A single drop of water echoed in the vast underground chamber, landing on the ancient runes etched into the floor. Class D stood in a half-circle, sweat glistening on their brows, their breathing heavy after hours of relentless training.
Han Li walked among them in silence, hands behind his back. His gaze was sharp—calculating.
"Your enemies are not the elite students," he finally said. "They're only the swords. The ones holding the hilts… sit in the Elder Council."
"Then why don't we cut off the hands?" Lian Xue asked coldly.
Han Li turned to her. "Because those hands hold power far beyond what you've seen."
He pressed his palm against a hidden wall rune, and the stone shifted, revealing a sealed vault. Inside were scrolls, artifacts, and three floating soul cores glowing faintly.
"These," Han Li said, pointing to the cores, "belonged to traitors. Elders who once plotted with forces outside this continent."
Bai Zhen stepped forward. "What is this place, truly?"
Han Li looked over his shoulder. "The Vault of Forgotten Sins. Even the Headmaster thinks it's collapsed. Only I hold the key."
As the students absorbed this, a subtle tremor passed through the chamber. A chill swept in.
"It's starting," Han Li muttered.
Aboveground, the Academy was unaware. But deep beneath the main tower, a group of masked figures convened in a hidden catacomb.
"The boy's getting too close," one said.
"Han Li must not find the sealed Gate," another whispered.
"But if he already has?"
Silence.
Then: "Then we awaken the First Blade."
And far to the north, inside a mountain sealed for millennia, something ancient stirred… and smiled.