Sudden Shift

Lu Heng sat forward, as he changed the subject,his tone turning colder. "Also, we need to find the mole in the institute before we lose any more manpower. Someone's leaking our missions to the Jiang Clan. That's why I've stopped using the board and started handing missions directly to students. If we continued as before, we'd basically be publishing our entire war strategy."

Tao Mu's gaze hardened. "Vice Dean... what do you think about Jun Fen? After all, both Ren Hao and Lin Shu saw him in the Poison Heart Shop, surrounded by Jiang higher-ups ."

Lu Heng raised an eyebrow, but his voice remained composed. "I know you hate him, Tao Mu. But I'll say this for the last time—it's not Jun Fen, at least not because of that. He's not stupid enough to show up openly with Jiang Clan members and allow himself to be seen by anyone. And yet he was seen."

Lu Heng tapped his fingers slowly against the wood.

"I still don't know why he was there, and that does make him suspicious. That's why I had him sent back to the main institute. But here's the thing—after he left, the leaks kept happening. And not the ones I wanted to leak. The Jiang are still getting information we never intended to spread. That tells me he's not the mole—or at least, not the only one."

"Which means," Tao Mu said grimly, "the rat is still among us."

"Exactly," Lu Heng said, eyes cold. "And that narrows it down. Because the only people here who have consistent access to high-level mission details besides us… are the instructors."

Tao Mu folded his arms. "Who do you suspect?"

Lu Heng stood up, walking toward a small shelf before answering. "Not sure yet. But there are five instructors stationed here, excluding you."

He turned, listing them one by one.

"Qin Yue,

Wei Shan,

Chao Heichi,

Kui Jinhu."

He paused before adding, "They're the only ones with both the access and the influence to be worth bribing. So until we know which one it is, we're assigning all missions ourselves. no exceptions. And to keep the pressure on, I plan on sending those instructors on missions with one and other never leaving one of them alone."

"Field exposure?" Tao Mu asked.

"Exactly," Lu Heng said. "Make them work for their position. Anyone reluctant… we watch even closer. We'll start seeing cracks soon enough and sooner or later One of them is going to slip and his neck will fall right next to my blade."

Tao Mu nodded, voice quiet but firm. "And when they do?"

Lu Heng's voice dropped, almost a whisper.

"Then we cut off the tail."

Lu Heng's jaw was clenched, his face grim with the weight of strategy, politics, and looming ruin. The usual iciness in his eyes had sharpened into something harsher—something like desperation carefully wrapped in calculation.

Tao Mu's voice broke the tension. "Alright… so what should we do with Lin Shu, Ren Hao, and Yan Qing?"

Lu Heng was about to respond when a knock echoed through the tense air.

His eyes narrowed. "Jun Fen? What are you doing here? I personally ordered you to return to the institute."

For the first time in a long while, his voice wasn't calm or dispassionate. It was sharp. A frown had crept across his face, and he was already halfway to the door.

Jun Fen stepped in, arms behind his back, his tone unusually solemn. "I guess I can't hide my Qi signature from you after all."

Lu Heng snapped again, "Answer the question."

Jun Fen's voice turned grave. "The Dean sent me. Urgently."

That made both men pause.

Jun Fen continued, "It's the Empire. Word is, they're sending an officer to investigate the fighting between us and the Jiang Clan. Apparently, they've known from the start—but chose not to interfere. Until now."

Lu Heng's frown deepened. His fingers twitched faintly as if resisting the urge to clench.

Jun Fen pressed on. "The Dean said he's stalling them—he might be able to buy us three days at most. That's it. In those three days, we either end this conflict completely, or we make peace with the Jiang Clan. Because if we don't…"

He paused, but the weight of the next words fell anyway.

"…they'll side with the Jiang Clan on paper, even if they don't believe them. Use it as an excuse to declare us unstable, criminals… and then seize the mine for themselves."

Silence.

Tao Mu inhaled sharply, voice low. "The Empire wants the mine."

"They want leverage," Jun Fen said. "And they want to punish both sides publicly so they can seem like peacemakers while grabbing resources."

Lu Heng didn't speak for a long second. Then he turned sharply. "Jun Fen. Assemble all students immediately."

He snapped his fingers. "And call Kui Jinhu. Tell him to come now."

Jun Fen bowed slightly and vanished without another word.

Tao Mu's voice was tight. "What do we do now?"

Lu Heng turned, his tone iron-clad.

"Install Blister Bombs through the mine's deeper tunnels. I want everything wired."

Tao Mu looked up. "You're serious?"

"If we cannot form a truce," Lu Heng said, "and if we cannot crush the Jiang Clan before the Empire's envoy arrives—then we deny the Empire everything. We destroy the mine. Burn the gold. Collapse the veins. Let no one have it. Not the Empire, not the Jiang Clan. Not even us."

