The moon hung low over the city, a blood-red crescent casting its pallid light across rooftops and spires. Li Wei moved like a whisper through the silent streets, his robes pressed close to his body, feet finding paths where shadows were deepest.

Most of the city was alive with commerce by day, now appeared to be holding its breath at night, its heartbeat faint and irregular. Tonight, every lanterned alley was a potential threat, every watchful window a sentinel.

He approached the Jade Pavilion from a side street few dared traverse. The courtyard beyond the gates was guarded, but Li Wei had observed their rotations, noting that at this hour the patrols followed a rigid rhythm. Their approach was methodical but predictable.

One guard lingered near the fountain, checking his reflection, while two more leaned on their staves by the main entrance. Their spirits were largely strong and disciplined, though they were not adept in batteground perception.

A few steps later and a simple incatntation using qi manipulation enabled Li Wei to become a shadow within the shadows.

The stone serpent loomed ahead, its coiled form engraved with runes faintly glimmering under the moonlight. Li Wei crouched, scanning for traps. Talismans of detection, pressure plates, subtle spiritual wards.

They each could be fatal if triggered, each of them was a statement of Huo's articulate cruelty. He carefully traced the residual qi he had noted earlier, moving slowly, letting his fingers brush the serpent's surface, feeling for differences in texture, temperature, and resonance.

It did not take long for a soft hum to resonate beneath his touch, a faint vibration that spoke of an active binding. Li Wei drew a thin talisman from his robes, inscribing it with symbols that would dissipate the binding long enough to allow him entry. He held it against the serpent's base, chanting softly in a voice barely above breath.

The glow of the runes flickered, dimmed, and then stabilized, no longer resistant but watchful. Then a low hiss soon followed, almost imperceptible, and a section of the serpent's belly shifted inward, revealing a narrow passage descending into darkness.

Li Wei paused for a heartbeat, feeling the aura of the vault beyond. The ledger waited, but so did danger.

He slipped inside. The air was cool, smelling faintly of ink, incense, and iron. The passage was narrow, forcing him to crouch, and the walls were lined with talismans that pulsed faintly with defensive magic.

One loud noise could alert Huo's enforcers, but Li Wei's qi flowed carefully, dissolving the wards just long enough for his passage. At the base of the descent, the corridor opened into a dim chamber. The ledger sat atop a stone pedestal, illuminated by a single shaft of moonlight from a cleverly concealed skylight above.

The inscriptions along its cover shimmered with traces of binding, a subtle warning that it was protected not just by locks but by spiritual wards designed to corrode the soul of any intruder.

Li Wei crouched beside it, sensing the layers of protection. There were three distinct layers of talismanic wards: one to deter thieves, one to punish those who touched without consent, and one to obscure the ledger's spiritual resonance from distant detection.

He had to proceed carefully, neutralizing each in sequence. His hands moved with precision, folding, tracing, and invoking, until the aura shifted and the ledger could be lifted safely.

The sound of footsteps made him freeze. Through a narrow slit of shadow, two enforcers approached, their staves clacking softly against the stone floor. Their qi was formidable, resilient, but not fully refined.

They mostly relied on brute strength and Martial presence rather than actual Martial. Li Wei melted into a shadowed corner, letting them pass. The hallway beyond the vault was narrow; a single confrontation here could be deadly.

One enforcer stopped, tilting his head, sensing that something was amiss. His gaze swept the chamber with practiced suspicion. Li Wei's hand rested lightly on a concealed dagger, but he did not strike yet.

Instead, he manipulated a subtle current of qi to create a faint vibration along the floor, like the scuttling of rats. "What in the…" The enforcer's eyes narrowed, following the illusion, then shook his head, dismissing it.

When they passed, Li Wei retrieved the ledger, cradling it as one would a living being, careful not to disturb the residual bindings further. The room seemed to exhale, as if relieved that the ledger's theft would go unnoticed for the moment.

He retraced his path upward, every step measured, every sense alert. The courtyard outside the serpent was empty, but the main gates loomed ahead, and with them, Steward Huo's shadowed domain. One miscalculation now could cost him everything.

As he approached the perimeter wall, a voice cut the night "You move well… like a ghost during an eclipse." Two figures emerged from the shadows. Huo's enforcers, more skilled than those patrolling earlier, their spiritual auras like twin storms contained within mortal shells.

Li Wei tensed, War rod in hand, but he did not attack. Instead, he allowed his presence to remain steadfast, letting the enforcers misread his hesitation as a desperate strategy.

"Why do you linger in our halls?" one demanded, voice low as his qi presence soared.

"Merely… observing the inner workings of this place," Li Wei replied evenly, stepping slightly into the light, letting the faintest ripple of qi brush them.

It was a subtle warning that he was not entirely mortal. The enforcers stiffened, sensing power that did not match the figure before them. A slow smile crossed Li Wei's face, almost imperceptible. "I was looking for a ledger beneath this stone serpent… a fascinating piece. You must have labored tirelessly to erect here."

Their eyes narrowed. One moved forward, halberd raised. The other circled to flank the young master. Li Wei did not waste time thinking. He drew a short breath, his qi condensing, ready to strike at an opportune moment.

While he waited for the perfect moment, the illusion of vulnerability caused the nearby opponent to launch an attack first. A clash between the two forces was inevitable, but so was his advantage. In this encounter, his temperament was as sharp as steel, the deception he wielded was as lethal as the divine pole in his hand.

The ledger was safe for now, but the Huo's enforcers had learned far too late, that one misstep in the shadows of the Jade Pavilion could unravel all the work the covert operations they had confounded

Li Wei melted into the night, moving away from the courtyard with the ledger secured, the pulse of the city both ally and witness. The first tangible breach into the Oolong Group's power had been made, and the scales of reckoning had begun to tilt.

"Now…. Where to next?" The young man was in his element and moved into the darkness with an unmistakable swagger.