"Stay calm. Don't confront anyone yet. Send your coordinates if possible. We'll try to determine if the interference in your area is artificial or natural." Han Yu sent.

The jade slip pulsed faintly, indicating that the message had been sent, though it might take some time to reach her.

As he waited for a reply, Han Yu's mind turned rapidly.

Elder Wei's faction had always been aggressive, but if they were using Meng Jueyan's team as bait, it meant there was a deeper motive behind this exploration. Perhaps they were trying to lure a rival faction or even attract the attention of something within the inner realm itself.

A chill passed through him.

He glanced around again, the illusory light reflecting faintly in his eyes. The ruins felt suddenly more oppressive, as though watching him in silence.

The inner realm had already proven itself strange, its environment far from ordinary.

If Elder Wei's faction was plotting something, they might be doing so in cooperation with another power. Han Yu could not shake the thought of the violet-robed schemers he had seen from afar—the ones who had somehow evaded even the elders' senses.

"Are they involved again?" he thought grimly.

Just then, a faint flicker of light appeared on the jade slip again—Meng Jueyan's reply.

[This finally reached you??? You didn't see the previous message????]

Seeing the message, Han Yu felt cold.

"What do you mean?" Han Yu quickly replied, waiting for a reply.

He straightened and looked toward the others. None had noticed anything unusual. The wind rustled through the vines, carrying a faint, dry scent of dust and decay.

He knew something was wrong, but for now, he would keep this matter to himself. But inside, he knew one thing clearly...this was no ordinary exploration anymore.

Something larger was unfolding within the inner realm, and he was standing at the edge of its shadow.

"Hey! Everyone!" Han Yu was still carefully examining the inner section of the shrine when a startled shout reached his ears.

Turning his head, he saw several disciples gathered around something that appeared to have been unearthed from beneath a pile of ancient debris.

Dust hung thick in the air, mingling with the scent of old moss and wet soil. The ruins, already desolate and quiet, now carried a heavy tension as everyone moved closer to inspect the discovery.

It took only a few moments for Han Yu to realize that what they had uncovered was not merely a piece of broken architecture.

At first glance, it had seemed like the remnant of a stone pillar, perhaps something that once held up part of the shrine's roof. But as more fragments were brushed away, its shape became clearer.

What stood before them was a two-meter-tall pedestal, its surface covered in a thin layer of grime and cracked vines. Resting at the top was a round, stony orb that looked perfectly ordinary, like a river rock polished by time.

There was no hint of Qi fluctuation, no faint ripple that would suggest it held energy or an array within. It was simply there, silent and unmoving. The disciples looked at it with curiosity, some whispering amongst themselves, while others circled around it with puzzled expressions.

"What is it?" one of them asked, his voice low but filled with intrigue.

"Maybe some kind of relic," another suggested. "Could it be something to test spiritual sense? Or maybe a sealing artifact?"

But as more and more theories were tossed around, Han Yu felt an odd sensation in his gut.

'This does not seem right...' It was not fear, exactly, but an instinctive wariness.

He had learned to trust these feelings, intuition born from countless battles and close encounters. Even though the orb did not radiate any hostility, something about it felt wrong, as though it was waiting for something to happen.

He began to approach the pedestal, narrowing his eyes to see if there were any faint engravings or patterns he might have missed from afar. Yet before he could begin his examination, he felt the faint buzzing sensation against his waist again... the high-grade communication jade slip.

Han Yu's heart skipped a beat. He knew a reply had come from Meng Jueyan.

Pretending to continue his inspection of the broken tiles near a collapsed wall, he discreetly took out the jade slip and injected a strand of Qi into it to check the message. His expression shifted immediately as he read the words forming in his mind.

Meng Jueyan's tone was urgent, and her words came in short bursts, as if she were sending them in haste.

She explained that her faction had been forced into a dangerous situation by Elder Wei. The elder had organized an expedition, sending several smaller groups to various ruined shrines scattered throughout the inner realm.

At first, nothing had seemed out of place. They were told to search for relics and rare treasures, just like the other sects. But then, one by one, her faction's members had stopped responding. Messages that should have arrived within minutes were lost to silence.

Only after several hours did she realize that something was terribly wrong.

'This definitely does not seem right.' Han Yu's grip on the jade slip tightened.

He had suspected for some time that Elder Wei's motives were far from pure.

The old man had been acting strangely even before the expedition began, often manipulating which disciples went where and who they were paired with. Hearing this confirmation from Meng Jueyan made Han Yu's earlier suspicions take on a far darker tone.

Her next message came swiftly, and Han Yu's expression darkened further as he read it.

She said that Elder Wei's people had found several strange shrines across the inner realm: ancient ruins with large stone pillars topped by round orbs. When disciples touched them, something horrific occurred.

Han Yu could almost feel her panic bleeding through the jade slip as she described the scene.

As soon as he read the message, Han Yu felt his heart drop.