steadily collapsing below.
On that old face, shaped like a withered skull, a cruel and gratified smile gradually surfaced.
"Cough, cough… Lin Cang!"
Li Mang propped himself on the Bone Spine Scepter, forcibly steadying his stance, and mocked in a hoarse voice:
"That Rank 4 fist of yours is nothing much after all!"
"If you don't hurry up and beat me to death… this pack of disciples and grand disciples of your Black Blood Stockade is going to be slaughtered clean by my White Bone Alliance's army!"
"Hahahaha!"
Facing Li Mang's utterly undisguised words that struck straight at the heart, Lin Cang's face was still as water.
The killing intent in those hard, cold eyes grew thicker still, yet he did not offer a single word of rebuttal.
Because he knew very well.
What Li Mang said was indeed the truth.
Black Blood Stockade had already been forced to the edge of the cliff!
Lin Cang abruptly strode forward a step, his Light Gold Primeval Essence surging once more, preparing to disregard the consumption and forcibly tear free of Li Mang's entanglement.
At that very moment—
Boom—!
From the dense forest to the rear flank, several powerful Rank 3 Primeval Essence fluctuations suddenly erupted!
Immediately after, several figures drenched in blood and thick with killing intent, tore through the edge of the battlefield like sharp blades and crashed into the White Bone Alliance's formation!
The one at their head had hair and beard bristling.
Several enormous golden leaf blades flew out one after another, instantly grinding the enemy Gu Masters blocking the way ahead into flying flesh and blood!
It was none other than Grand Clan Elder Lin Zhen, who had just raced back from the battlefield of the three kings!
And close behind him followed the several Rank 3 clan elders freed up from the flank, along with the remaining Black Blood Stockade elites!
"Elder brother! I'll help you!"
Lin Zhen saw at a glance Lin Cang locked in fierce combat with Li Mang.
He let out a furious roar, his Snow Silver Primeval Essence surging again, moving to charge into that Rank 4 level battlefield and join Lin Cang in killing Li Mang!
However—
"Stand down!"
Lin Cang showed no joy at all. Instead he barked sharply, decisively halting Lin Zhen's movement.
"Lin Zhen!"
Lin Cang's eyes went wide, his voice like rolling thunder detonating above the chaotic battlefield:
"I'll deal with this old dog myself! Take your men and hold the line down there for me, now!"
"Stabilize that defensive line for me!"
Lin Cang's gaze swept across the equally exhausted, even wounded bodies of Lin Zhen and the others.
A clash at the Rank 4 level was far more perilous than the slaughter between ordinary Rank 3 Gu Masters.
Even if Lin Zhen was peak Rank 3, forcing his way in would not necessarily help him bring down Li Mang in a short time.
On the contrary, Li Mang's bizarre Bone Path methods might at any moment make these Rank 3 clan elders — who had already been through round after round of bitter fighting — pay a tragic price in casualties!
And what Black Blood Stockade truly lacked right now was not help in killing Li Mang.
It was a mainstay capable of stabilizing the clan's defensive line!
"Yes!"
Naturally, Lin Zhen understood his elder brother's concerns and the greater situation.
He clenched his teeth and, without the slightest hesitation, immediately changed direction.
"Everyone! Kill with me!"
Lin Zhen led this force of reinforcements and slammed like a heavy hammer into the flank of the White Bone Alliance forces assaulting Black Blood Stockade's line!
Crash!
The entry of Lin Zhen and the others instantly broke a ferocious wave of the White Bone Alliance's offensive.
Fighting a bloody path the whole way, they finally linked up with the remnants of the line that had long been bitterly holding on under the leadership of Kuang Xu and the other clan elders.
The Black Blood Stockade line, which had looked about to be completely overrun, finally reorganized its resistance with the addition of these several Rank 3 clan elders.
The speed of the rout slowed noticeably.
But, that was all.
Black Blood Stockade's earlier losses on the frontal battlefield had simply been too great!
The White Bone Alliance's numerical advantage still remained.
One batch of Gu Masters had only just been driven back before fresh enemies charged up behind them.
Though Lin Zhen and the others fought desperately to cut them down, they too were far from full strength. Having just come through the savage slaughter of the three kings' battlefield, both their Primeval Essence and their physical stamina had been considerably depleted.
And so, although Black Blood Stockade was no longer collapsing on a broad scale as before, it was still being forced to contract backward bit by bit under the White Bone Alliance's unceasing assault.
Lin Zhen's return could, in the end, only delay the defeat.
It was still nowhere near reversing the battle!
On the other side.
Though Li Mang was still mocking Lin Cang with his words on the surface, when he noticed the figures of Lin Zhen and the others returning as reinforcements, a trace of alarm and doubt quietly flashed through the depths of his eyes.
Why has Lin Zhen come back?
Even as he manipulated bone spikes to fend off Lin Cang's attacks, Li Mang calculated rapidly.
Something's wrong…
By his original estimate, those three Thousand Beast Kings that had appeared within the beast tide should have been more than enough to nail the overwhelming majority of Black Blood Stockade's high-rank combat strength firmly into that quagmire!
Even if Black Blood Stockade barely managed to hold, they should absolutely not have been able to free up Lin Zhen, a peak Rank 3, in so short a time.
