Lan Yue sat motionless in her chamber, the stench of blood still thick in the air, clinging to her robes like a second skin. The floor was stained crimson, drying into dark patches, a silent testament to the two lives she had erased. The candlelight flickered, casting jagged shadows across her face, but her expression remained impassive.
Her hands trembled—weakness, a disgusting remnant of her former self. She curled her fingers into fists, nails biting into her palms until pain chased the tremors away.
Two deaths.
Two obstacles.
Nothing more.
There was no place for regret. No room for second thoughts.
Mu Qinglan's words slithered through her mind like a serpent tightening around prey.
"Keep going."
"The more you walk this path… the easier it will become."
A bitter smile flickered across Lan Yue's lips. Easy? Perhaps. Or maybe she would simply stop noticing how deep the blood pooled at her feet. Either way, it didn't matter. Hesitation was an open throat, waiting to be slit. And she would rather carve out her own weakness than let someone else do it for her.
The Elders' Suspicion
Inside the Azure Moon Sect's main hall, the air was thick with tension, suffocating, oppressive. The elders sat in a semi-circle, their expressions carved from stone. The scent of incense did nothing to mask the underlying stench of fear.
"Xu Tian was found dead last night."
Silence stretched, taut as a bowstring.
The First Elder's gaze was sharp enough to gut a man. "Two deaths in the span of a few days."
The Third Elder exhaled slowly. "This is no coincidence."
The Fourth Elder's lips twisted in a grimace. "Whoever is doing this is among us."
The First Elder's fingers tapped against the armrest, each sound a hammer driving a nail deeper into someone's coffin.
"Has anyone acted suspiciously?"
A disciple stepped forward, hesitating for only a breath before speaking.
"Senior Sister Lan Yue has been… different."
The weight of those words sent a ripple through the room. Eyes flicked toward the First Elder, watching, waiting.
"How so?" he asked, voice devoid of warmth.
The disciple swallowed. "She was close to both Fang Yi and Xu Tian… yet, she has shown no grief. No anger. No reaction at all."
A pause. A sharpening of gazes.
The Fourth Elder sneered. "That is not proof."
"No," the First Elder agreed, his tone almost lazy. "But it is a start."
His next words were colder than the steel of an unsheathed blade.
"Watch her."
"If she is guilty… we will make an example of her."
The disciple bowed. "Yes, Elder."
The meeting ended, but suspicion lingered in the air like the promise of a coming storm. The hunt had begun.
Mu Qinglan's Warning
Lan Yue stood at the sect's outer wall, the moon's pale glow washing over her face, making her look almost ethereal. Almost human.
Mu Qinglan's presence was a shadow slipping through the night, her voice a whisper of silk and steel.
"They are watching you."
Lan Yue didn't flinch. She had expected this.
"What do I do?"
Mu Qinglan's lips curved into something that might have been a smile, if not for the hunger lurking beneath it. She stepped closer, close enough that her breath ghosted over Lan Yue's ear.
"You kill again."
Lan Yue's expression didn't shift, but something cold settled in her stomach.
"Another?"
Mu Qinglan nodded. "A suspect who dies is a suspect who was guilty."
"A loyal disciple who dies?" She tilted her head. "An innocent victim."
"But a disciple who exposes the true traitor?" Her smirk deepened. "A hero."
Lan Yue exhaled, slow and measured. The path was clear.
Find a name. Plant a seed of doubt. Watch the sect tear apart its own.
She would do it. Without hesitation. Without regret. Because in this world, survival belonged to the ones willing to stain their hands the deepest.
Jin Xiao's Delight
Far away, Jin Xiao leaned back against his chair, watching the events unfold through Bai Ling's connection. A low chuckle curled from his lips, dark amusement dancing in his eyes.
"Lan Yue is learning."
Bai Ling knelt beside him, her own gaze filled with a quiet hunger. "She adapts quickly."
Jin Xiao's smirk widened.
"Good."
"Because her next test will be far crueler than she imagines."
His fingers tapped idly against the table, each beat echoing like a death knell. Soon, the Azure Moon Sect would be drowning in its own paranoia, devouring itself from the inside out.
And when the last shred of trust was broken, when the halls ran red with their own blood—
That was when he would strike.