As Han Yu looked up, he saw tall towers, their tops jagged and half-collapsed, loomed over the barrier.

From a distance, they seemed to pierce the mist that hung above the ruins. Their surfaces were uneven, but something about their symmetry caught Han Yu's attention.

Curiosity getting the better of him, he found another gap in the wall and leaned forward to get a better look.

And that was when he saw it.

Each of the tall towers bore a distinct mark carved into the stone... a crest of sorts.

Though time had eroded most of the details, the basic image remained visible. It resembled a sphere, perhaps a moon or orb, with a deep irregular crack or wound carved into its surface. From that wound, lines of liquid seemed to drip, frozen forever in stone.

"What kind of crest is this?" Han Yu tilted his head, trying to interpret it.

The design was simple, yet the more he stared, the more unsettling it became. There was something almost alive about the image, as though it pulsed faintly under his gaze.

Then, before he could look away, the carving shifted.

His eyes widened.

The stone seemed to breathe, the wound deepening until the sphere transformed into a massive crimson moon. The surface rippled like flesh, smooth and wet, and from the wound, blood began to flow. It dripped down the tower in slow, thick streams, pooling into the cracks below.

Lub Dub Lub Dub

Han Yu's heart pounded as he stumbled backward. His vision blurred, and the air seemed to tremble around him. The crimson light from the illusion dyed everything in sight a deep, horrifying red.

"What… what is this?" he gasped.

The blood from the moon seemed to shimmer, and a faint whisper filled his ears, too low to understand. His knees nearly gave way, and for a moment he thought he would lose consciousness.

Then, deep within his soul, a ripple spread.

HUMMM

From his Soul, the Eight Emotions Lotus stirred.

The soft, ethereal petals of his Soul Core trembled, releasing a calm, silvery glow that spread through his spiritual body. The oppressive presence vanished instantly. The blood, the crimson moon, and the whispering voices... all of it dissolved like smoke in the wind.

THUD

Han Yu fell to one knee, breathing heavily. Cold sweat drenched his back, and his hands trembled. His heart still raced, echoing in his ears like the beat of a war drum.

"What... What the FUCK was that?"

He stared at the tower again, his vision slowly clearing. The crest was once again as it had been before: a plain, weathered carving of a sphere with a wound dripping a liquid. The stone was lifeless, unmoving.

Yet the terror he had felt lingered, carved into his memory as clearly as the symbol was carved into that tower.

He touched his chest lightly, feeling the faint warmth of his Soul Core's energy still soothing his mind.

"Thank you," he whispered softly to the lotus within.

The petals pulsed once in acknowledgment before settling down again.

Han Yu rose to his feet, still shaking slightly.

He dared not look at the crest again. Whatever that thing was, it had reacted to his gaze or perhaps to his spiritual sense probing too closely. Either way, it had nearly overwhelmed him, and he knew that without the Eight Emotions Lotus, he might have lost his mind or worse.

It was yet another benefit of his Soul Cultivation he had just discovered.

He took a step back, then another, until the massive walls loomed in the distance once more. The forest behind him suddenly felt safer than the ruins before him.

"What in the world is this place…" he muttered.

No one answered. The ruins remained silent, their towering walls stretching endlessly, watching him like a sleeping beast that might wake at any moment.

Han Yu swallowed hard and turned away, forcing himself to retreat toward the forest. He needed to rest, to think, to plan. Entering that place now would be nothing short of suicide.

Yet as he walked away, the faint image of the crimson moon lingered in his mind, glowing faintly behind his eyes.

And he could not shake the dreadful feeling that the ruins were not dead.

They were waiting...

STEP STEP STEP

Han Yu slowly backed away from the massive walls until the damp grass and fallen leaves of the forest crunched softly beneath his boots.

His body still trembled slightly, and his breath came uneven, the memory of the bleeding moon lingering in his mind like a curse. Even now, when he blinked, he could almost see the faint shimmer of red behind his eyelids.

He stopped when the first line of ancient trees rose before him.

Their twisted roots and shadowed trunks formed a silent border between him and the ruins. For a long time, he stood there, staring at the towering wall and the distant towers beyond it. The faint mist that hung over the complex seemed to ripple faintly in the night wind.

Every instinct inside him screamed to run. To turn back, to disappear into the forest, to find a safer place far away from this ominous structure. He knew danger when he saw it, and this place was the embodiment of danger. Yet despite that, he could not bring himself to leave.

Part of it was curiosity.

No cultivator worth their salt could ignore such a mystery. But deeper than that, a cold logic anchored him in place. The forest behind him stretched endlessly. He had no clear sense of direction here, no reliable way to navigate. The inner realm was far too vast, and the false sky made orientation nearly impossible.

If he left the tomb behind, he might never find it again. Worse, he might never find his way out.

Han Yu exhaled slowly, his eyes narrowing. "If I cannot go forward and cannot go back, then I will wait."

For the time being, there seemed to be no visible threat as long as he kept his distance.