Tea Town.
The thunder of galloping hooves echoed from afar as merchants and townsfolk hurriedly dragged their carts aside, clearing a path through the street.
A group of men and women clad in black athletic robes charged through at full speed. At their forefront rode two elders with heads of snowy white hair, formidable weapons strapped across their backs, their presence fierce and imposing.
Each rider bore embroidered red fish symbols on their robes. The lowest among them carried double-fish markings, while the highest displayed as many as five. As for the two elders leading the group, their robes were adorned with a white whale.
In the blink of an eye, the riders vanished down the street as abruptly as they had appeared. Only then did the stunned townspeople and merchants recover, murmuring among themselves as they tried to identify who had just passed through.
At a roadside tea stall, a well-informed uncle stared in the direction the riders had gone and let out a long sigh.
“Another season of trouble.” He shook his head slowly.
“Uncle Zhou, why do you say that?” a customer asked in confusion. “Weren’t those people from the Crimson Whale Sect? They’re the number one sect in the Northern Lands, responsible for maintaining peace and order. What could possibly go wrong?”
The tea stall uncle replied gravely, “Of course I recognize officials from the Crimson Whale Sect. But you might not have noticed that the two leading them bore the White Whale emblem.” He paused, then continued, “I’ve lived in Tea Town for thirty years. This is only the second time I’ve ever seen White Whale-ranked experts here.”
“Oh?” A burly man stepped closer, curiosity piqued. “Then when was the first time, uncle? And what exactly makes the White Whale emblem different? I know that within Crimson Whale Sect, the more fish symbols one has, the higher their status.”
The tea stall uncle shook his head slowly.
“The White Whale symbol is reserved for Elders and Internal or External Affairs Emissaries,” he explained. “That rank is one level above a branch leader, just short of the Deputy Sect Master. They’re true big shots.” His voice dropped. “Tea Town is nothing but a small place. If such figures have come here, then unless a calamity has struck, what else could possibly have drawn them?”
At his words, the chatter among the customers abruptly fell silent. Faces stiffened as they exchanged uneasy glances.
After a long pause, someone finally spoke up. “Could it be because of the recent disappearances?”
“The ones that weren’t resolved even after being reported to the authorities?”
“There’s no way the Crimson Whale Sect’s top figures would come here without reason,” another muttered. “And they wouldn’t come looking for trouble either. Tea Town may be prosperous, but it can’t compare to Ring Pendant City or Mountain-Edge City.”
As the discussion continued, the crowd gradually pieced together the implications.
“These are truly troubled times…” the tea stall uncle sighed once more, before turning back to tend to his customers.
…………
At night, deep in the mountains.
Torches flickered and bobbed amid the darkness, scattering through the forest as they searched in every direction. Under the pale, cool moonlight, the blazing red flames burned with an almost piercing brilliance.
Xu Chuanzhou’s expression was grim. He gripped his pair of triple-edged swords tightly, his sharp gaze sweeping across the surrounding woods without pause.
“Found it! There’s light ahead. Looks like a white lantern!” a sect disciple suddenly shouted.
“Where!?” Xu Chuanzhou burst forward at once, charging toward the voice.
Alongside another Elder, he had received direct orders from the Sect Master to investigate this incident. The original plan had been to remain in place and wait for Zhao Jiaojiao, who had already set out. Yet Xu Chuanzhou could not bring himself to sit idle. Instead, he led his men deep into the mountains, toward the rumored origin of the disturbance.
He had brought with him more than ten experts, all trusted subordinates from Hong Rong Manor under his personal command. If not for the opportunity to display his worth before the Sect Master, he would never have mobilized his private forces so openly.
Xu Chuanzhou understood clearly that the Crimson Whale Sect currently reigned supreme over the Northern Lands. Its Sect Master, known as the King of Sabers, possessed strength vast as the sea and skill that brushed the heavens. If Xu Chuanzhou could seize this moment, draw the Sect Master’s attention while the sect stood at the height of its power, it would be an immense boon to the future of the Xu Family.
After carefully weighing the gains and losses, he chose speed above all else. Deploy his forces, resolve the matter swiftly.
The faster the incident was settled, the greater his chance of standing out.
Leaping into the air, he and the others quickly regrouped around the disciple who had called out.
“Right over there!” The disciple pointed deep into the forest.
Xu Chuanzhou followed the direction of the finger. Sure enough, a faint white glow flickered in the distance.
“Everyone, with me!” he barked.
Among this group, even the weakest was at least of Double-Fish rank. Outside the sect, any one of them would be strong enough to dominate an entire street. Opportunities like this were rare, especially now that most supernatural disturbances in the Northern Lands had already been purged.
That was precisely why every one of them burned with eagerness.
Forming a winding trail of torchlight like a fiery serpent, the group advanced swiftly and soon arrived at the outskirts of a village.
The village was built upon a stretch of black stone ground, its surface rough and cracked like ancient tree bark. Stone houses stood scattered haphazardly across the uneven terrain.
The source of the white glow was a large stone house perched on a slope.
Xu Chuanzhou studied it carefully. A flight of stone steps descended diagonally from its entrance. Under the combined light of the white glow and their torches, the steps appeared worn smooth by age, thick with moss.
“Let’s go. We’ll take a look,” he ordered calmly. “Half of you stay outside and stand guard. Red, Number One, Little Chen, bring your men and follow me.”
“Yes, sir!” his trusted subordinates replied in unison.
They were elites of the Crimson Whale Sect. Elder Xu possessed profound inner force and had mastered the Swift Swallow Skill. After receiving secret guidance from the Sect Master himself, his cultivation had grown even more unfathomable.
