The elder stood in silence for a moment, his weathered face calm but his eyes sharp.

Then he spoke, his voice carrying the weight of many years. "People are always hypocritical. The only thing that differs is the degree of hypocrisy they show. A sect like this... they were simply more blatant in the contrast between the face they showed themselves and the face they showed the world."

Lin Mu let out a faint breath, his expression softening just slightly. "That is true."

The silence between them stretched for a few seconds, filled only by the faint groans of the wind over the pavilions and the rustling of the last few survivors being dragged away by strike team cultivators.

Then Grand Elder Huo spoke again.

"I must admit," he said, his gaze steady on Lin Mu, "I was surprised to learn that you and Elyon had already eliminated every elder... and even the Patriarch himself. To cleanse the leadership so quickly and without raising alarms was not something I expected to be possible."

Lin Mu looked back at him with an expression as calm as when he had stood watching the massacre. "It was a mission made for my skills. Assassinations, eliminations, silence. It was within my reach."

Grand Elder Huo nodded slowly.

His memories drifted back to the day he had sparred with Lin Mu, testing his strength firsthand. He remembered the raw destructive power Lin Mu had wielded then, the kind that could split mountains and flatten landscapes with a single strike.

But as he stood here now, surrounded by the proof of what Lin Mu had achieved in silence, he could not help but think differently.

If Lin Mu had used his spatial abilities not as open displays of force, but purely for assassination, his spar would have ended differently.

Far differently.

He could almost feel the phantom sensation of a blade appearing at his throat, a strike landing from within the folds of space where no guard could block, no reaction could be fast enough. The thought made him feel a chill that not even the mountain air could summon.

He realized then that Lin Mu’s true terror was not in the battles he fought openly.

It was not in his ability to shatter mountains or cleave apart the battlefield with brute force.

His most frightening strength lay in the shadows... in the void... in the silence where one never knew they were being hunted until it was too late.

A man like that, if he chose to be an assassin above all else, was inevitable death walking.

Grand Elder Huo’s lips pressed into a thin line. He had seen many great warriors, countless masters of sword, spear, and flame. He had crossed blades with prodigies who seemed destined to change the balance of the world.

Yet none had made him feel the same unease as Lin Mu did in this moment.

Destruction could be braced against.

But an unseen strike from the void itself... that could never be blocked.

Looking at Lin Mu, standing still in the middle of a plaza that had become a graveyard, the elder felt that this calm young man was far more dangerous than even the mightiest brute force cultivator.

Not because he was stronger, but because he was inevitable.

"You are more terrifying in silence than in battle," Grand Elder Huo finally said, almost to himself, though his voice carried enough for Lin Mu to hear. "To see you destroy a mountain with a single punch is one thing. But to know that when you choose not to show yourself, death itself walks behind you unseen... that is something far worse."

Lin Mu’s expression did not change.

He did not argue, nor did he acknowledge the comment beyond a faint narrowing of his eyes. He simply stood, his presence blending with the silent carnage around him, as though the blood-soaked stones and the heavy night air had already accepted him as part of their nature.

The elder exhaled deeply. Perhaps it was fortunate, he thought, that Lin Mu stood with them and not against them.

The cries of the fallen had long since faded, leaving only the rustle of robes and the heavy breathing of the survivors dragged away for questioning.

The Hidden Cave Sect, an unorthodox power that had existed for countless years in the Silent Lotus World, was no more. Its secret halls were quiet, its leaders silenced forever, and its legacy was about to be dismantled piece by piece.

But victory was not the end. It was only the beginning of the long process that followed.

Grand Elder Huo stood at the edge of the central plaza, his hands folded behind his back as he looked upon the gathered strike team.

Around him, the one hundred cultivators who had carried out the assault began to move in orderly groups. Their faces carried neither joy nor relief, but rather the calm determination of those who knew their work was not yet complete.

Lin Mu stepped forward, his expression still calm, and raised his hand.

His immortal sense connected with the network of teleportation arrays that pulsed beneath the Grand Hall and across the sect’s territory. He had already studied them during the infiltration and had taken control when he ended the Patriarch’s life.

With a twist of his wrist, the ancient runes shimmered to life, feeding upon the endless reserves of immortal qi the Hidden Cave Sect had accumulated.

HUALA

A rift in space blossomed open at the edge of the plaza.

Its edges shimmered like molten silver, and beyond it lay the sea shore where the Silent Lotus World’s main forces were waiting. The air vibrated with spatial energy as the portal stabilized, large enough for entire platoons to pass through.

"It’s a stable portal so everyone can enter now." Lin Mu declared.

Almost immediately, a flood of cultivators emerged.

Disciples of the Xian Sword Sect clad in silver and white robes marched through in disciplined lines, their weapons gleaming faintly under the light.