Part 1
Inside the main hall of Azure Cloud Sect's central peak, sandalwood incense curled upward in thin wisps.
Chu Yanran stood in the center of the hall, holding Su Yan's hand, her almond-shaped eyes gazing pleadingly at Sect Leader Chu Xiong seated above. Lin Yue stood quietly to the side, his expression gentle, though his gaze occasionally swept over the thin young boy, a flicker of unreadable thought hidden deep in his eyes.
"Father, just take him in!" Chu Yanran's voice carried the natural coquettishness of a young girl. "Look how pitiful he is. If Senior Brother Lin and I hadn't arrived in time, those bandits would have killed him. Doesn't our Azure Cloud Sect always take compassion and saving others as its mission?"
Chu Xiong rubbed his brow, looking at his daughter—who had that determined look she always got when she wanted something—and then at the boy standing beside her.
The boy was about thirteen or fourteen, thin and gaunt. His faded white coarse cloth clothes hung loosely on his frame, and several half-healed bruises marked his face. He kept his head down, nervously twisting the hem of his shirt, looking utterly timid.
Chu Xiong studied him for a moment without speaking. The hall fell silent for several breaths.
The boy seemed to sense something. He lifted his head slightly, his eyes meeting Chu Xiong's briefly. In that glance, there was no fear, no ingratiation—only a calmness utterly at odds with his age. It was as if he was sizing things up, evaluating, looking at a complete stranger with utter detachment.
But it lasted only an instant. The next moment, his head dropped again, and he was once more the frightened, displaced refugee boy.
Chu Xiong's brow furrowed slightly. "Yanran, the sect has its own rules for accepting disciples. There must be spiritual root testing, character assessment. I cannot make an exception just because you ask."
"But Father—"
Lin Yue stepped forward at the right moment, cupping his hands. "Master, when I rescued Su Yan, I did witness him being surrounded by seven or eight mortal bandits. As a mortal himself, he managed to protect his belongings and hold on until we arrived—without breaking down or begging for mercy. His character is not lacking."
Chu Xiong's gaze lingered on Lin Yue's face for a moment. This senior personal disciple was the one he trusted most—steady, reliable, not prone to speaking without reason. Since Lin Yue had spoken up—
"Very well." Chu Xiong sighed. "Let us test his spiritual roots first."
Part 2
The testing stone for spiritual roots was brought to the center of the hall. It was a green-black stone about three feet high, its surface smooth as a mirror, faint streams of light shimmering within.
"Place your hand on it," the attending disciple said in a routine tone. "Don't think about anything."
Su Yan stepped forward and pressed his palm against the stone. The hall fell silent as everyone stared at the stone tablet.
One breath. Two breaths. Three breaths. The stone showed no response at all—completely inert.
The attending disciple frowned. "Try your other hand." Still nothing. Not even the faintest flicker of variegated light from the weakest mixed spiritual root.
The attending disciple looked up, a hint of barely concealed disdain in his voice. "Sect Leader, the test is complete. He has... no spiritual roots."
A low murmur rippled through the hall. Chu Yanran froze. In the cultivation world, having no spiritual roots meant being a completely ordinary mortal, unfit even for the lowest menial disciple duties—forever barred from the path of cultivation.
Chu Xiong was silent for a moment, then looked at Su Yan. The boy still stood beside the stone, his hand not yet withdrawn, just blankly pressing against the cold rock. His head was lowered, his expression unreadable, only his thin shoulders trembling slightly.
"Someone, take him down the mountain. Give him some traveling money..." Chu Xiong waved his hand.
"Wait."
Lin Yue spoke suddenly. He walked to Su Yan's side, looked down at the stone tablet, then at the boy's hand pressed against it. The hand was thin, with several small cuts on the knuckles—injuries from gripping the wooden box so tightly in the valley that day.
"Master." Lin Yue turned, his gaze clear. "I would venture to ask—could you personally probe his meridians with your spiritual energy?"
Chu Xiong paused. "Lin Yue, what are you suggesting?"
"I find it unusual," Lin Yue said steadily. "The day we rescued him, he possessed a protective charm that emitted a green light. I checked the ancient texts—that is a characteristic of ancient talismans. Even if a charm recognized a master, a mortal with no spiritual roots at all could never activate an ancient talisman's restrictions."
