The heavy iron doors of the Trial of the Unmoving Core stayed open, hissing as the heat from the gravity chamber escaped into the cold hallway. Yu Chen stood at the exit, his eyes still glowing with the silver-black light of the "unsealed" Void. Beside him, Dugu Yan and Ye Lingling stood tall. They were covered in sweat and dust, but their spirits—the Void-Venom Serpent and the Void-Life Begonia—felt more alive than ever.
The instructor from the Combat Stream was still frozen in place. He looked at the floor, which had been cracked by the intense pressure, and then at the three children who should have been crushed. He didn't know what to say. He simply stepped aside, bowing his head as Yu Chen walked past him.
Yu Chen didn't go to his room to rest. He headed straight for the Grand Convocation Hall. He could feel a strange, powerful vibration coming from the heart of the mountain. It wasn't the "Mountain" energy he was used to; it was something deeper, older, and much more cold.
When he pushed open the massive obsidian doors of the hall, he found the entire leadership of the Yu Clan already there. His father, Yu Ming, and mother, Qingling, were standing near the Great Elder's throne. The heads of the Six Hidden Streams were lined up along the walls. Even Dugu Bo was there, leaning against a pillar in the shadows, his green eyes narrowed as if he were sensing a predator.
But the most shocking thing was the throne itself.
Great Elder Yu Kun, a man who usually sat like a king, was standing to the side. He looked nervous, constantly smoothing his robes and avoiding everyone's eyes. On the throne sat a woman who looked no older than Yu Chen's mother, but her presence made the high-level Spirit Douluos in the room feel like they were made of glass.
She had long, silver hair that seemed to float in the air, and her eyes were a translucent, icy blue. She wore a deep violet robe that didn't just sit on her—it seemed to swallow the light around her.
"Grandmother?" Yu Chen whispered, stopping in the center of the hall.
The woman looked at him. In that moment, Yu Chen's **Void Sense** went haywire. His grandfather, Yu Kun, was a Rank 95 Super Douluo. But this woman... her energy was like a bottomless pit. She was a **Rank 98 Super Douluo**. In the world of Spirit Masters, she was a living god.
"Shui... you really shouldn't have woken up so suddenly," Yu Kun said, his voice sounding thin and shaky.
Yu Shui, the Grandmother, didn't even look at him. She just raised a hand, and the Great Elder immediately shut his mouth. The disciples in the hall were terrified. They had never seen the Great Elder act like a scared child before.
The truth was simple: in the Yu Clan, strength was everything, but family was even more. Yu Shui wasn't just stronger than her husband; she was the one who had truly mastered the "unsealed" Void path long ago. To Yu Kun, she wasn't just a Super Douluo—she was the woman who had dominated the clan's history and his own heart for decades. He didn't bow out of fear alone; he bowed out of a deep, ingrained respect for the woman who was the true "Queen" of the Starfall Peaks.
"I woke up because the mountain screamed," Yu Shui said. Her voice was calm, but it sounded like ice cracking. She looked at Yu Chen. "I felt the resonance of the First Ancestor's memory. I felt the seal on our bloodline tremble. And I felt the 'Divine Gaze' of those Spirit Hall thieves poking at our shields while you old men were busy talking about 'tradition.'"
She stood up. As she moved, the shadows in the hall seemed to stretch and bow. She walked toward Yu Chen, her footsteps making no sound. When she reached him, she reached out and touched his forehead. Her fingers were freezing, but Yu Chen felt a surge of clarity.
"You found the truth in the archives, didn't you, little Sovereign?" she asked.
"Yes, Grandmother," Yu Chen replied, meeting her gaze. "I know the 'Unmoving Mountain' is a cage. And I know the Spirit Hall is using a stolen version of our sight to find us."
Yu Shui nodded, a small, proud smile touching her lips. "Good. At least one person in this family has eyes that can see. Your grandfather and father have been so busy being 'Mountains' that they forgot they were meant to be the 'Void' that holds the mountains up."
She turned to the rest of the hall. The pressure she released was so intense that the torches flickered out, leaving only the silver-black glow of her aura.
"From this moment, the Starfall Peaks are under **Great Seclusion**," she declared. "We are sealing every gate. We are cutting every tie to the outside world. For the next three years, the mountain will not move, and it will not breathe. We will open the **Ancestors' Trial**—the real one. We are going to unseal our blood."
A murmur of shock went through the elders. The Ancestors' Trial was a legend, something so dangerous that most people thought it was just a story.
"Mother, the clan isn't ready for that," Yu Ming said, stepping forward. "The pressure of the unsealed Void... it could destroy the younger disciples."
"Then let them be destroyed," Yu Shui snapped, her blue eyes flashing. "Would you rather they die as weak garden stones in a Spirit Hall cage, or die as warriors trying to find their true selves? The war is coming, Ming. The Gods are already choosing their champions. If we don't change now, we won't have a family left to protect."
She looked at Dugu Bo in the corner. "And you. The Poison Master."
Dugu Bo stood up straight, his hands trembling slightly. "Yes, Senior?"
"You are the only one who can move outside without the Spirit Hall's 'Divine Gaze' immediately identifying you as a Yu Clan member," Yu Shui said. "Before the final seal is set, you will leave. You will create a 'Poison Dead-Zone' for five hundred miles around this mountain. If any Spirit Hall scouts or 'Judgment Squads' enter that zone, they must never come out. We need three years of absolute silence. Do you understand?"
Dugu Bo grinned, the fear in his eyes replaced by a fierce light. "It would be my honor, Queen of the Void. I'll make sure the base of this mountain becomes a place that even the crows are afraid to fly over."
"Good," Yu Shui said. She then looked at Dugu Yan and Ye Lingling. The two girls were pale, but they didn't back down. "The serpent and the begonia. You have potential, but you are still tethered to the laws of this world. In the Ancestors' Trial, there are no laws. There is only the Sovereign's will. You will go in with him."
Yu Chen looked at his grandmother. He realized that she didn't need anyone to explain the situation to her. Because her soul was Rank 98 and deeply connected to the mountain's core, she had "felt" everything the moment she woke up. She had sensed his Rank 34 breakthrough, she had sensed the Golden Lion's luck, and she had sensed the Spirit Hall's surveillance.
"Grandmother," Yu Chen said. "I am ready."
"You think you are," Yu Shui said, her voice softening just a little. "But you have no idea how much it hurts to become a god-slayer. For the next three years, I will be your nightmare. I will break every bone in your body until they are made of Void. I will burn your spirit until it is as clear as the abyss."
She waved her hand, and a massive, swirling vortex of silver and black energy appeared in the center of the hall. It looked like a hole ripped into the fabric of reality.
"The Great Seclusion begins now," Yu Shui commanded.
Yu Chen's father and mother shared a look of grim determination. The Great Elder, Yu Kun, let out a long sigh and stood behind his wife, accepting his role as the "Shield" while she became the "Hammer."
Yu Chen walked toward the vortex. He felt the Golden Lion's luck pulsing in his chest, a small spark of warmth against the freezing cold of his grandmother's aura. He looked at Dugu Yan and Ye Lingling, who took his hands.
As they stepped into the darkness of the Ancestors' Trial, the massive obsidian doors of the hall slammed shut, and a layer of absolute silence fell over the Starfall Peaks. The "Unmoving Mountain" had officially vanished from the world, and inside, the transformation of the Sovereign's Guard had finally begun.
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: Great Seclusion - Year 1 Initiated.]
[Current Status: Yu Chen (Rank 34). Dugu Yan (Rank 37). Ye Lingling (Rank 40).] [Objective: Surrvive the first phase of the Ancestors' Trial.]