The vast stone grounds of the Central Sun-Moon Plaza were blanketed in a suffocating silence so heavy it seemed to freeze the very act of breathing.
Positioned directly in the center of the carved mountain platform stood a fifty-foot ancient stone archway—the primary entry portal to the Secret Realm of the Ancient Sun-Moon Abyss. Deep within its massive frame, dark purple spatial ripples swirled with violent energy and dark, shifting shadows. Exactly one month prior, more than two hundred elite inner disciples from the Four Great Peaks had stepped across this threshold into the treacherous expanse. Yet today, as the spatial channel approached the final seconds before its complete shut-off, no signs of life emanated from the realm within.
Encircling the perimeter of the plaza stood high-tier Elders, Peak Masters, and Direct Disciples representing various factions. The biting mountain wind whipped through the mist, tugging at the edges of their dark robes, but not a single voice broke the stillness. The atmosphere was thick with an inescapable, ominous dread.
Under normal circumstances, this precise moment should have witnessed battered, blood-stained survivor squads tumbling out from the portal—carrying fractured swords, nursing venomous wounds, and clutching rare First-Grade Spirit Herbs or Primordial Beast Cores. The plaza ought to have reverberated with shouts, frantic movement, and the chaotic relief of survival. Instead, the swirling purple vortex was slowly dimming into a featureless black abyss, and not a single disciple's shadow had crossed the spatial boundary.
Standing under the banner of Shadow Moon Peak was Protector Elder Shu-Lin. Clad in dark silk robes, her withered hands gripped a wooden staff carved in the shape of a coiled serpent. Her sharp, venomous gaze remained fixed on the dying portal while the senior direct disciples surrounding her turned increasingly pale.
"What is taking them so long?" Protector Elder Shu-Lin rasped under her breath, her dry voice sounding like grinding iron. "Gu Yan's squad... Feng's strike team... every team carried Linked Spatial Beacons. Had they encountered an unexpected crisis, they should have signaled the portal immediately!"
A few paces away, a broad-shouldered elder from Imperial Dragon Peak stood with arms crossed over his chest, his brow furrowed in deep concern. "Senior Brother Xiang's group included at least two Peak Stage Four Foundation Establishment experts, equipped with Third-Grade Bone-Carved Spatial Armor. Even if they encountered a Stage Five Primordial Void Beast inside the Secret Realm, they possessed more than enough capability to fall back toward the extraction point. How can it be that not a single soul has returned?"
While the mounting anxiety among the elders threatened to consume the plaza, a middle-aged woman adorned in silk robes stood watching the scene below from the high VIP balcony. Expensive metal hairpins held her styled hair, while her fair complexion was marred by a cold, venomous malice.
Standing two paces behind her like a motionless shadow was a figure clad in unbranded, pitch-black leather and iron armor. The individual's face was fully wrapped in cloth, leaving only two cold, merciless eyes visible. He was a Family Secret Handyman—a covert operative sent directly from the main clan estate.
This middle-aged woman was none other than the birth mother of Hao-Lin and Shu-Lin.
Her fingernails dug deeply into her silk sleeves. In her eyes, Railin was neither family nor true blood. Born to a low-status servant woman who was never granted legal status or social recognition as a wife by Railin's father, how could such a child be permitted to grow under the clan's backing?
The clan's Patriarch and senior elders had kept the true secret of Railin's birth hidden for reasons unknown to the rest of the world. Rather than discarding him entirely, they had granted him room to survive—a decision that bred deep jealousy and fear within the heart of Hao-Lin and Shu-Lin's mother.
From the day Railin was born, his body had exhibited a rare, mythical Golden Aptitude—an Emperor Level Qualification so exceptionally rare that it appeared perhaps once in centuries. By contrast, her own son, Hao-Lin, possessed only a Green-Rank Talent, while her daughter, Shu-Lin, held a Yellow-Rank Talent.
A bitter, toxic fear had taken root in her mind: what if the clan's leadership, awed by Railin's extraordinary talent, eventually decided to hand the future of the entire family to him? How could any mother tolerate an outsider stepping over her own children, casting their futures into permanent shadow?
Driven by this deep-seated fear and jealousy, she had orchestrated one hidden scheme after another to undermine Railin.
"Have the secret guards along the lower trail been properly positioned?" the woman asked in a hushed, icy whisper, without turning her head.
The handyman behind her bowed slightly, his voice sounding like a low hiss. "Rest assured, Madam. Should that servant's son somehow emerge alive from that abyss, our dark handymen positioned along the secluded mountain trail are prepared. Before he can ever reach his cultivation cave, his spine and dantian will be shattered. Furthermore, Young Master Hao-Lin and Miss Shu-Lin have already exerted quiet political pressure through Shadow Moon Peak and the outer lines."
A cold, cruel smile touched the woman's lips. "Very good. That parasite shall not touch the resources and privileges that rightfully belong to my children. His very existence is an insult to our bloodline."
CRACK—!
Suddenly, a thunderous spatial rupture shattered the silence of the plaza!
The fifty-foot stone archway shuddered violently as the dark purple spatial channel flared with a blinding flash, releasing a wave of violent Void Pressure across the stone grounds.
"The portal is collapsing!" an elder from the Registration Hall shouted in alarm. "Fall back, everyone! This is the final extraction pulse!"
Thousands of watching disciples and high-tier masters instantly locked their gazes onto the collapsing center of the vortex.
SWISH—!
Out from the blinding eruption of spatial energy, a calm, well-proportioned figure stepped smoothly onto the stone platform.