In the past, they had handled several supernatural investigations with ease. Confidence ran high among them.
Xu Chuanzhou led the group up the stone steps and stopped before the stone house. He raised a hand and knocked lightly.
“Creak…”
The wooden door was not shut. It swung open on its own, revealing a spacious courtyard beyond.
Xu Chuanzhou’s eyes narrowed. He drew his triple-edged sword and strode inside without hesitation.
Behind him, his men lifted their torches and unsheathed the long sabers strapped to their backs, following closely as they entered the courtyard on full alert.
“There’s someone inside!” a sharp-eyed disciple whispered urgently, having spotted the silhouette seated in the main hall.
Xu Chuanzhou moved to the center of the courtyard and surveyed the surroundings. There were no footprints anywhere, not even before the door. The ground was blanketed in thick moss, as though no one had set foot there in years.
A deathly silence hung in the air, broken only by the soft crackle of burning torches.
After a brief pause, Xu Chuanzhou spoke.
“I am Elder Xu Chuanzhou of the Crimson Whale Sect of the Northern Lands. No matter which faction or sect you belong to, isn’t it far too disrespectful to commit murder in the vicinity of Ring Pendant City?”
The main hall remained as silent as a grave.
The silhouette seated inside, its shadow cast against the paper window, did not move in the slightest, as though it had heard nothing at all.
The sight stirred anger in Xu Chuanzhou.
“Break the door down!” he commanded, waving his hand.
At once, a subordinate rushed forward.
“HA!”
With a fierce shout, he slammed his body into the wooden door, completely unaware that the door had never been closed to begin with.
Carried by his own momentum, the man smashed the door wide open and nearly stumbled headlong into the hall.
Yet something was wrong.
The moment the door opened, the hall was empty. Not a single figure could be seen inside, as though the silhouette previously cast upon the window had vanished without leaving a trace.
“Search the place!” Xu Chuanzhou barked, waving his hand sharply.
Since the Northern Lands had been pacified, the Crimson Whale Sect acted with absolute dominance. In the past, they still had to contend with factions like Scarlet District. Now, however, all other powers seemed to shrink away at their presence.
Many disturbances resolved themselves before the sect even intervened. That had been the case with the last supernatural incident they encountered.
‘Perhaps this one is the same’, Xu Chuanzhou thought as he tightened his grip on his sword and strode into the main hall, his subordinates spreading out to search.
The hall was brightly illuminated. White lanterns hung everywhere, while ornaments of various shapes and sizes adorned the walls.
A massive, ancient mirror stood directly opposite the entrance.
“This is…?” Xu Chuanzhou frowned and stepped closer to examine it.
The mirror’s surface was crafted from extremely rare stained glass, worth a tremendous sum. A stained-glass mirror of such size was nothing short of a priceless treasure.
“Reporting to Elder, there’s no one in this house at all,” his subordinates quickly gathered and reported.
Xu Chuanzhou turned, sweeping his gaze across the group before him.
Suddenly, his brows knitted tightly.
“Where’s Little Chen?”
The disciples exchanged blank looks.
“I didn’t see him,” a female disciple said hesitantly. “He said he was going out to the courtyard to take a look.”
“Out of the house?” Xu Chuanzhou’s frown deepened.
An ominous unease clenched his chest. Ever since they had entered this place, he felt as though something unseen was lurking in the darkness, silently watching them.
“Let’s check outside first,” he said lowly.
The group turned, preparing to leave the hall, when suddenly—
“BOOM!”
“BAM BAM BAM BAM!”
Without warning, every door and window slammed shut at once, as if struck violently from the outside.
“Thud!”
The latch dropped into place, sealing the main doors tight.
“Retreat!” Xu Chuanzhou shouted, charging toward the entrance.
“Hoo—”
All light vanished.
Every torch. Every lantern. Extinguished in a single instant.
Pitch-black darkness swallowed the hall. A suffocating silence followed, as though everyone had been erased from existence.
Time crawled.
Outside, the courtyard lay eerily still. Elder Xu and the men he had brought with him did not make a sound.
Then—
“BAM!”
The wooden doors burst open.
A blood-soaked figure staggered out, but before even half his body crossed the threshold, something unseen seized him and dragged him violently back inside.
“YOU’LL PAY FOR THIS! CRIMSON WHALE SECT WON’T LET YOU OFF! NO MATTER WHO YOU ARE! NO MATTER WHO YOU ARE!” the figure screamed hoarsely.
It was Xu Chuanzhou.
His body was drenched in blood, his arms carving two long crimson trails across the ground as he was yanked backward. In the blink of an eye, he vanished into the darkness of the house.
“BAM!”
The doors slammed shut once more.
Silence reclaimed the stone house.
…………
“Many people have gone missing consecutively?” Lu Sheng asked, his gaze fixed on the arena as his senior apprentice brother’s disciples sparred below. Their movements were swift and forceful, yet his attention lay elsewhere as he listened to the guard’s hushed report.
“Both Elder Xu and External Affairs Emissary Chen have already set off in that direction,” the guard whispered. “But there’s been no news from either of them.”
Lu Sheng’s eyes narrowed.
Elder Xu and External Affairs Emissary Chen were part of the new upper echelon he had only just promoted. When trouble had first broken out in Ring Pendant City, he had personally dispatched the two to investigate.
He had not expected that more than ten days would pass without a single word in return.
Just then, hurried footsteps approached.
“News!” Another guard rushed over and presented a letter with both hands. “An urgent memo from Ring Pendant City!”
Lu Sheng took the letter, unfolded it, and read.
The moment his eyes finished scanning the contents, his expression darkened.
----
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