In the study of the Jin Family Patriarch, the air was thick with tension.
Jin Bolin paced the room, his gold threaded robes rustling with his agitation. His face was a mask of fury.
The theft of his warehouses was a humiliation he could barely contain, but the hunt for the thief (Jin Hao) had turned into a disaster.
"He killed Captain Zhao," Bolin spat, slamming his hand onto his desk. "He wiped out an entire elite squad with a single explosion. Late Stage Foundation Establishment... how? How did that trash become a threat overnight?"
He looked at the man kneeling in the center of the room. It was a middle aged man with graying hair and a face lined with worry. Jin Ren. The head of the fallen branch family. Jin Hao's father.
Jin Ren was bound with spirit suppressing ropes, his face pale.
"Your son," Bolin growled, pointing an accusing finger at Jin Ren, "is a thief and a murderer. He has stolen the foundation of this family."
"Patriarch, please," Jin Ren pleaded, his voice trembling. "Hao... he has never shown any talent. There must be a mistake. He is a good boy. He wouldn't… "
"He slaughtered my men!" Bolin roared. "Do not lie to me, Ren. You must have given him something. A secret inheritance? A hidden artifact?"
"I have nothing!" Jin Ren cried. "We are poor! You know this!"
Bolin sneered. "We will see."
He signaled to the guards. "Take him to the water prison. Keep him alive, but only just."
As the guards dragged the sobbing man away, a frantic knocking came at the study door.
"Enter!" Bolin barked.
The door flew open. It was the House Manager, Mo. He looked as if he had seen a ghost. His face was devoid of blood, his hands shaking so hard he could barely hold the message scroll.
"Patriarch!" Mo gasped. "News! Terrible news!"
"What now?" Bolin snarled. "Did Jin Hao burn down the stables? Did he steal the roof tiles?"
"No, Patriarch. It's... it's the Spirit Cauldron Sect."
Bolin froze. "What about them? Did they find out about the missing tribute?"
"They are dead, Patriarch," Mo whispered. "All of them."
Bolin stared at him. "Who is dead?"
"Everyone," Mo said. "The Spirit Cauldron Sect... it has been massacred. The estate has been looted down to the bedrock."
"Impossible," Bolin breathed. "Yao Guang is a Peak Golden Core expert. They have defensive formations. They have..." He lowered his voice. "They have the Ancestors. Two Nascent Soul experts hidden in the mountain. Who could wipe them out? The Chen Family? The Verdant River Palace?"
"We don't know," Mo said. "But the news is spreading like wildfire. The city is in chaos. The other Patriarchs are already gathering at the mountain."
Bolin felt a cold chill settle in his stomach. If a power existed that could erase a Great Sect overnight... the Jin Family, already weakened by theft, was in grave danger.
"Prepare my carriage," Bolin commanded, his anger replaced by a sharp fear. "Gather the elite guard. We will go to the mountain."
The scene at the Spirit Cauldron Sect was a convergence of titans.
Carriages bearing the crests of the Chen Family, the Su Family, the Lei Family and the Xiao Family lined the base of the mountain. The Patriarchs stood together in the ruined main square, a rare assembly of the domain's supreme power.
Chen Tianyuan stood tall, his face grim but composed. Beside him stood Su Mingyan, looking equally serious. Even the usually jovial Lei Bao was silent, his hand resting on the hilt of his hammer.
Jin Bolin hurried to join them, his eyes darting around the devastation.
"It is true," Bolin muttered, looking at the bodies.
"We have examined the Sect Master," Chen Tianyuan said, his voice grave. "He was tortured. Systematically tortured. It was personal."
"Who has the power to do this?" Bolin asked, his voice shrill. "Yao Guang was strong."
"There is more," Xiao, the master of intelligence, said softly. "The Ancestral Grotto."
The group moved together, a phalanx of Golden Core and Nascent Soul power. They navigated the blood slicked paths to the forbidden rear mountain.
The entrance to the grotto was open. The two guards lay dead, holes punched through their skulls.
They entered the tunnel, the torchlight flickering on the damp walls. When they reached the main cavern, the silence was absolute.
Three bodies lay there.
Two were the withered forms of Ancestor Jin and Ancestor Mu. Their chests were crushed. Their spiritual cores had been ripped out. The lingering energy in the room spoke of a battle that was terrifyingly short.
But it was the third body that drew their attention.
Slumped against the dais, looking peaceful, almost asleep, was a young man. He wore the simple robes of a disciple. His face was gaunt, his hands stained with dried blood.
"Who is that?" Lei Bao asked.
"That," Elder Feng of the Chen Family stepped forward, his eyes narrowing, "is Shi Ran. The personal disciple of Yao Guang."
"A disciple?" Bolin scoffed. "A disciple killed two Nascent Soul ancestors?"
"Look closer," Chen Tianyuan commanded. He extended his spiritual sense, probing the body of the young man. "His meridians... they are expanded far beyond a normal limit. There is residue of a Peak Nascent Soul cultivation base in his Dantian."
"Peak Nascent Soul?" Su Mingyan gasped. "But he looks barely twenty!"
"He was hiding," Xiao murmured, analyzing the scene. "Look at his hands. Calloused from alchemy. Look at the pills scattered around. He was the one refining the medicine for these old men."
Elder Feng produced a jade slip from his sleeve. "I have records. Shi Ran. Orphaned. Adopted by Yao Guang seventeen years ago after his parents were killed by a 'spirit beast'."
He looked at the tortured body of Yao Guang in his mind's eye, then at the dead boy.
"It wasn't a beast," Feng said softly. "Yao Guang killed the parents to steal the talented son. He enslaved him. And he forced him to refine pills."
The realization settled over the group like a heavy blanket.
"He found out," Chen Tianyuan said. "He cultivated in secret, using the very resources he was forced to refine. He swallowed his hatred for seventeen years. And today... he let it out."
A hush fell over the Patriarchs. They were men of power, men of schemes, but this... this was a tragedy of operatic proportions. A slave who became a god, solely to burn down his prison.
"Someone great once said," Su Mingyan murmured, looking at the peaceful face of the dead avenger, "'Justice can be delayed, but it will always come.'"
The gathered leaders nodded solemn agreement.
"It is the fruit of their own wrongdoing," Lei Bao rumbled. "They planted seeds of cruelty and they harvested a storm of blood. This is retribution."
"He died," Jin Bolin pointed out, pointing to the shattered soul residue around Shi Ran. "A soul attack. The old man took him down with him."
"A mutual destruction," Tianyuan said.
A palpable wave of relief washed through the group. They had feared a new overlord entering the domain. They had feared a war.
But this... this was a closed loop. The murderer was dead. The victims were dead.
"The Spirit Cauldron Sect is no more," Xiao noted, looking at the empty treasury. "Their territory, their trade routes..."
"Are matters for another day," Chen Tianyuan interjected firmly. "Today, let the dead rest."
He turned to Su Mingyan. "Brother Su. There are implications to this vacuum. We should discuss how to maintain stability in the domain."
"Agreed," Su Mingyan said.
The two Patriarchs turned and walked out of the grotto together, leaving the others to stare at the ruins.
PS: Should I write a cultivation novel with all Indian characters or go with an all English cast? I'm seriously considering starting one, but I want to see what you guys would prefer first. If I get enough responses and interest, I'll definitely make it happen. Please comment and let me know what you'd like to read.