Directly behind him, the giant archway let out a final, hollow hum before collapsing completely into dust. The ancient Sun-Moon Abyss vanished, sealing itself off from the realm for another hundred years.
A profound silence washed over the Central Plaza once more.
The young man who had emerged did not fall to his knees in exhaustion. He was not gasping for air, nor did his navy-blue robes carry a single trace of blood, dust, or damage.
Railin stood motionless upon the stone platform, his hands tucked loosely into his wide sleeves. The cool mountain breeze gently stirred his dark hair. His pale face remained completely composed, while his pitch-black eyes were as calm and unreadable as a dark, fathomless lake.
He was entirely alone. Out of the more than two hundred elite inner disciples who had entered the lethal secret realm, Railin was the sole survivor to walk back out.
BOOM—!
Before the onlookers could fully process the gravity of the scene, an invisible, heavy, and suffocating aura erupted softly from Railin's body!
It was not the light or unrefined aura of a Stage Three cultivator. It was a dense, majestic pressure that stood like an immovable mountain—unmistakably signaling that Railin had successfully reached Early-Stage Four Foundation Establishment!
"Stage... Stage Four?!" the Registration Hall elder gasped, pointing a trembling finger. "He entered the realm at Mid-Stage Three! How could his foundation reach Stage Four in less than a month?!"
"Where are the others?!" Protector Elder Shu-Lin slammed her serpent staff against the stone floor, taking a sharp step forward! BANG! Her withered face twisted in shock and rising fury. "Where is Gu Yan?! Where is Feng?! Where is the main team from Shadow Moon Peak?!"
The broad-shouldered elder from Imperial Dragon Peak also stepped forward, his Stage Five aura flaring wildly. "Speak, boy! What happened to Senior Brother Xiang and the rest of our peak's disciples?!"
Railin slowly turned his head, his dark, calm eyes meeting the fierce gazes of the two elders. His expression bore no trace of fear, panic, or hesitation; his face remained a cold, unreadable mask.
"The space within the abyss is volatile and lawless, Elders," Railin said, his smooth, composed voice carrying clearly across the silent plaza. "Spatial fissures do not respect identity, and primordial void beasts do not check clan or peak titles before preying on cultivators. If they failed to return... then their remains now belong to the abyss."
"You lie!" Protector Elder Shu-Lin shrieked, her dark aura rising around her like toxic smoke. "Gu Yan carried an Earth-Tier Shadow Talisman! Xiang wore specialized spatial armor! Your body carries traces of compressed void energy! Did you—"
"Elder Shu-Lin! Know your place!"
A cold, majestic voice resounded from above, instantly freezing the volatile atmosphere!
SWISH—!
A flash of pure white frost-light swept across the platform as Peak Master Bing Lian of Ice Mystic Peak materialized directly in front of Railin. Her white mantle fluttered in the freezing wind, and her icy-blue eyes locked onto Protector Elder Shu-Lin with absolute authority.
"The rules of the Secret Realm Trial have remained absolute for three thousand years," Peak Master Bing Lian said coldly. "Whatever transpires within the Abyss stays within the Abyss. Railin emerged as the sole victor through his own fortune, talent, and strength, achieving Stage Four in the process. If Shadow Moon Peak or any other faction wishes to accuse our Assembly Champion of foul play, present clear physical evidence—or step back."
Protector Elder Shu-Lin's hands trembled against her staff, her face dark with suppressed rage. Evidence? With the portal sealed for a century, where could any physical evidence possibly be gathered?
Up on the VIP balcony, Hao-Lin and Shu-Lin's mother stared down at Railin with a pale, venomous face.
"He reached Stage Four..." she whispered through gritted teeth, her fingers tearing into her silk sleeves. "In just two months... he bypassed my Hao-Lin's Green-Rank progress so easily..."
Beside her, the secret handyman narrowed his eyes, his hand resting on the hilt of a concealed blade. "Madam... his foundation is remarkably solid. He did not force this breakthrough through reckless means. If he reaches Ice Mystic Peak to consolidate his power—"
"Eliminate him," the mother whispered, her tone laced with absolute malice. "Do not allow him to reach his cave. Inform the handymen along the mountain path. I want his dantian destroyed today!"
Unbothered by the quiet storms brewing around him, Railin bowed respectfully toward Peak Master Bing Lian, turned on his heel, and began walking down the stone steps of the plaza.
As he moved past the silent crowds of disciples, his spiritual sense clearly picked up two intense gazes observing him from the eastern balcony.
Standing among the elite disciples of Sword Peak was his half-brother, Hao-Lin. Hao-Lin's face was dark with humiliation and jealousy, his fists clenched tightly. The pride he had derived from his Green-Rank Talent felt utterly crushed beneath the Stage Four pressure Railin radiated. The brother he had dismissed as the son of a mere servant now stood at a height that caused his own meridian lines to tremble.
Standing near the delegates of the Central Council was his cousin, Shu-Lin. While her delicate face appeared entirely composed, her sharp, Yellow-Rank eyes remained fixed on Railin with icy, calculating intent.
Railin did not pause, nor did he offer them a single glance.
To him, their jealousy, their mother's poisonous fear, and the covert operatives sent to ambush him were nothing more than minor ripples in a vast ocean.
He walked past the central plaza and stepped onto the quiet, mist-shrouded mountain trail leading toward Ice Mystic Peak. Deep within his pitch-black eyes, a quiet, predatory light flickered.
The true battle within the sect had only just begun.
SEE YOU IN NEXT CHAPTER!