Twilight loomed over the mountains. In the ruins of the Twilight Shadow Sect, the air was heavy with Qi and the sound of fists slamming into stone.
Han Li lay on the ground, panting.
"M-Master… I think I broke something…"
"Only one thing?" Shen Mo replied coldly. "You're underperforming."
"W-why are you so cruel?!"
"Cruelty builds character. Or corpses. Either outcome is acceptable."
Han Li whimpered, crawling back into stance.
Inside, Shen Mo was unimpressed. The boy had talent, yes, but what he needed now wasn't training—it was a foundation. One disciple wouldn't be enough to rebuild the sect. He needed many. The twisted, rare, and unstable ones. The desperate.
And just then—
[System Notification Received][Destined Disciple Detected – Profile Unlocked]— Name: Yun Xi— Path: Array Master— Location: Ruins of Cloud Labyrinth Sect, Forbidden Forest— Status: Spirit Root Collapsing | Emotional State: Despair
Recruitment Condition:Disciple must willingly accept your guidance during a moment of desperation.Reward: Unlock Basic Array Hall + Sect Contribution +100
Shen Mo's grin widened.
"So that's how this works. Consent at rock bottom. Heh. The System suits me after all."
Without a word, he left Han Li groaning on the floor and disappeared into the dark forest.
The Forbidden Forest lived up to its name. Dense mist. No birdsong. Only the hum of ancient, broken arrays buried beneath the soil.
Shen Mo strolled through it like he owned the place.
"I remember slaughtering their elders centuries ago. Now I'm here to babysit a half-dead brat? Tch."
Eventually, he arrived at a cracked altar in the ruins of the Cloud Labyrinth Sect. There lay a girl with tangled silver hair, clothes tattered, chest barely rising.
Yun Xi.
Her body trembled. Her spirit root—an exceptionally rare Array Pulse Root—was trying to awaken. But she lacked the strength, guidance, and belief to survive it.
Shen Mo approached slowly. Watching. Waiting.
Array beasts circled her, sensing weakness. Constructs made of old jade and rusted metal twitched to life. A wolf-shaped one lunged toward her neck—
—only to be shattered mid-leap by a flick of Shen Mo's finger.
"Not yet. She hasn't begged me yet."
The noise jolted Yun Xi awake. Her violet eyes fluttered open in a haze of fear and hopelessness. The beast fragments around her… the fading array… her failing body…
"W-who…?"
"A devil," Shen Mo answered casually. "But one who can keep you alive."
She flinched.
"Y-you… you killed them?"
"No," he said, glancing at the still-active array beasts. "I'm just better at it than they are."
"I don't want to die…" she whimpered.
"Most people don't. What separates the corpses from the survivors is what they're willing to give up to keep breathing."
Yun Xi looked at him—at his unnatural crimson eyes, the dangerous smirk, the way the beasts seemed to shiver in his presence.
"W-who are you?"
"I am the Sect Master of a forgotten sect," Shen Mo said. "Join me, and you'll live. Become mine, and you'll become more than a name lost to time. Say yes… and the world will kneel before the diagrams you draw."
She hesitated. But the pain returned. Her spirit root was cracking. Her eyes filled with tears.
"Help me…"
[Recruitment Condition Fulfilled. Disciple has willingly accepted your offer in a state of despair.]
[Recruitment Successful – Yun Xi. Loyalty: 61%.][Array Hall (Basic Tier) Unlocked. Contribution +100.]
The altar glowed faintly behind him as he caught her falling body.
"One lost girl, claimed."
He turned, walking into the mist with her in his arms. The array beasts backed away instinctively, as if the forest itself feared him.
"You'll thank me later," he whispered. "Or curse me. Either way, you're mine now."
Far behind them, broken stones began to glow. A new hall had been born at the Twilight Shadow Sect—one shaped by ancient lines, runes, and potential.
The beginning of a very unholy empire… disguised as salvation.