Killing the Lord of Black Point City’s son had left us in a dangerous position, but not because of the Lord himself. Against the resources of my inner world, the wrath of a mere Lord was meaningless. No, the real danger was the Sect Affairs Bureau. If we didn’t handle this situation properly, it could unravel everything we were trying to build.

To try and prevent this, the moment we appeared in our suite, I gathered everyone up and marched us straight to the Bureau. There, Kan proudly presented his bloodied sack to a rather unamused clerk, an older woman whose eyes had seen far too many severed heads to be impressed.

“The Amorphous Blade Sect is not listed as having any active missions,” she said, voice flat. “Where did this come from?”

Kan glanced at me for confirmation, then turned back to address the clerk. “We encountered a flowerpicker in Black Point City and dispatched him as per regulation. We are here to submit his remains as evidence.”

“I see.” The clerk reached beneath her desk, retrieved a truth stone, and set it down between us. “How, exactly, did you determine that this man was a flowerpicker?”

“Well, we were in a place called the Crimson Lantern Pavilion…” Kan began, his tone steady as he laid out each step of the encounter. He explained how Young Master Hei had threatened JiuLi and Meng LuYao, set his guards upon us, and ultimately ‘confessed’ to his actions under truth stone.

After verifying our account point by point, the clerk paused, pen hovering above her record sheet as she asked the one thing I had wanted to keep quiet—for the moment, at least. “Did this man tell you his name?”

“No.” Kan’s reply was immediate and precise. And, since Young Master Hei hadn’t, in fact, told us his name, the truth stone didn’t even flicker.

After a few deliberate strokes of her brush, the clerk lifted a jade seal and stamped it down onto her form with a dull thud. The red mark this left behind shimmered briefly before fading into the parchment. “Your testimony has been logged, and this incident will be classified as the death of a flowerpicker, provisionally. Because it did not occur during an authorized mission, no contribution points will be issued. If further questions arise, someone from the Bureau will contact you.”

Kan cupped his fists and gave a short bow. “Thank you.”

Then, not willing to linger any longer than necessary, we turned and left the Bureau, walking straight to the inn without looking back.

Once back in our suite’s common room, I sat everyone down in a circle and grabbed a stack of blank books.

“That Return was quite a bit shorter than I had intended, but it would probably be best if we got on with our training before the Lord of Black Point figures out who we are.”

A series of uneasy looks passed between my teammates as Meng LuYao folded her hands in her lap, eyes steady but tight at the corners. “Fang, are you sure we should stay here? Even if we followed the rules, the Bureau’s leaders might still side with a Lord over a few nameless Disciples.”

I nodded, acknowledging this fear. “That’s possible. But the Bureau is built on rules and procedure. The mental effects of its cultivation techniques seem designed to enforce obedience to regulation. If they move against us, it’ll be with paperwork and protocol, not open violence. Being a registered First-Class sect gives us a significant amount of leverage in this.”

No one looked entirely convinced by this explanation, but they trusted me enough not to argue. So, setting this topic aside, I picked up one of the blank books and used my copy ability to imprint a new cultivation technique onto its pages. Then, I held this book out to Kan with a faint smile.

“This is a Peak-Profound dual-element technique for guandao and lightning. Take your time and study it properly. We might not get another chance to reset our cultivation bases before the end of the year.”

Kan’s eyes lit up with pure excitement as he gave me a seated bow and accepted the book with both hands. “Yes, Ancestor!”

Shaking my head slightly, I turned to JiuLi and Meng LuYao. “What about you two?”

JiuLi didn’t even need to think. “A wood technique. Trying to refine hemp with guandao qi has been… difficult.”

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Nodding, I picked up another blank book, copied over an appropriate technique, and handed it to her before looking at Meng LuYao.

“Give me the same one,” she said, with a small glance at the book I had given JiuLi. “Eventually, I’d like to cultivate light and dark, but that can wait until we have a proper three-element technique. For now, it would be best for JiuLi and me to work through this together.”

After handing her the requested technique, I turned to YuLong, who had a look of deep concentration on his face.

