127: Chapter 127 Heavenly Mystery Sect

The next morning.

Yingxian Pavilion.

The piercing sunlight could not penetrate the accumulated gloom within this wooden building.

The damp smell of mold mixed with a faint, elusive scent of blood spread silently in the stillness.

Inside the eastern side chamber on the second floor, candle flames flickered, illuminating several faces etched with solemnity.

Lu Bingyun and Ye Xishui stood side by side by the window, their tall and slender figures like elegant jade trees.

Even shrouded in shadow, their peerless grace and beauty were impossible to conceal.

Lu Bingyun wore a plain white gown, its hem hanging like wisps of cloud. When she slightly turned her head, the elegant line of her neck resembled a swan's, yet her eyes held an unfathomable layer of frost.

Ye Xishui was dressed in a light green gauze robe, a silk ribbon cinched at her waist, accentuating her perfectly proportioned figure and noble bearing.

She kept her eyes downcast in silence, her long eyelashes casting faint shadows beneath them, her fingers unconsciously twisting a tassel on her sleeve.

The motion was extremely light, yet it betrayed the unease surging secretly in her heart.

Tu Shan Xiaoxiao sat on a sandalwood chair in the corner, her fox-like eyes half-lidded as her gaze swept over everyone's faces, as if scrutinizing something.

Wei Guodong and Jin Mei stood by the door, one with arms crossed and brows furrowed, the other looking down and twisting the hem of her clothes, their expressions wary as if facing a formidable enemy.

This was Chen Zilong's room.

At this moment, he stood in the center of the room, having gathered all the survivors here.

The air was thick with a near-viscous silence, where even breathing seemed cautious.

Everyone already knew—Lin Yue was dead.

She died covering Ye Xishui's retreat.

When the news arrived, Ye Xishui's body swayed almost imperceptibly.

She then tightly bit her lower lip until it turned pale.

She did not cry, but the pain in her eyes spread like cracks in ice, silent and inexorable.

Lu Bingyun reached out and gently placed a hand on her shoulder.

The warmth from her fingertips seeped through the thin fabric, the only tangible warmth in this cold morning.

Chen Zilong's expression remained composed, showing little shock at this.

He was always calm to the point of appearing cold.

Now, he merely gave a slight nod, signaling for Ye Xishui to continue.

Ye Xishui took a deep breath, raised her pale face, and spoke in a voice tinged with a barely perceptible tremor:

"Village Chief did all this for one thing only—to revive the Tianji Sect."

She paused, looked around at everyone, and continued:

"Village Chief is the current sect leader of the Tianji Sect. Half of the 'mortals' in this village are Tianji Sect disciples in disguise."

As her words fell, an invisible chill seemed to sweep through the room.

Tu Shan Xiaoxiao's fingers lightly tapped the armrest, the rhythm faltering for a moment.

Wei Guodong's Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed a gasp about to escape his lips.

Chen Zilong's gaze sharpened slightly.

He had heard of the Tianji Sect from Liu Mei.

That once supremely glorious sect, with countless disciples and influence surpassing even the current Xuantian Sect.

It was once one of the five permanent member sects of the Cultivation Alliance, rightfully considered the paramount leader on this continent.

They were masters of warfare, divination, fortune-telling, celestial phenomena...

All sorts of profound and mysterious arts, unfathomably deep.

However, a great calamity caused this colossal entity to collapse.

"Over a thousand years ago,"

Ye Xishui's voice lowered, as if carrying the dust of history, "the Tianji Sect divined a calamity that would sweep across the continent—a massive invasion by subterranean demonic tribes, an inevitable war between humans and demons. As the world's foremost sect, the Tianji Sect shouldered the responsibility without hesitation, becoming the vanguard against the demonic tribes."

Her gaze grew distant, as if piercing through time to witness the bloody, fiery scenes of that brutal conflict.

"That battle... darkened the heavens and eclipsed the sun and moon. Although forces like the Xuantian Sect later became involved, the fiercest part of the war was always borne by the Tianji Sect. In the end, humanity achieved a pyrrhic victory. With the strength of their entire sect, the Tianji Sect laid down the Primordial Eight Trigrams Formation, sealing the main force of the demonic tribes in the Qiongming Land—what is now the forbidden ground of the Xuantian Sect."

"So that's why Lin Yi, the demonic spy on Fire Cloud Peak, schemed so meticulously to break that seal," Chen Zilong silently thought.

The room was so quiet one could hear a pin drop. Outside the window, a thin mist had gathered at some point, its grayish-white tendrils creeping against the paper panes like countless peering ghosts.

"After this battle, all major sects suffered heavy losses and retreated behind closed doors to recuperate."

Ye Xishui's tone turned cold, "Yet not long after, the Qingyun Sect actually allied with the Hehuan Sect, Tiansha Sect, Jinguang Temple, and others to take advantage of their weakness, joining forces to annihilate the Tianji Sect, which was already at the end of its strength."

A piece of sealed-off history, steeped in blood and betrayal, slowly unfolded in the faint morning light.

Everyone had believed the Tianji Sect was long since utterly erased from the annals of cultivation history.

"No one could have imagined,"

Ye Xishui said, word by word, "that for a thousand years, they have been lying dormant here, in this seemingly ordinary mortal village."

From then on, this village gained a new name—Tianji Village.

A name heavy with a burdensome past and hidden ambitions.

However, the news Ye Xishui brought back also raised deeper questions.

Chen Zilong's brow furrowed tightly, confusion and wariness rising in his eyes:

"There are a few points I cannot understand. Since most of the village are their people, and we are all seen as sacrificial offerings, with Village Chief's cultivation, she clearly could have captured us all when we first entered the village, completely unprepared. Why go through such elaborate circles?"

He paused, his voice lowering further, as if afraid of disturbing something intangible in the air:

"And also, this village... is far too eerie. Those paths that disappear and reappear, the white shadows wandering at night, the sobbing sounds from the well bottom..."

"Besides the sacrificial rites, what else is happening here? What exactly has the Tianji Sect, lying dormant here for a thousand years, been plotting?"

Chen Zilong's questions were like stones dropped into still water, sending ripples through everyone's heart.

Lu Bingyun gave a slight nod, sharing the same doubts.

She gracefully lifted a hand, tucking a strand of black hair that had slipped beside her cheek behind her ear. The movement was composed, but her gaze was sharp as a blade, sweeping across every dim corner of the room.

Wei Guodong couldn't help but shiver, instinctively moving closer to Jin Mei beside him.

Jin Mei's face was pale, her hands clasped tightly together, her knuckles white from the force.

Ye Xishui remained silent. Her gaze slowly swept over everyone's unsettled, doubtful faces, finally settling on the increasingly dense mist outside the window.

Within the mist, a distorted shadow seemed to flit past.

"That is also what I wish to know."

He finally spoke, his voice low and steady, yet carrying the oppressive sense of an impending storm, "What price does the revival of the Tianji Sect demand?"

"And what role do we play in this thousand-year-old game of chess?"

Inside the room, the candle flame suddenly leaped, making the shadows on everyone's faces writhe menacingly.

Terror, like spreading vines, silently coiled around each person's heart.