The sixth day of the Inner Court division finally arrived.
And the sect shook.
The sky darkened slightly.
HUALA
A pressure descended from Heart Peak.
Then Patriarch Hong Tianyue’s voice spread through the entire Slaughtered Moon Divine Blood Sect.
It reached every peak.
Every arena.
Every disciple.
Every elder.
"From this mont onward..."
"Killing during the tournant is prohibited."
Silence.
The entire sect froze.
The words echoed several tis.
No one spoke.
No one moved.
Then chaos erupted.
"What!?"
"The Patriarch changed the rules?"
"The sacred laws?"
"This is impossible!"
Disciples stared in disbelief.
Elders looked stunned.
The culling tradition had existed since the founder.
The strong survived.
The weak died.
That was the Blood Sect.
And now...
The Patriarch himself had changed it.
Heart Peak imdiately exploded into conflict as several factions rose against it. These were not ordinary people. So belonged to previous Patriarch lineages, old factions, and ancient supporters.
Others were newer groups unhappy with Hong Tianyue’s authority.
All of them objected.
"The Patriarch violates sacred tradition!"
"The founder established these rules!"
"Changing them insults the ancestors!"
Voices rose.
Argunts spread.
Han Yu even heard discussions through his information networks. Yet the Patriarch remained unmoved. So opponents were ignored. Others were shut down directly. As such the order stood: No killing.
The factions endured.
For now.
But Han Yu knew they were waiting.
The Blood Sect never forgot.
The mont weakness appeared...
They would move.
The tournant resud.
Day one under the new rules passed and no deaths happened, not a single one. The atmosphere changed instantly as relief spread and the disciples relaxed. The elders looked exhausted yet satisfied.
Even several people opposing the Patriarch quietly admitted the decision worked.
Perhaps... The old ways truly needed change.
Then day two arrived and deaths returned.
It was only two, yet they shattered everything.
The first death happened almost naturally; Two Inner Court disciples fought and one strike landed harder than intended.
The opponent failed to dodge, and his body exploded. Silence followed but people accepted it reluctantly as accidents happened.
But the second death... Destroyed all comfort.
Ring Forty One.
An Infant Soul stage Nascent Soul disciple against a Core Condensation disciple. The result was obvious before the match even began. Everyone expected surrender.
Instead...
The Nascent Soul disciple suddenly crushed the weaker disciple’s head after the fight was started.
The arena fell silent.
The overseeing elders descended instantly, but this ti they did not kill him.
Orders existed now.
No execution.
The disciple was restrained imdiately.
Han Yu watched quietly from his pavilion.
The sect moved fast.
Interrogation began.
The results only deepened confusion.
The disciple knelt there with blood still on his hands.
"I rember nothing."
"I only rember entering the arena."
"When I regained awareness..."
"You were already restraining ."
But no one believed him and the interrogation continued. ntal thods activated, mory inspection techniques followed but there was nothing. The disciple truly rembered nothing.
The elders escalated imdiately.
Soul Extraction.
The forbidden technique unfolded.
The disciple scread.
His mories appeared.
The elders watched.
Everything looked normal.
The people watching, the fight starting and then... Nothing.
His mories ended monts after the fight started.
The room fell silent.
Several elders exchanged looks as now they knew, soone was doing this, Sothing was forcing disciples and the deaths were intentional.
The problem was...
How?
No traces.
No curses.
No poisons.
No foreign influence.
Nothing.
The discovery spread among higher ranks quickly.
Stopping the tournant entirely beca a serious proposal.
Many demanded it.
"We investigate the whole sect!"
"This cannot continue!"
"We suspend everything!"
Opposition factions imdiately resisted.
"If the tournant stops, the culprit wins."
"The Blood Sect cannot kneel to shadows."
Pressure mounted.
In the end...
The Patriarch compromised.
One more day.
The tournant would continue one final day.
This ti the entire sect would be monitored.
Every corner.
Every peak.
Every disciple.
Even Han Yu beca slightly wary.
The pressure had risen.
His na alone would not protect him forever.
He imdiately adjusted.
Rather than staying alone in his pavilion, he invited several disciples.
Core disciples.
Subordinates.
People under him.
Wine appeared.
Snacks appeared.
Formation screens showed the battles.
Anyone looking would only see Legacy Disciple Ju Fan watching matches while discussing techniques with juniors.
Perfect.
No suspicion.
And the timing worked because the arenas themselves had beco the center of attention. Nobody watched him anyway as everyone stared at the screens.
The third day began and the sect monitored everything. Elders floated above arenas, soul arrays covered skies, while patrols moved constantly.
Han Yu still acted.
Carefully.
One possession.
Then retreat.
Hours later another.
He moved less.
More precise.
Three Nascent Soul Inner Court disciples died that day.
The first suddenly turned and killed his opponent after surrender.
The second attacked a spectator disciple before being stopped.
The third...
The third shocked everyone.
He attacked his own master watching nearby.
The elder survived but the disciple died instantly.
Fear returned.
This ti stronger than before. Because the victims had changed.
These were Nascent Soul disciples now!
Not expendable outer disciples, not ordinary cultivators but real elites. These were the disciples who would beco future elders, or even future peak heads. And they were dying without no one understanding why.
Inside his pavilion, Han Yu sat calmly while several disciples chatted nearby.
One formation screen showed another arena descending into chaos. His Soul had returned almost imdieatly after he had killed a disciple so that he could act normal again if soone talked to him.
The disciple beside him swallowed.
"Senior Brother Ju Fan..."
"What do you think is happening?"
Han Yu looked at the screen quietly.
His face remained cold.
"I do not know."
The disciple shivered as they knew neither did the sect. And that frightened everyone most.
For the first ti ever in tens of thousands of years, the Slaughtered Moon Divine Blood Sect was facing a threat, and it was not even from outside, but a hidden threat within that they couldn’t even begin to comprehend.
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