In the deep night, the crescent moon hung high, and the quiet Bamboo Grove echoed only with occasional insect chirps and frog calls.
Yet, the master of the small courtyard in the Bamboo Grove was still awake.
Moonlight streamed through the window, revealing a young girl in a blue robe, her face pale as she gripped a brush pen and knelt on the floor, continuously writing something.
The brush pen in her hand was half worn down, her hands and sleeves stained with ink and blood.
Nosebleed dripped steadily from her chin, staining the dense rows of inked characters on the ground with an eerie red.
Suddenly! The girl’s numb eyes flickered with a hint of struggle, as if she was battling some invisible force. With great effort, she flung the brush pen away!
Immediately after, she lost all strength and consciousness, collapsing completely onto the floor.
At that moment, an invisible ripple emanated outward from the center of her brows, and the disciple token hanging at her waist flickered faintly.
Miao
At the same time, a disciple roaming the Kongyu late at night suddenly noticed a new message in the communication zone. The title read:
To avoid unnecessary harm when disciples use spiritual communication, the sect has pre-applied many restrictions to disciple tokens, one of which is that any messages sent to the Kongyu automatically bear the sender’s cultivation realm marker.
This way, others can immediately know the sender’s cultivation level and decide whether or not to read the message.
So when Qiu Huayue glanced at it, she instantly knew it was a message sent by a Qi Refining Stage disciple.
She was from the last batch of disciples admitted, and because the Xuantian Sect’s recruitment criteria were strict—only opening the mountain gate for disciples once every twenty years—most from her batch had already reached Foundation Establishment Stage.
Therefore, she guessed the sender was probably a newly accepted junior disciple.
“The disciple recruitment ceremony isn’t until tomorrow, right? Didn’t expect someone to know the greatest use of the disciple token so early.”
“Though they don’t quite know how to use it yet, since they even sent their name out. Haha.”
Qiu Huayue sat beneath the large tree in the courtyard, gazing at the moon with mixed feelings.
***
Twenty years ago, she had been an innocent little quail, scared stiff by Ning Senior Sister’s warning, too afraid even to lower her disciple token while bathing, fearing she’d be turned into a blood mist by the sect’s protective formation.
Twenty years later, life had worn her down into a bitter woman.
But being a bitter woman wasn’t all bad, haha. Ning Senior Sister would never have imagined that the trouble with the money tree in the Disciplinary Hall would involve someone from Fa Peak like her!
The female cultivator under the moon let out several wicked chuckles, rubbing her hands together, ready to exchange messages with the new disciple who sent the strange communication.
Lovely juniors, let your beautiful and warm-hearted senior sister teach you what human malice really means, and the cruelty of the cultivation world!
But as she read, a chaotic jumble of repetitive characters suddenly flooded her Shihai.
‘#&Something mixed together* Damn Deer Antlers#&Born before Heaven¥@Silent and lonely##Revenge#%Independent and unchanging&%¥Circling endlessly%%¥Can be Mother of Heaven and Earth%¥#Pounded into deer meatballs%#Law Heaven day
#%@Law Dao dao#*Law Nature*&¥#I do not know the name*%Dragged into Disciplinary Hall&Born before Heaven¥@Pounded into triple fold%¥Hence the word Dao
#Hanging and whipping#%Independent and unchanging&%¥Circling endlessly%Dipped in chili water%¥Can be Mother of Heaven and Earth%Only hit no ask¥#Pounded into deer meat cake%#Law Heaven day#%@Law Dao dao#*Law Nature*&¥[Note 1]’
Bang!
The message.
Qiu Huayue fell right out of the tree and sat on the ground. She didn’t get up immediately but sat dazed, absorbing the chaotic flood in her mind.
There was none of the excitement she had expected from a new disciple joining the sect, no confusion about the future, no curiosity about the cultivation world—only furious curses about Deer Antlers, and a bunch of mystical scribbles that clearly shouldn’t have been sent by a Qi Refining disciple.
She glanced again at the dense, illogical characters and felt a sudden itch at this late hour. Hesitantly, she sent a message.
“Late at night, I saw a really strange message. Does any senior know what these words mean?”
She posted this in the communication zone, then sent mental messages with her disciple token to several familiar seniors and friends, asking them to help decipher the meaning.
The message was driving her crazy in the middle of the night.
She had just wanted to share her doubts and feelings, but it unexpectedly stirred up a huge commotion.
First, a close senior sister went to check the Kongyu for that Qi Refining message and screamed.
“This was sent by a Qi Refining disciple? Impossible! How could this be? Could someone else have used this disciple’s token to send it?”