Not to mention that he had even brought back several Rank 3 clan elders!
The flank… what exactly happened over there?
Li Mang's brows knit tightly.
And just as suspicion rose in his heart, after his gaze had swept swiftly across the reinforcing troops below— those murky eyes, sunk deep in their sockets, suddenly narrowed.
A name abruptly surfaced in his mind.
Where is Lin Mu?!
Li Mang's heart sank.
He saw it very clearly.
Lin Zhen had returned.
The several Rank 3 clan elders originally responsible for the flank had returned as well.
The only one missing was that young clan elder who had been the most prominent figure in Black Blood Stockade of late — the one he deeply suspected was bound by countless threads to the other fragment of the Black Bone King Inheritance — Lin Mu!
That brat… where exactly has he gone?
A foreboding premonition began to quietly spread through Li Mang's heart.
...
And at this moment.
On another rugged mountain path, quite far from the frontal battlefield.
That Lin Mu, whom Li Mang kept turning over in his mind, whom he even suspected of scheming something in secret— was walking alone down the road back to Black Blood Stockade.
The late autumn mountain wind blew past, stirring up a few withered yellow leaves.
If an outsider had been watching from afar at this moment, they would surely have found the scene before them somewhat strange, even a little absurd.
At this critical juncture, with the fires of war raging behind him and the whole of Black Blood Stockade fighting desperately for its very survival— this Clan Elder Lin Mu was, on this empty mountain road, inching forward at an exceedingly slow pace, a pace that could be described as three sways per step, unhurried and unbothered.
That leisurely, carefree manner.
How was that anything like a Gu Master hurrying back to the stockade?
It was plainly like some old geezer who had eaten his fill and was now taking a leisurely stroll through his own back garden!
However, only Lin Mu himself knew just how badly he wanted to curse someone's mother right now.
A stroll? My ass!
Lin Mu could not help but curse inwardly.
His face, already pale from overdrawn Primeval Essence, was now flushed bright red from sustained exertion.
Dense beads of sweat covered his forehead, streaming ceaselessly down his cheeks.
He wanted nothing more than to hurry back!
He wanted nothing more than to spread the Green Wing Gu at his back, turn into a streak of streaming light, and go "whoosh" straight back to the inheritance ground in the rear mountains!
After all, the Thousand Beast King was already in hand!
So long as he could bring this Crimson Armored Giant Lizard King back to that underground palace and present the captured Thousand Beast King to the Black Bone King Inheritance for verification, that second trial could finally be completed!
As for the reward after the trial…
Thinking of this, Lin Mu felt as though a cat's claws were scratching at his heart.
He wished he could sprout wings this instant and fly straight back!
But, he simply could not go any faster!
The culprit behind all of this was that Dragon Trap Gu hanging at his waist!
Ever since he had forcibly sealed that Crimson Armored Giant Lizard King, massive as a hill, into the Gu, this Dragon Trap Gu — still no bigger than a walnut — had felt as though it weighed ten thousand catties at his waist!
Even the slightest movement made that crushing sensation bear down upon his exhausted body.
Too heavy…
Lin Mu clenched his teeth.
With every step he took, he could feel the muscles of both legs wailing under unbearable strain, and even his kneecaps seemed to creak.
He could almost believe he was carrying a mountain of iron on his back.
What made it worse— in order to forcibly subdue the Crimson Armored Giant Lizard King earlier, the Flowery Silver Primeval Essence in his aperture had very nearly run completely dry.
And both his arms, already cut and battered from riding the Deer King, had been strained further during the struggle to subdue the Giant Lizard King.
Now, forget fighting anyone again — even raising a hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead felt like something of a chore.
Without sufficient Primeval Essence to sustain it, he simply could not channel the Green Wing Gu again.
And even if he forced it, in his current state, with such a terrifying burden at his waist, he likely would not fly very far.
Huff… huff…
Lin Mu panted heavily.
He lifted his head and looked at the winding mountain road ahead, then could not help but lower his gaze to glance at his waist.
After a moment, he still felt some reluctance.
He gritted his teeth and tried to quicken his pace just a little.
As a result—
Thud!
The instant he picked up speed, his exhausted legs suddenly buckled beneath him!
For a moment, it felt as though the Dragon Trap Gu at his waist were dragging him straight toward the earth.
Lin Mu staggered and nearly toppled face-first into the mud of the mountain road!
Hiss—
He sucked in a cold breath and hurriedly steadied himself.
Then, he lowered his head and looked at that dead-weight Gu worm at his waist.
Then he raised his head and gazed at the far end of his vision, where Black Blood Stockade was faintly visible.
The stockade clearly was not far.
Yet in Lin Mu's eyes at this moment, it might as well have been separated by a thousand mountains and ten thousand rivers.
He was silent for a moment.
At last, he let out a helpless sigh.
Forget it.
Hurrying was useless.
He could only resign himself to slowing his steps once more and continuing along this empty mountain road, one step at a time.
"Strolling."
"Son of a bitch…"
Through the empty mountain wilds echoed Lin Mu's muttered cursing, the sound of a man who wanted to weep but had no tears.