Tao Mu gave a slow, grim nod. He didn't ask for another plan. There wasn't one.and they couldn't surrender there was never a surrender case of an institute or a clan that tao mu knows about that ended up in a good state

After they fell on their knees for the empire.

He turned and left with the weight of doom behind his steps.

Why was the Empire doing this?

Because they were opportunists.

They didn't interfere sooner—not because they were unaware, but because they were waiting for the perfect moment. Waiting for both sides to bleed, for damage to build, for public unrest to stir. For just enough bloodshed—especially among civilians and rogue cultivators—to justify intervention.

The Jiang Clan, affiliated with the VenomHeart Sect, was no small enemy.

But Stone Path Hall, the institute, was becoming too valuable—a growing feeder for the powerful Stormbreak Sect, one of the great ruling powers.

And the Empire saw it all the same:

The sects were trees, too tall and dangerous to chop down without consequence.

But the roots—the clans, the merchants, the schools—could be cut without fear.

Weaken the roots, and the tree dies on its own. Quietly. Eventually.

Stone Path Hall was being isolated.

And now, with the Empire on the move, Lu Heng had just three days to make a decision.

Just as Tao Mu stepped out of the room, Lu Heng's face twitched—only for a moment. The faintest curve at the corner of his lips. A ghost of a smile. So brief and subtle no one would've caught it, but it was there—satisfaction hidden behind steel.

Outside, in the middle of the mine, students had gathered in droves, filling the open space with murmurs and shifting tension. Lin Shu stood among them, his gaze cautious, sensing that something wasn't right. Around him were dozens of students—some chatting, others silent, many scanning the instructors lined up at the front: Tao Mu, Jun Fen, and the rest. Lin Shu's eyes caught each of them, noting the stiffness in their posture.

Then the crowd grew quiet as Vice Dean Lu Heng emerged.

There was no hesitation in his step, no doubt in his voice.

"To the ones I now call," he began coolly, "move to the right."

His voice carried with ease across the crowd. "Xu Jin… Liang Yue… Huai Min… Shen Jiao…"

The list continued, and Lin Shu remained still. So far, only low and mid-stage cultivators had been called—those who would likely be kept from the battlefield. He exhaled. Safe, perhaps.

Then Lu Heng called again.

"Ren Hao. Yan Qing. Zeng Shiyang. Yun Qiu. Lin Shu. Wu Jian. Ling Kusha. Gao Tiemeng. Yin Xueying. Gou Mingji…"

Lin Shu's shoulders tensed.

The names now being called weren't just any students—they were elite. High-stage. Peak-stage. Students from powerful clans. Lin Shu was the only mid-stage cultivator among them.

His brows furrowed. "Why am I the only one like this here? Either I've been placed in the safest group... or I'm the only fool being led to a butcher's pit."

The crowd was split cleanly—two halves standing across from one another. Lu Heng walked forward, his face as cold as ever, voice measured.

"I have split you all into two teams," he announced. "One group will remain behind and mine every last Azure Crystal from the lower tunnels. Those crystals are essential. Not one vein must be left untouched."

Then he turned to the other group—the one with Lin Shu.

"The other group," he said, tone dropping into something darker, "will follow Instructor Tao Mu. Tomorrow morning, you will march to the Jiang Clan's camp and attack."

Gasps and murmurs erupted immediately from the crowd. Even the confident cultivators blinked in surprise. An assault?

Lu Heng didn't flinch. "The Jiang Clan is vulnerable. They've taken too many losses. This is the time to end this conflict and claim our full dominance."

He gave a nod to Jun Fen, who held up a scroll showing the map of the enemy outpost. "Your objectives are simple: kill, destroy, and take everything of value."

Lu Heng paused, letting silence build around them.

"In return," he said with an almost sharp edge to his voice, "the rewards will be immense. Merits. Pills. Techniques. Weapons. Favor."

The students stirred again—but this time, it was with greedy anticipation. The hesitation turned to fire. Lu Heng's words were like kindling tossed on ambition.

And all the while, no one—not even the instructors—mentioned the Empire.

There was no word about the envoy. No hint of the deadline.

The students were blindfolded by promises of glory and gold. Even the most cautious ones, like Wu Jian, had begun convincing themselves this was a rare opportunity.

But Lin Shu wasn't so quick to swallow it.

He didn't like the way this was playing out. The silence surrounding the Empire. The sudden shift from defense to full-blown assault. The unnatural generosity of the rewards.

"They're not telling us everything," Lin Shu thought coldly. "And I'm either bait… or cannon fodder."

But his face stayed calm.

Because he had already decided:

If they meant to throw him into the fire, he'd survive it—and burn through anything in his path.