CHAPTER 260: PRETENDING TO BE A HIDDEN ELDER

Meng stared down at the corpse for a long moment before finally turning back to Han Yu.

She didn’t speak.

He stepped forward quietly, then gave her a small, approving nod.

"You did well."

Meng straightened up unconsciously. She hadn’t realized until now how much she wanted his approval—but it was clear this man carried some hidden authority, and it affected her more than she liked to admit.

Han Yu looked at her more directly now.

"What’s your name and designation?" he asked.

"Meng Jueyan," she replied. "Outer Sect Senior Disciple. I serve in the Discipline Hall."

Han Yu gave another small nod, as though cataloging the information.

Meng hesitated, then added, "May I... ask what I should call you?"

There was a long silence.

The wind rustled through the trees. The night was dark, but clear, and the scent of blood hung heavy in the air.

Then Han Yu spoke.

"You may call me Elder Yi."

Meng’s eyes widened slightly. "Elder...?"

He nodded slowly, as if expecting the reaction. "Not one registered in the usual rolls. I answer only to the Patriarch."

Meng instinctively lowered her gaze again.

She had heard rumors of such things—hidden elders, deep investigators, shadowy enforcers who worked behind the scenes to root out corruption and enforce the will of the patriarch.

She’d never met one.

And now, here stood one in the flesh.

"I see," she whispered. "Then... what do you require of me, Elder Yi?"

Han Yu didn’t answer immediately.

His mind was still piecing everything together.

The Magma Ancestor’s altar. A forbidden force. Mist Eye Sect elders risking corruption for power. And now, Meng Jueyan—someone who’d dared to speak against it, even when cornered.

She had courage, at least. Some skill. And she could be useful.

Han Yu stared at the corpse of the red-eyed woman, then turned his gaze back toward the distant mountains, barely visible in the moonlight.

The Slumbering Caldera

There, perhaps, lay the truth.

And danger.

He would need more strength. More tools. More certainty before he ventured toward it.

But now he had a thread to follow—and a potential ally in Meng Jueyan.

"You need to be careful and don’t dare to reveal my identity or what happened today to anyone. Elder Wei’s connections have grown deep." Han Yu said, revealing a bit of information.

This made Meng Jueyan’s eyes narrow.

’He even knows about Elder Wei... He’s definitely not someone simple.’ She thought.

Having said that, Han Yu turned away from the scene without another word, his cloak trailing behind him.

Meng stood in silence, staring after him.

In her chest, her heart beat rapidly—not from fear, but from something else.

’A test,’ she thought. ’I passed.’

And now... she could only wonder what path Elder Yi would carve next—and whether she would be able to keep up.

Meng Jueyan lingered by the dead body, lost in thought.

The trees around them whispered in the night wind, the faint glow of moonlight casting long shadows across the blood-stained forest floor. The weight of the interrogation still clung to her bones—alongside the deeper, more unnerving thought of the masked expert who now walked several paces ahead.

She didn’t realize he had stopped until his voice cut through the silence.

"Are you planning to waste more time standing around?"

His tone wasn’t harsh—but it was absolute.

Meng flinched slightly, instinctively straightening her back. "Apologies, Elder Yi."

She hurried after him, boots crunching softly on the forest undergrowth. They walked together now, though Han Yu stayed a half-step ahead, his posture relaxed but alert. The moon overhead had begun its slow descent, and the sky hinted faintly at dawn’s earliest grays.

The silence stretched between them, but neither found it awkward.

Han Yu, for his part, was too preoccupied to care.

He hadn’t expected the Soul Stinging Finger to work that well.

It had been a gamble—an instinctual move, executed more on impulse than planning. A simple jab of soul qi, shaped like a tiny needle, aimed directly at the meridians of a distracted cultivator. At most, he had hoped for hesitation or pain.

But the result had exceeded his expectations.

They had frozen.

One after another, just before they struck Meng Jueyan, their movements stilled entirely as if their instincts were overridden by sheer spiritual terror. The precision of his technique—and the panic it induced—had done far more than just save Meng.

It had sown fear.

And from fear... came power.

Wisps of Eight Emotions energy now danced quietly around Han Yu, invisible to all but his inner senses. He could feel them entering his soul core—tendrils of fear, surprise, and veneration. Dozens of them. Small, soft filaments of sentiment drawn from every look of awe, every gasp of terror, every thread of anticipation.

Even now, as they walked, more came.

From Meng.

From her curiosity.

Her reverence.

Her unease.

Han Yu allowed himself a quiet, subtle smile.

’Pretending to be an expert is more profitable than I thought.’

The key was balance—projecting power while staying hidden. His cultivation base was still at the Late Stage of Qi Refinement; he couldn’t afford to be exposed. But the Undying Destiny Severence Technique, especially when fueled by genuine Eight Emotions energy, gave him tools far beyond what his realm should allow.

And so long as he played the role well...

He could keep climbing.

Just a few more steps. Just a few more believers.

He kept his voice low, as if speaking to himself—but loud enough for her to hear.

"You’re too stiff. Kill when you must, hesitate never. That kind of delay will get you killed."

"Yes, Elder," Meng said quickly. She wasn’t sure if he was chastising her for not following, or for hesitating earlier during the battle, but she accepted the criticism either way.

’He really does walk like someone used to giving orders,’ she thought.

Meng’s mind was spinning. She couldn’t sense anything remarkable from his qi. On the surface, it felt no higher than Qi Refinement, perhaps late-stage. That alone should have marked him as a junior disciple or rogue.