The first day of Liang Ze's audit was uneventful.
He inspected the medicine storage.
Clean.
He inspected the disciple dormitories.
Clean—though the disciples themselves were all crippled in one way or another.
He inspected Qiu Moren.
The Sect Master was in meditation.
(In truth, he was being forcefully sedated by Yan Kesh's drugs to ensure he wouldn't say anything inconvenient.)
Yan Kesh had played it perfectly.
Every black ledger had been hidden.
Every trace erased.
But Liang Ze was a patient hunting dog. He knew there was a rotten smell somewhere in this sect.
He just hadn't found it yet.
That night, Liang Ze walked through the sect's garden.
That was when he saw her.
Su Ran.
She sat quietly at the edge of a frozen pond, staring at the moon. The terrifying cold aura around her had been suppressed—because Yan Kesh routinely drained it—so she appeared to be nothing more than a talented ice cultivator.
Liang Ze narrowed his eyes.
Nine Yin Constitution?
In a sect this insignificant?
He approached her.
"Young girl."
Su Ran turned her head. She saw the white-robed man glowing faintly with silver light. Her instincts screamed danger.
"Who are you?" she asked coldly.
"I am a guest. My name is Liang Ze," he replied calmly, standing beside her. "Your body is special. But your meridians… are strange. You should have frozen to death last year. Who stabilized your energy?"
Su Ran remembered Yan Kesh's instructions.
If anyone asks, tell them you drank fire medicine from the mountain.
"I drank fire medicine," she answered stiffly.
"Lie," Liang Ze said flatly.
"There is no fire medicine capable of balancing Nine Yin without destroying your internal organs."
He turned his gaze toward the Hall of Equilibrium.
"…unless someone is manually absorbing it."
A faint smile appeared on Liang Ze's lips.
He had found a crack.
Yan Kesh had lied about not cultivating.
He must be using Dual Cultivation or some heretical absorption technique.
"Young girl," Liang Ze continued, "has Vice Sect Master Yan ever touched you? Performed any unusual rituals?"
Su Ran hesitated.
Yan Kesh had touched her.
He had absorbed her energy.
But he had saved her.
He was her savior.
"That's none of your business!" she snapped, standing up and running away.
Liang Ze watched her retreating figure.
That reaction was enough.
Defensive.
Protective.
Protecting her master.
"Got you, Yan Kesh," Liang Ze murmured.
In his mind, Yan Kesh was now a heretical cultivator harvesting Yin-constitution girls.
This was a Category B Violation.
Forbidden Life Manipulation.
Enough to justify execution.
Liang Ze turned, intending to head directly to Yan Kesh's chamber.
Confrontation.
Judgment.
Execution.
But before he could take a step—
He felt something else.
A faint vibration from beneath the earth.
From the direction of the hidden underground chamber.
It was not Yan Kesh's aura.
It was not Su Ran's aura.
It was Yan Bohai's.
Extremely weak.
Nearly gone.
But Liang Ze caught it for a split second.
Perhaps Yan Kesh had loosened the seal to feed his captive.
Liang Ze froze.
"…Wait."
"In the mirror, I saw him fall into the crater."
"But this aura is coming from underground."
His expression turned cold.
Terrifyingly cold.
He realized he had been deceived completely.
This was no longer a Category B violation.
This was Category A.
Forgery of Fate.
Fraud Against Heaven.
The punishment was not execution.
The punishment was Erasure from Samsara.
Liang Ze did not head toward Yan Kesh's chamber.
Instead, he changed direction.
Toward the hidden entrance behind the medicine storage.
He would not knock.
He would catch him in the act.
---
Meanwhile, in the underground chamber—
Yan Kesh was panicking.
He had just discovered that the aura-obscuring seal had leaked slightly when Yan Bohai thrashed in his unconscious state.
"Damn it… damn it!" Yan Kesh hissed, sealing the leak with the last of his available energy.
"He Qiu! Is Liang Ze still in the garden?!"
He Qiu ran down the stairs, pale-faced.
"Master! He's gone! He's no longer in the garden!"
Yan Kesh's eyes widened.
The auditor had disappeared.
Which meant he knew.
And he was now in Silent Hunt mode.
"We've been discovered," Yan Kesh whispered.
He looked at Yan Bohai.
Still hanging.
Still suffering.
He looked at The Audit interface in his mind.
Flashing red.
Maximum danger.
If Liang Ze entered this room—
Yan Kesh was finished.
He could not defeat a Silver-Class Observer equivalent to a Golden Core cultivator.
Not in direct combat.
He needed a scapegoat scenario.
"He Qiu," Yan Kesh said suddenly.
His voice was calm.
Too calm.
"Yes, Master?"
"Release Yan Bohai's seal."
He Qiu froze.
"What?! He'll explode and die, Master!"
"Do it."
"And attach this demonic artifact to his neck."
Yan Kesh threw him a bone necklace.
Loot from the Black Vein Sect.
"We are going to change the narrative."
"When Liang Ze enters this room…"
"He will not find Yan Kesh torturing Yan Bohai."
"He will find Yan Kesh attempting to contain the resurrected Demonic Corpse of Yan Bohai."
He Qiu's hands trembled.
"We will not be the criminals," Yan Kesh continued softly.
"We will be the victims."
"Victims trying to contain a disaster."
It was a mad gamble.
If Liang Ze didn't believe it—
They would die.
But Yan Kesh had no other choice.
"Prepare to act, He Qiu," Yan Kesh said.
"This is our greatest stage."
BOOM!
The underground door exploded into fragments.
Blinding silver light flooded the chamber.
Liang Ze stood at the entrance.
Surrounded by floating swords of light.
His face filled with divine fury.
"YAN KESH!"
"HOW DARE YOU DECEIVE HEAVEN!"
In front of him—
Yan Kesh, dressed in deliberately torn robes, struggled desperately against the chains restraining the rampaging Yan Bohai.
"Sir Observer! Help!" Yan Kesh shouted, sweat covering his face.
"This corpse—this corpse has been possessed by a demon! I'm trying to hold it back!"
Liang Ze froze.
The scene before him was chaotic.
Confusing.
Was Yan Kesh the torturer?
Or the jailer?
And in that moment of hesitation—
Yan Kesh twisted reality once more.