Spiritual Essence Devouring Technique

"The Secrets of the Withered Shadow is not just an unorthodox technique, it is an essence devouring technique" His voice dropped even lower.

"This technique is no different from training Gu. When developing Decay Qi, your only option is to consume others or be consumed, it's a self-perpetuating curse."

The night was quiet and the sky was filled with stars. A chilling wind brushes against Lu Chen's skin as he tries to maintain his composure after the shock he received with this information.

Silence.

"A self-perpetuating curse?" Lu Chen finally broke the silence. His voice was calm, but there was an unmistakable edge to it.

The masked man nodded slowly. "Did you think something like this would be left unguarded like that?" His golden eyes glowed faintly in the darkness. "The Azure Sky Sect has its share of restricted manuals. Many of them are dangerous, but none of them spread like this one does."

Lu Chen narrowed his eyes. "What exactly do you mean by 'spread'?"

The masked man took a slow step forward, his movements deliberate. "Tell me something, Lu Chen. When you first used it, how did it feel?"

Lu Chen hesitated. 

His first instinct was to lie, but then he realized something.

The masked man already knew the answer.

"...It was too easy," Lu Chen admitted, his voice low. "Other techniques require time, effort, refinement. But when I used Decay Qi, it felt…"

"...as if it was meant for you!" the masked man finished for him. His tone was unreadable. "It didn't resist you, it didn't push back, it simply became a part of you, right?"

Lu Chen felt a chill creep up his spine.

He had thought it was just a technique with a high affinity for him. 

A strange but fortunate compatibility.

But now…

"It wasn't compatible." the masked man continued. "It was a trap."

Lu Chen's fingers twitched slightly, his grip on the manual tightening. "...Explain."

The masked man exhaled, tilting his head toward the night sky. "As I said before, this is a Gu cultivation method. Have you heard of Gu cultivation before?"

Lu Chen's brows furrowed. "I know the basics. It's about refining parasitic life forms to make them stronger. The weak are consumed, and only the strongest Gu survives in the end."

"Exactly." The masked man lowered his gaze back to Lu Chen. "Now, think. What does that sound like to you?"

Lu Chen's breath hitched slightly.

"...Spiritual Essence Devouring," he muttered.

The masked man's lips curled under his mask. "Good, You're quick." 

He paused for a moment before continuing.

"The Secrets of the Withered Shadow was never meant to be a technique for individual cultivation. It's a system designed to turn cultivators into its host. Every person who practices it contributes to a single, ultimate result."

Lu Chen's expression darkened. "A refinement process."

The masked man nodded. "Once cultivated, Decay Qi does not simply reside within you. It connects to every other practitioner of the same art. Like ants in a colony. And do you know what happens when too many ants live in one place?"

"...They start killing each other," Lu Chen murmured.

The masked man raised a single finger. "And the last one standing?"

A cold realization hit Lu Chen like a dagger to the gut.

"Whoever remains inherits all of it." Lu Chen said, his voice barely above a whisper.

The masked man's golden eyes gleamed with something unreadable. 

"That's right."

Lu Chen is digesting the information.

He had thought the technique was just another forbidden art. Something powerful and dangerous, but ultimately something he could control if he took the necessary precautions

But the truth was far worse.

It was never meant to be controlled.

"Decay Qi practitioners must devour others to survive. The energy they cultivate does not stabilize on its own. It constantly rots away unless replenished. And how do you replenish it?" The masked man's voice was smooth, but there was an undeniable weight behind it.

"...By stealing it from others," Lu Chen answered grimly.

"Exactly." The masked man paused, then added. "Now imagine this… dozens of disciples, all learning the technique. At first, it spread easily, there was no conflict, no immediate downside."

Lu Chen swallowed hard.

"But as time passes," the masked man continued, "the energy begins to deteriorate, rot sets in. The weaker ones find their cultivation slipping away, their foundations begin to collapse, and there is only one way to stop it."

Lu Chen's voice was cold. "Kill the others and take their Decay Qi."

"Correct" the masked man said softly.

Lu Chen clenched his fists. 

The thought of such a situation playing out within the Azure Sky Sect sent a wave of unease through him.

A sect wide bloodbath, a total slaughter.

And in the end…

One survivor.

The true inheritor.

Someone who would absorb the accumulated Decay Qi of every practitioner who had fallen before them.

Someone who would ascend beyond their peers, infused with the stolen power of countless dead disciples.

Someone who could become an unstoppable monstrosity.

"You were lucky," he said. "You only cultivated it for a moment, using your own Qi as an offering instead of consuming your life force or another's. If you had gone further…"

"I'd be bound to it," Lu Chen finished.

