The doors of Elder Mo's Pavilion slammed shut with a dull thunder, cutting off the howling wind outside and sealing the fate of whoever had entered.
The silence that followed was not peaceful, but compressive—the heavy, expectant kind that exists inside a freshly sealed tomb, or in the throat of a beast just before it swallows.
The two brutish disciples dragging Xie Luan released him without ceremony. He collapsed onto the polished stone tiles of the entrance hall, his knees striking the floor with a sharp, painful sound. He made no attempt to rise. He remained curled on the ground, visibly trembling, coughing in a spasmodic rhythm that shook his thin, fragile chest.
Beneath his inner robe, pressed directly against the feverish skin of his sternum and sealed there with melted candle wax, the vial of Crimson Silence Dew was a ticking bomb. One poorly aimed blow, a fall too hard against his chest, or a curious hand touching where it shouldn't—and the vial would shatter. If the poison touched his own skin in that concentrated amount, his heart would stop before he could take a single step.
"Here he is," one of the guards grunted, wiping his hands on his robe as if he had touched trash. "The Elder wants him inside. Now."
Ahead of them, blocking the arched corridor leading to the private chamber, stood a lacquered blackwood desk—immaculate and severe. Behind it sat a thin man in his forties, reviewing scrolls with the meticulous boredom of an accountant.
Chen Liu.The Pavilion's Steward.
Xie Luan analyzed him instantly through the curtain of dirty, disheveled hair hanging over his eyes.
Qi Condensation Level 6. Not a fighter—an administrator. Tired eyes, ink-stained fingers, rigid posture. A career bureaucrat. This type of man doesn't fear blood or demons; he fears paperwork errors and the wrath of his superior.
Chen Liu looked up from the scroll. He did not look at the guards. His cold, calculating eyes fixed on Xie Luan, scanning the young man with clinical suspicion—searching for threats, searching for defects.
"So this is the 'favorite'?" Chen Liu asked. His voice was dry as old parchment. "He looks like a corpse that's been floating in a river for three days. The Elder is in a terrible mood today because of those ledger rumors. If you bring him rotten, diseased meat, he'll skin you for insulting him—not the boy."
"Orders are orders, Chen," the guard spat impatiently. "Let us pass. We've got things to do."
Chen Liu sighed, set down his brush, and rose from behind the desk with silent steps."Protocol," he said, producing a small copper mirror from his wide sleeve. Runes engraved along its edge glowed faintly with amber light. "No one enters the private chamber without inspection. Especially now that traitors are spreading lies and poison through the sect."
Xie Luan's heart did not race—his autonomic control was flawless.But his mind, cold and fast as a collapsing glacier, calculated probabilities in microseconds.
The mirror was a Low-Grade Spirit Detection Artifact. It detected aggressive Qi fluctuations and large concentrations of hidden metal. The vial was porcelain. The poison was organic alchemy, without a metallic signature. The mirror would not detect it.
But Chen Liu was meticulous.
If the steward supplemented magic with a physical search…If his hands touched Xie Luan's chest—
Chen Liu passed the mirror over Xie Luan's head. The artifact hummed softly; the light did not change. Shoulders—nothing. Torso.
"Remove his outer robe," Chen Liu ordered, stowing the mirror. "I want to see if he's hiding anything in his clothes. Or if he has skin diseases. The Elder is particular about hygiene."
One of the brutes bent down, grabbing the collar of Xie Luan's robe to tear it open.
Critical danger.
Xie Luan knew resisting physically was suicide. He lacked the strength to stop them. He needed to divert attention. He needed to turn his own fragility into a defensive weapon.
He needed touching him to feel disgusting—and risky.
"Wait!" Xie Luan screamed.
It was not a shout of defiance, but a shrill cry of absolute panic. He scrambled backward across the polished floor, clutching his clothes desperately, shielding his chest.
"No! Please! I'm cold! Don't touch me!"
Chen Liu frowned, suspicion spiking."What are you hiding?" he asked, stepping forward. The guards' stupidity was predictable—but Chen Liu's paranoid caution was the flaw in Xie Luan's plan. "Hold his hands!"
Xie Luan bit down hard on his tongue.
Pain exploded. Warm, metallic blood filled his mouth instantly. He pooled the blood and saliva in his throat.
Just as Chen Liu bent down to grab him, Xie Luan coughed.
It was violent. Wet. Explosive.
He spat a mouthful of fresh, bright blood mixed with phlegm directly onto Chen Liu's pristine black silk boots.
The steward jumped back with a visceral expression of disgust, his icy composure cracking."Damn it! Filthy animal! My boots!"
Xie Luan convulsed on the floor, curling inward, clutching his chest with both hands—protecting the vial under the excuse of agonizing pain.
"The poison…!" he wailed between tearing coughs. "The viper poison… it still hurts! The physician said my heart is weak! He said if I get cold or agitated… my heart will stop!"
