The silence of the Crimson Cloud Valley was absolute, broken only by the gentle rustle of the blood-red leaves. Wei stood motionless, the jade slip containing the Blackwood Sect's apocalyptic plan held loosely in his hand. His blood did not run cold with fear for his sect, nor did it boil with righteous fury. Instead, a profound, chilling calm settled over him. The intricate, coded message detailing the "final purification" was not a threat in his eyes; it was a symphony of chaos waiting for a conductor. And he was the perfect candidate for the role.
He sat down, right there in the heart of his enemy's territory, and began to dissect the plan with the meticulous precision of a master poisoner analyzing a complex compound. "Seeding the clouds" was a clear reference to an atmospheric poison. "Crimson rain" was the delivery method, a specially designed toxin that would be dispersed via an artificially induced rainfall over the sect's main plaza. The timing—the day of the Grand Competition finals—was diabolical. It was the one day when nearly the entire sect, from the youngest outer disciple to the highest elders, would be gathered in one place, their attention focused on the arena. It was a plan designed for maximum slaughter, aimed at decapitating the sect by eliminating its future generation and a significant portion of its leadership in a single, devastating blow.
The jade slip contained more than just the concept; Elder Gu, as the overseer, had detailed notes. The poison to be used was a Blackwood Sect specialty known as 'Crimson Soulfall'. It was a vicious concoction that didn't just kill the body but attacked the spiritual sea, causing a cultivator's soul to rapidly decay. More importantly, the slip detailed the location of the deployment team: a hidden outpost in the Sky-Rupture Peaks, a jagged mountain range that bordered both sects' territories, the perfect place to influence the weather patterns over the Verdant Serpent Sect. A team of elite disciples, led by another Nascent Soul elder, was already there, preparing the catalysts and waiting for the final signal.
Wei's mind, a grand chessboard of schemes and possibilities, began to move. His first instinct, the one a normal, loyal elder would have, was to rush back to the sect and present this evidence to the First Elder. This would trigger a full-scale war, mobilizing the sect's entire strength to crush the Blackwood Sect. It would be bloody, costly, and would place him directly in the spotlight, forcing him to explain exactly how a reclusive poison elder on a "reconnaissance" mission managed to kill a high-ranking enemy elder and uncover their most secret plot. It was an unacceptable risk. Scrutiny was his enemy.
His second thought was far more appealing. He could simply let the attack happen. His own immunity would protect him, and the 'Soul-Nourishing Chant' gave him a powerful defense against the poison's primary effects. The ensuing chaos would be a magnificent smokescreen for his own activities. But the death of so many was inefficient. A sect full of corpses was a wasted resource.
This led him to the third option, the one that made a slow, cold smile grace his lips. He would not stop the plan. He would hijack it.
He saw the entire sequence of events laid out before him. The Blackwood Sect would launch their poison. He would be there, waiting. The 'Crimson Soulfall' rain, a cataclysm meant to destroy his sect, would instead become a grand feast for his Venomous Conversion ability. An entire sky's worth of a potent, soul-attacking poison, refined and concentrated—the sheer amount of spiritual energy he could absorb from it was unimaginable. It could be enough to shatter his bottleneck, to push him from the peak of the Spirit King realm into the hallowed grounds of a Spirit Emperor.
But that was only the beginning. While he was absorbing the poison, he could protect the sect. Not out of loyalty, but because a living sect was a useful shield and a source of resources. He would need an antidote, one that could also be dispersed through the air, a counter-agent to the crimson rain. And while the Blackwood Sect was celebrating what they believed to be their ultimate victory, he would deliver his own brand of justice.
With his course of action decided, he turned his focus to the system store. He now had a staggering 18,460 Sovereign Points. He bypassed the weapons and the individual poison recipes. He needed something grander in scale. He navigated to the 'Legendary' section, his eyes scanning for a solution. He found it under the 'Formations' category, a place he rarely looked. It cost 15,000 points.
[Atmospheric Purification Array: 'Heaven's Tears']
The description was elegant in its simplicity. It was not a defensive shield, but a conversion array. When activated, it would absorb any airborne substance—poison, spiritual energy, dust—within a fifty-mile radius and convert it into a pure, harmless, life-nourishing rain. It had a secondary function as well: it could be pre-loaded with a liquid of the user's choice, which it would then perfectly atomize and disperse within the cleansing rain.
It was the perfect tool. He could let the crimson rain begin to fall, allowing him to absorb its initial wave, and then activate the array. The array would cleanse the sky, protecting the sect, while simultaneously delivering a payload of his own design.
"System, purchase the 'Heaven's Tears' Atmospheric Purification Array," he commanded.
[Deducting 15,000 Sovereign Points. 'Heaven's Tears' Atmospheric Purification Array acquired.]
