The thunder cracked over the Moonlight Sect's main square, shadows of the ancient statues stretching across the cold marble. Shen Li knelt alone in the center, his wrists bound by iron spirit chains that burned with every heartbeat.
Hundreds of disciples gathered in the darkness beyond the pillars. Their faces were masks of contempt, but he could feel the fear beneath their scorn. After all, he had been the Sect Master's most promising disciple—until tonight.
Elder Zhou's voice was as sharp as the blade at Shen Li's throat.
"Shen Li, for the theft of the Moonlight Jade Core and the attempted murder of your fellow disciple Yue Qian, you are hereby banished from the Moonlight Sect. From this moment, your name shall be struck from our records."
A murmur rippled through the crowd. Moonlight Jade Core—gone? But Shen Li had never even seen it outside the treasury. And Yue Qian—he turned his gaze to the raised platform where she stood, her pale face half-hidden behind her veil. Only her eyes showed, luminous as moonstones, watching him with something he couldn't decipher. Fear? Regret? Or did she truly believe he had betrayed them all?
His voice was hoarse from hours of pleading, but he forced the words out anyway.
"I did not steal the core. I did not harm her. Someone—"
"Enough." Elder Zhou struck the ground with his staff. Rings of pale light swept out, silencing every sound in the square. "You were the only one with access to the treasury that night. You were the only one who disappeared for hours. The evidence is irrefutable."
The old man's gaze sharpened.
"Unless you wish to confess and spare yourself further disgrace."
Disgrace? Shen Li felt a slow, cold fury boiling in his chest. He had given everything to this sect: his youth, his sweat, every moment of his waking life. And in a single night, they had turned on him without question.
He looked up at Yue Qian one last time. She didn't look away.
When he spoke, his voice was no longer pleading.
"I will not confess to a crime I did not commit."
"Then you will bear the mark of exile."
Elder Zhou lifted his palm. Spirit light gathered, condensing into a sigil: a twisted crescent moon, the brand of a traitor. As it began to descend toward his forehead, a whisper brushed Shen Li's mind.
His breath caught. What—?
A surge of icy darkness lanced through his veins, colliding with a flood of searing light. His body convulsed as the two forces met, neither consuming the other. The chains binding his wrists glowed crimson and then shattered, shards spinning away in the gale now howling across the square.
Gasps erupted from the disciples. Elder Zhou recoiled, the sigil flickering in his hand.
"Impossible—"
A screen of pale symbols flashed before his vision, visible only to him.
[QUEST: SURVIVE]
Escape Moonlight Sect territory before dawn.
Avoid capture or death.
Optional: Discover the true thief.
REWARD: DUALITY SEED (Power Class: Unknown)
He exhaled, feeling the first thread of purpose weave through the despair. They wanted to destroy him. But the world had just given him a path no one else possessed.
"Seize him!" Elder Zhou shouted.
Three elder disciples surged forward, blades flashing. Shen Li didn't think—he moved.
Light flared in his left hand, cold darkness in his right. His instincts guided him as he thrust both palms forward, the energies swirling into a twisting sphere of silver and black. When it struck the ground, a shockwave exploded outward, hurling the attackers back into the pillars with bone-snapping force.
The square plunged into stunned silence. Shen Li rose, the last remnants of the chains falling at his feet. He met Elder Zhou's gaze unflinchingly.
"You will regret this."
And then he turned and ran.
He didn't look back to see Yue Qian's hand rise toward him, trembling as if she wanted to call out his name. He couldn't afford to. Not when every step might be his last.
The storm broke as he fled into the night—rain sheeting down, lightning splitting the sky above the sect he had once called home.
Tonight, he was no longer Shen Li the promising disciple. He was something else entirely.
The first wielder of the Eternal Duality.