Li Wang's fingers dug into the rough wood of the doorframe, splintering it slightly under the pressure. The cell's dim light flickered from the single spirit lamp, casting long shadows that seemed to writhe like the very rifts they were fighting. Sung Ji-Yeon's hand was still on his arm, her touch a grounding force amid the chaos of alerts scrolling through his mind.
[Counter-Hack Available. Target: Shadow Network. Estimated Risk: High. Potential Yield: Exposure of Primary Node.]
He could feel the probe inching closer, a cold pressure building in his dantian like fingers probing the edges of his soul. Inquisitor Lan Xiu wasn't playing subtle anymore. If he let it in, she'd see everything—the suite, the edits, the frozen values that had bent the world's rules just enough to keep him alive. But pulling that thread on Kang Wei's relay? It might unravel more than he bargained for.
"Li Wang," Ji-Yeon whispered urgently, her eyes darting to the sealed door. The faint hum of the barrier seals vibrated through the air, a reminder of how trapped they were. "We don't have time. The cloaked one is coming—Huo Feng said as much before he left."
He nodded, forcing his mind to sharpen. The suite's interface hovered at the edge of his vision, a ghostly overlay only he could see. Querying it directly now would drain his Qi, but hesitation meant death. Or worse, dissection by the alliance's elders.
"Alright," he muttered, his voice low and steady despite the storm inside. "I'm going in. Cover me if anyone shows."
Ji-Yeon's brow furrowed, but she didn't argue. She drew her slender sword, the blade whispering free with a soft ring, and positioned herself by the door. Her Qi Condensation Late Stage aura flared subtly, ready to lash out.
Li Wang closed his eyes, sinking into the suite's core. It felt like diving into a river of code—endless streams of data representing the Xuan Tian Realm's metaphysical framework. He zeroed in on Kang Wei's relay, the encrypted signal he'd glimpsed earlier during their confrontation. It was a thin line, pulsing with foreign intent, tied not just to the rival disciple but to something deeper in the shadows.
[Scan Initiated. Target: Encrypted Relay Node. Progress: 12%...]
The probe from Lan Xiu pushed harder, a sharp pain lancing through his meridians. He gritted his teeth, channeling a trickle of his meager Qi Gathering Stage 1 essence to bolster the scan. Around him, the cell seemed to glitch faintly—the walls shimmering as if reality itself stuttered.
[Progress: 47%. Anomaly Detected: Relay Linked to External Function—Shadow Pavilion Influence.]
Shadow Pavilion. The name clicked like a puzzle piece. Whispers in the sect's underbelly had mentioned them before— a rogue network of cultivators peddling forbidden arts, rifts, and worse. Kang Wei wasn't just a bully; he was a pawn, feeding info to them about anomalies like Li Wang.
[Progress: 89%. Counter-Hack Protocol Engaging. Rewrite Relay: Redirect Probe to Shadow Node.]
He pushed, editing the value with a mental flick. The relay twisted under his command, rerouting Lan Xiu's Dao Core Query straight into the heart of the shadow network. It was a gamble— if the pavilion's defenses were strong, it might backlash and fry his suite. But if it worked...
A low rumble echoed from outside, like thunder rolling through the sect's halls. Ji-Yeon tensed. "They're here."
The door seals cracked with a sound like breaking ice. Elder Huo Feng burst through, his Core Formation Stage 3 presence flooding the cell like a tidal wave. Behind him loomed Inquisitor Lan Xiu, her robes embroidered with celestial motifs that glowed faintly. Her face was a mask of serene authority, but her eyes burned with probing intent.
"Disciple Li Wang," Lan Xiu said, her voice smooth as polished jade. "The probe has encountered... interference. Explain yourself."
Huo Feng's gaze flicked to Ji-Yeon, then back to Li Wang, suspicion etching deeper lines into his stern features. "You were confined for a reason, boy. And now this? The alliance demands answers."
Li Wang straightened, wiping a bead of sweat from his brow. The scan hit 100%. [Counter-Hack Successful. Probe Redirected. Shadow Node Exposed: Coordinates—Whispering Wilds Perimeter, Rift Cluster Alpha.]
He suppressed a grin. It had worked. The probe was now tearing into the pavilion's secrets, not his. But the cost was immediate—a surge of unstable Qi roiled in his dantian, backlash from the hack making his vision blur.
"I don't know what you're talking about," he said, feigning confusion. "The seals held until just now. If there's interference, maybe it's from whoever's pulling Kang Wei's strings."
Lan Xiu's eyes narrowed. She extended a hand, a thread of golden Qi snaking toward him like a seeking vine. "Lies will not serve you. The Dao reveals all anomalies."
Before it could touch him, the ground trembled. Alarms blared across the sect—spirit bells tolling a warning of intrusion. Huo Feng whirled, his sword manifesting in a flash of light. "Rift breach! In the outer perimeter!"
Lan Xiu hesitated, the golden thread retracting. Her expression shifted from accusation to calculation. "This is no coincidence. The shadows stir."
As chaos erupted outside, Li Wang caught Ji-Yeon's eye. They had a window—small, but real. The counter-hack had bought time, but it had also lit a beacon. The Shadow Pavilion would know someone had tampered with their web.
Huo Feng barked orders. "Ji-Yeon, with me to the gates. Li Wang, you stay—"
"No," Lan Xiu interrupted, her tone brooking no argument. "He comes. If he's the anomaly, he'll face it head-on. Or prove his innocence."
Relief mixed with dread in Li Wang's chest. Freedom, but under a microscope. As they rushed out into the night-shrouded sect grounds, the air thick with the scent of ozone and rift energy, he felt the suite humming with new data.
[Incoming Transmission Decrypted: Shadow Pavilion Directive—Eliminate Anomaly Host at Azure Cloud. Priority: Immediate.]
