The next morning, calm returned to the Thousand Lotus Sect.
Disciples bustled about, preparing for the upcoming Inter-Sect Trials. Elders meditated in seclusion, unaware that three corpses had vanished from the eastern hill.
Only a few noticed the janitor walking through the dew-covered grass, broom trailing behind like a lazy tail.
Han Li's steps led him to the old Bamboo Pavilion—abandoned for years, sealed with warning talismans. The wooden beams were covered in moss, and the air tasted of forgotten secrets.
He knelt before the locked doors and pressed a finger to the seal.
A flicker of crimson light pulsed.
The talismans burned away.
He entered.
Inside, cobwebs clung to the beams, and the smell of ancient incense lingered. Scrolls littered the shelves, long since forbidden by sect decree. Among them, one scroll pulsed with faint demonic aura.
"The Void Spine Technique."
Han Li unrolled it slowly, revealing runes that twisted unnaturally, refusing to stay still on the parchment.
This technique was once used to rip out a cultivator's soul and forge it into a weapon—banned after the Celestial War.
He didn't flinch.
"I'll need this."
A voice spoke from the shadows, raspy and old. "So, even you are tempted."
Han Li didn't look up. "You followed me, Elder Mu?"
Elder Mu stepped forward. His robes shifted with defensive charms, and his fingers were hidden in spell-signs.
"I knew you weren't just a janitor. But consorting with demonic arts?"
Han Li looked back, eyes calm.
"I consort with survival."
The elder's expression hardened. "The Sect will never allow it."
Han Li stood. The scroll vanished into his robes like mist.
"They won't know."
Elder Mu hesitated. "And if I tell them?"
Han Li smiled, faint and hollow.
"I cleaned a lot of blood in my time, Elder. Yours would just be another stain."
The old man paled.
Without another word, Han Li exited the Bamboo Pavilion, the broom tapping gently behind him.
But deep within the sect's foundation, old seals cracked.
Whispers stirred.
And a statue of an unknown god shed a tear of blood.