The Azure Sky Sect stood like a mountain, its peaks piercing the heavens, banners fluttering in the eternal winds. But on this day, the mountain shook.
In the great Hall of the Azure Sky, the corpses of the elite hunting unit lay within crystalline coffins, their mangled bodies displayed for all elders to see. The sight of Feng Xueya's broken form, once a proud leader of the Azure Sky Blades, sent murmurs rippling through the gathered cultivators.
An elder slammed his palm against the jade floor, cracking it.
"Six Core Formation elites, gone! Each one honed for decades! Slaughtered like cattle!"
Another, voice trembling with both fear and rage:
"That place—those forgotten ruins—spawned something we failed to suppress. A calamity is walking free, and it wears the blood of our disciples as its mantle."
At the head of the hall sat Sect Master Tianlong Wei, robes of azure flame draped around his broad frame. His eyes were sharp as spears, though shadowed by fury.
"Feng Xueya, Han Yuer, Mo Shuren… their cultivation was the spear tip of our younger generation. Now they are dust."
The silence grew heavy.
Finally, the Grand Elder, Jian Mu, spoke, his long white beard trembling.
"This… is not the work of a mere beast or rogue cultivator. What you describe—claws that rend weapons, wounds that heal instantly, power beyond comprehension—" His voice lowered. "We face a reborn ancient."
Shock rippled through the chamber. Some scoffed, others paled.
Sect Master Tianlong's qi flared, rattling the pillars.
"Ancient or not, it has declared war on the Azure Sky Sect! I will not allow our name to be stained by one… monster!"
He gestured.
"Summon the Azure Heavens Battalion. The Spirit Peak Elders will oversee the hunt. Spread word to our allies—the sect will not be mocked."
Elder Jian Mu's gaze sharpened. "Do not underestimate him, Sect Master. What if… this creature is the harbinger of something greater? The forgotten lands hide secrets we were never meant to uncover."
But Tianlong's reply was thunder:
"Then we will uncover them by force!"
The sect resounded with a single war cry, echoing through its mountains and valleys:
"Azure Sky does not bow!"
Yet beneath the fury, fear whispered. For the first time in centuries, the disciples looked toward the forgotten ruins not with ambition—but with dread.