Lu chen took a deep breath

"And what about you?" 

Lu Chen asked, his eyes sharp. "You were in the Forbidden Chamber, you weren't guarding the manual, you also wanted to steal it, didn't you??"

The masked man's expression didn't change.

"Yes."

Lu Chen's mind clicked into place.

"You're from the sect," he said. "Or at least… part of it."

"I'm from the Hidden Faction." the masked man admitted after a pause. " In the faction are those who believe the technique is worth researching. But there are others…" His voice darkened. "…who knows that some things should never be studied, only destroyed."

Lu Chen met his gaze.

"And which side are you on?"

The masked man's lips curved ever so slightly beneath the mask.

"What do you think?"

For the first time since the conversation started, Lu Chen felt something shift.

A slight weight lifted from his chest.

He had come to warn him.

To stop another practitioner from falling into the abyss.

"So you came to steal and destroy this technique, right?" Lu Chen questioned.

The masked man nodded once. "That was my purpose. An old copy was placed at the forbidden chamber, that thing never should have never seen the light of day. But before I could complete my task…" His golden eyes flickered with amusement. "You stole it."

Lu Chen showed slight embarrassment. "I was in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"Were you?" the masked man mused. "Or were you exactly where you were meant to be?"

Lu Chen ignored the philosophical nonsense. "If you want to destroy it, why didn't you do this before?"

The masked man let out a quiet chuckle. "You think destroying it is that simple?"

Lu Chen frowned.

"I don't mean the paper itself," the masked man clarified. "I mean its existence."

Lu Chen's brows furrowed.

"Techniques like this do not simply vanish when you set them on fire" the masked man continued. "The Secrets of the Withered Shadow is an old technique, one that has resurfaced countless times in history. Even when it is erased, it finds a way to return. Do you know why?"

Lu Chen thought for a moment before speaking. "Because people remember it."

"Exactly." The masked man nodded approvingly. "No matter how dangerous a technique is, someone will always seek it out. And someone will always think they can control it. It is not just a manual, it is an idea, an ambition, a temptation that cultivators cannot resist."

Lu Chen stared at the technique in his hands, the inked characters shifting slightly under the moonlight.

Lu Chen narrowed his eyes. "Then what was your plan?"

"I was going to seal it away. Remove it from the reach of those who would misuse it. Techniques like this do not simply die, they must be buried."

Lu Chen considered his words carefully. "And now that it's in my hands, what do you expect me to do?"

"Give it to me," the masked man said, stepping closer. His golden eyes glowed faintly in the darkness. "And I will ensure it does not fall into the wrong hands."

Lu Chen hesitated. "How do I know you're not lying?"

The masked man tilted his head. "You don't."

Lu Chen clicked his tongue. He hated answers like that.

But at this moment, he had no other options.

Keeping the manual was not an option.

Destroying it was not an option.

And throwing it away was the worst option.

Slowly, he extended his hand, offering the technique to the masked man.

The masked man accepted it without hesitation, slipping it into his robes as if it were nothing more than a scrap of useless paper.

"The first time I saw you," Lu Chen said, his voice calm but pointed, "you were looking for this manual. But you didn't know it was this technique, did you?"

The masked man's golden eyes sharpened.

For a brief moment, neither of them spoke.

Then, the masked man's lips curved slightly beneath the mask.

"You're more perceptive than I expected," he admitted. 

"No, I did not know which technique I was looking for at the time. I was given orders to retrieve and destroy something forbidden." The masked man said. "Let me offer you one piece of advice, 'be careful who you trust.' Not all enemies wear their hatred openly."

Lu Chen's thoughts immediately flickered to one particular name.

"Gu Tianying," he murmured.

The masked man tilted his head slightly, intrigued. "Ah… so you are already aware."

Lu Chen didn't like how that sounded. "You know him?"

"I know of him," the masked man corrected. "Tell me, Lu Chen… how did you find this technique?"

Lu Chen hesitated for a fraction of a second.

"Gu Tianying led me to it," Lu Chen said plainly.

The masked man let out a dry chuckle. "He is a spider, weaving webs you do not yet understand. And you, Lu Chen, have already stepped into one."

A sense of unease settled in Lu Chen's chest.

He obviously knows that Gu Tianying was dangerous.

But hearing it confirmed by someone within the sect's shadows was different.

"Did he give you this technique… as a test?" the masked man asked.

Lu Chen exhaled slowly. "I don't know."

The masked man studied him for a long moment before nodding. 

He turned to leave, his robes rustling against the night breeze.

But before he disappeared, he left Lu Chen with one final warning.

"Avoid getting close to him as much as possible, you may get caught up in problems that aren't yours."