Han Yu remained silent for a long while after the Peak Head finished speaking.
The warehouse was still frozen, the air biting cold, yet his thoughts burned hotter than any fla he had cultivated before. The Inheritance Stelae. The Freezing Abyss Glacial Art. Legacy Disciple. Protection that transcended politics. Every word echoed in his mind, overlapping and colliding, refusing to settle.
He was not naive enough to believe that this was a guaranteed path.
In fact, among all the opportunities he had encountered since entering the Slaughtered Moon Divine Blood Sect, this was perhaps the most uncertain one.
The Inheritance Stelae was infamous precisely because it did not operate on human logic. No elder dictated what one received. No amount of preparation guaranteed success. Desire alone was aningless before it. Even sincerity could be ignored.
The Stelae judged.
And no one knew by what criteria.
Han Yu had heard countless rumors over the three years he'd been in the blood sect. Disciples who entered hoping for a cultivation technique and erged with a Qi skill that did not seem valuable to them.
Others who sought a breakthrough thod and instead received a fragntary formation diagram they could not even comprehend. So obtained nothing at all, their rit points reduced to dust along with their hopes.
Even those who succeeded were not always satisfied.
The Stelae did not grant what one wanted. It granted what it deed appropriate.
That was the most terrifying part.
Han Yu knew this better than most. His entire orphan life since being born into this world had been shaped by forces far beyond his control. Fate, chance, misfortune, opportunity. He had survived by adapting, not by expecting fairness.
And yet, even with all that awareness, his heart still beat faster at the thought of standing before the Stelae.
The Peak Head seed to sense the storm of thoughts within him.
He spoke calmly, almost gently. "I will not force you."
Han Yu looked up.
"This is your trial," the old man continued. "Not mine. If you succeed, I gain a successor and the Kidney Peaks regain a lost legacy. If you fail, I lose nothing but ti. And who knows if you will obtain more than just the Freezing Abyss Glacial Art."
Han Yu almost laughed internally.
So that was it.
The Peak Head was indeed being shaless.
He was placing the entire burden of risk on Han Yu. One hundred thousand rit points per attempt. A gamble that could drain even a wealthy core disciple enough to make them cry. And yet, he offered no material support, no reimbursent, no guarantee.
But Han Yu did not bla him.
From the Peak Head's perspective, this was the only rational choice.
Why would he invest resources in a possibility that had failed for over a hundred thousand years?
Han Yu was an anomaly, yes, but anomalies failed just as often as they succeeded.
Still, the old man was watching him closely now, assessing not his strength, but his resolve.
Han Yu straightened his back.
"I understand," he said evenly. "This is my gamble to take."
The Peak Head nodded, seemingly satisfied.
Han Yu continued, "I do not expect certainty. I only ask for the chance."
A faint glimr appeared in the old man's eyes.
"That chance," he said, "you already have."
Han Yu inhaled slowly, steadying himself.
In truth, even if he had only a slim chance, he would still take it.
Five hundred thousand rit points.
That was what he had accumulated through relentless work, through puppets, through risk, through endurance. Those rit points were his lifeline. They were ant to be used to free his companions. To maneuver within the sect. To build leverage against Zhao Liun and others like him.
Spending a fifth of it on a single attempt was madness.
But this madness promised sothing far greater than re survival.
It promised freedom.
Protection that no longer relied on secrecy and evasion. A position so high that enemies would hesitate before even thinking of him. A chance to touch the deepest secrets of the sect.
And perhaps… sothing more.
The Peak Head's earlier words echoed again in Han Yu's mind.
'Who knows if you will obtain more than just the Freezing Abyss Glacial Art.'
Han Yu raised his gaze slightly. "Peak Head," he said, "earlier you ntioned that so who succeed obtain more than one thing."
"Yes," the old man replied. "It is rare, but it happens."
"What determines that?" Han Yu asked.
The Peak Head shook his head. "No one knows. So say it is resonance. So say it is compatibility. So say it is destiny."
He paused.
"Others believe it is hunger."
Han Yu's expression sharpened.
"Hunger?" he repeated.
The old man chuckled softly. "Not the hunger of the body. The hunger of the soul. The more you lack, the more the Stelae may give. Or so the elders speculate."
Han Yu absorbed that silently.
Lack.
If that was true, then he lacked much.
He lacked safety. He lacked freedom. He lacked certainty. He lacked the power to protect those bound to him by fate.
And there was sothing else he lacked.
Knowledge.
Not superficial knowledge. But knowledge that could unravel chains.
The Peak Head continued, "The Stelae is not rely a repository. It is said to observe the entirety of one's Dao. Strength, weakness, obsession, fear, desire. It does not respond to ambition alone."
Han Yu nodded slowly.
Then, unable to restrain himself, he asked, "What is the greatest thing soone has obtained from the Stelae in recent history?"
The Peak Head fell silent, his gaze drifting away as he searched through mories buried under millennia.
Finally, he spoke.
"The current Supre Elder," he said.
Han Yu's heart skipped a beat.
"Over five thousand years ago," the old man continued, "he entered the chamber as a re inner court disciple. At that ti, no one thought much of him. Talented, yes. Ambitious, certainly. But not extraordinary."
Han Yu listened intently.
"He erged with five techniques," the Peak Head said. "Not at once. But across several entries."
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