Chu Xiong considered this for a long moment, then stood and walked slowly to Su Yan. "Extend your hand."
Su Yan slowly raised his hand. The moment Chu Xiong extended two fingers and placed them on his wrist—
Deep within Su Yan's sea of consciousness, a shrill alarm exploded instantly!
[Warning! Warning! High-concentration foreign spiritual energy intrusion detected!]
[Energy Level: Golden Core Stage. Target is performing a deep scan!]
[Risk of Host's true constitution—Devouring Demon Body—being exposed: 99%!]
Su Yan's heart clenched violently. A Golden Core cultivator's spiritual awareness was immense; if Chu Xiong probed even an inch deeper into his dantian, the System chip lurking inside him and his demonic origins would be completely exposed! At that moment, what awaited him was soul-searching interrogation and obliteration!
[Initiating Emergency Camouflage Protocol: Ancient Seal! Countdown: three, two, one—]
A strand of Chu Xiong's pure spiritual energy surged through Su Yan's meridians. Suddenly, he encountered an obscure barrier as impenetrable as iron walls—ancient and profound, tightly locking the boy's otherwise wide meridians, allowing not a trace of spiritual energy to pass.
Chu Xiong's expression changed. He withdrew his hand sharply, looking at the boy with extremely complicated eyes.
"What is it?" Lin Yue asked.
Chu Xiong did not answer immediately. Instead, he turned to the other disciples in the hall. "All of you, withdraw. Yanran, Lin Yue—stay."
After the others had left, Chu Xiong looked at Su Yan and spoke slowly: "His meridians have been sealed using an exceptionally sophisticated technique."
Part 3
"Sealed?" Chu Yanran's eyes widened. "Sealed by whom?"
"I don't know. Had my cultivation method not been unique, I would never have detected it. On the surface, he appears to be a mortal with no spiritual roots. But beneath the seal... his meridians are exceptionally broad—far from ordinary." Chu Xiong looked at Su Yan. "Child, did you know about this yourself?"
Su Yan stood there, trembling more violently now. He lifted his head, his eyes red-rimmed, his lips quivering—and performed the script he had prepared long ago with tearful conviction:
"Before Father died... he gave me a wooden box. He said, open it when I'm in danger. He also said... to live well, and not to think about revenge..." "My mother... was killed by masked men. Father took me and ran... and in the end, he died too..."
The boy's broken sobs, combined with his thin, frail frame, were deeply convincing. Chu Yanran's eyes reddened immediately; she stepped forward and gently put an arm around his shoulders in comfort.
Lin Yue stood where he was, watching the scene quietly. His instincts told him this boy still carried other secrets. Yet the tears falling now—the despair and loneliness—did not seem false.
Chu Xiong was silent for a long while, then finally sighed. "Very well. Since you have this history, and your meridians are sealed, perhaps this is heaven's will. Are you willing to join our Azure Cloud Sect?"
Su Yan knelt, his forehead striking the floor heavily. "This disciple is willing!"
"But remember this." Chu Xiong's voice hardened. "Whatever blood debts you carry from your past, once you enter Azure Cloud Sect, you will abide by its rules. You are not to act on your own—do you understand?"
"This disciple understands. Thank you, Sect Leader, for taking me in."
Chu Xiong nodded. "Rise. Since your meridians are sealed and you cannot cultivate for now, you will first work as an outer sect menial disciple. Lin Yue, keep an eye on him."
"Yes, Master." Lin Yue cupped his hands.
Part 4
When they stepped out of the main hall, it was already noon. Sunlight spilled across the stone steps of Mount Qingyun, stretching the shadows of Lin Yue and Su Yan long behind them.
Su Yan walked behind Lin Yue, head lowered, silent. Suddenly, Lin Yue stopped.
Su Yan nearly bumped into him and hurriedly halted. Lin Yue turned back, sunlight falling on his gentle yet sharp features.
"How much of what you said in the hall was true?" Lin Yue asked.
Su Yan froze, his hands instinctively clenching his shirt. "...All of it."
Lin Yue studied him for a moment, then said nothing further. He turned and continued walking down the steps.
They walked a long distance—so long that Su Yan thought Lin Yue would not speak again—before Lin Yue finally stopped. He turned around and looked down at Su Yan. There was no interrogation in his eyes, no pressing for the truth—only a calm that held everything, and a bottom line as firm as iron.
