Rain lashed Shen Li's face as he sprinted down the mountain paths he had once patrolled with pride. Every step sent splinters of pain through his body, but he didn't dare slow.
Behind him, bells tolled across Moonlight Sect's peaks—three deep, resonant chimes that meant traitor at large. By dawn, every disciple and elder would be hunting him.
He darted into a stand of wind-bent pines, pressing his back to the rough bark. His breath came ragged, clouds of mist in the freezing night air.
Quest Progress:
— Survive the Night of Exile: Ongoing
— Optional Objective: Discover the true thief: Incomplete
Host's spiritual reserves critically low. Replenishment recommended.
Shen Li swallowed. His spirit core was still fractured from the shock of Duality awakening. If he tried to force another attack like the one he used to break free, it might kill him outright.
Lightning flared through the trees. Shadows danced, and for an instant he thought he saw a slender figure standing among the pines—a woman in pale robes, silver hair clinging to her cheeks in the rain.
"Yue Qian…" he breathed.
But when the lightning faded, she was gone. Just a trick of memory—or guilt. He couldn't let himself dwell on her now.
Instead, he focused inward. The System's interface shimmered behind his eyelids: a lattice of symbols and flickering runes, half in languages he didn't recognize.
He reached out mentally, willing it to respond.
"Explain…Duality Seed."
Duality Seed: Core artifact of the Eternal Duality Protocol.
— Enables host to cultivate both light and darkness simultaneously.
— Growth linked to host's choices, emotional bonds, and combat experience.
— Power evolution paths: Harmonization or Domination.
Shen Li's brow furrowed. Harmonization or Domination. Did that mean he would have to choose whether to balance his powers—or let one consume the other?
Before he could ask more, a cold pulse warned him of danger. He shifted just in time as a blade of condensed moonlight ripped through the space he'd occupied, slicing a pine in half with a crack like a cannonshot.
"You've always been quick." A voice drifted from the darkness—calm, almost regretful. "But not quick enough."
Elder Disciple Fan Jin stepped into view, his white robes immaculate despite the downpour. In his hand, the Moonlight Sect's ceremonial sword gleamed with deadly radiance.
Shen Li's jaw tightened. Of all the disciples, Fan Jin had been the most ambitious. He had also been one of the last to see Yue Qian before the Jade Core vanished.
"Did you come to kill me?" Shen Li demanded, gathering what scraps of spiritual energy he could.
Fan Jin tilted his head. Rain dripped from his blade.
"I came to offer you mercy. Submit yourself to Elder Zhou's judgment. Confess. Perhaps they will spare your life."
Shen Li's laugh was low and bitter.
"Is that what you told yourself when you betrayed me? When you framed me?"
For an instant, Fan Jin's expression flickered. Then his eyes hardened.
"I have no need to justify myself to a criminal."
Light blossomed around him. Five shimmering sigils snapped into being—Core Formation techniques. Even at full strength, Shen Li would have struggled to counter them. Weakened as he was, the odds were impossible.
The System's interface pulsed in his mind.
Technique: Shadowstep (Tier 1)
— Cost: 40% remaining reserves
— Effect: Instantly traverse shadows within line of sight
He didn't hesitate. As Fan Jin's sword came down, Shen Li threw himself backward into the deepest shadow under the trees. Darkness swallowed him—cold, formless, and absolute.
When he emerged, he was crouched twenty paces behind his pursuer, heart hammering like a war drum. Fan Jin spun around, eyes wide. Shen Li didn't give him time to react. He thrust out his palm, channeling every scrap of power into a single burst of darkness.
Devour Essence.
Black mist exploded from his fingers, latching onto Fan Jin's aura like leeches. The elder disciple's scream was strangled as his spiritual energy began to siphon away.
It was only a fraction of what he needed—but it was enough to keep running.
Shen Li released the technique before he killed the man outright. He didn't want Fan Jin's death on his conscience—not yet.
As he fled deeper into the forest, a notification flickered at the edge of his vision.
He gritted his teeth. Not enough. He needed distance—time to recover, to think. And somewhere to hide until dawn.
Through the veil of rain, he glimpsed the outline of a hidden pass leading down the mountain. Old smugglers' tunnels wound beneath the cliffs. If he could reach them, he might vanish long enough to plan his next move.
But as he forced his weary legs to move, a memory burned in his mind—Yue Qian's face in the storm, her eyes locked on his as Elder Zhou pronounced sentence.
He didn't know whether she believed him innocent. He didn't know whether she would fight for him, or stand with her sect. But he knew, with a certainty as deep as the marrow of his bones, that she was the key to unraveling this conspiracy.
And he swore to himself, as lightning tore the sky in two:
I will survive this night. I will uncover the truth. And I will never bow again.