An older man, his hair streaked with white but his bearing still unyielding, spoke with a tone edged with caution. "Do not beco careless. The sects survived the test we arranged. Only a handful of their number were culled, while the rest pressed on. They are not as fragile as you wish to believe. Even ants can bite an elephant to death when gathered in enough numbers."
The younger man at the back snorted. "Bite, perhaps. But bite what? They are still running headfirst into the trap we laid out for them."
The woman chuckled softly, her eyes gleaming beneath her veil. "It hardly matters whether they survived the test or not. Strong or weak, it makes no difference. They are all playing into our hands regardless. Their struggles only feed the path we have prepared."
The group fell quiet for a mont, though their agreent was unspoken. Every one of them knew the truth of her words.
The woman's voice turned colder, filled with a quiet fervor. "Looks like our birthright will finally return to us. It will not be long now. That which should never have been here in the first place, hidden away in this filthy, backward place, will finally be restored to where it belongs."
A current of intent rippled through the group, unshakable and resolute. None of them doubted her declaration. To them, the sects, their disciples, even their revered elders, were nothing more than pieces to be moved and discarded.
Above the trees, the night wind whispered through the leaves, carrying their words away into the darkness. The sects below marched blindly, their eyes on the treasures of the inner realm, never realizing that a far greater ga had already been decided.
.
.
.
The world shifted in an instant.
One mont, Han Yu and the others were walking down a dark corridor of ancient stone, the walls damp and heavy with the weight of centuries. The next, their vision expanded outward, light rushing into their eyes, their feet no longer pressing against hard rock but instead standing upon sothing far more refined.
Han Yu's breath caught as he realized they were now upon a vast platform of white stone, smooth yet etched with layers upon layers of intricate inscriptions. The engravings spread out in circular patterns, interlocking and weaving together in ways that made his head ache when he tried to follow them.
These were not simple sealing lines or the kind of formations he had studied in the sect. They were sothing far beyond his comprehension, an array whose purpose he could not even begin to guess.
The platform stretched out to a radius of two hundred ters, and at its edge the pattern ended abruptly, giving way to open ground. Beyond that, the scenery revealed itself, and Han Yu could hear disciples gasping all around him.
The tomb's suffocating darkness was gone.
In its place was a world of green and blue. Dense forests stretched outward, their canopies so thick it seed like oceans of leaves. Towering mountains rose in the distance, ridges cutting across the horizon as far as the eye could see.
In the skies above, unfamiliar bird-like beasts soared, their wings casting great shadows across the trees. So were small like sparrows, but others were massive enough to resemble ships drifting through the clouds.
But what unsettled everyone most was not the beasts, nor the strange vegetation, but the fact that though the sky was painted with soft daylight, there was no sun.
"Where is the sun?" one disciple blurted out, shading his eyes and scanning the heavens.
"Is this… possible? How can there be light without a sun?" another asked, bewildered.
An elder standing among them raised his hand to still their voices.
His tone was calm but held a gravity that demanded attention. "What you see above is not real. This sky is nothing more than an illusion, projected by the array that sustains this realm. There is no sun here, nor will there ever be."
A shiver ran through the gathered disciples. Han Yu frowned as he lifted his head, staring up at the pale expanse. Now that it was said, he could sense the difference. The light felt even, artificial, without the warmth of real sunlight.
It was illumination stripped of nature.
The elder continued, "At night, you will find no moon to guide you. The stars, though faintly visible are still illusory and will be unreliable. They will not serve as markers. Do not trust this sky, nor the heavens above. Forget all you know of the outside world. This place is its own domain, and you must move with caution."
Silence followed those words, the weight of them settling heavily upon the disciples' hearts.
Soon enough, however, the elders began leading the sect mbers toward the camps. At the edge of the platform, they could see activity everywhere. The great sects had wasted no ti in establishing their presence.
Tents of reinforced cloth and formations of protection had been erected, while other disciples were still working to raise barriers, arrays, and temporary dwellings. The camps stretched outward in orderly patches, but there was an unmistakable distance maintained between each group.
Even without a word being spoken, the intent was obvious.
Han Yu narrowed his eyes as he saw the gaps between the camps. The orthodox sects grouped tightly with their own, yet carefully positioned themselves apart from the unorthodox ones.
The unorthodox sects, anwhile, mirrored the behavior, establishing their own strongholds and not straying too close to their rivals. The air was thick with silent hostility, but everyone seed to understand the unspoken rule: here, on the neutral ground of the entrance, no blood would be shed.
Still, the tension was unmistakable.
Han Yu followed his group to the area the Twin Leaf Peak Sect had secured for themselves.
A large protective formation had already been drawn on the ground, glowing faintly as supplies were stacked within its boundaries. It would serve as their base camp, the one place disciples could return to if they needed safety, healing, or guidance.
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