The Pavilion's training fields rang with the clash of wooden swords and the stern voices of instructors. Children leapt and stumbled, sweat dripping, faces set in determination. Among them, Feng Xieyun moved at his usual pace—quiet, unremarkable, always just slow enough to earn correction.
"Xieyun!" barked Instructor Yan. "Again! Your form is limp as a reed."
"Yes, Instructor," he said meekly, bowing his head. He repeated the drill with deliberate stiffness, drawing laughter from nearby disciples. Xu Liang smirked the widest, his broad shoulders shaking with amusement.
To all eyes, Xieyun was nothing but a burden tolerated for his noble bloodline. That mask held, flawless. But beneath the surface, his soul churned with quiet fire.
For nights now, the System's cold words echoed in his mind:
> [Special Task Active: First Kill Opportunity Detected.]
[Objective: Eliminate Xu Liang without revealing cultivation.]
[Reward: Heavenly Demon Scripture — Second Seal Fragment.]
At first, Xieyun had resisted. He was not squeamish—his past life had taught him betrayal well enough—but the risk of exposure gnawed at him. Yet every day Xu Liang's malice sharpened. He tripped him during lessons, spoiled his food, whispered venom to other disciples. The Karmic Echo flared redder each time they crossed paths.
By his tenth year, Xieyun knew: the time had come.
---
It began on a moonless night.
The Pavilion's outer disciples slumbered in shared dormitories, their snores blending with the chirr of crickets. Xieyun lay still, eyes closed, until the steady rhythm of breathing assured him all were asleep. Then he rose soundlessly. His small body moved with the precision of countless rehearsals—step, pause, listen, step.
He slipped into the night, the cold air brushing his skin. The System's whisper guided him.
> [Target Location: Streamside practice ground.]
Sure enough, Xu Liang was there. The older boy hacked at a wooden post with his training sword, sweat gleaming on his bare arms. His face twisted with frustration. Even geniuses had their bottlenecks, and Xu Liang's temper made his worse.
"Why now?" Xieyun murmured under his breath. "Because rage blinds the eyes."
He stepped forward, letting twigs crunch beneath his foot.
Xu Liang whirled, sneer returning as soon as he saw the smaller boy. "You? What are you doing here, mouse?"
Xieyun lowered his eyes. "I… couldn't sleep. I came to watch." His tone was quiet, almost timid.
Xu Liang barked a laugh. "Watch? You'll never learn by watching. You should go back to your cradle."
He turned back to the post, striking again. The wood splintered.
Xieyun's fingers twitched. Threads of Qi, invisible to ordinary eyes, coiled at his fingertips like hair-thin wires. His first Demon Art—the Blood Thread Bind. He had practiced it for years in silence, feeding droplets of his own essence until it became part of him.
He exhaled slowly.
The threads unfurled, drifting through the dark like whispers of spider silk. They wrapped around Xu Liang's throat, wrists, ankles—all without a sound.
The boy stiffened. "Wh-what—?"
With a thought, Xieyun tightened them. The threads bit deep, cutting skin, drawing beads of blood that gleamed crimson in the faint starlight.
Xu Liang dropped his sword, clawing at his neck. His eyes bulged, confusion twisting to terror. "Y-you—"
Xieyun stepped closer, his face calm, his voice low. "You should have left me alone."
The threads constricted. Xu Liang's struggles grew frantic, then weaker. His body convulsed, blood seeping where the bindings dug into flesh. In moments, silence swallowed him. His lifeless body collapsed to the ground, strings vanishing like mist.
The night was still again.
Xieyun stood over the corpse, heart steady, hands clean. He felt no thrill, no horror. Only necessity.
The System's chime rang in his skull.
> [Quest Complete: First Kill Executed.]
[Reward Unlocked: Heavenly Demon Scripture, Second Seal Fragment.]
[Technique Gained: Soul Refinement Art.]
Heat lanced through him, sharper than fire yet sweeter than nectar. Knowledge poured into his veins, ancient whispers of demonic lords who had fed upon the souls of their enemies. He could feel Xu Liang's departing spirit flicker like a dying flame—and he reached for it.
The Soul Refinement Art devoured it.
Power trickled into him, faint but intoxicating. His cultivation deepened, his consciousness sharpened. The world seemed clearer, sounds crisper, shadows richer.
For the first time, Feng Xieyun tasted the essence of true strength.
---
By dawn, Xu Liang's bed lay empty. Murmurs spread like wildfire through the Pavilion. Search parties scoured the grounds, but no body was found. The streamside practice ground bore no trace; the threads had left nothing but faint scratches in the dirt.
Some whispered he had run away. Others that beasts had dragged him off.
Xieyun sat quietly through the day, his expression solemn, as if saddened by the boy's absence. No one suspected him. How could they? He was the harmless child, the mouse no one feared.
But that night, alone in his chamber, he stared into the darkness and whispered to himself:
"One mask falls, another rises. This is the path I walk."
The System purred in his mind.
> [New Quest Generated.]
[Objective: Acquire Pavilion Recognition by age twelve while maintaining concealment.]
[Reward: Heavenly Demon Scripture, Third Seal Unlock.]
Xieyun closed his eyes, already plotting. He was ten years old. To the Pavilion, he was still a burden. To the Lin Clan, he was a secret yet unfound.
But within himself, the Demon Scripture grew. With each seal, his rebirth drew closer to destiny.
And the world had not yet realized a hunter had been born in their midst.