Sect Council – Elder Wen's POV
The meeting hall was dim, sealed behind seven barriers and soundless wards. Only the inner circle sat around the obsidian table — Grandmaster Yao, Elder Wen, and three others who had watched generations rise and fall.
On the table burned a single candle. Its flame flickered, not with wind, but hesitation.
Elder Wen was the first to speak.
"We can't pretend anymore. The boy is changing. That… thing… at the gate called him Shenlian."
"His name is Jiang Xuan," said the Grandmaster evenly.
"Not for long."
---
Another elder, Bai Ru, leaned forward. Her voice was soft.
"He's still loyal. He hasn't harmed anyone. Not yet."
Wen turned sharply.
"You think the Demon God gives warnings before he burns the world?"
The candle flame bent sideways. Someone's spiritual pressure had spiked.
The Grandmaster closed his eyes.
"I don't deny the threat," he said. "But I won't order an execution based on a future that hasn't happened."
Wen stood.
"It's not about a prophecy. It's about a pattern. He's gathering followers. The First Temple is active. The Echo Seal is breaking."
He turned slowly to face the others.
"What happens when the next one arrives? Or the tenth?"
Silence.
---
"We still have time," Elder Bai murmured. "He hasn't put on the ring."
Wen's jaw clenched.
"You think that matters? That boy is a walking battlefield waiting to happen. Every day we delay, we hand him more pieces of his old life."
The Grandmaster looked down at his hands.
"We owe him more than fear."
"No," Wen said coldly. "We owe the sect survival."
---
Jiang Xuan's POV
He didn't know about the meeting.
But he felt it.
A pressure in the air.
A silence that wasn't natural.
Disciples didn't meet his gaze anymore.
Even the ones who once admired him now stepped aside with too much politeness.
Something had shifted.
He sat on the edge of the northern peak, legs dangling over the side. The serpent ring was in his hand again — warm now, pulsing slightly.
Like a heartbeat.
Or a warning.
---
Yao Xi's POV
She watched from a distance, hidden behind the cliff trees.
Not because she didn't trust him.
Because she didn't trust the world around him.
She could feel the decision forming in the shadows.
Elder Wen's gaze had been too sharp. His voice too clipped. The council was moving — slowly, cautiously — toward a line they couldn't uncross.
She wouldn't let them do it in secret.
Not to him.
---
Back in the chamber, Elder Wen drew a scroll from his sleeve and unrolled it across the table.
A kill order.
Blank.
Unsigned.
But ready.
"I don't need all of you," he said quietly. "I just need one."
The others stared.
Bai Ru stood.
"I won't sign that."
"Then stay out of the way."
The Grandmaster didn't move.
He just looked at the scroll like it was a funeral shroud.
"It's not time yet."
Wen's voice hardened.
"It won't be time until it's too late."
---
Jiang Xuan's POV
He stood at the edge of the peak, watching clouds drift below him.
A thought came, sharp and sudden:
Someone is going to try.
Not a demon.
Not a god.
A person.
Someone in this sect was preparing to kill him.
He didn't know who.
But he felt it.
And for the first time… he didn't feel afraid.
He felt ready.
----
Yao Xi's POV
She didn't knock.
Didn't wait.
She stormed into the Grandmaster's quiet study, sword at her side, face cold.
"You're planning to kill him."
The Grandmaster looked up from his tea, as if she'd asked about the weather.
"Not me."
"Elder Wen then," she said. "Same thing."
The room was still. The air buzzed faintly from the sound-sealing formation on the walls. No one outside would hear what she was about to say.
"I came from a future where he destroyed everything," Yao Xi said. "But if you kill him now, you'll be the ones who light that fire."
---
The Grandmaster set his cup down gently.
"I know you care for him."
"I don't," she said. "Not the way you mean."
His eyes flickered.
She stepped forward, voice sharper.
"But I know him better than any of you. And I'm telling you—killing Jiang Xuan now doesn't stop the Demon God. It guarantees him."
---
Jiang Xuan's POV
He wandered the eastern cliffs now, away from the disciples, away from the crowd. Something in his chest felt tight, like a door barely holding shut.
He didn't trust himself to sleep.
Not tonight.
The sky above him was too still. The stars too quiet.
It felt like the world was watching.
And then he heard footsteps.
---
A single man stood on the trail.
Not in robes.
Not a sect elder.
Just a silhouette in dark travel clothes, hood pulled low.
Jiang Xuan didn't move.
Neither did the figure.
Then—
"Are you ready to die for them?"
The voice was smooth, calm.
Jiang Xuan's hand drifted to the inside of his sleeve.
"Depends. Who's asking?"
"A concerned soul," the man said. "One who remembers what happens if you live too long."
---
Without warning, the stranger stepped forward—fast.
Too fast.
A blade gleamed beneath his coat, drawn in silence, already slicing through the air.
Jiang Xuan ducked.
The edge of the weapon clipped his shoulder — not deeply, but enough to sting.
He rolled back, drew a dagger from his boot, and slid into stance.
"I guess we're skipping introductions."
---
The assassin smiled beneath his hood.
"It's nothing personal. You're just one spark away from a wildfire."
His spiritual energy surged — high-stage Foundation Realm, but unusually refined. He wasn't some hired killer.
He was trained.
And he knew who Jiang Xuan was.
Jiang Xuan didn't back down.
His heart thundered — and with it, the mark on his neck burned hotter than ever.
---
He dodged the next strike and twisted behind the man, slashing low. Sparks danced in the air. The force behind both strikes cracked the stone path.
Jiang Xuan's breath came fast.
But the strange thing was—
He felt alive.
Clear.
Focused.
Even as his blood dripped, even as the assassin came for his throat—
he was calm.
Like a part of him had waited for this.
---
Back in the Grandmaster's study, Yao Xi froze.
Her head turned sharply.
A whisper in her bones.
Then she was gone in a flash of red, sword already drawn.
---
Jiang Xuan's POV
The assassin finally spoke again, breathing heavier now.
"You fight like you remember."
"I don't," Jiang Xuan said.
"Then what are you?"
Jiang Xuan didn't answer.
He just raised his hand.
And for the first time since the valley… the shadows responded.
A swirl of black mist curled from his fingers, tinged with faint crimson light.
The assassin stepped back.
"What—?"
Jiang Xuan's voice was cold now.
"Still think it's just one spark?"
He moved forward.
And this time, he struck first.
----
End of Chapter 17