Meng Jueyan said that the person who had touched the orb screamed in agony, clutching their body as veins turned black and bulged under their skin.

A strange energy erupted from within them, flooding out uncontrollably. Then, their body convulsed, swelling unnaturally before disintegrating into a cloud of fine dust that scattered in the air.

The details were too vivid, too terrifying to be mistaken for a mistake or illusion. Han Yu's breath hitched, his pulse quickening. He was about to ask her what these shrines looked like in greater detail when her next message arrived.

She described it clearly this time: a lone stone pillar standing in the middle of a ruined shrine, with a dull, stony orb placed upon its top.

"What?" Han Yu froze.

His entire body went rigid, and his head snapped up in the direction of his fellow disciples.

There, only a few dozen steps away, was exactly what she had described.

The very same formation of stone and orb stood in front of his group, surrounded by disciples who were beginning to poke at it curiously. His stomach sank, and a cold dread spread through his chest.

It could not be coincidence.

"Stop!" Han Yu shouted, his voice breaking the still silence of the ruins. "Get away from that thing right now!"

Several disciples turned toward him in confusion. One of them, Junior Jun, looked back with a puzzled expression. "Senior Han? What's wrong? It's just a stone—"

Before Han Yu could reach them, Jun extended his hand and placed it on the orb.

SHUA

The moment his palm made contact, the stone lit up with a blinding grayish-white light that pulsed like a heartbeat.

Rumble

The air around them trembled as if something ancient had awakened.

"ARRGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!"

Jun's eyes went wide, his mouth opening in a silent scream before an agonized cry tore out of him. His body jerked violently as veins bulged across his skin, glowing faintly with a sickly, pale light. His fellow disciples stumbled back in shock, unsure whether to help or flee.

"Jun! Step back!" one shouted, but it was already too late.

WOOM WOOM WOOM WOOM

The ground beneath him shuddered as energy began to leak from his body—wild, unstable, and utterly foreign. It did not feel like Qi, nor like spiritual energy. It was something rawer, fierce, and suffocating. The air grew heavy, as if the shrine itself was holding its breath.

"UGHHHHAA!"

Then, with a sound that seemed both wet and dry at once, Jun's body convulsed again. His flesh swelled outward, cracking in several places, before his entire form burst apart into a cloud of gray dust.

SPLAT

The explosion was quick, yet deafening in its horror.

The dust hung suspended in the air for a long moment, glittering faintly under the illusionary light of the false sky. Then, as if carried by an invisible wind, it dispersed, leaving nothing behind.

Not even bones.

The only thing that remained was the stony orb, still resting calmly atop its pedestal, completely untouched.

The disciples stood frozen, their faces pale and eyes wide. The earlier curiosity had turned into paralyzing fear.

CLANG

One of them dropped his sword with a clatter, breaking the awful silence.

Han Yu's chest heaved as he tried to make sense of what he had just witnessed. His heart pounded in his ears, and his mind went blank for several seconds. The exact event Meng Jueyan had described had unfolded right in front of him.

He could feel the faint buzzing of the jade slip at his side again, as another message arrived, but he could not bring himself to check it immediately. His gaze remained locked on the orb, cold sweat running down the side of his neck.

It did not make sense. There was no Qi fluctuation, no array activity, no signs of spiritual activation that he could detect even now. Yet the orb had annihilated Jun in a manner beyond comprehension.

Whatever this thing was, it was not simply a relic. It was a trap—one that had been left behind by forces that understood the nature of life and Qi in ways modern cultivators could not begin to grasp.

And worse still, Elder Wei seemed to know about it.

As the wind whispered through the shattered stones, Han Yu clenched his fists tightly, his mind spinning. He had no doubt now that the other shrines Meng Jueyan mentioned were of the same origin. The realization left him cold.

They were not exploring ruins at all. They were walking through a graveyard designed by something ancient... and still very much awake.

.

.

.

The silence that followed was suffocating.

No one spoke.

No one even moved.

The air was thick, as though time itself had halted after that horrific explosion of dust. The faint particles that had once been Junior Jun still hung in the air, glimmering faintly like ash under the illusionary sunlight filtering through the clouds.

Every disciple in the group stood frozen in disbelief. Their expressions were pale, eyes wide, and hands trembling. The earlier sense of discovery and excitement had vanished entirely, replaced by sheer horror and confusion.

Han Yu's mind was a blur, yet his instincts screamed for him to act. He could still feel the pulse of Qi in the surroundings with his enhanced perception, something hidden beneath the earth and the crumbled shrine.

It was faint now, but imperceptible before. Though as if trying to make announcing its presence, it now throbbed like a heartbeat.

Jun was gone—utterly gone. Not even a scrap of clothing remained.

Han Yu swallowed hard, forcing his limbs to move.

"Stay alert," he finally managed to say, his voice low and taut with tension.

He stepped forward cautiously, his senses fully spread out. The air felt wrong, as though the world had taken a shallow breath and refused to exhale.

No one responded at first.

Wu Shuan looked like he was trying to comprehend what had happened, his eyes darting from the pedestal to the empty space where Jun had stood. Two other disciples backed away a few steps, their breathing ragged, while another stumbled and nearly fell.