Lin Xuan sat on the bedroll with his legs crossed. Some fresh night breeze had swept into his room through a crack in the window. Between the quiet rustle of leaves outside and the ambient murmur of nocturnal insects, a fragile peace hung in the air that seemed abruptly torn apart at his words. It had been in this peaceful moment that his eyes had wandered over to The System prompt, the type of pop-up digital interface which he had grown oddly accustomed to since his cultivation path began.
(Hidden Quest: Who tried to kill me?)
Time limit: 7 days. Progress: 0%.
The gravity of the situation fell like a ton of bricks onto his shoulders. He expected enemies to appear on his path — it was understandable, after all, this was the world of martial arts and sect clashes, danger was hidden at each step. But he never foresaw getting caught up in a conspiracy within hours of arriving at the sect. Such rapid violence meant the hit was thought out, it had to be executed in fear, something that was desperate or perhaps opportunistic. Whatever the reason, what he had to do was obvious: act first, move faster than those who would destroy him.
The Dagger's Trial - Day One
In his palm was the iron blade that had been stabbed into the very heart of this quandary. It was an average weapon in the eyes of his subordinates when they went through practice with him, just your usual iron blade. But the coating it had was what caught his eyes first.
[Check Skill: Venom Trace Analysis - Base Grade of Poison]
To which one word escaped from his lips, a faint breeze of revelation. "Yes." The System started cascading information down in his mind on how to unravel the mystery before him. He had to remove the residual venom from his sword, he needed the subtle sense of smell and taste that guided him on the rarefied edge of Qi—so he could seek out the mysterious signature by which such poison might be traced. And the wisdom transpired and he realized that this venom came from the Nightroot Sap itself, its terrible function paralyzing anyone with but the first beat of their heart. For such a material, this was something that the sect had never even heard of before nor was there any other place cultivation anywhere beyond one of its four outer gardens. And that garden? That was with the stern gaze of CORE DISCIPLE MENG ZHAO.
Day Two – The Observation Net
The next day he woke up with a mission. Lin Xuan did not blame anyone immediately, nor did he rush to vent all the way to the martial arts field. Nevertheless, he chose to go a much more middle-of-the-road path, turning up eventually at the common training premises utilized by his fans. Slowly and surely, he went through the motions of executing combat moves with a practiced sloppiness that hid his true prowess; just well enough to be invisible.
Skill detected: Peripheral Combat Awareness - Primitive observation skill.
"Indeed," he said, feeling the talent stirring inside him. While he worked out, he noticed the eyes and scolded whispers that circled in the onlookers around him. Meng Zhao's apprentice disciples all stood far away, looking at him from peripheral vision but staring at him like a tiger hunting its prey. He learned all he could about the gardens and finally that night spent hours designing a map of the sect grounds mapping out where it was, what time was best to sneak in undetected, etc.
Day Three – The Poison Garden
The Nightroot garden was surrounded by the Spirit Bamboo wall, which enclosed it like a loving embrace. The leaves whispered their secrets to the night air beyond. His gloved hands glistened under the moonlight like diamonds, as he watched from afar as the outer disciples worked on tending to the garden, their faces stoic behind their cheap masks. He had held back from entering the garden as yet. The next evening, however, during a relaxed wander he detected a low-grade creation formation shaded above the entrance gate, barely visible but significant enough to catch his acute vision.
Mist Veil Barrier [Low-class Concealment Formation] Detected
"Ah, interesting," he mused. And it was like the missing piece in his jigsaw simply slipped into place. If he had to, he could get around it, but definitely not without leaving some hint of his having been there.
Day 4: The Writing in the Sand
The next morning he changed his routine. When he came to spear drills the next day, his usual partner had been replaced by a sinewy boy with quick feet named Shan Ke. The usual back-and-forth banter kicked off their sparring, but it didn't take long for their sparring to veer in an unusual direction—Shan Ke's spear snapped twice, indicating the training drills were being ignored. As Lin Xuan stepped in, the sand was moving around his feet and arranged a yioh facechrome that seemed to shout out loud: Do not ask.
