Episode 8: Whispers in the Wind

🔹 Sect: Azure Dragon Sky Sect

The courtyard was silent.

Beneath the moonlit branches of the Azure Dragon Sky Sect's inner sanctum, Xiao Kai remained unmoving, wrapped in a gentle slumber that had lasted for two long months. His body lay in the healing pavilion, surrounded by countless rare herbs and formation seals, all in vain.

But within him, something far older than the sect itself pulsed gently—the Star Tears Orb, absorbing the Qi offered to him by the sect masters. Unnoticed. Unfelt. Unseen.

None knew its name. None even sensed its existence.

Only Cheng Xiao, who remained by his side nearly every day, sensed the faint shimmer of pressure around his body—the kind no ordinary disciple should emit.

> "What are you really, Xiao Kai...?" she whispered one night, clutching the same robe he wore during the chaos.

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🔸Why He Sleeps

It wasn't the wounds that placed Xiao Kai in slumber. Not entirely.

The truth was hidden deeper: though he had managed to control the power of a 4-Star Dou Zong, his body had barely adapted to Dou Ling stages. The gap between realms was a canyon—wide and merciless.

To wield such power—even temporarily—meant overexertion on a cosmic level. And though the Star Tears Orb protected him from the internal backlash, it could not save him from the toll on his soul.

He was asleep not from weakness—but from the price of borrowing heaven's fire.

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🔸Shadows Stirring

While Xiao Kai lay still, the sect was anything but.

The Disciplinary Committee, sensing a shift in tides, pounced.

A forged document appeared, accusing Xiao Kai of secretly practicing unapproved and possibly demonic cultivation methods. No evidence. Just twisted testimonies, strange fluctuations, and fear.

Fear of power that no one understood.

> "He should never have survived the Hall of Hundred Flames," one elder said. "No outer court disciple has ever walked out alive… unless he wasn't ordinary."

Some began whispering. Others began watching. And more than a few wanted him gone.

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🔸Enemies Rise

Xiao Kai's rise had broken many egos—and hearts.

Some of the sect's more vain male disciples, especially those who had once tried courting Cheng Xiao, now turned hostile.

> "She's still defending him even while he sleeps like a corpse?" "I bet he's just using some charm technique on her. A fraud."

But no one dared approach too boldly—not with Cheng Xiao's status.

Her father, though absent, was one of the top three elders of the sect. A 7-Star Dou Huang whose reputation alone sent cold sweat down the spines of arrogant disciples.

> "If you dare touch him," she said once, coldly, "you won't make it to the next examination alive."

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🔸The Awakening

The healing pavilion pulsed softly one evening.

And then… it happened.

His fingers twitched.

His brows tightened.

And from his body, a breath was released—one that sent the surrounding Qi into chaos for a split second.

Xiao Kai's eyes opened.

Slowly. Calmly. Like a god returning from an eternal dream.

And the first thing he saw… was Cheng Xiao, sleeping against his arm, exhausted but still holding vigil.

> "...You stayed," he whispered.

> "Always," she murmured back without opening her eyes.

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🔸Immediate Turmoil

But before he could even sit up fully—a sealed scroll arrived from the Upper Court.

A voice rang out from a messenger of the inner sect:

> "Xiao Kai is to be escorted to the Upper Hall immediately—for questioning, a soul search, and examination of his Sea of Consciousness. No resistance permitted."

The timing was no accident.

He had barely returned from the brink of death—and now the inner sect wanted his secrets.

But Xiao Kai did not resist.

He could feel it—suspicion had grown too strong. If he refused, it would mark him.

So he nodded.

But Cheng Xiao did not nod. She exploded.

> "You want to interrogate him now?! He just woke up! Who gave this order?!"

The elders hesitated.

She stepped forward.

> "I'll remind you," her voice was ice, "my father is not in the sect right now. But if this is how you treat someone he respects, I'll personally tell him everything."

Fear passed through the room.

The elders backed off—slightly. But not fully. The arrest still stood.

And so, under the moon's pale glow, Xiao Kai walked quietly to the Upper Court, surrounded by suspicion and silence, his mind already preparing for what they may find… or what he must hide.

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❗Next Episode Preview – Episode 9:

The soul search begins.

Mysterious backlashes emerge.

Elders start seeing flickers of something they cannot comprehend.

Will they uncover the orb?

Or… will the Star Tears awaken again?