The real hunt was on.
The sect's outer walls loomed under the moon's pale glow, spirit wards flickering erratically as corrupted Qi seeped through cracks in reality. Disciples scrambled, forming defensive arrays, while outer elders like Mei Ling directed alchemical countermeasures from a nearby pavilion. Li Wang spotted her amid the flurry—her Foundation Establishment Early Stage aura steady as she tossed vials of purifying elixir to the lines.
"Li Wang!" she called, her calm voice cutting through the din. "To the eastern breach. The rift's spawning void imps—your... instincts might serve."
He nodded, falling in step with Ji-Yeon and a squad of Qi Condensation disciples, including a wary Zhao Feng who had apparently been roused from his own quarters. The rogue cultivator shot him a crooked grin. "Heard you were in the doghouse. Looks like the fun started without me."
"Wouldn't miss it," Li Wang replied dryly, his mind racing. The suite's new intel painted a grim picture: the Shadow Pavilion wasn't just reacting; they were accelerating. The cloaked figure from the peaks? Likely one of theirs, descending to tie up loose ends.
As they reached the eastern wall, the rift yawned open like a jagged wound in the air—a swirling maw of darkness spewing imps that skittered across the stone with chittering cries. Their forms were twisted, half-shadow, half-beast, lashing out with claws that drained Qi on contact.
Ji-Yeon leaped forward, her sword a blur of silver arcs. "Formation! Don't let them flank!"
Zhao Feng flanked her, his daggers infused with stealthy Qi strikes, while the others unleashed basic spells—fireballs and wind blades that barely singed the imps. Li Wang hung back, scanning the rift's values. [Rift Stability: 67%. Core Function: Beast Summon Loop. Edit Opportunity: Disrupt Loop.]
He couldn't afford a full hack with Lan Xiu watching, but a subtle freeze? Possible. Focusing on a cluster of imps harrying Zhao Feng, he whispered a mental command.
[Value Frozen: Imp Movement Vectors. Duration: 10 seconds.]
The creatures stuttered mid-leap, hovering unnaturally. Zhao Feng's eyes widened as he plunged his daggers home, dropping three in quick succession. "What the—? Nice timing, Wang!"
Lan Xiu observed from a distance, her presence a silent pressure. Huo Feng was closer, barking at the lines, but his glances toward Li Wang were sharp.
The imps reformed, the freeze wearing off, but the disruption bought them breathing room. Ji-Yeon pressed the advantage, her blade cleaving through the rift's edge, forcing it to spasm. "It's weakening! Pour it on!"
Li Wang joined the fray then, channeling his limited Qi into a basic palm strike infused with hacked precision—aiming for vital nodes the suite highlighted. His hit landed true, shattering an imp's core and scattering its essence.
But as the rift began to close under their assault, a deeper rumble echoed from within. Something larger stirred. The cloaked figure emerged, not from the peaks, but from the rift itself—a man in midnight robes, his face obscured by a hood woven of shadows. His aura rippled at Foundation Establishment Stage 9, laced with forbidden rift Qi.
" The anomaly," he hissed, voice like grinding stones. "The pavilion claims you."
He raised a hand, and void tendrils lashed out, targeting Li Wang directly. Ji-Yeon intercepted one, her sword vibrating from the impact, while Zhao Feng dodged another with acrobatic grace.
Huo Feng charged, his sword a comet of flame. "Intruder! By sect law, you die!"
The clash was fierce—Huo Feng's Core Formation power overwhelming at first, but the cloaked man's rift arts twisted space, redirecting blows into harmless voids. Lan Xiu finally intervened, her golden Qi forming chains that bound the figure's limbs. "Shadow Pavilion scum. Your web ends here."
Li Wang used the distraction, slipping closer to the rift. The suite pinged urgently. [Primary Node Accessible. Edit: Collapse Rift. Risk: Qi Drain 80%.]
No choice. He poured his remaining Qi into the hack, rewriting the rift's stability function. The maw shuddered, contracting violently. The cloaked man roared, breaking free of Lan Xiu's chains just enough to lunge at Li Wang.
"You dare tamper with the Dao's weave?"
His tendril grazed Li Wang's shoulder, searing pain exploding as Qi drained from his meridians. But the edit took hold—the rift imploded, sucking the figure back into its depths with a final, echoing scream.
The grounds fell silent, save for the panting of the disciples. The rift sealed with a pop, leaving only faint wisps of corrupted Qi.
Lan Xiu turned to Li Wang, her eyes piercing. "That was no ordinary collapse. You... facilitated it."
He met her gaze, feigning exhaustion. "Just lucky timing, Inquisitor."
Huo Feng sheathed his sword, his suspicion unmasked. "Luck or not, boy, you're under watch. The alliance will dig deeper."
As the group dispersed to tend wounds and reinforce wards, Ji-Yeon pulled Li Wang aside near the herb gardens, where the earlier void serpent incident had scarred the earth. "That was too close. The pavilion knows your face now. And Kang Wei—he's still out there, probably reporting back."
Li Wang rubbed his shoulder, the burn throbbing. The suite's backlash left him drained, his Qi flickering low. [Suite Integrity: 92%. Warning: Prolonged Use Risks Dao Heart Fracture.]
"Yeah," he said softly. "But we pulled a thread. Their network's exposed—coordinates in the Wilds. If we hit it first..."
She nodded, her expression fierce determination mixed with worry. "Then we go. Before the inquisitor locks us down."
But as they spoke, a new alert flickered. [Shadow Network Response: Reinforcement Dispatched. Target: Azure Cloud Sect. Estimated Arrival: Dawn.]
The web wasn't unraveling. It was tightening. And at its center, Li Wang felt the noose drawing close.