The Blood Lotus Clan estate lay thirty li outside Black Lotus City, hidden among mist-shrouded bamboo groves that whispered secrets even the wind didn't dare repeat.
In my first life I had stormed this place once - on the night I killed the previous Clan Head and took his Nine Petals Rebirth Scripture for myself.
Back then it had taken three days, two betrayals from inside, and the death of every outer elder.
This time I intended to finish it before moonset.
Yue and I moved through the bamboo like ghosts.
No qi flares.
No sound techniques.
Just careful steps and the faint crimson threads I extended ahead like feelers, tasting the air for patrols.
We reached the outer barrier array at the hour of the rat.
A lattice of blood-red lotus petals floated in the mist - each petal an array node, each node laced with killing intent sharp enough to sever qi meridians on contact.
Yue glanced at me.
"Same as before?"
"Worse," I replied. "They've upgraded it since I last visited. Added soul-locking chains."
I raised my right palm.
A single crimson vine-thread drifted forward - thin as spider silk, slower than breath.
It touched the first petal.
The array reacted instantly: petals snapped shut like jaws.
But the vine didn't break.
It rooted.
Red thorns bloomed along its length, sinking into the array nodes.
The petals trembled, then began to wither from the inside - color bleeding out, turning gray and brittle.
Ten heartbeats later the entire outer barrier collapsed into dead flakes that drifted to the ground like autumn leaves.
Yue raised an eyebrow.
"You always did prefer dramatic entrances."
"I prefer efficient ones," I corrected. "Dramatic is just the side effect."
We stepped through.
The estate proper opened before us: seven-tiered pagodas connected by moon bridges, lotus ponds glowing with submerged spirit lanterns, courtyards filled with night-blooming blood lotuses that released faint, intoxicating fragrance.
And guards.
Dozens.
Inner disciples at mid-Soul Condensation.
Core elders at early Nascent Soul.
And somewhere deeper - the Heiress herself, wounded but still dangerous.
We didn't bother hiding anymore.
I flicked my wrist.
Crimson vines erupted from the ground beneath our feet - thick, thorned, hungry.
They lashed outward in every direction.
The first wave of guards barely had time to form hand seals before the vines wrapped their legs, pierced their dantians, and drank.
Not clean drains like before.
Violent.
Messy.
Qi and blood essence pulled upward in red streams that flowed straight back into me.
The fragment purred in satisfaction.
"Much better. You're finally feeding properly again."
I ignored it.
We advanced.
An elder appeared on the central moon bridge - gray-robed, face scarred from old tribulations, cultivation at the peak of Nascent Soul.
He recognized me - or rather, he recognized the violet-crimson aura leaking from my eyes.
"You..." His voice shook. "The Copycat. You were supposed to be dead. Erased by the Sovereign himself."
I tilted my head.
"I was.
It didn't stick."
He roared and summoned a massive blood lotus above his head - petals unfolding into razor-sharp blades that spun toward us like a storm of red death.
Yue moved first - faster than I expected.
Her blade appeared in her hand, a slender black sword that drank light.
She stepped forward, slashed once.
The sword cut through the lotus storm without resistance - not because of power, but because she had already mapped the flow of intent in her first life.
Petals fell apart like torn silk.
The elder staggered, shocked.
I finished it.
A single crimson vine-thread shot from my fingertip - straight through his forehead.
His memories flooded in:
Clan secrets.
Hidden vaults.
The location of three lesser Sovereign fragments they had been guarding for decades.
And the Heiress's current location - the innermost pagoda, seventh floor, trying to force a breakthrough to stabilize her injuries.
I withdrew the thread.
The elder dropped - empty, lifeless.
Yue looked at me.
"You're faster than last time."
"Memory is a cruel teacher," I said.
We reached the central pagoda.
The doors were sealed with blood arrays.
I placed my palm against them.
The arrays flared - then recognized the stolen bloodline I carried from the previous Clan Head.
They opened without resistance.
We ascended.
Floor by floor, resistance grew weaker.
Disciples fled.
Elders fell.
Every kill fed me more: techniques, qi reserves, bloodline traces.
By the time we reached the seventh floor, my cultivation - still technically in the Qi Gathering realm on paper - felt like it had jumped straight into late Foundation Establishment.
The doors to the meditation chamber opened on their own.
The Blood Lotus Heiress sat in the center of a nine-petaled array, lotus petals of pure blood qi revolving around her.
She was pale.
Bleeding from the mouth.
Eyes red with fury and pain.
She looked up.
Saw me.
And laughed - broken, bitter.
"So the ghost returns.
Did you come to finish what you started last time, Copycat?"
I stepped inside.
Yue remained at the door - watching, waiting.
I crouched in front of the Heiress.
Close enough to see the faint violet scar on her neck - the mark I had left when I copied her scripture in my first life.
"No," I said quietly.
"I came to take what you never should have kept."
I extended my hand.
She tried to resist - summoned one last blood lotus.
The vine-thread met it mid-air.
Devoured it.
Then continued forward.
Wrapped around her throat.
Gentle.
Almost tender.
Her eyes widened.
"You... remember everything."
"Every second," I whispered.
She smiled - sad, resigned.
"Then end it quick."
I considered.
Then I shook my head.
"No."
The thread tightened - not to kill, but to pull.
Her cultivation base began to flow - slowly, carefully.
I took the Nine Petals Rebirth Scripture completely this time.
I took the bloodline essence she had inherited.
I took the three lesser fragments hidden in the array beneath her.
But I left her alive.
Breathless.
Cultivation-less.
Broken.
She collapsed forward.
I caught her before she hit the ground.
"Why?" she rasped.
"Because this time," I said, "I'm not collecting to become stronger."
I laid her down gently.
"I'm collecting to make sure no one else ever does."
I stood.
Looked at Yue.
She nodded once - understanding, but not approving.
We left the pagoda.
Behind us, the estate burned - crimson flames licking the sky.
The message would spread faster than any messenger bird.
The Copycat Sage was back.
He remembered.
He was taking everything.
And he was leaving witnesses alive to tell the tale.
End of Chapter 6