novelbin Chapter 1004: The Ashen Moon Remnants
Chapter 1004: The Ashen Moon Remnants
The sudden self destruction stunned everyone and for several breaths nobody moved.
Then another voice laughed.
Hong Yao.
The surviving disciple raised his head.
His face looked twisted.
"The Ashen Moon never dies..."
The elders turned, but it was too late again.
A minute later he exploded too.
The second detonation shook the lower prison. The guards were horrified and the supervising elders stood frozen. Everything had happened too quickly. Han Yu silently withdrew.
He could have tried High Elder Zhongli too, but the man was Dao Treading Realm. That remained beyond him, so the disciples became sacrifices instead. News reached the Grand Hall immediately.
The reaction was explosive.
The Patriarch stood abruptly.
"What did you say?"
The reporting elder knelt.
"They self destructed..."
The hall erupted.
Several Peak Heads rose instantly.
The First Lung Peak Head crushed his chair, the Second Lung Peak Head’s aura exploded while High Elder Zhongli staggered. He looked as though his soul had left his body.
His disciples were gone... Both of them.
The Patriarch’s eyes turned cold.
"Arrest him."
The command fell instantly as everyone looked at Zhongli.
The man slowly raised his head, shock filling his face.
"Patriarch..."
But the Jiangshi soldiers had already arrived.
The evidence was overwhelming; the disciples, the caches, the conspiracy and now self destruction.
No one believed it ended with them. As such their master became the obvious next target. High Elder Zhongli did not resist. He looked broken.
Investigations began immediately as his residence was searched. Every hidden room opened, every formation dismantled before finally, then they found it: a hidden vault.
It was known only to him and inside lay more Ashen Moon materials.
Ancient robes.
Insignias.
Correspondence.
Maps.
And most devastating of all... A diary.
It was detailed and seemed to be personally written and its contents stunned everyone.
It spoke of hatred.
Of waiting.
Of revenge against the sect.
Of rebuilding the Ashen Moon.
Of hidden members.
Of plans spanning centuries.
Of infiltrating the sect from within.
Every page buried Zhongli deeper.
Of course... Every word had been written by Han Yu.
The diary alone destroyed the man forever.
Han Yu never saw Zhongli again. Only rumors spread that the man had been taken away, far from Heart Peak and to some hidden place beyond his range. Even his soul could not follow. But none of that mattered for the plan had succeeded.
The sect finally believed it.
There was an enemy within.
A real faction.
An ancient one.
It had a name now.
The Ashen Moon Remnants.
It had disciples.
It had caches.
It had ideology.
It had a High Elder.
And according to the evidence... It had many more members.
Paranoia reached new heights as the Patriarch began suspecting everyone. Peak Heads watched each other, elders checked their own disciples, even the Ancestors no longer trusted appearances.
Han Yu sat quietly in his chamber within Heart Peak.
His face remained calm.
Inside his Soul Space, the Eight Emotions Lotus swayed happily.
Fear.
Suspicion.
Hatred.
Shock.
Despair.
The emotions pouring into him now had become a river.
And somewhere in the sect...
The name Ashen Moon spread like a curse.
A faction that had never existed.
Yet now...
Everyone feared it.
The atmosphere within Heart Peak had become suffocating.
Ever since the Ashen Moon Remnants were "discovered," the sect no longer resembled the terrifying yet orderly force it once had been. Suspicion poisoned everything. Elders watched one another with hidden hostility while disciples no longer trusted even those from the same peak.
The Patriarch had ordered investigations to continue day and night.
No one rested.
No one relaxed.
And within the Grand Hall, another emergency meeting was being held.
The Patriarch sat at the head of the hall while the Peak Heads and High Elders remained gathered below him. Even the three Ancestors had not fully returned to seclusion. Their presence lingered behind the veils at the rear of the hall like ancient mountains pressing down upon everyone.
The mood was grim.
"We know they exist now," the Patriarch spoke slowly. "The Ashen Moon Remnants have infiltrated our sect deeply."
His gaze swept over everyone.
"The question is how many?"
Silence followed.
No one answered.
Because no one knew.
The discovery of Zhongli’s diary had shattered everyone’s confidence. If a High Elder could secretly belong to an ancient enemy faction for centuries, then who else might also be compromised?
The First Lung Peak Head’s face still looked pale and exhausted. The destruction of the Lung Peak inheritances had broken him far more than the death of disciples ever could.
"We need to find their roots," he growled.
"Interrogate everyone related to Zhongli."
"Destroy all hidden cells."
Another Peak Head frowned.
"And if there are more High Elders involved?"
That single sentence made the hall colder. Even now the sect could not determine how far the Ashen Moon Remnants had spread.
One elder suddenly spoke.
"The faction must have a hidden base."
"They cannot operate entirely from within the sect."
Another nodded.
"They likely have outside support too."
"The scale of this conspiracy is too large."
The discussions continued for hours.
Searches.
Purges.
Interrogations.
Every possible method was proposed. But eventually another issue resurfaced.
A terrifying one.
Two peak inheritances had already been erased, a Legacy Disciple had died and no one knew who would be targeted next.
The Patriarch slowly leaned back in his seat.
"We cannot allow another inheritance to disappear."
Everyone quieted immediately.
The Patriarch continued.
"Every peak is to begin making complete backup copies of all inheritance manuals, jade slips, records and cultivation techniques."
Some elders looked reluctant instantly. Even within the Blood Sect, inheritances were highly guarded secrets. Many peaks refused to even let outsiders glimpse their manuals. Yet now the Patriarch’s expression remained cold.
"I do not care whether they are secret."
"I do not care whether they are forbidden."
"They will be copied."
"And they will be stored in secured locations under direct authority of Heart Peak."
No one dared object.