The heavy stone door of the pagoda slid open with a low groan, releasing a man who was both the same and fundamentally different from the one who had entered a decade ago. Wei stepped out into the familiar, cloyingly sweet air of Silent Bloom Peak, his new masterpiece, the 'Void-Bane', safely stored in his inner world. The sun felt strange on his skin.
His friends were waiting for him in his courtyard, their expressions a mixture of concern and curiosity. Elder Guan, ever the most direct, was the first to speak, holding up a matching blood-red talisman. "We all received one. A direct summons from the Old Ancestor himself. In all my years, I've never seen such a thing. What in the blazes is going on?"
"The fact that he summoned all four of us, the original elders of this peak, suggests the matter is of a personal and highly sensitive nature," Elder Mei observed, her elegant brow furrowed. "It is no secret that the sect has become... factionalized in our absence. Perhaps he seeks the counsel of those he trusts most."
Elder Jin, who had been silently observing Wei, spoke last, his voice a low rumble. "You've changed, Wei. Your seclusion was more than just a simple consolidation." It was not a question. It was a statement of fact. Jin's senses, honed by a lifetime of body cultivation, could feel the terrifying, coiled power that Wei was now suppressing. It was like looking at a calm ocean and knowing a leviathan slumbered in its depths.
Wei met his friend's gaze. "A breakthrough is a transformative experience, Jin. The Dao of Poison is not a gentle path." He offered no further explanation. He then looked at the blood-red talisman in his hand, which was still pulsing with a faint, urgent warmth. "The Sect Master is a being at the peak of the Spirit Emperor realm. For him to break his centuries of seclusion... the matter must be grave indeed. Let us not keep him waiting."
He didn't summon his bee-cloud. Such a display felt inappropriate for this occasion. The four of them traveled together, four streaks of light ascending towards the highest, most sacred peak in the sect, Jade Emperor Peak. As they flew, Guan filled Wei in on the political climate.
"It's that fellow, Jian Feng," Guan grumbled. "The new elder from the Soaring Sword Peak. He's a traditionalist, believes strength comes only from the edge of a blade. He's been gathering support, whispering that your methods, while effective, are unorthodox and dishonorable. He claims the sect is losing its martial spirit, becoming reliant on 'tricks and schemes'."
"He is a fool, but a charismatic one," Mei added. "He has the support of many of the new elders and a significant portion of the younger disciples who were inspired by the sect's newfound wealth and seek glory in open battle."
"His faction will be a problem," Wei stated, his face unreadable. He had created the sect's golden age, and in doing so, had inadvertently bred the very arrogance and ambition that now sought to challenge him. It was a predictable, if irritating, consequence.
They arrived at the summit of Jade Emperor Peak. It was a simple, stark place, devoid of the grand palaces and bustling activity of the other peaks. There was only a single, ancient pagoda made of simple, unadorned wood, standing before a gnarled, thousand-year-old pine tree. The spiritual energy here was so dense and pure it felt like breathing liquid jade.
The First Elder was waiting for them at the entrance to the pagoda. He looked older, more weary than Wei had ever seen him. He gave the four of them a deep, formal bow. "Thank you for coming so quickly. The Sect Master is waiting."
He led them inside. The interior was as simple as the exterior. There were no decorations, only woven rush mats on the floor. In the center of the room, an old man sat cross-legged on a simple mat, seemingly in meditation. He was thin and frail, his skin as wrinkled as old parchment, and his long white hair was thin and wispy. He looked like a mortal who was moments from death's door. But when he opened his eyes, Wei felt the entire world tilt on its axis.
His eyes were not the eyes of an old man. They were pools of pure, liquid starlight, containing a wisdom so profound and a power so vast that it seemed to encompass the entire history of the sect. Wei, for the first time since acquiring the system, felt a genuine sense of danger. His carefully suppressed Spirit Emperor aura trembled, threatening to reveal itself under the weight of that ancient, passive gaze. This was the Sect Master, a being who had reached the peak of the Dao Fusion stage, a half-step away from true transcendence.
"Welcome, my friends," the Sect Master's voice was soft, yet it resonated not in their ears, but directly in their souls. "It has been a long time." He looked at Jin, Mei, and Guan, a faint, warm smile on his lips. "You have all served the sect well."
Then, his gaze settled on Wei, and the warmth vanished, replaced by a deep, penetrating scrutiny that seemed to see every secret, every shadow in Wei's soul. "And you, Elder Wei... you have not just served the sect. You have remade it."
