Chapter 531: Chapter 531
The uncertainty gnawed at Han Yu's heart, but there was nothing he could do.
For now, he had no choice but to remain silent and play his part.
The crowd began to settle as more cultivators arrived, filling every inch of the slope. The crimson light reflected in their eyes, giving their gazes a fanatical gleam. Murmurs spread briefly among them, but quickly died out as a single figure stepped forward near the summit.
It was one of the Dao Shell realm cultivators, his robe lined with shifting purple patterns that glimmered faintly under the light. He hovered a few feet above the ground, his hands clasped behind his back.
His presence drew every eye to him, and the ambient noise faded until the only sound left was the low hum of the beacon.
"Brothers and sisters of the Slaughtered Moon Divine Blood Sect," he began, his voice calm yet resonant enough to be heard across the entire hill. "Tonight marks the culmination of fifty thousand years of longing. Fifty thousand years of silence, of patience, of waiting in the shadows while our birthright was buried beneath the dust of history in some distant wasteland."
His words echoed like thunder.
"Tonight," he continued, "we reclaim that which was stolen from us. The gates have opened, and the Inner Realm... our ancestral domain... has finally been returned to its rightful heirs!
Our yearning has ended. Our blood has been vindicated. The Slaughtered Moon rises once more!"
The air trembled as his final words resounded. For a brief heartbeat, there was silence and then... it broke like a dam.
"HAIL THE SLAUGHTERED MOON DIVINE BLOOD SECT!"
"HAIL THE SLAUGHTERED MOON DIVINE BLOOD SECT!"
"HAIL THE SLAUGHTERED MOON DIVINE BLOOD SECT!"
The roar of thousands of voices shook the earth. Get full chapters from NovelHub(.)net
Han Yu flinched despite himself, the overwhelming fervor washing over him like a tidal wave.
Every disciple shouted with unrestrained passion, their eyes burning with crimson light reflected from the beacon above. The synchronized chant rose and fell in perfect rhythm, their voices merging into a single pulse that resonated through the valley.
"HAIL THE SLAUGHTERED MOON DIVINE BLOOD SECT!"
The ground quaked beneath their feet, and faint tendrils of red energy began to coil upward from the crowd, drawn toward the glowing pillar. It was as though their faith, their fanaticism, and their bloodlust were being absorbed into the very light that crowned the hill.
Han Yu joined in the chant, his voice blending with the others though his tone remained hollow. He raised his hand in the same salute as the rest, mimicking their devotion, careful not to draw attention.
His heart, however, was heavy.
He could see it now, the depth of their belief, the unity of their cause. These were not simply cultists or murderers. They were part of something far more dangerous, something ancient and rooted deeply in purpose.
As the chants continued, Han Yu's understanding of the inner realm deepened.
It was no mere battlefield or sealed dimension. It was a sacred land, the lost domain of the Slaughtered Moon Divine Blood Sect. When they called it their birthright, they meant it literally. This place had belonged to them once, and now, they had returned to reclaim it.
The thought sent a chill down his spine.
If what the Dao Shell cultivator said was true, then this entire "inner realm" was not a random tomb or a treasure trove. It was a fragment of their sect's ancient legacy, perhaps even a remnant of their original sect grounds.
And if that was the case, then everything... every monster, every strange phenomenon, every piece of ancient architecture... had been theirs all along.
Han Yu kept his expression neutral, but inside, his mind raced. The scale of what he had stumbled into was far greater than he had imagined.
The chants eventually began to subside, and silence once more blanketed the gathering. The Dao Shell realm cultivator raised a hand, his gaze sweeping across the crowd like a blade.
"Prepare yourselves," he said solemnly. "Our path into a glorious future begins tonight. The Slaughtered Moon shall once again ascend the heavens, and none shall stop its rise."
As the crimson light surged brighter, casting every face in the hue of blood, Han Yu's eyes flickered with grim understanding.
The inner realm was not simply their territory, it was their awakening ground.
And he was standing in the heart of it.
The chanting of thousands echoed through the night like the roar of a tidal wave, rising from the crimson-tinged plains and slamming against the invisible dome of the inner realm's false sky.
Han Yu's heart trembled as the final cries of "Hail the Slaughtered Moon Divine Blood Sect" faded into a dreadful, vibrating silence. The air itself seemed to hum with dark reverence.
The Dao Shell realm elder who had initiated the chant stood tall upon a black stone dais that jutted out from the hilltop like the prow of a ship. His black and purple robes swayed in the cold wind that carried the faint coppery scent of blood.
Beneath that robe, Han Yu could feel the pressure of an unfathomable cultivation base radiating outward like the heat from a blazing furnace.
When the echo of devotion subsided, the elder's voice cut through the stillness, clear and commanding.
"Now that our ancestral lands have been returned to their rightful home, we can finally begin to make use of what belongs to us."
A murmur of excitement rippled through the crowd.
Han Yu felt it, that strange unity of murderous fervor. The thousands around him were looking up with almost religious awe, as if the man before them were not an elder but a god who had returned from the heavens.
The elder continued, his tone smooth yet filled with cold pride.
"In the coming months, this place shall be prepared. When the time is right, those among you who prove themselves worthy will have the opportunity to enter the ancestral lands and face the trials of our forefather."