[SKILL DETECTED: SILENT SAND SCRIPT, SKILL TITLE Low-grade covert communication technique.]
I would later hear that he said to himself, "Yes," realizing the consequences. Controlling his emotions, Lin Xuan changed into the swing next to continue flying out of a cloud of dust and not let the obvious trace. Still, he felt in his heart that his inquiries would not become things people gloss over anymore.
Five: The Library of Shadows
In part 8, the link between the Nightroot and the sect's political machinations was beginning to become more apparent. This web of deceit could be untangled, however — the library maintained exhaustive records of all herb requisitions. He sighed through the noise of information as he pored over his spear manuals in the lower archives that afternoon. In the monotonous eyeballing of records, he discovered a piercing incursion; a large Nightroot receipt signed by proxy disciple Eu Ran. It had been a transaction for one of Meng Zhao's favored hoodlums, a bond that paired the two players in a sordid little ballet. As he started merging these details, something was in presence behind him.
[Warning – Hostile – Sneak – Rear]
His instincts took over as he weaved his body to avoid a palm strike lined directly up for his neck. Half-turning to face his attacker, he looked into the indifferent countenance of an elite outer disciple maybe a decade older whose eyes gave no warning, only chilling emptiness. "Love you so much. Wrong aisle," the disciple said, in what may have been a neutral voice if it had not already disappeared along with itself into the gloom of isolation beyond their momentary shared presence.
Sixth Day: Accelerating the Warning
When Lin Xuan woke up the next morning, a sour message greeted him on his doorstep: a corpse of a snake was crucified on his door and its mouth was secreting out green liquid.
[Analysis: Venom matches Nightroot derivative. Potency: lethal.]
The soft warnings that hung in the air had turned into overt threats. The ante had been upped and the danger was real. Seeing him standing before the terrible scene, Yun Ruo raised an eyebrow and with a sarcastic tone, commented, "Getting acquainted already?"
"Nurturing ties," Lin Xuan responded with a measured tone. "Some just need more… pruning."
Day Seven – The Net Tightens
Lin Xuan finally got some information he found and connected them with the assassination, guilty at last for Meng Zhao's power but always covered in dust a gap. The only person who appeared to be the last piece in this complicated puzzle was Qiu Ran. On that night while strolling, he saw Qiu Ran leave the Nightroot's garden, holding a sealed bag. Lin Xuan invisibly began to fall behind him, following the pace of shadows as he proceeded — and struck a balance so that he could remain under surveillance but always avoided detection by moving according to the System.
[Ability Identification: Ghost Step Stealth Strike]
His jaw tightened, and just the mention of Emo Mike had his blood buzzing again as he moved through the shadow. Halfway down the courtyard toward the core disc, Qiu Ran's movements abruptly stilled. A voice made dark through impatience: "You were slow." Suddenly the sound of a voice reached Lin Xuan's eardrum, his heart skipped a beat when he heard this voice. He took a step forward, and by the moonlight, Meng Zhao emerged from his shadow with a funny smile on his lips that made Lin Xuan scared. There was a touch of cold sneer on Meng Zhao's face, and he looked at Lin Xuan hidden in the dark. As though he knew from the start that Lin Xuan was there.
"You're here, eh," Meng Zhao was sneering as well, "then let us not waste a night.
FOR YOUR PROTECTION: HOSTILES INCOMING
[System Alert: Combat Imminent – I Cannot Save You, Nonball] (part 1) Recommend immediate engagement or retreat.
Lin Xuan clenched his spear, and Xing heart felt the excitement. This is how the seventh day of cloak and dagger finished—finally coming face-to-face with him who had been behind his life being targeted. When the room cooled to a hushed panic and The Jog stopped before him, he heard out, in a mimic of Lin Xuan's stuttering tone "Well." In the sullen silence, an eerie transparency popped out of the shade as the secretive figure showed their face, contrasting against the mystic light of TBD moon. "Let's talk." A long night ahead, with grand promises of danger. Lin Xuan did feel this was anything remotely close to a so-called get-together, but rather a head face-off with his destiny.