Chapter 10: A Past Bathed in Blood

As Yin Shuang walked through the long, quiet corridors of the Heavenly Radiance Sect, her mind drifted to the past—a past she had pieced together from the words of others, for she had been too young to remember it herself.

She was the sole survivor of the Azure Cloud Sect, a once-thriving sect that had been utterly annihilated by the Obsidian Peak Sect when she was just an infant. Though she had no memory of the massacre, the stories of ruthless slaughter, burning temples, and mountains of corpses had been drilled into her since childhood.

The Grandmaster of Heavenly Radiance Sect, Shen Zhenhai, had taken her in out of pity. He had been a fellow disciple of her mother, a woman of great virtue and skill. When he learned of the Azure Cloud Sect's demise, he had claimed her as a ward of his sect, raising her within its walls as a lowly disciple.

But even under the protection of the sect, life had not been kind.

Growing up, Yin Shuang had never truly belonged.

Though she bore the name of a once-respected sect, it only served as a reminder of her orphaned status. The other disciples whispered behind her back, mocking her as the "orphan girl," the "stray kitty" or worse, a "cursed survivor."

She was bullied, ostracized, and made to feel like an outsider. Some accused her of bringing bad luck to the sect, while others praised Master Shen's kindness toward her, believing she had done nothing to deserve his favor.

She learned to keep her head down, to endure and to remain unseen.

Friendships? She had none. Trust was just a foolish concept.

The only solace she found was in training, in sharpening her skills, in proving to herself that she could be something more than the weak orphan they thought she was.

Now, she finally had a chance to prove it.

This mission was more than a duty—it was an opportunity.

If she succeeded, she would finally gain respect, acknowledgment, and a place within the sect. More than that, it was a chance to strike a blow against the very people who had destroyed her family and her sect.

Yin Shuang's fingers tightened around the concealed mechanism of the Flying Star Needles.

She would not fail.

As she stepped beyond the walls of the Heavenly Radiance Sect, the path before her was uncertain. But one thing was clear in her mind—

She would have her revenge.