The Black Lotus Sect was no more.
Once a towering symbol of strength, its grand halls now lay in ruin, reduced to blackened skeletons beneath a choking sky. The once-sacred training grounds were unrecognizable, drenched in blood and littered with mangled bodies. Flames licked at the corpses, their faces frozen in agony, flesh curling from bone.
A place that had once been filled with laughter and discipline was now nothing more than a graveyard.
And at the center of it all stood Mu Qinglan.
Her robes, once pristine white, were soaked in the lifeblood of those she had cut down. Strands of hair clung to her sweat-dampened face, her breath coming in slow, measured exhales. The ice blade in her hand had long since melted, its purpose fulfilled.
She had done it.
She had betrayed her sect. Her home. Everything she once believed in.
And yet…
She felt nothing.
No regret. No remorse.
Only a chilling, profound satisfaction.
Jin Xiao's Arrival
The wind shifted. Not naturally—but as if the world itself recoiled from the presence that had arrived.
Jin Xiao.
He did not rush. He did not need to.
With deliberate, unhurried steps, he walked through the carnage, the flames seeming to part in deference to his passage. His boots left no trace in the blood-soaked ground, as if he existed above such mortal filth.
He paused beside the remains of an elder, whose lifeless eyes still held the frozen terror of betrayal. A faint smirk played on Jin Xiao's lips.
"Poetic, isn't it?" he mused, his voice soft, almost amused. "The mighty Black Lotus Sect, reduced to nothing in a single night."
Mu Qinglan turned to face him. The moment their gazes met, something inside her tightened.
Not in fear.
Not in shame.
But in submission.
"Yes, Master," she whispered.
Bai Ling, standing beside Jin Xiao, chuckled. "You've done well, little Lotus. But you do know, don't you?" Her gaze flicked to the bodies scattered around them, a cruel smile tugging at her lips. "This was only the beginning."
Mu Qinglan exhaled, slow and steady. "I understand."
Jin Xiao's smirk widened. "Then let us continue."
A Sect to Infiltrate, A Legacy to Corrupt
Jin Xiao lifted his hand, and the air between them shimmered. A map unfolded in midair, glowing with a faint golden hue.
"The Azure Moon Sect."
Mu Qinglan's brows furrowed slightly. "A mid-tier sect. Not weak, but not powerful enough to threaten us. What do you want from them?"
Jin Xiao's smirk sharpened. "Not them. Her."
His fingers curled, and a name burned into the map, etched in flickering golden characters.
Lan Yue.
"The sect master's daughter," Bai Ling murmured, tilting her head. "Their prodigy. Their shining jewel."
Jin Xiao turned to Mu Qinglan, his gaze gleaming with something dark, something dangerous. "You will bring her to me."
Mu Qinglan's fingers twitched at her sides. "You want me to kill her?"
Jin Xiao let out a soft chuckle, shaking his head. "No, no, no. That would be far too simple." His voice dropped lower, almost caressing her mind with its cruelty.
"I want you to break her."
A slow chill crept through Mu Qinglan's spine.
Jin Xiao stepped forward, closing the space between them. With two fingers, he lifted her chin ever so slightly, forcing her to meet his gaze.
"You will infiltrate the Azure Moon Sect. Gain their trust. Earn their love. Become her friend, her sister, her most trusted confidante."
His breath was cool against her ear as he whispered his next words.
"And when she belongs to you… when she would bleed for you… you will rip her apart from the inside."
A slow, brutal destruction. Not of the body. But of the soul.
Mu Qinglan's lips parted, her pulse steady. She understood.
This wasn't about killing a girl.
It was about turning her into something unrecognizable. Something broken. Something irredeemable.
It was about taking the Azure Moon Sect's greatest treasure… and twisting it into their worst nightmare.
Slowly, Mu Qinglan smiled.
"I won't fail you, Master."
Jin Xiao's smirk deepened. "I know you won't."
The Next Move Begins
The first hints of dawn clawed their way over the burning ruins, the morning light washing over the remnants of the massacre.
Jin Xiao turned away, vanishing into the shadows, his work here complete.
Mu Qinglan did not watch him go.
Her path was already set.
With one last glance at the smoldering Black Lotus Sect, she wiped the blood from her blade and turned away.
She was no longer a disciple.
She was no longer the Ice Lotus of Black Lotus Sect.
That girl had died the moment she plunged her hand into her master's chest and tore out his heart.
Now, she was something else entirely.
A tool of her Master.
A shadow of his will.
And she would prove her worth.
As she walked forward, leaving behind the ashes of her past, Mu Qinglan set her sights on the Azure Moon Sect.
They would never see her coming.