In the wake of the Feast of Names, the academy was cloaked in a thin veneer of order—elegant, practiced, but brittle.
Behind silken curtains and ritual bows, whispers brewed like thunderclouds.
Elder Wu had retreated to his pavilion.
Disciples had begun vanishing from the training halls.
And Lin Feng knew:
This was the calm before the next strike.
He walked through the Inner Court's peach blossom path at dawn, dew clinging to his boots, petals drifting around him like memories of another life. Ruoxi waited by the crystal pond, her arms folded.
"The list we recovered from the masked servant contains four names within East Sky," she said.
"Read them."
"Elder Wu. Instructor Min Lian. Disciple He Rong. And..."
She hesitated.
"Say it."
"Grandmaster Lumen's personal assistant."
Lin Feng's gaze darkened.
The assistant—Ma Shuang—was always by the headmaster's side. Soft-spoken. Polite. Almost invisible.
And now, one of the wolves in silk.
"Where is she now?"
"On her way to the Gate Pavilion. She carries today's reports."
Lin Feng nodded.
"We intercept her. But quietly."
---
An hour later, in the shadow of the bamboo grove near the Pavilion of Ascension, Ma Shuang walked with measured steps.
She didn't flinch when Lin Feng stepped into her path.
"Senior Brother Lin," she bowed. "Congratulations on your advancement."
"Save it," he said.
Ruoxi appeared behind her.
Ma Shuang didn't panic. She simply stopped, exhaled, and said:
"So the Void Lord has remembered."
Lin Feng's voice dropped. "Who do you serve?"
"The Fourth Key."
He raised a brow. "And what message do you carry from your masters?"
She smiled.
Then, she vanished.
An afterimage.
A decoy body, built from spiritual silk.
"Trap!" Ruoxi shouted.
Explosions tore through the bamboo grove. Talismans flared. A net of soul energy closed in around Lin Feng.
Seven masked figures dropped from the trees.
All wore white.
All carried blades.
And all struck at once.
---
The battle was chaos.
Void ripples collided with blade formations. Ruoxi unleashed spirit thorns that pinned one assassin to a tree. Lin Feng moved like wind and smoke, striking pressure points with brutal accuracy.
Three fell.
Four remained.
One of them hissed, "For the Gate of Calamity!"
He charged with a black talon technique, aiming for Lin Feng's heart.
Too slow.
Lin Feng whispered: "Fold."
Space collapsed inward. The assassin's body crumpled like paper.
Only two left.
They hesitated.
Lin Feng stepped forward, blood on his robes.
"I'm done playing with shadows," he said.
He drew a symbol in the air. It shimmered.
Void Command: Seal of Echoes.
Both assassins froze.
Then dropped.
---
Moments later, guards arrived, led by none other than Instructor Min Lian.
She surveyed the scene with a carefully composed expression.
"Terrible. Simply terrible," she said. "I will report this to Grandmaster Lumen immediately."
Lin Feng stepped closer.
"You don't seem surprised."
"I've seen much," she replied.
He nodded.
"Then let me show you something new."
He threw a captured mask at her feet.
It bore the emblem of the Fourth Key.
She paled.
Only slightly—but enough.
"Careful, Instructor," Lin Feng whispered. "Your silk is starting to tear."
---
That evening, in the Grandmaster's tower, a new visitor arrived.
A figure from the Capital.
Draped in black and silver robes. Wearing a steel fox mask. Escorting a sealed jade box with seven locks.
The air around her screamed danger.
She bowed before Grandmaster Lumen.
"I come bearing word from the Sovereign Council."
"Word?"
She placed the box on the table.
"A test."
"And if we fail?"
She didn't speak.
But Lin Feng, standing at the entrance, felt it:
A new power entering the game.
One not of this region.
One that knew his name.
To be continue...