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Chapter 28: Strings in the Dark
A storm brews over the Heavenly Sword Sect.
Liu Guan Yi sits cross-legged in a quiet chamber, eyes closed—but his mind isn't on cultivation. His spiritual sea churns, filled with names and schemes.
Elder Mo. Elder Qiu. The Black Spirit Pavilion.
> "I'm still too weak," he murmurs. "But weakness... is no excuse."
He's just Rank 4. They are Rank 6. Facing them head-on is suicide.
So he doesn't.
He starts laying traps.
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Two Weeks Earlier
An anonymous letter finds its way into the Sect Leader's attendant's hands.
A hidden spirit recording device, placed beneath a carved statue, listens to the whispers of corrupted elders.
Carefully planted rumors bloom near outer sect patrol squads—seeds of suspicion, watered by silence.
Liu Guan Yi never speaks.
But the sect begins to murmur.
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Present Day
Elder Qiu storms into the inner sect war hall, robes flaring, fury unchecked.
> "Who's spreading lies about me?! I'll skin them alive!"
But the Sect Leader has already received multiple reports. The final one seals their fate:
A jade token carrying Elder Mo's spiritual signature—recovered from a remote village where girls once vanished.
Submitted anonymously.
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Ji Ning says nothing. She listens, unmoved.
Then, in the softest voice, she gives a single command:
> "Tonight. Assemble the Sword Shadows."
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That Night
The mountain peak is cloaked in silence.
From the shadows, figures descend—black-clad enforcers with no names, no mercy. Rank 6 cultivators, forged in silence and steel: the Sword Shadows.
Their guide waits in the mist.
Masked. Silent.
It is Liu Guan Yi.
He does not draw his sword. He does not speak.
He merely leads.
To sealed doors. Hidden passages. Secret caches of poisoned jade. Transactions carved in blood.
Midnight falls. A flash of silver tears the sky.
Ji Ning moves.
In three breaths, it is over.
Two Rank 6 elders fall—no screams, no graves, no legacy.
The Black Spirit Pavilion's trail ends in blood and fire.
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Dawn
The sect awakens to silence.
Elders Mo and Qiu are gone. No burial. No trial.
Only a single announcement from the Sect Leader:
> "Corruption will not be tolerated."
Whispers spread like wildfire. Disciples speak of the Sword Shadows in hushed tones.
But it is the masked figure—cold, precise, untouchable—that captures imagination.
Some dare to guess.
> "Could it be Liu Guan Yi…?"
Most of people doesn't dare to believe it.
> "Impossible. He's just Rank 4."
> "Then again… he walks like someone who's not afraid of death."
Among the elders, an unease grows.
> "That boy… he's dangerous."
> "Too clever."
> "Just like Ji Ning… when she was young."