Yun Xi awoke to the smell of incense and the sound of wind chimes.
She sat up suddenly, gasping.
The last thing she remembered was collapsing in the ruins, her spirit root failing, beasts closing in—and then… crimson eyes. That terrifying voice.
Her hand flew to her chest. The pain was gone. Her meridians were still fragile but no longer collapsing. Something… someone had saved her.
She looked around. She was lying on a clean bamboo bed inside a humble wooden hall. Cracked walls had been patched with spirit-inscribed paper. Old floor tiles shone faintly with a repaired formation.
It wasn't luxury.
But it was shelter.
She stood on shaky legs, opened the door, and stepped outside.
What she saw stunned her.
A ruined mountain sect, half-swallowed by nature—but alive. Broken training platforms hummed faintly with recovering spiritual veins. Wild plants had been trimmed. Even the cracked walls of the eastern pavilion bore signs of repair.
And in the center of it all, a man stood beneath a dead tree.
Long black robes. Bare feet. Blood-red eyes that stared into the sky as if judging it.
"You're awake," he said without turning.
She froze.
"Y-you're the one who…"
"Saved you?" he interrupted. "No. I gave you a deal. You took it. Now you're mine."
She bit her lip.
"You're… the Sect Master?"
He turned finally, his gaze sharp and cold. "I am Shen Mo. Sect Master of the Twilight Shadow Sect."
"Twilight… Shadow?" she repeated. She'd never heard of such a sect. In fact, this entire place looked like it should have been buried a century ago.
Shen Mo began walking toward her, slow and measured. She felt like a rabbit being approached by a panther.
"You have a gift for arrays," he said. "But no guidance, no training, no strength. You were going to die in that ruin. You know this."
She nodded slowly.
"And I don't want gratitude," Shen Mo said. "I want obedience."
Her brows furrowed. "I… I'm not a slave."
Shen Mo smirked.
"You're not. You're a disciple. A tool I'll sharpen until even kings bleed when you breathe."
She shivered, but… somehow, the words didn't feel threatening. They felt real. Honest.
Not like the elders who smiled while plotting in silence.
"Then what do you want me to do?" she asked.
He pointed behind her.
An entire pavilion—half-repaired—had begun to pulse with faint light. Array runes danced across its door like living ink.
"That is now the Array Hall. It is yours. I want you to study it, repair it, master it. I want you to lay your first living array within seven days."
"L-living array?" she echoed. "Those haven't been done in centuries—"
"Then you'll be the first in centuries. Or you'll fail, and I'll find another."
She flinched at the coldness—but deep down, it stirred something else.
A challenge.
A purpose.
She lowered her head. "I understand, Sect Master."
Shen Mo turned and began walking away.
"One more thing," he added. "I'm not a good man. I don't believe in destiny, righteousness, or happy endings."
"Then why save me?" she asked quietly.
He stopped for a moment.
Then, without looking back—
"Because desperate people are the most loyal. And the most dangerous."
And he vanished into the shadows of the mountain paths.
Later that night, Yun Xi sat alone inside the Array Hall. The walls breathed with faint runes. Books hovered slightly above shelves—manuals left behind from a dead sect.
Her fingers brushed across an old scroll titled:
"Fundamentals of Motion-Based Arrays: Anchoring Wind to Stone"
She whispered to herself, "If this place really lets me create a living array…"
Her hands shook with anticipation.
"Then I'll carve a name they'll never forget."
Far above, on the rooftop, Shen Mo sat cross-legged under the moonlight, watching over the sect silently.
The System buzzed in his mind:
[Disciple Yun Xi – Challenge Accepted. Countdown: 7 Days to First Living Array.][Progression Requirement: Observe only. No assistance allowed.][Next Disciple Unlock: Pending Completion.]
Shen Mo chuckled.
"One ember lit. Let's see if it burns."