“I’m not sure, Fang. I have an affinity for earth, but I’ve never felt much of a connection to it. I think I just want to stick with pure weapon cultivation.”

I reached for another book, intending to fill it with a single-element guandao technique, but before I could, YuLong stopped me.

“What about a dual-weapon technique? Maybe one that combines guandao and chain qi? Or what about guandao and shield qi?”

I slowly shook my head, thinking. “No. The Bureau might have techniques like that, but if so, it’s not something they advertise. All the techniques I have just combine a weapon with one of the elements. If my experience with alchemy is anything to go by, combining weapon qi like that should be possible, but you might have to learn how to do so on your own.”

This made YuLong’s eyes light up, mimicking Kan’s. “That sounds like a great idea. For now, though, just give me a pure guandao technique. I can look into mastering the other weapons after we’ve weathered the crisis in front of us.”

Picking up one of the blank books, I copied over the best technique I had available and handed it to YuLong. Then, I looked around at the group.

“I don’t know how long we have before the Lord of Black Point shows up, but we shouldn’t be in any immediate danger. Take your time and do this right. Don’t rush. Doing so will only make us look guilty, and we haven’t done anything wrong. Understood?”

Everyone nodded in unison. “Yes.”

After returning to my room, I flipped through my library, deep in thought.

What did I want to cultivate in this life?

YuLong’s question about dual-weapon techniques was interesting. Maybe I could become a guandao-moon spade cultivator? Possible, but what would be the point? Cultivating pill qi again might be nice, but I wasn’t quite ready to create permanent, toxic meridians. Alternatively, using the System to purchase a technique that combines guandao qi and ‘refining qi’ sounded promising, but if ‘guandao refining qi’ was anything like pill fire qi, it would, again, lock me into using that one technique for the rest of my life.

I needed a technique that was both practical and versatile. Ideally, I would use this life to improve my skills with both refining and the guandao, allowing me to supply my clan and sect with powerful weapons, but I also wanted to improve my formation skills and upgrade the Qi Gathering Formation in my soul.

With this in mind, I focused on my mental library and selected the Peak-Profound Steel Tempest Mantra, a dual-element guandao-metal technique. Then, I pulled out my guandao and got to work.

Over the next five days, I remained within my room, cultivating, only taking short breaks to eat and sleep. Out in the common room, I heard the occasional sounds of one of my teammates leaving to visit the training room, and everyone stopped by to request passage to the Plane of Earthly Wood at least once, but I just swept them into my inner world without even opening my eyes.

With no pills, formations, or spirit fires to assist me, cultivating a weapon-based technique was rather tedious, but I didn’t let this stop me. While I had a modicum of confidence in my understanding of how the Bureau would react to us killing Young Master Hei, I couldn’t be entirely certain that things would play out as I expected, so I needed to be prepared.

The greatest defense I had against powerful cultivators was my even more powerful soul, but every soul technique I knew required qi to activate. So, I stayed in my room and cultivated.

Unfortunately, this short period of seclusion ended sooner than I might have hoped. Not long after I broke through to Martial Disciple 3, a deep, insistent pounding rattled the door to our suite, dragging me out of my meditations. Rising, I stepped out into the common room, where my teammates were already gathering.

I nodded toward YuLong, signaling him to greet our guests, but he didn’t get the chance. Before he could even move, the door burst open, and two Martial Masters dressed in the black and silver uniforms of the Bureau’s enforcers stormed inside. A third man followed after them at a measured pace, his gaze sweeping over us with quiet intensity. I didn’t sense this man use any qi, but something about his gaze told me that he was using a technique, possibly a blessing.

After a long moment of silent study, this third enforcer lifted a hand to point at Kan. “They were all present, but he’s the one who murdered the Lord’s son. Take them into custody.”

Kan looked like he wanted to draw his weapon, but I urgently signaled for him to stand down. I might have been able to use soul attacks to defeat these three men, but for our dreams of starting a sect to survive, we needed to play this by the book.

I stepped forward with deliberate calm. “We will submit to arrest, but I demand a formal Tribunal. I want to know what evidence you have that any of us committed murder.”

Their only response was a single derisive snort and the cold click of shackles locking into place around my wrists.