The forest became unnaturally still.
Even the insects stopped chirping.
The five crimson-robed figures stood among the ancient trees like ghosts, their silver masks hiding every trace of emotion. Although none of them released their full aura, the pressure they exuded was enough to make the surrounding air feel heavy.
Li Tian unconsciously took a step back.
His arrogance from moments ago had completely vanished.
These people...
Were not fellow candidates.
They were real cultivators who had killed before.
The leader's gaze rested on Lin Yuan.
"So..."
"You are the boy."
His voice was calm, almost polite.
Yet it carried a chilling certainty.
Lin Yuan slowly tightened his grip on the Yellow-grade sword he had taken from Li Tian.
"You know me?"
The masked man nodded.
"You are called Lin Yuan."
"You come from Green River Village."
"You entered Black Crow Mountain several days ago."
"You left alive..."
"...while everyone else died."
The moment those words were spoken, Lin Yuan's heart sank.
They knew far too much.
Not just his name.
His past.
His movements.
Even the destruction of his village.
Someone had investigated him thoroughly
One of the masked cultivators laughed softly.
"You've caused us quite a bit of trouble."
"We've searched the Southern Wilderness for weeks."
"Who would've thought the heir would hide among children taking a sect examination?"
Li Tian frowned.
"Heir?"
Zhao Feng looked equally confused.
Neither of them understood what these people were talking about.
Only Lin Yuan remained silent.
He knew exactly what they meant.
The inheritance beneath Black Crow Mountain.
The leader slowly raised his hand.
"We have no interest in the others."
"Our target..."
He pointed directly at Lin Yuan.
"...is him."
Li Tian instinctively relaxed.
"If they're only after him..."
But before the thought could finish—
The leader continued,
"As for the witnesses..."
"They cannot be left alive."
Li Tian's face turned pale.
"What?"
Zhao Feng's expression hardened.
They had entered this trial expecting competition.
Instead...
They had stumbled into a deadly conspiracy.
The Blood Moon Sect
Although few ordinary cultivators knew its true history, the Blood Moon Sect was infamous throughout the Southern Wilderness.
Unlike righteous sects that accepted disciples openly, the Blood Moon Sect operated from the shadows.
They specialized in assassination, intelligence gathering, and the pursuit of ancient inheritances.
If they wanted something...
They would stop at nothing to obtain it.
Their disciples were taught ruthless principles from childhood such as
"Dead men keep secrets."
The leader drew a curved crimson blade.
"Kill them."
The four masked cultivators moved instantly.
There was no warning.
No declaration.
Only killing intent.
"Scatter!"
Lin Yuan shouted.
He dashed sideways just as a blade slashed through the space where he had been standing.
The tree behind him split cleanly into two halves.
It crashed to the ground with a deafening boom.
Li Tian barely rolled away from another attack.
His two followers were slower.
One screamed as a crimson blade pierced his chest.
The other crushed his Azure Identity Token at the last possible moment.
The jade token exploded into brilliant blue light.
A protective formation enveloped him.
An instant later...
He disappeared.
Teleported outside the forest.
His examination was over.
But he was alive.
Zhao Feng gritted his teeth and picked up the shorter half of his broken spear.
It was barely usable.
Even so...
He stood, because he knew he could not at outrun them in his state.
A masked cultivator sneered.
"Still resisting?"
Zhao Feng smiled.
"If I have to die..."
"I'll die standing."
He thrust forward.
The broken spear whistled through the air.
The masked man casually knocked it aside.
The difference between them was clearly overwhelming.
Two of the cultivators attacked Lin Yuan, attacking him from both sides.He was already at a disadvantage because of his lower cultivation,but been attacked by not just one but two cultivators of higher realm made it seem like an almost impossible fight
Lin Yuan's mind raced.
There were four enemies remaining.
Each possessed cultivation at least equal to, if not above, Spirit Foundation.
Individually, they were already dangerous.
Together...
They were impossible to defeat head-on.
He remembered Gu Chen's lessons.
"When you cannot win with strength, win with your surroundings."
Why Perrying an attack from one of he assassins.
His eyes swept across the clearing.
The fallen trees.
The uneven ground.
The thick vines hanging from ancient branches.
Then...
An idea formed.
"Li Tian!"
Lin Yuan shouted.
The young noble looked at him in disbelief.
"What?"
"If we keep fighting each other..."
"We all die."
Li Tian clenched his jaw, blood flowing from different cuts on his body gotten from his attacker.
He hated admitting it.
But Lin Yuan was right.
The Blood Moon Sect intended to silence everyone.
His personal grudge no longer mattered.
After several moments, he gave a reluctant nod.
"For now..."
"We work together."
Zhao Feng laughed.
"I never thought I'd live to see this."
The leader watched the exchange with amusement.
"Children."
He slowly lifted his blade.
"Did you really think..."
"...numbers would make a difference?"
His aura exploded.
A terrifying wave of spiritual qi swept through the clearing.
Leaves were ripped from the trees.
Branches snapped.
Even Li Tian staggered backward.
Lin Yuan's pupils contracted.
"So strong..."
The leader hadn't even attacked yet.
This was merely the pressure released by his cultivation.
For the first time since obtaining the First Chain...
Lin Yuan felt truly insignificant.
Deep within his dantian...
The First Chain began to tremble violently as if angered by the aura
As if responding to the overwhelming danger.
A strand of black light flowed through his meridians.
It did not increase his cultivation.
Instead...
His senses became sharper.
He could hear every footstep.
Every heartbeat.
Every movement of spiritual qi.
The world around him seemed to slow.
The Blood Moon leader vanished.
A heartbeat later
He appeared directly before Lin Yuan.
His crimson blade descended like a bolt of lightning.
Lin Yuan barely managed to raise the Yellow-grade sword.
BOOM!
The impact blasted him backward.
He crashed through two trees before finally stopping.
Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.
His arms shook uncontrollably.
Yet...
The Yellow-grade sword had not broken.
The leader tilted his head slightly.
"You survived?"
"Interesting."
His gaze fell upon the sword in Lin Yuan's hand.
Then he smiled beneath his silver mask.
"It seems..."
"...today's harvest is even greater than expected."
High above the battlefield, hidden among the clouds, an old man wearing worn gray robes silently watched everything unfold.
It was Gu Chen.
His expression was calm.
Yet his eyes were colder than ice.
He had not intervened.
Not because he couldn't.
But because he was waiting.
Waiting for the Blood Moon Sect to reveal everyone they had sent.
Only then...
Would the true hunt begin.