The Bai Clan's Grand Elder spun around in alarm.
Above him, the full moon hung high, bamboo tips swaying beneath its glow. A tall figure stood poised atop the branches, long flute in hand, his face veiled in shadow.
"It's you!"
In the next instant—
Three crimson fireballs streaked through the air, trailing long tails of flame as they spiraled toward him. The moon loomed larger, and the sound of flowing water echoed from all directions.
Wang Yu's lips curled into a smile. His face, backlit by moonlight, revealed only his glowing eyes—each reflecting a sharp crescent moon.
"So you still refuse to yield. Then let me show you what true agony feels like."
In a blink, the spells passed through Wang Yu's figure—only for him to vanish.
The Grand Elder froze, suddenly aware that the world around him had changed.
He now stood atop a vast, silent lake with no visible shore. The moon behind him felt close enough to touch.
Unease gripped him. He murmured, "Illusion? When did it begin…"
Instinctively, he looked down at his reflection—but instead of his own face, he saw scenes of carnage: Bai Clan members dying in droves.
He saw the Second and Third Elders slaughtering each other over the treasure vault.
He saw mid-generation cultivators activating the clan's formation to kill their possessed kin.
He saw himself—eyes blood-red, mouth dripping gore, standing amid a field of gnawed skeletons. It was the future he feared most.
"No!"
"This can't be real—it's all fake!"
"Damn illusion!"
He had fallen into the [Moonlit Illusion Realm], triggered by Wang Yu's Nethermoon Eyes. The scenes he feared most would replay endlessly until his emotions reached their breaking point.
Then, the shadows of fear would crawl from the reflections and strike.
Wang Yu had carefully orchestrated this trap. The Grand Elder's ninth-layer Foundation Establishment cultivation was formidable—too much for a direct confrontation. But by sowing fear and doubt, Wang Yu could ensnare him.
With spiritual sense rivaling late Foundation Establishment, Wang Yu could sustain the illusion indefinitely—so long as the elder didn't lash out and shatter the spell.
Just then—
Wang Yu sensed the Bai Clan's formation activating. His smile deepened. He had studied the manor's records before arriving.
The Bai Clan's formation was a second-tier high-grade array focused on defense. It could repel invaders or trap them within. That was exactly what Wang Yu wanted.
He glanced once more at the Grand Elder, now muttering nonsense in the scorched courtyard.
With a flick of his wrist, Wang Yu cast several formation flags—activating the Bloodmist Concealment Array to shield the elder from outside interference and keep him trapped in the illusion.
Then he vanished again.
…
At the Bai Clan ancestral hall—
The Second Elder pressed one hand against the Merit Stele, activating the hidden core of the Mountain Marsh Tortoise Shell Array. As he worked, he spoke to the tearful Third Elder.
"Bai Zhuzhu, there's no time to mourn your granddaughter. The clan must come first."
"The clan?"
Bai Zhuzhu glared at him, voice bitter.
"I knew it… I should've listened to the Patriarch.
"He led the Bai Clan from obscurity to prominence, making us one of Spiritridge's three great clans. His vision and judgment far surpassed ours.
"We should never have trusted Bai Yang. If we hadn't, my granddaughter wouldn't have died—especially not at Xuan'er's hands… in such a horrific way. How am I supposed to face my son now?"
The Second Elder fell silent, then barked sharply.
"What's done is done. Do you want the entire Bai Clan to suffer the same fate? Do you still care about our family?"
Bai Zhuzhu froze, finally shaken from her grief.
She placed her hand on the array core, lending her strength to its activation.
Within moments—
Earthen-yellow tortoise shell patterns of spiritual light expanded, enveloping the entire Bai Clan estate.
The Second Elder continued casting, burying the Merit Stele underground as the array's anchor. Only then did he exhale in relief.
"Come on. Let's help De Cai and Yi He."
"Woooo—"
"Woooooo—"
"Hm?"
The flute's ghostly wail echoed nearby. The elders stiffened.
"That flute… something's wrong. Seal your hearing!"
But it was too late.
The melody wasn't meant for them—and sealing their ears was useless against the [Heart-Control Demon Melody], a dual-path soul technique.
From the darkness, rustling grew louder.
Soon—
Hundreds of Bai Clan disciples with blood-red eyes surged forth. They wielded no spells or artifacts—only raw physical strength in suicidal attacks.
"Why is this happening?!"
The two elders hesitated to strike hard, instead using soft force to fling attackers aside. Their protective auras shielded them from harm.
But the possessed disciples, controlled by the melody, simply shook their heads and charged again—like tireless puppets.
Thus—
Two high-level cultivators, one at the seventh layer and one at the sixth, were pinned in place—unable to advance.
Wang Yu, watching from the shadows, nodded in satisfaction.
