Chapter 25: Bait in the Shadows
Night descended upon the Heavenly Sword Sect, cloaking its grand peaks in a mantle of silence and shadow. But high atop Liu Guan Yi's sword peak, light still flickered.
A cold wind swept across the training grounds, rustling the grass like whispers of unseen watchers.
Liu Guan Yi stood alone, expression unreadable. With the tip of his sword, he etched eight precise lines into the soil—sharp, intersecting angles that pulsed faintly with silver light.
A trap formation, elegant and deadly.
> "If they're watching," he murmured, "then I'll give them a show."
He unsheathed the jade token Ji Ning had granted him and planted it in the center of the formation. It glowed faintly, radiating the Sword Sect's authority like a beacon—an open challenge.
Then, without a sound, he vanished into the dark. His presence folded into the night, leaving only the glowing token behind.
---
Far below, in a sealed mountain hall beneath the inner sect, a group of elders gathered around a long stone table.
The chamber reeked of incense, damp stone… and ambition.
Each elder bore the sect's insignia, but their eyes gleamed with greed and fear.
> "That boy found too much," snarled Elder Mo, the man whose flute had lured girls to their doom. "We can't afford his interference."
Another elder, broad-shouldered with a jagged scar down his cheek, scoffed.
> "He's Ji Ning's personal disciple. Move openly, and she'll bury us under a mountain."
Silence.
Then a soft chuckle.
> "We don't need to kill him," said Elder Qiu, the gentle-faced alchemy master known for his mild smile and miraculous pills. "We only need to ruin him."
He laid out the plan calmly, like prescribing medicine.
False witnesses. Planted talismans. Tampered memory echoes. Enough to paint Liu Guan Yi as the one behind the disappearances—driven mad by refinement experiments gone wrong.
> "We'll release the accusations during the Inner Sect Banquet next week. Let the crowd condemn him first. Then, Ji Ning won't be able to protect him without questioning her own authority."
A few elders exchanged glances.
It was a good plan.
Efficient. Bloody.
But unknown to them, wrapped around the threads of Elder Mo's flute was a thread-thin wisp of spiritual sense—Liu Guan Yi's.
Back on his peak, in a darkened chamber, his eyes opened.
Cold. Focused.
> "So that's your game."
He rose to his feet slowly, shadows coiling around him like smoke.
> "You want to frame me."
His gaze sharpened.
> "Good. Let's see who ends up wearing the mask."
---
The next morning, the mist hadn't yet lifted when Liu Guan Yi stepped through the village's outer gate again. He moved without a sound, but the children still flinched and fled.
He found the girl who had seen the robed figure. She peeked from behind her mother's robes, eyes still filled with fear.
Kneeling, Liu Guan Yi handed her a small talisman inscribed with silver thread—a spirit charm linked to his Qi.
> "Keep this hidden. If anyone approaches you with music… or strange questions… crush it. I'll come immediately."
The girl nodded.
He ruffled her hair gently.
Then turned and walked away.
---
By dusk, word had spread across the inner sect.
> "Liu Guan Yi says he's returning to the village again."
"He claims to have found new evidence… something that proves who's behind it all."
Liu Guan Yi stood on the cliff edge of his peak, letting the rumors drift through the wind like seeds of fire.
> "If you want the bait…" he whispered.
> "Take it."
His fingers tightened around the sword at his hip.
> "I'm ready."