Wei remained silent, his mind a fortress.
"I have watched your progress with great interest," the Sect Master continued, his voice still soft. "I watched you turn our enemy's greatest weapon against them. I watched you dismantle a rival sect without losing a single disciple. I watched you end a plague that baffled an entire province. And I watched you step into a realm that I myself have occupied for five hundred years."
The chamber went deathly silent. Jin, Mei, and Guan stared at Wei, their faces a mixture of shock and utter disbelief. A Spirit Emperor? Their quiet, reclusive friend was a Spirit Emperor?
Wei's carefully constructed facade did not crack, but he felt a cold knot tighten in his stomach. The Old Ancestor knew. He had known all along.
"Your methods are... unorthodox," the Sect Master said, the corner of his mouth twitching in what might have been a smile. "You are a creature of the shadows, a master of schemes. You are everything a righteous sect should fear. And you are, without a doubt, the greatest hope this sect has for survival."
"Sect Master," Wei finally spoke, his voice a low, steady baritone. "I do not understand."
"You will," the Sect Master said. He gestured to the floor. "Look."
He waved a hand, and the wooden floor of the pagoda dissolved into an illusion, revealing a star-filled void. It was a map of their continent, but it was wrong. A creeping, dark rot, a stain of absolute nothingness, was spreading from the northern edge of the continent, slowly consuming everything it touched.
"This is the Void Corruption," the Sect Master explained, his voice turning grim. "It is not a poison, not a curse. It is a metaphysical disease of reality itself. A poison that attacks space," he said, his eyes locking onto Wei's.
Wei's mind reeled. The Sect Master hadn't just known about his breakthrough; he could perceive the very nature of the poison Wei had just finished creating moments ago. The depth of the old man's power was unfathomable. This was a being who could truly see through him.
"It erases everything it touches from existence," the Sect Master continued, oblivious to Wei's inner turmoil. "It began a century ago, far to the north, and it is accelerating. The great sects of the north have already fallen. Their lands, their people, their very history... erased. We are next. In perhaps fifty years, it will reach our borders."
"Why has this been kept secret?" Elder Jin demanded, his voice shaking with a mixture of anger and fear.
"Because there is no defense," the Sect Master replied sadly. "You cannot fight a thing that erases the very laws you use to fight it. My own power, my fusion with the Dao, can only slow it, not stop it. And my time is running out. I have maybe twenty years left before my life force is exhausted."
He turned his full attention back to Wei. "I have spent the last century searching for a solution. The answer, I believe, lies in the cause. This corruption is not natural. It is a leak. A wound in the world. The connection to the Netherworld that your 'Bone Sage' opened was a symptom, not the disease. There is something on the other side, something ancient and hungry, that is gnawing on the roots of our reality."
"And what would you have me do?" Wei asked, his mind already connecting the dots, seeing the shape of the impossible task being laid before him.
"The orthodox methods have failed," the Sect Master said. "Righteous power, brute force... they are useless. But you... you do not fight with such things. You fight with knowledge. You understand the mechanisms of death, of curses, of the unorthodox. The key to healing a poison is to understand its composition. The same is true for this... this poison of reality."
"I am summoning you not as an elder, but as the only being in this world who might have the knowledge to face this threat. I need you to travel north, to the edge of the corruption. I need you to study it. Understand it. And if possible, find a way to create an antidote, a 'World-Heal' to counter this corruption."
"You are asking me to fight a war against the void itself," Wei stated, the sheer, insane scale of the task settling upon him.
"I am," the Sect Master confirmed. "The sect will support you. Your new... 'acquisitions' from the Blackwood Sect and the Bone Sage will be yours to command. But this mission must be a secret. If panic spreads, our society will collapse long before the corruption arrives. You will travel alone. You will be our silent, last hope."
He then looked at Jin, Mei, and Guan. "Your role is to remain here. You must maintain order. You must deal with the factions of Jian Feng and the others. You must ensure that when Wei returns—if he returns—he has a sect to come back to."
Wei stood in the center of the ancient pagoda, the weight of a dying world settling on his shoulders. This was a challenge beyond anything he had ever imagined. It was a puzzle of cosmic proportions, a poison that was consuming reality itself.
It was the most fascinating, most beautiful, most terrifying poison he had ever encountered. And the thought of dissecting it, of understanding it, and perhaps even of mastering it, sent a flicker of cold, academic excitement through his soul.