7. Blood Beneath the Moon
Nightfall Over Yunling
The moon rose, red as old blood.
Wolves howled in the distance, and a chill spread through the trees. The village, now fortified with wooden spikes, tripwires, and warning charms, stood deathly still.
Li Shen sat atop the temple's broken roof, meditating.
But he wasn't calm.
He felt it.
The shift in the soul-threads. The way shadows moved was just a little too deliberate.
They were already here.
[Soul Thread Sense: Area Mode – Enhanced Sensitivity Active]
[Infiltration Detected: Crimson Moon Assassins – Confirmed 3; Likely Total: 6+]
[Threat Class: High – Qi Core and Above]
And yet...
[Root Unseal: 51% → 55%]
[Adaptive Alertness Triggered – Micro-thread awareness activated]
[New Instinct Skill Gained: Premonition Pulse – Brief glimpses of future hostility (Rank 1)]
He stood and whispered, "Let's begin."
Assassins in the Mist
The first villager died without a sound.
The second triggered a tripwire, alerting the temple guards, who were cut down seconds later by blades that shimmered like moonlight.
The assassins were silent, moving like dancers.
And then they met Li Shen.
He stepped out from the temple's shadow, face cold.
"You don't belong here."
The leader, a woman in crimson silk with twin crescent blades, smirked. "And yet… You don't belong anywhere."
Li Shen replied by igniting the ground beneath her feet.
[Skill Activated: Ashheart Arts – Ember Bloom (Rank 1)]
[Qi Construct: Delayed Ignition]
[Effectiveness: Enhanced – Terrain Modified]
The earth exploded upward in a spiral of fire-laced ash, scattering the assassins.
Then Li Shen moved faster than he ever had.
Vision Surge – The Past Awakens
As he clashed with the assassins, something broke inside him.
A memory—no, a sensation—erupted.
A white hall. Screams. Silver needles. A voice chanting: "The root will serve, or the root will die."
He faltered.
[WARNING: Memory Fragment Unsealed – Trauma Event Detected]
[Root Unseal Surge: 55% → 62%]
[New Trait Gained: Memory Echo – Past lives may resurface during stress. Control required.]
The assassins pressed harder.
Steel cut flesh. Li Shen dropped to one knee, bleeding.
But then—
A voice inside him.
"You were not planted in weakness. You were buried to grow."
The Root pulsed.
And he rose again.
The Reversal
With fire in his veins and threads glowing silver beneath his skin, Li Shen lashed out.
He didn't strike like a cultivator.
He struck like a storm.
He caught arrows in midair, redirected talismans with a flick of qi-thread control, and countered each assassin not with power, but evolution.
[Skill Acquired: Moon Piercer Blade (Fragmented – 34%)]
[Soul Thread Adaptation: Improved Timing Reflexes – Tier 1 Complete]
[Ashheart Arts: Advanced Flow Detected – Fire + Shadow Qi compatibility possible]
The last three assassins turned to flee.
He let them go.
Because he could feel something deeper was coming.
And he needed strength, still yet to grow.
After the Storm
The villagers gathered once more in the scorched square.
Yanmei helped stitch Li Shen's wounds, hands trembling—not from fear, but fury.
"You can't do this alone."
"I won't," he said.
He looked to the villagers, some holding weapons, others tools. All had eyes that burned now.
"You've seen what's coming."
They nodded.
"Then we train. We build. We survive. And when the next wave comes…"
He clenched his fist.
"We burn their roots."
[Quest Complete: Defend the Remnant – Success]
[Village Defense Reputation: +200]
[Special Reward: Ashbond Ritual Stone (Rare) – Enables permanent spiritual bond with one artifact or individual.]
[Root Unseal: 62% → 68%]
[Unique Skill Unlocked: Ash Manifestation – Summon a temporary construct from qi and soul will (Time Limit: 3 minutes)]
Far Away – Crimson Moon Sect
Grandmistress Lian Yue crushed the failed report scroll between two fingers.
"So… the Forsaken Root bleeds, but does not break."
Her smile widened.
"I want him alive."
The next emissary knelt. "Shall I send the Cursed Brothers?"
"No. Not yet. First…"
She tapped her throne's edge with a single crimson nail.
"Send the girl."