Chapter 16: The Whisper Beneath the Lotus (Part 1)
A strange stillness lingered over the Lotus Hall.
The elders had dispersed. The disciples had returned to training, though with a wary tension in their eyes. Whispers of Luo Qingshen's display had not faded — if anything, they had only grown louder, cloaked in both admiration and fear.
He stood alone beneath the ancient lotus tree behind the temple. Petals drifted down like ash, catching the dying light. In his hand was the scroll he had silently rewritten from memory — a forbidden Void Technique that should not exist in this era.
"They'll come soon."
His gaze sharpened as he sensed the presence. She didn't try to hide herself.
The silver-haired girl — the one who had watched his duel, the one who had spoken his name with strange familiarity — stepped forward.
Still no name. Still no explanation.
But her eyes, moonlit and restless, met his without hesitation.
"You should be more careful," she said. "Some techniques aren't meant to be seen. Even if you win… the wrong eyes are watching."
He didn't respond. Not yet.
She stepped closer, lips drawn into a faint line. "They'll mark you now. Not just the sect. The Divine Clans. The Silent Pavilion. Maybe even something worse."
Luo Qingshen looked down at the scroll, then folded it away into his sleeve. "Let them."
She almost smiled — not because it was funny, but because it was foolish. Or brave.
"I don't understand you," she said quietly. "You hide your cultivation. You use techniques not even the Elders recognize. And yet… you act like none of it matters."
"It doesn't."
"That's a lie."
He turned to her fully, expression unreadable.
"Why do you care?"
For a moment, she seemed caught off-guard.
"I don't," she said — too quickly. "But… if you get erased, it'll be a waste."
Her voice softened. "I don't like wastes."
Before he could reply, a thin ripple passed through the air. Not Qi — something colder.
Both of them looked toward the outer sky.
A dark-robed figure stood at the sect gates. Their presence wasn't powerful in a conventional sense — no waves of Qi, no divine pressure. But even the winds stopped moving.
"An envoy," she murmured. "From the Azure Void Clan. They came fast."
Luo Qingshen's eyes narrowed. "Too fast."
The figure didn't enter. They simply… watched. Then turned, vanishing into shadow as quickly as they came.
"Why are they watching you?" she asked again, voice quieter now. "Just who are you, Luo Qingshen?"
He didn't answer.
Chapter 16: The Whisper Beneath the Lotus (Part 2)
The sun dipped below the horizon, casting the sect in a mantle of twilight. Luo Qingshen left the grove and returned to his quarters — though "quarters" was a generous term for the dilapidated wooden room at the far end of the disciple's compound. He preferred it that way. Distance was safety.
But this time, someone was already inside.
The silver-haired girl sat cross-legged on the floor, flipping through a worn book. Her presence was as quiet as it was unsettling — she didn't belong, yet she fit too perfectly into the shadows.
"I didn't invite you," he said.
She didn't look up. "I know."
"Then why are you here?"
She closed the book gently. "To warn you. And to ask for something."
He remained silent, but the air tightened slightly.
"There's a phrase that showed up in the Void Codex," she continued. "Something only someone like you could know."
Her gaze turned sharp. "It mentioned the Thirteenth Seal."
At that, Luo Qingshen froze.
There were no records of the Thirteenth Seal — because it had never been opened. Not by gods. Not by demons. Not even by the Void Sovereigns of the past cycle.
"You're not a normal girl," he said quietly.
She smiled, though it didn't reach her eyes. "Neither are you, Luo Qingshen. But we're not enemies. Not yet."
He stepped closer, voice calm but ice-laced. "Then stop speaking in riddles."
She met his gaze. "You're being watched. Not just by sects or clans. Something from beyond the system... from before even divine cultivation was born."
That phrase again — beyond the system.
"What do you want?" he asked.
"I want to survive," she said. "And I think you do too."
She rose to her feet and stepped past him.
"The Lotus Hall has already marked you. The Azure Void Clan knows your name. And the Crimson Tribunal is beginning to stir."
Just before she exited through the broken doorframe, she paused.
"If you ever want answers, find me in the Mirror Depths before the new moon."
And then she was gone.
Luo Qingshen stared at the fading traces of her presence. The Mirror Depths… A forbidden zone beneath the sect grounds, sealed since the last Divine War.
His fingers curled slightly.
"The Thirteenth Seal… Why now?"
Outside, storm clouds gathered in the distance.
And for the first time in years, Luo Qingshen felt it — the faint pressure of destiny shifting against his will.