Azure Cloud Mountain

Xiao Ning let out a sigh of relief. Although he wasn't sure this would happen, it actually did. After purging all of Li Fang's previous cultivation techniques and dissolving his original nascent soul, he successfully integrated his consciousness with Li Fang's original soul, making it his own.

[Lifespan Update Detected]

[Remainder: 473/2000 years]

[Increase Granted: +1233 years]

Seeing this, Xiao Ning's lips curved upward. This was exactly the kind of news he liked to see.

"Now, let's check our current status," he thought.

[Name]: Xiao Ning

[Qi Cultivation]: Nascent Soul Realm - Late Stage

[Body Refining]: Fourth Grade - Late Stage

[Life Span]: 473/2000 years

Observing his current status panel, he couldn't help but erupt into loud laughter.

"Excellent! It's official: I, Xiao Ning, have truly returned!"

 ***

The Azure Dragon Sect, the indomitable pillar of the Righteous Sects Alliance and the most formidable power in the Violet Sea World alongside the Bone Forging Sect, stood as a titan carved into the heart of the Azure Cloud Mountain Ranges.

These jagged peaks, perpetually wreathed in silvery mist, were said to be the cradle of the world's purest spiritual qi—a luminous, cerulean haze that swirled like liquid starlight. The air itself hummed with energy, capable of accelerating cultivation progress by decades for those who dwelled there.

This rare blessing was no accident. At the summit of the highest peak, the Azure Pagoda, the sect's venerated leader Azure Cloud Daoist meditated in eternal vigil, his presence anchoring the spiritual qi's potency. His mastery of the Heavenly Tribulation Realm had earned him near-legendary status, and his mere gaze was said to part storms and calm the wrath of celestial dragons.

The sect's architecture was a marvel of both strength and artistry. Towers of indigo stone, etched with intricate dragon motifs, pierced the clouds, while courtyards adorned with ancient jade statues of serpentine beasts sprawled below. The Azure Dragon emblem—three coiling dragons encircling a glowing pearl—adorned every banner, gate, and scroll.

Even the training grounds were awe-inspiring: crystalline pools of qi-rich water, and libraries housing scrolls older than empires. The sect's might was not just in its power, but in its legacy—a lineage of cultivators who had shielded the Violet Sea World from chaos for millennia.

The outer regions teemed with bustling disciples in indigo robes, their faces alight with ambition, practicing sword forms on terraced fields where the grass grew taller and greener than elsewhere. The inner regions were quieter, dominated by towering halls where core formation elders meditated, The core region, however, was —hidden valleys, floating islands, and accessible only to Nascent Soul cultivators.

In one of the secluded meditation halls of the core region, a youth stood bathed in the faint glow of the Azure Dragon's qi. Jiang Chen, his name whispered in reverence among the disciples for his meteoric rise, wore a cobalt-blue robe embroidered with faint, shifting constellations—a gift from Azure Cloud Daoist himself. His jet-black hair fell just above his shoulders, framing a face that was unremarkable at first glance.

He had arrived at the Azure Dragon Sect as a penniless orphan, his past etched into his soul like a scar.

The Jiang Clan's extermination by the Shadowclaw Sect had left him the sole survivor, a boy who'd clawed his way from the ashes of betrayal to the Nascent Soul Realm in mere decades. His rise was fueled not by brute strength, but by a razor-sharp mind and a resolve as unbreakable as the dragon's teeth. Now, as he stared at the jade scroll in his hands, his fingers trembled imperceptibly—a rare slip of emotion.

He found this jade scroll at the entrance to his abode, its surface marred by a single crimson seal—a gnarled, blood-red claw etched into the stone, its edges pulsing faintly as though alive— The Shadowclaw Sect emblem!

A cold thought slithered through him, chilling the blood in his veins.

Could it be… that someone within the Azure Dragon's core is their accomplice?

The Azure Dragon's core region was forbidden to outsiders; even a Nascent Soul cultivator of their sect would not have slipped in undetected.

His divine sense flared, and the scroll's contents erupted into his mind.

"If you want to know the identity of the person who ordered the Shadowclaw Sect to exterminate your Jiang Clan—then meet me at the Sound Soul Valley three days from now."

The words hung in his mind, sharp as poisoned blades. A memory flickered—smoke, the shriek of a dragon-stone charm shattering, his mother's voice screams, his father dead body and more...

He forced the vision down, and read the rest.

"Do not let anyone know of our meeting, the content of this scroll, and you must come alone."

A pause.

"If you ignore or violate any of these terms, the meeting will be automatically cancelled."

The signature came last: Shadowclaw Sect Master Mie Lin.

Finally

His drew a sharp breath. After years of veiled denials and dead ends, this was the first crack in the Shadowclaw Sect's armor.

After endless cycles of betrayal and evasion, the truth was within reach. They could no longer hide the mastermind behind his clan's annihilation.

He knew the Shadowclaw Sect hadn't orchestrated the massacre. But no matter how many times he'd pressed them, they'd clammed up like oysters guarding pearls. Now, with their leader dead and their once-mighty sect splintering into chaos, they were cornered. Desperate.

Their best play? To neutralize the threat I've become.

Jiang Chen's gaze narrowed. But what if this is a trap?

The thought gnawed at him. What if the Shadowclaw Sect lured him here to end him once and for all?

Unlikely.

He dismissed the notion with a shake of his head. A Nascent Soul cultivator from the Azure Dragon Sect did not walk lightly into ambushes. To kill him would invite the wrath of an entire sect capable of obliterating the Shadowclaw Sect's ancestral halls stone by stone. Their leader might be dead, but even the replacements knew better than to court such annihilation.

Unless…

A sliver of doubt lingered. But no—his hand tightened around the jade scroll, its edges biting into his palm. If they dared, he'd show them what happened to those who crossed a dragon's heir.

A cold laugh escaped him.

Let them try.

He stowed the scroll in his spatial ring. Three days. Three days until he stood before the new Shadowclaw master—or whatever fragmented remnant still clung to that title and uncover the truth behind his clan's destruction. He would make them pay, no matter who they were.