Then he raced toward his third targets: the two mid-generation cultivators known as De Cai and Yi He.
Tonight, the Bai Clan would taste true suffering.
…
De Cai and Yi He dashed through room after room, finding only blood-soaked floors and mutilated corpses. Their fury boiled over.
"Yi He, this won't work. Let's use the Bai Clan's secret art to locate everyone."
"Agreed. Bloodline Tracking!"
They stopped on a bridge over a pond, slicing their palms to activate the technique. Within seconds, their eyes snapped open.
"They're all in the ancestral hall?!"
"That's where the Second and Third Elders went!"
"Let's go!"
"Boom—"
Suddenly, a different flute melody rang out. At its first note, the air filled with the sound of flapping wings.
"Caw! Caw!"
Blood-eyed crows the size of human heads descended.
[Soul-Eating Ghost Crow Melody]—a dual-path soul technique, second-tier high-grade.
Though only at the minor mastery stage, it was more than enough to handle two third-layer Foundation Establishment cultivators. The Bai Clan's strength was impressive—compared to rogue cultivators.
But compared to Wang Yu, a disciple of the Blood Reversal Sect, they were nothing. Barely stronger than the Azure Dragon Gang Leader.
The ghost crows swarmed, forming twin tornadoes. The two cultivators summoned artifacts and cast spells to fight back.
But—
The crows were illusions. Their attacks passed through harmlessly. Yet each time a crow touched them, it drained a sliver of spiritual sense.
Repeated contact led to soul fatigue, energy depletion, and muscle weakness—until they could barely move.
That was the genius of the technique.
"Something's wrong. These crows won't die. Are they illusions?"
De Cai gasped, his head throbbing. Nausea churned in his gut. He knew—
His spiritual sense was nearly depleted.
"Yi He! Summon your Sonic Hound—clear your mind!"
Yi He slapped his beast pouch.
Out popped a bizarre, pudgy dog with a head half the size of its body. Its purple fur was dotted with yellow holes.
The Sonic Hound!
A creature often scorned by the Bai Clan. Though early second-tier in strength, it was cowardly. Faced with the ghost crow swarm, it cowered behind its master.
Yi He kicked it. "Bark! You're always barking—do it now!"
Whimpering, the dog let out a series of loud barks.
"Woof!"
"Woof woof woof!"
Surprisingly, it worked. The chaotic sound waves disrupted the unstable melody. Many illusionary crows shattered instantly.
Wang Yu shook his head. Minor mastery techniques were still flawed—slow to cast, structurally unstable.
But this Sonic Hound… was a rare beast.
He'd never seen a spirit beast attuned to sound. Its lineage was untraceable. Since the melody failed to kill them, he'd finish the job himself.
"Soul-Shattering Finger!"
A low-tier second-grade spiritual sense technique. But for De Cai and Yi He, it was the final straw.
Spiritual sense attacks were swift and subtle. Without proper defenses, the only option was evasion.
But Wang Yu struck from the shadows. Even the most vigilant would slip.
"Ah!"
Yi He, the hound's master, was hit first. The Soul-Shattering Finger nearly knocked him unconscious.
Wang Yu, wielding the Ghostcry Flute, his Frostmoon Wings flaring—
Appeared between them in a flash. He kicked De Cai aside with a Flood Dragon Whistle Kick, then slashed downward with a sonic blade.
—Wailing Heart Severing Slash!
"Splurt."
Yi He froze. A crimson line split his torso. A moment later, his body cleaved in two—blood and viscera spilling everywhere.
His spirit beast wailed, rolling on the ground. With its master dead, it too was doomed.
Within seconds, it lay dying.
Elsewhere—
De Cai crawled from the rubble, coughing blood, his limbs trembling as he tried to rise.
But before he could escape, a massive gray-black hand descended from the shadows and slammed him back to the ground.
His body crumpled like wet parchment—bones shattered, flesh ruptured, blood pooling beneath him.
A mangled heap of meat.
Wang Yu extended his hand, summoning two storage pouches from the corpses. Then, with a flick of his wrist, he recalled the dying Sonic Hound into its beast pouch.
His figure vanished once more.
…
The Bai Clan estate was in chaos.
The protective formation glowed faintly, but it had become a cage rather than a shield. Inside, possessed disciples roamed like ghouls, elders were pinned down, and the Grand Elder remained trapped in a nightmare of his own fears.
Blood soaked the courtyards, the halls, the ancestral grounds.
The once-proud clan, one of Spiritridge's three pillars, now resembled a slaughterhouse.
And the one responsible?
A silver-haired youth, cloaked in shadow, wielding a flute that sang of madness and despair.
Tonight, the Bai Clan had learned what it meant to provoke a cultivator who walked the razor's edge between genius and demon.
(End of Chapter)