What Chen Wei hadn't predicted—1.7% probability event—was Sect Master Yun requesting a private audience.
Chen Wei knelt in the Sect Master's floating palace, genuinely uncertain for the first time in months. His Pattern Recognition provided no useful data. Yun's cultivation was too high, his presence too refined. Reading him was like trying to predict ocean currents by observing a single drop.
"Chen Wei," the Sect Master spoke, his voice ancient and weary. "Five years ago, you were poisoned during a competition. We investigated but found nothing. Now, Liu Yan—the most likely suspect—has suffered a catastrophic cultivation failure. Do you know anything about this?"
"This disciple knows only that heaven moves in mysterious ways," Chen Wei replied carefully.
"Heaven." Yun laughed, a sound like wind through empty halls. "Do you believe in heaven, Chen Wei? In fate and divine justice?"
"This disciple believes in cause and effect."
"Ah." The Sect Master's eyes gleamed. "Causality. A more honest philosophy than most cultivators admit. We spend our lives pretending to pursue enlightenment while actually pursuing power. At least you're direct about it."
Chen Wei said nothing. Silence was safer than speech.
"I know about the Heaven's Calculation Scripture," Yun continued, and Chen Wei's blood froze. "The ruins beneath our mines are older than this sect. I placed formations to alert me if anyone discovered them. You triggered them three months ago."
Calculation error, Chen Wei's mind raced. Ancient formations beneath detection threshold. Probability of Sect Master's awareness should have been 0.003%.
"I could have stopped you," Yun said. "That technique has driven every previous practitioner to madness or transformation into something no longer human. But I was curious. Would you be different?"
"This disciple—"
"You're not different," Yun interrupted. "You're exactly what that technique creates: a calculating machine wearing human skin. But perhaps that's what this sect needs."
The Sect Master stood, walking to a window overlooking Azure Peak. "We're being infiltrated, Chen Wei. By a force far more dangerous than simple demonic cultivators or rival sects. They're called the Eternal Scholar Society—an organization that has existed for three thousand years, gathering knowledge and manipulating events across the cultivation world."
Chen Wei's interest sharpened despite his attempts at neutrality.
"They believe," Yun continued, "that cultivation is a mistake. That humanity's pursuit of immortality violates natural law. So they engineer collapses—orchestrating sect destructions, assassinating rising talents, ensuring that no one advances too far or discovers too much."
"What does this have to do with this disciple?"
Yun turned, his eyes carrying the weight of centuries. "They're already here. In our sect. Moving pieces, arranging outcomes, steering us toward destruction. And traditional cultivators can't fight them because traditional cultivators don't think like they do."
Understanding dawned. "You want this disciple to hunt them."
"I want you to out-calculate them. Fight conspiracy with calculation. Use your Heaven's Calculation Scripture to unravel their plans before they mature." Yun smiled coldly. "Besides, if you continue advancing that technique, you'll eventually lose your humanity anyway. Better to aim that process at an enemy than let it consume you pointlessly."
It was logical. Brutal, but logical.
"What does this disciple gain?" Chen Wei asked.
"Resources. Access to sect secrets. Protection from those who'd question your methods." Yun's smile widened. "And the perfect-grade Foundation Establishment Pill that Liu Yan would have used. Your meridians are shattered, but the Heaven's Calculation Scripture doesn't require traditional channels. With the right catalyst, you could forge an entirely new cultivation foundation."
Probability of this being a trap: 23%. Probability of genuine opportunity: 61%. Probability of both: 16%.
Chen Wei had learned to accept uncertainty as part of calculation. No system was perfectly predictable.
"This disciple accepts."