549: Chapter 549 The sect's grand formation actually kept them out as well.

Light gushed out from the ground on both sides of the mountain gate, snapping shut like two invisible doors.

Yun Hezi had already stepped one foot inside, but that force threw his entire body back.

He staggered back and fell to the ground, the back of his head hitting the stone slabs, causing his vision to darken.

The Grand Array had lit up.

The entire ancestral land of the Hehuan Sect was enveloped in a silver-white light.

Array Pattern emerged from the ground, dense and crisscrossing, layered upon each other like a spider web.

Light flowed through the Array Pattern, emitting a low hum as if something deep underground was awakening.

The sound wasn't loud, but it was highly penetrating, as if it were ringing directly inside one's head.

Sect Leader Qing Fengzi and Mingyuezi were also blocked outside.

They slapped the light screen desperately; their palms sizzled and their flesh charred from the heat, but they couldn't feel the pain.

They only knew that they couldn't get in.

Several Disciples were running too fast and couldn't stop in time, crashing headlong into the light screen.

The moment their bodies touched that layer of silver-white light, they were sucked in by a terrifying force.

The light churned violently, like an invisible giant beast opening its mouth to devour them.

Their screams were short, so short they only managed to utter half a syllable before everything vanished.

Their bodies dissolved within the light like ice cubes dropped into boiling water, instantly turning into nothingness.

Yun Hezi lay on the ground, watching this scene, completely dumbfounded.

His mind went blank, with only one thought echoing repeatedly—Xu Ruyu has blocked us outside too.

His Grand Array has blocked even us, the people of the Hehuan Sect, outside.

Sect Leader Qing Fengzi sat slumped on the ground, staring blankly at the light screen.

Blood was still dripping from his fingers, but he couldn't feel the pain.

He only saw that the mountain gate they had fought so hard to defend, the chance to return that they had traded their lives for, and the only path of retreat they thought they had, was personally blocked off by Xu Ruyu.

Mingyuezi knelt on the ground, his hands propping him up as his shoulders heaved violently.

His back was still bleeding; the blood flowed down his waist and soaked his robes.

He didn't speak, nor did he cry; he just knelt there like a hollowed-out statue.

The dozens of surviving Disciples also stopped in their tracks, staring blankly at the light screen.

Their faces were smeared with blood and grime, their eyes filled with terror.

They thought they would be safe as long as they ran here, believing that once they passed through this mountain gate, Xu Ruyu and Xiao Nianyin would protect them.

But the mountain gate was closed—not against the outsiders, but against them.

Behind them, the people of the Righteous Path Alliance had already caught up.

The old man at the Early Saint Realm stood at the front, frowning slightly as he examined the suddenly revealed Grand Array.

He extended the tip of his sword and lightly touched the silver-white light screen.

A ripple spread across the screen before it returned to calm.

The tip of his sword turned red from the heat, as if it had been bitten by something.

He withdrew his sword and took a step back.

"What a formidable array."

He murmured.

Then he looked toward Yun Hezi and the others, his gaze full of mockery.

"It seems you traitors have been abandoned by your Sect. Your Sect Master doesn't want you anymore."

"But it makes sense. How could a group of people who betrayed their Sect when it was in trouble ever be allowed to return?"

"If you ask me, Xu Ruyu is being merciful by not killing you himself."

"And yet you actually thought you could redeem yourselves with service? Do people like you even have that ability?"

"Xu Ruyu clearly holds a grudge; he's leaving you here to die, playing a game of 'killing with a borrowed knife'!"

Yun Hezi did not answer.

He lay miserably on the ground, looking at the silver-white light screen, the faintly visible mountain gate behind it, and the blurred buildings within.

Countless thoughts churned in his mind, a tangled mess.

He remembered his decisiveness when he first defected from the Hehuan Sect, his greed when he sold information to the Meiying Sect, his ecstasy upon learning the Tianshu Sword Sect had been wiped out, and his urgency when he rushed back to the Hehuan Sect.

He thought Xu Ruyu would forgive them.

He thought Xu Ruyu was a man of great sentiment and loyalty, who would surely see their determination and allow them to return to the Hehuan Sect.

He thought that if they fought to the death here, Xu Ruyu would be moved and accept them.

He thought he was making a big gamble; if he won, he wouldn't have to worry for the rest of his life.

He lost.

He lost completely.

It wasn't that Xu Ruyu didn't see their determination, but that he simply didn't care.

From beginning to end, he had no intention of letting them back in.

Letting them guard the mountain gate wasn't to give them a chance to atone, but to send them to their deaths.

Using their blood to warn those who still harbored treacherous thoughts.

Yun Hezi closed his eyes, tears seeping from the corners.

Meanwhile, inside the Hehuan Sect, Xu Ruyu stood on a high platform in front of the Main Hall, watching everything outside the mountain gate through the silver-white light screen.

Xiao Nianyin stood by his side, with Leng Ningshuang, Zhao Yan, Ning Caihe, and Qingyan behind them. The Grand Elder, Hua Xunhuan, and Granny Liu were also present.

Over three hundred Disciples of the Hehuan Sect stood in the square. No one spoke; everyone was watching the scene outside the gate.

Outside, Yun Hezi lay on the ground, Sect Leader Qing Fengzi sat slumped, and Mingyuezi knelt.

The dozens of surviving Disciples stood before the light screen, not daring to take another step forward.

The people of the Righteous Path Alliance closed in from behind, surrounding them completely.

Those people looked at them like prey, their gazes full of mockery and cruelty.

The Grand Elder watched for a long time before finally unable to help himself. He walked to Xu Ruyu's side and whispered, "Sect Master, are we really not going to help them? Though they betrayed us, they were once part of the Hehuan Sect."

"Now they are fighting with their lives... watching them die like this, is it..."