A complex stream of information, detailing the array's setup, power requirements, and activation methods, flooded his mind. A small, intricate disk made of a crystalline, sky-blue material materialized in his hand. This was the array's core. To power it, he would need to place it at the center of a massive spirit stone formation.
Now he needed something to put in it. He needed his own "rain." He browsed the 'Rare' poison recipes, looking for something specific. He didn't want a lethal poison. Killing the Blackwood Sect's disciples from afar was not his goal. He wanted to capture them. He wanted to interrogate their leaders and bleed their organization dry of all its secrets and resources. He found what he was looking for, a recipe costing 1,500 points.
[Poison Recipe: 'Golden Slumber']
It was a fast-acting neurotoxin that, when inhaled or absorbed through the skin, did not cause death. Instead, it induced a state of deep, unbreakable paralysis, freezing a cultivator's body and sealing their spiritual sea for a period of three days. It was the perfect capture tool.
[Deducting 1,500 Sovereign Points. Recipe for 'Golden Slumber' acquired.]
Wei now had his plan and his tools. All that remained was the execution. He stood up, his gaze turning towards the Sky-Rupture Peaks. The Blackwood Sect's deployment team was his first target. He needed to eliminate their leadership, take control of their weather-manipulation artifact, and replace their 'Crimson Soulfall' with his 'Golden Slumber'.
He began the journey, no longer moving with the slow caution of a scout, but with the swift, deadly purpose of an executioner. He flew on his bee-cloud, a silent, dark patch against the starry sky, crossing the vast distance in a single night.
The Sky-Rupture Peaks were a series of jagged, inhospitable mountains. The outpost was located on the highest peak, a place constantly battered by high winds. It was a miserable place, but it offered the perfect vantage point to manipulate the heavens. As he approached, his spiritual sense detected a powerful formation array concealing the entire peak, masking it from outside observation. It was a formidable defense, but it was designed to stop an army, not a single, determined ghost.
Wei found a flaw in the array's energy flow, a minute fluctuation that occurred every fifteen minutes as the array recalibrated. He waited for that moment, and with a flicker of movement, he slipped through the barrier, as silent as the wind itself.
Inside, the peak had been hollowed out. About thirty Blackwood Sect disciples were moving about, tending to a series of large, bubbling cauldrons filled with a viscous, blood-red liquid—the Crimson Soulfall. At the center of the cavern, a Nascent Soul elder, a stern-looking woman with a cruel slash of a mouth, was overseeing a group of disciples who were making adjustments to a large, pulsating orb of black crystal. This was the weather-control artifact.
Wei did not attack immediately. He observed from the shadows, analyzing their command structure, their patrol routes, their very breathing patterns. He saw the elder dismiss the disciples for their evening meal, leaving only herself and two trusted Core Formation guards to watch over the artifact. This was his chance.
He used his Thousand Phantom Threads, not to attack, but to create a diversion. He sent them to the far side of the cavern, where they knocked over a rack of empty vials, creating a loud crash.
"Who's there?" the elder shouted, her and her guards' attention instantly snapping to the sound.
In that single moment of distraction, Wei moved. He was not a blur of motion; he simply ceased to be in one place and appeared in another. He was behind the two Core Formation guards, a Venom-Quenched Soul Needle in each hand. The needles, coated in a fast-acting paralytic poison, pierced the base of their skulls. They froze, their eyes wide with shock, before collapsing to the ground, alive but completely immobilized.
The elder spun around, her spiritual energy exploding outwards, but Wei was already upon her. He did not engage in a battle of techniques. He met her panicked wave of dark energy with his own, far more powerful Spirit King domain. A wave of oppressive, toxic power slammed into her, snuffing out her attack like a candle in a hurricane. Her eyes widened in utter disbelief. An enemy Spirit King was here? How?
Before she could even scream, Wei's hand was on her throat. "You will tell me the activation sequence for the artifact," he said, his voice a cold whisper. "And you will give me the final catalyst for the poison. Do so, and your death will be painless."
The elder's eyes blazed with defiance. Wei sighed. He had hoped for efficiency. He tightened his grip, and a strand of his own unique, soul-fraying poison flowed from his palm directly into her system. Her defiance melted into pure, unadulterated terror as she felt her very soul begin to unravel.
Minutes later, Wei had the information he needed. He also had the elder's storage ring and the final, crucial catalyst. As promised, her death was swift.
[Target confirmed deceased. Cause of death attributed to Host's poison.]
[Calculating Rewards...]
[Target Cultivation: Nascent Soul Realm, Stage 8.]
[Host has received: 7,000 Sovereign Points.]
Wei now stood as the sole master of the Blackwood Sect's secret weapon. He had the artifact, the location, and a cavern full of unsuspecting disciples who were about to become his unwitting assistants in the greatest act of sabotage the region had ever seen. He began the process of brewing a massive batch of Golden Slumber, his new cauldron humming with delight. The symphony of chaos was about to begin, and the first notes were his to command.