The great council hall of Heavenly Spirit Sect had not hosted a full assembly in over a decade.
But now, nearly every disciple and elder stood within its marble-walled expanse.
At the center, Lin Feng stood alone.
His robes were immaculate. His face, expressionless. But the weight pressing on him was immense—rumors, accusations, and the bitter sting of silence from former allies.
Su Qingxue sat among the high disciples, her gaze unreadable.
Shen Li stood farther back, arms folded. He had spoken little since the petition. He didn't need to.
The storm had already begun.
Elder Hu's voice rang out like thunder.
"We are not here to condemn—but to seek clarity."
He turned to Lin Feng.
"Your lineage remains in question. You've hidden it from this sect. Will you now explain?"
Lin Feng looked up, meeting every gaze.
"I never used my bloodline for harm. Only for survival. For strength."
A murmur swept through the crowd.
"But not for truth," Su Qingxue whispered under her breath.
Elder Hu raised a hand to call for silence—
—but the ceiling exploded.
A blinding flash tore through the sky as the protective formation cracked. From above, masked figures descended, robes marked with jagged red sigils and obsidian chains.
Twenty. Thirty. Forty invaders.
Each one a cultivator.
The crowd scattered. Disciples screamed. Elders summoned defenses. Blades clashed. Spells ignited.
And at their lead, a tall woman in black touched down beside the central dais.
Her voice echoed without sound techniques.
"We are the Purgeborn. The discarded, the erased, the inconvenient."
She threw a token to the floor—one that bore the emblem of Heavenly Spirit Sect, crossed out with crimson.
"We are the ones your righteousness forgot."
Shen Li's eyes narrowed.
This wasn't in his plan.
At least… not yet.
The woman's gaze swept across the hall.
"While you argue over one lie, you ignore hundreds. Your sect's core is rot. Your justice, selective. Your saviors, tainted."
She pointed to Lin Feng.
"You? A half-demon who masquerades as holy."
Then toward Su Qingxue.
"You? The daughter of the very elder who buried our names."
Gasps. Stares.
"From this day on, Heavenly Spirit Sect belongs to no one. It will be reborn in blood."
Combat erupted.
Lin Feng dashed forward, clashing blades with a masked invader. His power surged—flames and wind combining into a cyclone of fury.
But for every enemy he felled, two more emerged.
Elder Hu collapsed from a poison dart.
Su Qingxue shielded junior disciples with frost barriers.
And Shen Li?
He crouched low beside a shattered pillar, fingers glowing faintly.
System Notice: "Warning: Chaos state detected. External faction introduced. Predictive models disrupted." "New Opportunity: Shift narrative. Manipulate the enemy."
He smiled faintly.
Time for improvisation.
Moments later, Shen Li emerged behind one of the Purgeborn—a man mid-incantation—and whispered:
"Your leader is using you. She's not here to purge lies. She wants the sect's core technique."
The man paused.
"What—?"
Shen Li stabbed a talisman into his back. The energy backlashed, knocking them both aside.
But in the invader's mind, the doubt was planted.
And doubt spreads like fire.
Minutes stretched into eternity.
Eventually, the invaders began to pull back—retreating into summoned shadow portals as reinforcements arrived.
The hall lay in ruins. Bodies littered the floor. Smoke clouded the banners.
The sect had survived.
Barely.
But its unity?
Shattered.
That night, Lin Feng stood over the wall, bandaged, exhausted.
Su Qingxue approached slowly.
"I don't know who the real enemy is anymore," she admitted.
Lin Feng said nothing.
And in the distance, atop a broken watchtower, Shen Li sat alone.
His hands were burned. His robe torn. But his eyes gleamed.
System Update: New Faction Identified: Purgeborn Internal Collapse Level: 48.3% Faith in Lin Feng: 21.2% ↓ Su Qingxue Influence: 61.5% ("Fractured Loyalty")
New Quest: "Divide the Devout" Objective: Push Su Qingxue to confront Lin Feng openly. Break her final tie to the sect's ideal.
Hidden Trait Unlocked: "Chaos Catalyst"
Shen Li looked at the ruins below.
A third power had entered the game.
And he?
He would play all sides—
Until only he remained standing.