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Chapter 24: Rotten Roots
The village smelled of damp wood and fear.
Liu Guan Yi stood before the village elder—a hunched, trembling man with cloudy eyes and mottled skin. The weight of the boy's presence seemed to press down on the air.
> "You said the girls vanished at night?"
The elder nodded shakily.
> "Y-Yes… there was music. A flute. Sweet and strange. They got up and walked into the forest, like they were sleepwalking. No one stopped them… no one came back."
Liu Guan Yi's expression remained unreadable. He glanced sideways.
A girl peeked from behind a cracked wall, her face pale, her eyes wide with silent terror.
> "No broken doors. No signs of struggle," he said. "They left willingly."
He crouched, placing a hand on the damp earth. With a motion of his finger, he traced a sigil—an old Refinement Path rune that shimmered faintly in the mist.
The soil glowed.
A memory-echo formed above it.
A dazed village girl, barefoot and swaying, walked forward into the fog. And behind her—a man in white robes. His face was hidden… but around his neck hung a jade talisman, the mark of a Sword Sect elder.
Liu Guan Yi's eyes sharpened.
> "An inner sect elder?"
The image dissipated.
He rose, fists clenched.
> "This isn't just a rogue demonic cultivator. Someone inside the sect is using forbidden arts… and covering their tracks."
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Hours later, Liu Guan Yi ascended the Sword Pavilion, where the mists parted for none.
Ji Ning waited within, graceful as ever—her white robe unwrinkled, her long hair tied with a silver thread. She poured herself tea as if nothing had changed in the world.
> "Master," Liu Guan Yi said, bowing. "I found proof. Someone within the sect is practicing soul refinement. An elder."
Ji Ning's expression didn't waver.
> "I know," she said quietly.
Liu Guan Yi looked up.
> "You… suspected?"
She placed the teacup down gently.
> "Guan Yi, the older this world grows, the more rot it hides beneath its jade floors. Some elders forget what the sword means. Others never understood it at all."
She turned her gaze out the window, where the mountains met the clouds.
> "I didn't act because I wanted to see how deep the roots went."
Then, her aura flickered.
Power. Suppressed, but vast.
> "Now that I have proof," she said, "the Sword Sect will cleanse itself."
But Liu Guan Yi didn't move.
> "Not yet."
Ji Ning turned.
> "Explain."
> "The masked man in the forest… he called me 'Sword Demon.' And before he vanished, he said someone was watching."
He met her gaze.
> "A 'she.' Not someone random. Someone pulling strings."
Ji Ning's eyes narrowed.
A beat passed.
Then, she drew out a jade token and handed it to him.
> "This gives you temporary authority as an Inner Sect investigator. You may go where others can't. Question who others won't. Use it wisely."
Liu Guan Yi took the token without a word.
As he turned to leave, Ji Ning added softly:
> "Find 'her'. And when you do… cut her down."
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Behind the Sword Pavilion, a shadow stirred.
An elder with narrow eyes and a perpetual smile watched the boy's silhouette vanish into the mist.
> "So, the brat's digging deeper than we thought," he muttered. "Then we'll need to change the plan…"
He turned and disappeared into the darkness.
> "Before he finds the roots."