"The boy from Willow Creek is a complication," Elder Ming said, his fingers tracing the rim of a porcelain teacup. He didn't look up from the polished redwood table.
Before him, a young woman in the emerald green robes of a senior inner disciple stood with perfect posture. Yun Xiu, the Sect Leader's daughter and a legacy disciple in her own right, showed no reaction. "A prodigy is always a complication, teacher. They disrupt the hierarchy."
"This is more than a disruption," Elder Ming corrected, finally meeting her gaze. His eyes were like chips of ancient ice. "A dragon lineage, dormant for sixteen years, awakens under a blood moon and propels a first-stage cultivator to the sixth in three days? The story is almost too perfect."
"You believe it's fraudulent?"
"No," Ming said slowly. "Administrator Huang's examination was thorough. The mark is real. The meridians are genuinely transformed. That's what worries me. Perfection is often a mask for something deeply flawed. He is an unknown variable, and variables can be… volatile."
Yun Xiu's expression remained placid, a carefully crafted mask of serene competence. "Then we make him a known quantity. We bring him into the fold. A talent like that, guided properly, could be a great asset to our faction. Perhaps even an asset for you, when the time comes to challenge the Grand Elder."
Elder Ming allowed a rare, thin smile. "You are ever the strategist, little Xiu. Very well. The boy, Kai, will be introduced at the evening meal. Feel him out. See if he can be guided. See if he is a tool worth sharpening."
"And if he's not?"
"Then," Elder Ming said, taking a sip of his tea, "we see to it that he breaks."
Kai woke to a body that felt less like flesh and more like a finely tuned weapon. He'd reached the seventh stage of Qi Condensation just before sunset yesterday, the breakthrough so smooth it was almost an afterthought. Power circulated through him constantly now, a quiet river in his veins, refining his body, sharpening his senses. He could hear the faint scratch of a mouse in the wall, smell the dew on the grass outside.
"The evening meal will be your first true test," Azrakoth's voice murmured in his mind, a permanent shadow behind his thoughts. "Meeting your new pack. Remember, these people are not your friends. They are competitors. Obstacles or tools, depending on how you use them."
"I know," Kai thought back, swinging his legs off the bed. His reflection in the small bronze mirror was of someone he half-recognized. Same features, but the eyes were different. Colder. Harder.
"Do you?" the demon purred. "Some will try to befriend you, to leech off your 'dragon lineage.' Others will resent you, seeing a threat to their own advancement. And a few will want to test you—to see if your cultivation is real. You must navigate it all without revealing what you truly are."
"I'll manage," Kai said, the words feeling true. He was no longer the boy who feared the world. He was the boy who analyzed it.
A soft knock came at the door. Kai opened it to find a young woman in inner disciple robes, perhaps a few years older than him. Her features were sharp, intelligent, and her hair was pulled back in a practical bun. Her qi felt strong, stable at the eighth stage.
"Inner Disciple Kai?" she asked, her tone neutral but her eyes intensely curious. "I'm Liu Yan. Administrator Huang asked me to escort you to the dining hall."
"Thank you, Senior Sister Liu," Kai said, using the proper honorific. He recognized her immediately for what she was: the first test. Her posture was confident, her gaze assessing. A potential tool. Or a potential threat.
They walked through the compound, Liu Yan pointing out the training halls, the library, the resource distribution office. Kai absorbed every detail, mapping the sect's heart in his mind.
"Word travels fast," Liu Yan said, her voice casual. Too casual. "From first stage to seventh in a matter of days. Dragon lineage is truly a heavenly gift."
"I'm grateful for the opportunity," Kai replied, offering nothing more.
"Still, it must be overwhelming," she pressed gently. "Such a rapid change. It can make a person… unstable."
"I feel more stable than I ever have," Kai said calmly.
Liu Yan glanced at him, a flicker of something—frustration? respect?—in her eyes. "You'll want to be careful. Talent attracts attention. Not all of it is friendly. Han Bao, for instance."
"The merchant's son," Kai recalled from his father's words.
"He doesn't like competition," Liu Yan warned. "Especially from someone who didn't buy their way in. He and his followers hold the corner table in the dining hall. It's best to avoid them."
"A rival, then," Azrakoth noted with satisfaction. "Perfect. Every story needs a rival. Someone to surpass, to humiliate, to step over on your way to the top."
They arrived at the dining hall, a large room already filled with fifty or sixty disciples. As Kai stepped through the door, a wave of silence washed over the room. Conversations paused. Dozens of eyes turned toward him, filled with curiosity, envy, skepticism, and calculation.
"They're measuring you," Azrakoth whispered. "Deciding where you fit. Show weakness, and they'll exploit it. Show too much strength, and they'll target you. Find the balance."
Kai's gaze swept the room once, calm and unhurried. He saw the corner table Liu Yan had mentioned, where a richly-dressed youth—Han Bao—stared at him with unconcealed disdain. He saw a table of elite-looking disciples watching him with cold analysis. And he saw a table near the center where Liu Yan was now heading.
He followed her, collected a bowl of spiritual rice and beast meat, and sat. The three other disciples at the table nodded greetings.
"This is Inner Disciple Kai," Liu Yan announced. "Wei Chen, Zhou Ling, and Ren Xu."
Wei Chen, a stocky youth, smiled warmly. "Dragon lineage! Incredible!"
But Ren Xu, a ninth-stage disciple with a sour expression, spoke up, his voice loud enough for nearby tables to hear. "I heard you advanced six stages in three days. If you maintain that pace, you'll surpass the Sect Leader in a year. Forgive me if I find that suspicious."
The table fell silent. It was a direct challenge.
Kai took a slow bite of rice, letting the spiritual energy nourish him. He met Ren Xu's gaze without aggression. "I understand your skepticism. If I were in your position, I would feel the same."
He paused, letting the silence hang. "But I'm not asking you to believe me. My cultivation speaks for itself. If I continue to advance, you will see the evidence. If I don't, then your skepticism was justified."
Ren Xu stared at him, seemingly at a loss for how to respond to such calm confidence. He finally gave a short, grudging nod. "Fair enough."
From the corner of his eye, Kai saw Han Bao scowl. From another table, he saw a serene-looking girl—Yun Xiu, he guessed—watching him with a thoughtful, unreadable expression. He had passed the first verbal spar, not by fighting, but by refusing to fight. He had established himself as confident, but not arrogant. Mysterious, but not threatening.
He continued to eat, feeling the weight of a hundred gazes on him. They saw a prodigy. A lucky village boy. A potential ally. A future rival.
The dragon mask was holding.
No one suspected the demon beneath.