"I won't ask about your past. But remember this: though Azure Cloud Sect is small, it is my school. The people here matter to me. There are things here I am sworn to protect." Lin Yue looked at him, speaking each word deliberately. "Whether you came to Azure Cloud Sect for refuge or for something else—as long as you do not harm anyone here, you are my junior brother."
Su Yan stood where he was, meeting his gaze. Sunlight fell between them. In this moment, Su Yan saw something in Lin Yue that had long since died in the world he came from—something called purity.
After a long pause, Su Yan lowered his head. "Thank you, Senior Brother."
Deep in his sea of consciousness, the System's cold voice sounded punctually—
[Target: Lin Yue—Affection increased. Current status: Friendly.]
[Alert: This target possesses exceptionally keen intuition, and his guard is not yet fully lowered. It is recommended that the Host maintain maximum-level camouflage.]
[Main Mission Updated: Become an inner sect disciple within three months.]
Su Yan kept his eyes lowered, following behind Lin Yue, stepping one by one onto the sun-warmed stone steps.
Part 5
Seven days later—Outer Sect Herb Garden.
Su Yan crouched beside the spiritual field, carefully weeding around a delicate Dew-Gathering Herb. He worked with focused precision, for every successfully cultivated spiritual plant could be converted into meager but essential points in the System.
"Junior Brother Su, well done."
Su Yan's hands paused for a moment, then he looked up, replacing his expression with a shy smile. Lin Yue had somehow appeared on the field ridge.
"Senior Brother Lin." Su Yan stood and bowed.
Lin Yue walked to his side, his gaze falling on Su Yan's hands, crisscrossed with small cuts from the spiritual plants' leaves. "You endure hardship well. Supervisor Wang says your section of the spiritual fields has the highest survival rate."
"This disciple is just careful."
"Just careful..." Lin Yue repeated thoughtfully, then suddenly took a small porcelain bottle from his robes. "I heard from Yanran that you stay up until midnight every night. With your sealed meridians, your constitution is too weak—exhausting yourself like this will only harm you. These are Qi-Nourishing Pills. They will strengthen your bloodline. Take them."
Su Yan stared at the small bottle, still warm from Lin Yue's body, and froze. Qi-Nourishing Pills were nothing special for inner sect disciples, but for an outer sect menial who could not even manifest spiritual roots, they were an invaluable resource. And yet Lin Yue had simply given them to him—not as charity, but with the simple care of an elder brother.
For a fleeting moment, a thought crossed Su Yan's mind—this person was sincere. This person genuinely saw him as a junior brother who needed looking after.
But he immediately remembered his homeland—that gray-skied world slowly dying. He lowered his head and ruthlessly crushed that moment of weakness.
"Thank you, Senior Brother."
Lin Yue patted his shoulder and turned to leave. After walking some distance, he glanced back at the thin boy. He could not say why, but something about him felt subtly wrong—like a volcano held in check, too quiet for comfort.
Part 6
That night.
The outer sect disciples sharing his room were fast asleep. Moonlight filtered through the window lattice as Su Yan sat alone on his bed, holding the porcelain bottle. He poured out a single pale green Qi-Nourishing Pill.
"Whatever you came to Azure Cloud Sect for—as long as you do not harm anyone here, you are my junior brother." Lin Yue's words echoed in his ears.
Su Yan smiled faintly—a smile devoid of any warmth. "Sorry, Senior Brother Lin," he murmured, as if speaking to Lin Yue, or perhaps to himself. "You have been kind to me. But that is not reason enough to stop."
He tilted his head back, swallowed the pill, and closed his eyes.
[System Notification: Low-grade Qi-Nourishing Pill detected. Constitution compatibility: Extremely low. This pill will not provide substantial cultivation growth. Recommendation: Prioritize completing main missions to obtain points for demonic path resources.]
Su Yan ignored the System's chatter. He sat quietly, feeling the faint warmth spread through his body before being instantly devoured by the terrifying demonic origin lurking deep in his dantian—consumed without a trace.
Moonlight fell on his expressionless face. No one knew that within this frail body resided a soul willing to become a demon to save his dying world. He carried the weight of an entire realm, following the cold directives of the System, step by step, toward a destined bloody end.
The only thing he could do was swallow unwanted emotions—like gratitude, like guilt—along with this Qi-Nourishing Pill, digesting them completely.