He looked up at Chen Liu with tear-filled eyes, ashen face, blood staining his pale lips and chin.
He looked moments from death.
"If you strip me here…" Xie Luan gasped, "…I'll die of cold before reaching the Elder's bed. Do you want to explain to him why his toy broke before he could use it? Do you want to tell him you killed his relief for tonight?"
The two guards exchanged nervous looks.
"Chen… the Elder is screaming inside," one muttered. "Things are breaking. If this kid dies at the entrance and we walk in with a corpse…"
Chen Liu looked at the blood on his boots, then at the violently trembling boy on the floor, radiating sickness and misery. His bureaucratic mind weighed risks on an invisible scale.
Risk A: The boy is hiding a weapon.(Improbable. He's a crippled Level 1 Condensation cultivator who can barely breathe without bleeding.)
Risk B: The boy dies of shock or hypothermia during a strict inspection, and Elder Mo—furious, sexually frustrated, and paranoid—blames the steward for "breaking" his property too early.
In the hierarchy of mediocrity, fear of blame always outweighs fear of unknown threat.
Chen Liu preferred the risk of a hidden dagger (that the boy couldn't use) over cleaning a corpse and facing Mo's wrath.
"Fine," Chen Liu said, shaking his boot in disgust. "Lift him. But if he vomits blood on the Elder's silk sheets, you'll clean it with your tongues."
Xie Luan lowered his head, hiding a micro-expression of triumph that lasted less than a blink."Thank you… thank you, sir… I only wish to serve…"
The guards lifted him again—more carefully this time, as if afraid he might fall apart in their hands—and dragged him down the corridor.
As they passed Chen Liu, Xie Luan noticed a fleeting detail.
Hanging from the steward's belt, half-hidden by the folds of his robe as he moved, was a gray jade seal. It did not bear the Frost Edge Sword emblem.
It was engraved with a closed eye crying blood.
Xie Luan archived the image instantly in his eidetic memory.
That seal… is a guest token for the Black Moon Auction. An inter-sect black market.Chen Liu isn't loyal to Mo. He's loyal to money.Useful. Very useful—if I survive tonight.
They reached the end of the corridor.
A massive pair of redwood doors, carved with cranes and pines, loomed before them like the entrance to another world. From inside came the sound of porcelain shattering and a roar of pure frustration.
"Incompetents!" Elder Mo's voice thundered through the wood. "All of you are parasites! Where are my reports?!"
The guard pushed the door open."Elder… we've brought the boy."
The interior assaulted the senses.
The air was so thick with musk incense and sweet smoke that it burned the throat and made the eyes water. Heavy fur carpets covered every inch of the floor. Red silk curtains hung from the ceiling. A grotesquely large bed dominated the center of the room.
Mo Zha stood beside an overturned table. His hair was disheveled, his robe half-open, his eyes bloodshot. His Qi fluctuated erratically around his body—a clear sign of mental and spiritual instability.
When he saw Xie Luan, the blind rage on Mo's face slowly transformed into something darker, more focused, more hungry.
"Ah…" Mo exhaled, his shoulders relaxing like a predator spotting a lame prey. "Finally. Something I can break without it costing me money."
Mo waved a hand at the guards."Leave him. Get out. No one enters until dawn. Not even if you hear screams. Especially if you hear screams. Understood?"
The guards nodded quickly and withdrew, shutting the heavy doors behind them.
The sound of the bolt sliding home was final.
Clack.
Xie Luan was alone with the monster.
Barefoot on the soft carpet, he felt the vial against his skin—warm, heavy. He felt Mo's gaze crawling over him, stripping him, deciding where to bite first.
"Come closer, Little Xie," Mo said, unfastening his ceremonial belt with hands trembling from adrenaline. "I'm told someone forged my accounts today. I'm very tense. I need to… drain that tension. And you are going to be my outlet."
Xie Luan took a hesitant step forward.
The stage is set, he thought, letting his shoulders slump into a posture of total defeat, his hands hidden in his sleeves.The audience is one. And the performance has just begun.
"Elder…" Xie Luan whispered, his voice a thread of silk. "This disciple… brought a gift."
Mo raised an eyebrow, intrigued despite his fury."A gift? You? What could a rat have that a dragon would want?"
"An oil…" Xie Luan lifted his trembling hand to the collar of his robe, brushing the place where the vial was hidden. "I was told it… increases a cultivator's pleasure. I bought it with all the money you gave me."
Greed and lust flared in Mo's eyes, smothering caution.
"Really?" he chuckled. "You're an obedient boy after all. Come here. Let me see what you're hiding in that pale skin."
Xie Luan lowered his gaze, hiding the void in his eyes.
The trap was not the poison.
The trap was vanity—the belief that the lamb wanted to please the wolf.