The trek up the mountain was steep and silent.
Mist clung to their legs like cold fingers. Birdsong had long vanished, replaced by the slow shuffle of feet on stone and the distant wind howling through the peaks.
By the time the group of new disciples arrived at the outer gates of the Hollow Bone Sect, most were drenched in sweat and trembling from exhaustion.
Azazel was not among them.
His breathing was even. His eyes, sharp.
He took in the view—dozens of weathered buildings, training fields, alchemy pavilions. The sect was not grand by any means, but for mortals who had lived among mud walls and wooden carts, this was another world.
And another law.
---
A tall man stood before them, clad in a slightly faded white robe with a green sash. His beard was trimmed. His tone was flat.
> "I am Elder Mo. You've been accepted as outer disciples. Do not think this is glory."
His eyes scanned them like cattle.
> "From this moment on, your survival depends on your merit points. You want food? Pills? Cultivation manuals? You want to be taught? Then earn it."
He raised a hand and pointed to a stone tablet embedded into the far wall.
> "There. Missions are posted weekly. Beast hunting, herb gathering, cleaning latrines, repairing outer walls, delivering messages through the jungle."
> "You gain points. You lose them, or disobey, you get expelled."
The disciples were silent. Some nodded. Some frowned. Most were still too dazed to understand the change in their fates.
Azazel blinked slowly.
Bartering with obedience. An efficient method to enforce loyalty without chains.
Elder Mo waved.
> "Go. Pick any empty hut in the outer court."
---
The outer court was a series of small stone huts scattered along the lower cliffs. Some had cracked tiles. Others leaned sideways like aging corpses. The sect clearly did not care for its outer disciples beyond what they could extract from them.
Azazel chose one furthest from the main path—half-hidden beneath a crooked pine tree. The door creaked open with resistance.
Dust floated in the air like ghostly threads.
He stepped inside.
Stone floor. Straw bed. A chipped wooden table.
Empty.
Perfect.
---
He sat cross-legged, closed the door, and for the first time since he arrived, exhaled softly.
Now… let us see the truth.
He entered a meditative trance.
---
His spiritual consciousness slipped inward.
Darkness.
Then, a flash.
In his dantian, where the core of a cultivator's spirit root should be, there was no light… no swirl of elemental qi… no standard manifestation.
Instead, it pulsed.
A black-red lotus bloomed slowly, its petals thick and dripping like coagulated blood. At the center burned a star-shaped core—ungraded, unbound. Not radiating power.
But consuming it.
Azazel observed without emotion.
He felt it awaken to his presence.
And then… it spoke to his mind—not in words, but in knowledge. Endless, ancient, forbidden.
---
> Elemental Affinities Detected:
– Entropy
– Blood
– Time
– Space
– Heavenly Lightning
– Death
– Darkness
Each name echoed like a bell toll in a ruined temple.
These were not affinities known to common cultivators. Some… weren't supposed to exist.
Azazel remained still. Only his eyes flickered slightly.
> Spirit Root: Unnamed
Grade: Undefined
Status: Incomplete Awakening
Note: Root structure incompatible with standard grading system.
---
A lesser boy would have panicked.
A prodigy might have rejoiced.
Azazel merely folded the information into his mind—another piece of the labyrinth that was his existence.
He understood now.
His root wasn't low grade.
It wasn't high grade.
It simply did not belong in the order of this world.
A crack in the design. A shadow that escaped the torchlight.
---
He opened his eyes.
Dust settled slowly onto the floor. The door groaned against the wind. A crow cried in the distance.
The room felt colder now.
Azazel stood and looked at his hand. It looked the same.
But it wasn't.
Not anymore.
> Merit points. Missions. Pills. Sect hierarchy. Brotherhood.
They believed this structure would forge cultivators.
They were wrong.
This sect was merely a nest.
And the egg had already hatched.
---
End of Chapter 4