Qiu Huayue was puzzled:
“What are you talking about? Our disciple tokens are restricted and bound to our souls; they can only be used by their owners. How could anyone else borrow them to send messages?”
“Even if a demonic cultivator somehow infiltrated and replaced a new disciple with secret arts, they wouldn’t expose themselves by sending such nonsense.”
“You’re right, it’s indeed impossible for token substitution, but… this still shouldn’t have come from a Qi Refining disciple.”
Her senior’s voice grew serious: “Huayue, do you know what that messy scribble actually represents?”
More confused, Qiu Huayue asked: “What does it mean?”
The senior: “Those are the inscriptions carved on the nine Peak Pillars at Cloudview Platform!”
Qiu Huayue’s pupils contracted sharply: “The founder’s inscriptions?! No way!”
Those inscriptions were so profound even a Foundation Establishment cultivator dared not examine them closely. How could a newly admitted Qi Refining disciple see them, much less send them to the Kongyu?!
“See? You think it’s impossible too, right?”
The senior muttered: “This is too strange. I need to go back to the Kongyu and take a closer look.”
Qiu Huayue froze for a moment, then hurriedly connected to the sect’s Kongyu again with her spiritual sense.
Meanwhile, everyone who saw those two messages in the Kongyu blew up. They shouted in the comments that it was absolutely impossible for a Qi Refining disciple to pull this off.
So a group of night owls who neither cultivated nor slept debated the issue for a long time. One theory was proposed and then quickly discarded.
Many, like Qiu Huayue, spread the message further, while others recruited friends to support their theories, trying to convince others.
As more joined the fray, the communication zone became packed with sharing and arguing, noisy and unruly, no one convincing anyone.
The unusual activity in the Kongyu caught the attention of a duty disciple from the Disciplinary Hall. He browsed most of the messages, frowning deeper and deeper, until his gaze stopped on a mocking reply.
‘Impossible, impossible, so what else could it be? Haunted Kongyu? Or the founder’s spirit manifesting?’
This duty disciple had special authority and could use the disciple token to access some of the disciples’ information.
As his mind shifted, the profile of the disciple who sent the message titled ‘Yun Miao’ flooded his mind.
Yun Miao, Qi Refining Seventh Layer, zero points, disciple token bound just this afternoon at the Hour of Wei, current message is…?
A newly admitted Qi Refining disciple, sending this kind of message as her first in the Kongyu…
The duty disciple abruptly stood, feeling chills down his spine and goosebumps on his arms. He hurriedly reported the matter through the disciple token.
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“Brother Ding, something bad happened, the founder is haunting us, the Kongyu is manifesting! Ptooey, ptooey, it’s the founder manifesting! The Kongyu is haunted!”
The sect’s emergency notification sounded directly without disciples needing to receive it.
Ding Sang Sang was originally sitting cross-legged on his mat pretending to cultivate but was actually sound asleep.
The terrified scream from the token exploded in his ear, startling him so badly he jumped up.
Bang!
His head was fine, but the poor roof suffered a hole, letting a beam of moonlight shine on him.
Ding Sang Sang confusedly brushed the debris from his head. Was he half-asleep? Or just too tired? He even hallucinated something this ridiculous.
Yawning, he lazily began chatting with his junior brother in a typical listless, dispirited tone.
“Message? Inscriptions? I see, so the founder has finally manifested! Great, I’ve been having insomnia lately.”
“I’ll head to Cloudview Platform to burn incense and pray to the founder for a good sleep, preferably a long dreamless one…”
“No, on second thought, I don’t feel like moving. How about you run this errand for me, junior brother? Remember to bring thick incense, kneel longer, and speak sweetly. That way, it’ll look sincere.”
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“Huh? You want to report me to the founder? Hey, we’re brothers. No need to turn on each other. Fine, fine, I won’t ask you to pray anymore. It’s so late; I should sleep. You do the same.”
Ding Sang Sang yawned again, ignoring the junior brother’s angry shouts.
“It’s fine, that little junior sister was just newly accepted by the Sect Master, probably living on the main peak.”
“I’ll notify the senior brother. He’s the gentlest and kindest gentleman in the whole sect. He’ll surely take responsibility.”
“Anyway, it’s probably just some bored disciples messing around, sending random messages. Compared to the money tree incident in the Disciplinary Hall, this is nothing…”
“Huh? Not his responsibility? Mine? Whatever, as a junior brother, I should let senior brother handle the good stuff. No need to thank me.”
“Deduct the monthly allowance? Deduct it, then. The next ten years of monthly allowances are already deducted anyway. Just some trivial things, let them drift away with the wind.”
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