The courtyard of the Lotus Pavilion was unnaturally quiet, as though the air itself held its breath. Broken petals, blackened and torn, floated in the night breeze. The once-glorious sacred lotus pond had been desecrated—its shimmering blossoms twisted into shadows.
Mo Lianyin stood at the edge, his robes fluttering, eyes reflecting both grief and cold fury. The Seven Forbidden Arts pulsed faintly within him, restless and whispering. He knew this was no ordinary act of destruction—it was a deliberate message.
"You've come far, Mo Lianyin," a voice slithered through the darkness. A man stepped from the shadows, cloaked in silver-black. His face was hidden behind a porcelain mask painted with a single crimson tear.
Lianyin's gaze sharpened. The Phantom of the Broken Sect. He had heard of this assassin—one who left no survivors and no trace, save for shattered lotus petals.
"What do you want?" Lianyin's voice cut like ice.
The masked man tilted his head. "I was sent… to test whether the moon's chosen vessel bleeds like any other mortal."
He moved swiftly, blades flashing like falling stars. Lianyin's body responded instinctively, the first of the Forbidden Arts unfurling in his veins—Silent Shadow Step. He disappeared and reappeared behind the assassin, sword humming.
Steel clashed against steel, sparks scattering over the ruined pond. Each strike shook the ground, echoing through the Pavilion. The assassin fought with merciless precision, yet his aura felt fragmented, as if his power was borrowed rather than his own.
In the midst of their battle, the assassin whispered low, "Do you not wish to know who betrayed you, Mo Lianyin? Who opened the way for your enemies to find this sanctuary?"
Lianyin's sword froze for a heartbeat. The assassin's blade grazed his cheek, drawing a thin line of blood.
"You lie," Lianyin hissed, though his chest tightened.
The masked figure chuckled, his voice chilling. "Doubt is the sharpest blade. Even your heart cannot remain sealed forever."
Before Lianyin could strike again, the assassin dissolved into a whirl of lotus petals, vanishing into the night.
Only silence remained, broken by the rippling of blackened water. Lianyin touched the blood on his cheek, his fingers trembling.
A single thought carved into his mind like fire—
Someone close had betrayed him. Someone he still trusted.
The lotus pond lay dead, but the seed of suspicion had been planted in his heart.
And once planted, it would grow.