Seeing the state of the sect, even Grand Elder Huo, whose centuries of experience had weathered his judgment, appeared unsettled.
His expression betrayed a rare uncertainty. "From everything I know of the Hidden Cave Sect, this is… an absurdity. Their disciples have always been shadow-walkers, the kind who keep to the dark and strike when least expected. For them to walk openly like this, to live without secrecy, feels impossible."
It was not only the sight of calm that troubled them, but the sheer normalcy of it.
The sect's aura did not carry the nefarious and unsettling energy that always clung to the Ephemera Sect, nor the suffocating madness of the Drowned Crescent Cult. The Hidden Cave Sect disciples here gave off the impression of ordinary cultivators, their qi stable and balanced.
They did not resemble assassins or betrayers but rather diligent, if relaxed, practitioners.
