The northern wasteland lay buried beneath days of relentless snow, yet the village of Qing Shi remained eerily still.The fire-needle attack from three nights ago seemed forgotten, swallowed by the frost.Only Ye Xuan knew that the firelight of that night had not been mere aggression — it had been the scent of a hunt, a probe from the remnants of the Void Sect.
Now he sat within the shabby schoolhouse, a faint flame flickering before him.Snowlight seeped through the window, reflecting off the half-finished chessboard on his desk.He set down a piece — not upon the board before his eyes, but upon the one within his mind.
"The Void Sect should have withdrawn their lower disciples from the mortal realm long ago...unless they were given new orders."
Closing his eyes, Ye Xuan sank into his Whispering Mind Realm.The world dissolved into a sea of lines and flows.Every villager, every breeze, every faint spark of heat became threads of causality.Among them he saw several faint lines extending from the distant road toward an abandoned granary.A guardhouse for county patrolmen — and beneath it, the hidden marks of a Void Sect sigil.
A quiet smile touched his lips."So. That fire novice was not acting alone."
By dusk, Zhao Shihuai hurried into the room."Sir Ye — the county men have returned."
"Good," Ye Xuan said, rising. He closed the chess box with a soft click.
Before stepping outside, he lit the lamp and, with calm precision, drew a tiny symbol at the corner of a contract sheet — a curved mark shaped like a raven's wing.It was the Raven Seal, the old cipher of the Night Ravens.If any of his former network still lived, the mark would stir their hidden sense.He was testing the dark, to see if it still breathed.
At the ancestral hall, five patrolmen waited.Their leader, Bailiff Xu, sneered, his tone greasy."Sir Ye, three days have passed. Time to verify the ore."
"Of course." Ye Xuan laid several lumps of black iron on the stone table.A new apprentice — not the fire novice — tested them with flame.True iron glimmered under the light.
"Then sign," Ye Xuan said evenly. "Payment complete."
But Xu's smile sharpened."The county does not honor a commoner's handwriting.Forging contracts with the court's seal is a crime."
The air chilled.Zhao Shihuai blanched. "You— You already signed—"
"That paper was rejected by the prefecture," Xu interrupted. "Orders from above: re-inspection.And the samples... are to be seized for review."
Ye Xuan's voice was soft. "Above? Who commands it?"
"The Disciplinary Division of the Void Sect," Xu said, savoring the words.
For a heartbeat, the lamp seemed to dim.Ye Xuan tapped the table once, the sound quiet as falling snow."So," he murmured, "my old debts are persistent indeed."
Night.The abandoned granary burned with a single candle.Two men in gray robes sat within, one reading from a bamboo slip.
"Inspection site 13 — Qing Shi Village," the reader said."By order of the Disciplinary Division: investigate suspected 'remnants of the Stratagem Saint's line.'"
The other frowned. "A mortal village? Surely not.""The Division claims someone used a Water Return Arc to deflect a Fire Needle.That technique appears only in the Stratagem Saint's codex."He hesitated. "The order says bring him back — even if only his soul."
The candle flame wavered.
The door creaked open.
Snowlight poured in, pale and silent.Ye Xuan stepped inside without sound; his shadow merged with the wind.The two men looked up — and the very air seemed to still.Threads of force wound through the room, binding motion and breath alike.
"You've been searching for me?" Ye Xuan's tone was calm. "That saves me the effort."
The gray-robed cultivator rose, gathering qi into his palm — yet the flame flickered once and died.When it flared again, Ye Xuan stood behind him, a wisp of burned talisman between his fingers.
"You— You disrupted the flow of our spells— you're—"
"Don't rush to name me." His voice was quiet. "Tell me who sent you."
The man clenched his jaw. Ye Xuan did not press; instead he traced a line across the dusty table.Wood ash rose, forming faint glyphs — the Night Raven Inquiry pattern.The man's eyes glazed over, his voice hollow.
"Master of the order... Elder Yin Wujiao, Disciplinary Lord."
Ye Xuan's gaze hardened."Yin Wujiao... so it was him."
Memory tore open — the lone figure he had never seen through in his past life,the elder who had signed his death warrant at the Heaven-Ending Board.
"So the game never ended. The pieces still move."
He closed his hand. Ash scattered.
"Deliver him a message," Ye Xuan said softly."The board is set again."
At dawn, faint footprints stretched from the granary into the forest.No one knew what had occurred that night.Only Lin Ge, rising early to chop wood, saw Ye Xuan outside, calmly polishing a chess piece, expression unreadable.
"Master Ye," the boy asked, "what will we learn today?"
Ye Xuan smiled faintly. "A new step."
"What step?"
"The Raven Step."