The heavy iron doors of the Broken Soul Pavilion remained sealed, but inside, the air had changed. The suffocating pressure of Old Man Qin's presence was gone, replaced by a cold, predatory silence. Hua Sui sat cross-legged in the center of the hall, surrounded by the remnants of the failed ritual. He didn't move for three days. His body was a battlefield where the remnants of Qin's devoured soul and the raw toxins of the Blood Foundation Pill fought for dominance.
In his mind, memories that weren't his flashed like lightning—alchemical formulas, hidden sect paths, and the locations of several secret caches Qin had kept from the elders. Hua Sui absorbed them all, his Grey Seed grinding the chaotic information into usable knowledge. When he finally opened his eyes, the grey vortex within them was deeper, more stable. He was no longer just a boy who had survived; he was a cultivator who had stolen his first destiny.
"Master Qin... you were a wretched teacher," Hua Sui whispered, his voice smooth and devoid of its former rasp. "But your death was the finest lesson you ever gave me."
He stood up and began the 'Harvest.' He didn't just take the obvious treasures; he dismantled the pavilion's secrets. Behind a loose stone in the refining chamber, he found a hidden compartment containing a dozen high-grade spirit stones and a jade slip detailing the Seven-Venom Heart-Burning Strike—a lethal technique that perfectly complemented his Inverse Qi. He spent the next few days practicing, his fingers leaving trails of grey mist that corroded the very air.
However, the silence of the pavilion was soon to be broken.
The Scarlet Cloud Sect was a place of vultures. When a high-ranking elder went into 'seclusion' and stopped communicating, the lesser predators began to circle. On the fourth morning, the heavy doors of the pavilion groaned as they were kicked from the outside.
"Old Man Qin! Are you dead in there yet?" A raucous, arrogant voice echoed through the hall.
Hua Sui's eyes narrowed. He recognized that voice. It was Lin Wei, an inner-gate hopeful and a sycophant for one of the sect's deacons. Lin Wei had often come to the pavilion to deliver materials, usually taking the opportunity to kick Hua Sui or steal his meager rations.
Hua Sui didn't panic. He pulled on a tattered robe, hunched his shoulders, and let his face pale into a mask of sickly weakness. He was a spider, and his web was already spun.
He walked to the entrance and pulled back the heavy bolt. Three figures stood there, silhouetted against the blinding mountain sun. Lin Wei stood at the front, flanked by two lackeys. They all wore the silk-lined robes of privileged outer-gate disciples.
"Oh, it's just the slave," Lin Wei sneered, shoving Hua Sui aside and stepping into the hall. He sniffed the air, his nose wrinkling. "It reeks of burnt soul in here. Where's the old man? My master needs the latest batch of Bone-Corroding Marrow Soup."
"The... the Elder is at a critical juncture of his retreat," Hua Sui stammered, his voice trembling with practiced fear. "He forbade anyone from entering the inner chamber."
"Forbade? To me?" Lin Wei laughed, a sharp, unpleasant sound. He walked toward the main cauldron, his eyes gleaming with greed. "The old man is probably a withered husk by now. If he's dead, all these pills and stones belong to the sect—meaning, they belong to whoever finds them first."
He turned to his two companions. "Search the side rooms. If you find the Elder's spatial ring, don't let anyone see it."
"But Senior Brother Lin," one of the lackeys whispered, glancing nervously at the dark rafters. "The Elder's temper is legendary. If he catches us..."
"He won't," Lin Wei said, his gaze landing on Hua Sui. A cruel smile touched his lips. "Because the only witness is a half-dead slave who's about to have an 'accident' during a furnace explosion."
Lin Wei unsheathed a short sword, the steel shimmering with a faint blue light. He began to walk toward Hua Sui, the intent to kill radiating from him like heat. "You've lived long enough, trash. Consider this a mercy."
Hua Sui backed away, his heels hitting the edge of the circular array he had used to kill Qin. "Please, Senior Brother Lin... I haven't seen anything! I can help you find the hidden stones!"
"I'll find them myself after I've bled you dry," Lin Wei lunged, the sword whistling through the air.
Hua Sui's movement was so fast it was almost invisible. He didn't retreat further; he stepped into the strike. His body bent at an impossible angle, the blade grazing his shoulder as he slid past Lin Wei's guard.
"What—" Lin Wei's eyes widened, but he never finished the sentence.
Hua Sui's hand, wreathed in a silent, grey mist, slammed into Lin Wei's chest.
Inverse Strike: Heart-Wither!
The grey energy didn't pierce the skin; it bypassed the ribs and lunged directly for the heart, inverting the flow of blood in an instant. Lin Wei's face turned a horrific shade of purple. He dropped his sword, his hands clutching his chest as he fell to his knees, gasping for air that wouldn't come.
The two lackeys froze in the doorway, their faces turning bone-white. They saw their leader—a Rank 5 Qi Condensation practitioner—collapsed on the floor, dying before a boy they had treated like a dog.
"You... you killed him!" one of them shrieked, reaching for his talisman.
"I didn't kill him," Hua Sui said, standing tall. His hunched posture vanished, replaced by a cold, dominating grace. The grey vortex in his eyes swirled with a murderous light. "The furnace explosion killed him. Just like he said."
Hua Sui didn't give them a chance to scream. He blurred into motion, his movements fluid and ruthless. He appeared behind the first lackey, his fingers digging into the man's neck. A surge of Inverse Qi shattered the man's spine before he could even draw a breath. The second lackey turned to run, but Hua Sui caught him at the door, his palm striking the back of the man's head.
Silence returned to the Broken Soul Pavilion.
Hua Sui stood among the three new corpses, his breathing perfectly calm. He felt no guilt, no remorse. In this sect, you were either the furnace or the coal. He looked down at Lin Wei's cooling body and reached for the man's waist, detaching a small, embroidered pouch.
"Thank you for the contribution, Senior Brother," Hua Sui murmured.
He dragged the bodies toward the back of the pavilion, near the waste pits where failed medicinal dregs were dumped. With a few deliberate strikes, he damaged a secondary furnace and spilled several jars of volatile spirit oil.
Within the hour, a controlled fire began to consume the evidence. To anyone investigating, it would look like Lin Wei and his companions had tried to rob the pavilion during the Elder's retreat, only to trigger a catastrophic alchemical accident.
Hua Sui sat back down in his corner, the stolen spirit stones from Lin Wei's pouch already in his hand. He had cleared the first obstacle. He had resources. He had a cover story.
But he knew this was just the beginning. The Scarlet Cloud Sect was vast, and the real monsters were still watching from the high peaks. He needed to get stronger. He needed to break through to Rank 5.
And for that, he needed the one thing Old Man Qin had died trying to finish: The Blood Foundation Pill.