The Azure Moon Sect—a place of supposed virtue, a sanctuary of honor, a fortress of righteousness.
A lie.
Every sect had its weaknesses. Greed. Arrogance. Trust. Jin Xiao understood this better than anyone.
Mu Qinglan would be the poison slipped into their golden chalice. She would rot them from the inside.
A New Identity
Moonlight drenched the clearing in cold silver as Mu Qinglan knelt before Jin Xiao, her head bowed, her breath steady.
She had burned away her past. Her former self was nothing but a discarded husk. She did not weep for it.
She would now become someone else.
Jin Xiao extended a hand, a small jade slip floating toward her. "Inside are the identities of several dead wandering cultivators," he murmured. "Choose one. Become them. Live as them, think as them, deceive as them."
Mu Qinglan's fingers brushed the jade slip. Memories, names, and faces flooded her mind—ghosts of people who no longer existed.
Her hand tightened.
Jin Xiao observed her with cold amusement. "You hesitate. Why?"
Mu Qinglan lifted her gaze. Her voice was a blade with no warmth.
"I do not hesitate," she said. "I choose."
The jade slip cracked like brittle bone in her grasp.
"From this moment forward," she stated, "I am Lin Xue—an orphaned rogue cultivator seeking guidance."
Jin Xiao's smirk deepened. "Good girl."
The First Step Inside
The gates of the Azure Moon Sect loomed ahead, guarded by disciples clad in pristine robes—untouched by war, by blood, by the real world.
Mu Qinglan—Lin Xue now—staggered forward, her robes in tatters, her body laced with bruises.
She had inflicted them herself with precise, ruthless efficiency. The cuts on her arms, the dried blood on her lips, the uneven rise of her chest—all calculated.
Weakness was the best disguise.
A disciple stepped forward, eyes sharp. "Who goes there?"
Mu Qinglan forced a tremor into her voice. "Lin Xue… I… I have nowhere to go." She let her knees wobble. "Please. I seek shelter."
The disciple sneered. "We don't accept just anyone—"
A voice cut through his sentence like a knife.
"Let her in."
Mu Qinglan lifted her gaze. There she was.
Lan Yue.
Azure Moon's cherished star. The kind one. The hopeful one.
The perfect victim.
Lan Yue stepped forward, her pure white robes an insult to the filth that Mu Qinglan had drenched herself in. There was not a single crease in her expression of concern.
She was the kind of girl who saved people.
Mu Qinglan played her part flawlessly—eyes widened in desperation, lips trembling, body on the verge of collapse.
Lan Yue swallowed the lie whole.
"You're injured," she murmured. "Come inside. We'll take care of you."
Mu Qinglan lowered her gaze, allowing the first flicker of a hidden smile.
The first seed had been planted.
Winning Lan Yue's Trust
Days turned into weeks.
Mu Qinglan—Lin Xue—was officially accepted as a trial disciple of the Azure Moon Sect.
She made herself small. Harmless. A lost girl in need of guidance.
And Lan Yue became her light.
She trained with her, encouraged her, defended her from those who sneered at an outsider.
And Mu Qinglan let her.
Every glance of concern. Every reassuring touch. Every warm word of encouragement.
She took them all and sharpened them into knives.
During training, Mu Qinglan allowed just enough failure—just enough trembling in her hands, just enough effort to seem earnest, just enough pain in her voice to invite sympathy.
Lan Yue, the fool, fell for it.
The others resisted at first, whispering doubts, but Lan Yue silenced them all.
"Lin Xue is one of us now," she declared.
How laughably easy it had been.
Trust.
The **greatest weakness of all.
And Mu Qinglan exploited it with surgical precision.**
Jin Xiao's Gift
Night bled over the sect in hues of black and blue.
Mu Qinglan stood alone in the forest, away from the prying eyes of her new 'family.'
A shadow slipped through the trees. Not a ghost. Not a monster.
Bai Ling.
The viper in Jin Xiao's court. The woman who reveled in cruelty the way others might revel in art.
She smiled as she approached, holding a small glass vial.
"Master sends you a gift," she purred.
Mu Qinglan caught the vial between two fingers. Its contents shimmered—like liquid moonlight, deceptively beautiful.
She recognized it immediately.
A corruption elixir.
It would not poison Lan Yue.
It would do something much worse.
It would unravel her.
Dissolve the rigid structure of her beliefs. Weaken her resolve. Twist her emotions.
Make her pliable.
Bai Ling's eyes gleamed. "A single drop," she whispered, "and she won't know the difference between righteousness and desire."
Mu Qinglan did not hesitate.
She took the vial.
She knew what needed to be done.
And she would do it flawlessly.
The Plan Begins
Morning broke over the Azure Moon Sect.
Lan Yue smiled as she invited Mu Qinglan for tea—a friendly gesture.
Mu Qinglan returned the smile—a calculated mimicry.
Lan Yue spoke of the sect's history, of its virtues, of its duty to the world.
Mu Qinglan listened.
Every word was useless idealism.
Every belief a weakness waiting to be shattered.
And then—the moment arrived.
Mu Qinglan reached for the teapot.
Her movements were smooth, practiced.
A single drop.
The vial never trembled in her hand.
The liquid mixed into the tea seamlessly. Undetectable.
Lan Yue lifted the cup.
Mu Qinglan watched.
A sip.
The smile on Lan Yue's lips remained—but she had already begun to fall.
Her convictions, her identity, her faith—
Everything would crumble.
Mu Qinglan would make certain of it.