I didn't have to wait long to execute my plan. The next day, during the morning nutrition distribution, I deliberately dropped my bowl right next to Jiao. The purple liquid spilled, pooling on the dirty stone floor.
"Sorry," I said, loud enough for a few other Chosen Disciples to hear. I knelt to clean it up, and in a seemingly clumsy movement, I whispered just for Jiao: "Tonight. The Forgotten Spring. Sector 3. There's something I need to retrieve there."
Jiao froze for a moment, then his eyes narrowed. He didn't answer, just stared at me with a sharp gaze before turning away. But I knew he heard. And more importantly, I knew his greed—he would follow me, hoping to find a secret or a weakness to exploit.
'Are you sure about this?' asked a cautious voice from a strategist within me.
'No,' I answered honestly. 'But we need to know if Shen's message is real or a trap. And if Jiao follows me, at least his threat is out in the open, not behind my back.'
Throughout the day, the training continued with increasing brutality. We were forced to fight one-on-one within a circle formation that amplified spiritual attacks. The goal was clear: to force our Seeds to evolve through direct conflict. Two Chosen Disciples didn't survive—their empty bodies were dragged away after their Seeds, in desperation, starved and consumed their own hosts.
When it was my turn to fight a thin woman whose eyes had lost all human light, I didn't use my full strength. I won, but with calculated difficulty—enough to not be suspicious, but not impressive. The Instructor noted it neutrally, while Jiao, watching from the sidelines, grinned thinly.
'He thinks you're weakening,' Liang Jie whispered. 'Good. Let him be overconfident.'
---
Midnight arrived with an eerie silence. The night watch had passed, the sounds of other slaves' snores filled the dark cells. I slipped out through the same gap, moving with steps learned from dozens of thieves and assassins in my archive.
Sector 3 was as quiet as ever. The Forgotten Spring looked darker tonight, its almost-black water seeming to move slowly though there was no wind. The lighting crystals were out, leaving only the faint glow of bioluminescent moss on the walls.
I stood at the edge of the pool, my "Seed" spinning warily. My developed spiritual senses felt something—another presence, hiding in the shadows.
"Come out," I said in a low voice. "I know you're there."
Jiao stepped out from behind a rusted pipe, his body tensed and ready to attack. "So, the great Stone-Eater has a secret," he said, his voice full of mockery. "A dark meeting place. With whom? A corrupt Overseer? Or perhaps... a fellow traitor?"
"None of your business," I retorted, turning my body to face him fully. "Why did you follow?"
"Because I know you're dangerous," Jiao answered, stepping closer. A red light began to pulse in his chest—a sign his Seed was active. "Overseer Yan might be fascinated by you, but I see the truth. You're too clever. Too calm. You're not some lucky ordinary slave. You're... planning something."
'He's more intelligent than I thought,' a voice murmured within me.
"And you think killing me here will make you safe?" I asked, letting a bit of dark energy seep from my body—a warning. "Yan will know."
"Yan will think you tried to escape and died along the way," Jiao retorted, grinning. "Many have 'disappeared' in the darkness of these mines." He took a fighting stance. "And by absorbing your evolved Seed, I will become the strongest. I will become the perfect 'prime bait' for his project."
So that was it. It wasn't just hatred—it was cold calculation. He wanted my position.
Before I could respond, the attack came.
Jiao lunged forward with surprising speed, his hand coated in glowing red energy striking towards my chest. It wasn't meant to disable, but to kill me. I dodged, but he anticipated, his leg sweeping low, tripping me.
'He's trained!' Liang Jie exclaimed. 'Not your ordinary failed cultivator!'
I rolled, avoiding a second punch that hit the stone floor, instantly cracking it like a spiderweb. His Seed gave him terrifying physical strength. But I had something he didn't.
My "Seed" stretched its awareness, and thousands of voices instantly analyzed his attack patterns. In a flash, I saw the weakness in his left ankle, the way he slightly inhaled before a heavy attack, the predictable rhythm in his combinations.
I didn't fight strength with strength. I fought with knowledge.
When he attacked again, I didn't retreat. I stepped inside, past the reach of his punch, and with surgical precision, I touched a spiritual point on his left ankle—a technique I'd learned from a healer cultivator I had absorbed.
Jiao stumbled, his balance disrupted. But he didn't fall. Instead, he spun around with wild fury, his red eyes blazing. "Dirty trick!" he roared.
"Not a trick," I answered, panting. "Knowledge."
He attacked again, this time more brutal, more desperate. We fought at the edge of the Forgotten Spring, our shadows dancing on the dark water's surface. Every one of Jiao's attacks was full of raw power, while my every move was guided by hundreds of stored combat experiences.
But I was starting to tire. This slave's body, though strengthened by the Seed, was not as strong as a true cultivator's. Jiao, with his killer Seed, seemed tireless.
'We have to end this!' Liang Jie urged. 'Absorb him!'
'No!' another voice argued. 'That's what he wants! He's deliberately provoking us to use our full power!'
And I realized it—this was also a trap from Jiao. He wanted to see the true capabilities of my "Seed," to measure his threat. Or worse... he wanted to provoke me into killing, so any Instructors possibly watching from afar would see me as a cold-blooded killer.
I had to change the game.
In a sudden move, I stopped defending and jumped backward—not away from Jiao, but towards the edge of the Forgotten Spring. Without hesitation, I jumped into the black water.
The cold was bone-chilling. This wasn't ordinary water—it was saturated with stagnant spiritual energy and the residual emotions of souls who had suffered nearby. But my "Seed," which had learned to digest filth and poison, reacted immediately. It filtered the energy around me, creating a small protective bubble.
Jiao stood at the edge, confused. "Coward!" he yelled. "Come out and face me!"
But I didn't come out. I sank deeper, letting the darkness of the water swallow me. And in that darkness, I felt something—a resonance. A familiar consciousness.
Shen, I whispered in my mind.
A weak voice answered, as if from a great distance: '...Below... the third stone... hidden...'
I dove deeper, searching with my hands in the muddy pool bottom. My fingers touched something—a small metal box, buried under the third stone from the center of the pool. I grabbed it and quickly swam back to the surface.
As I surfaced, Jiao was no longer alone.
Three Dark Instructors stood at the edge of the Forgotten Spring, their silver masks glinting in the crystal light that had suddenly turned on. And in the middle of them stood Overseer Yan, with a thin, cold smile on his face.
"An interesting hunt," Yan said, his voice echoing. "But the game is over, Wa Lang."
I was still in the water, the metal box hidden behind my back. My heart raced. This was a trap—not from Jiao, but from Yan himself. The "Shen" message was bait.
"Get out of the water," Yan ordered. "Now."
The choice was clear: obey and possibly die, or resist and definitely die. But as I stared into Yan's cold eyes, my "Seed" whispered something surprising.
'He's afraid. He's afraid we're becoming too strong to control.'
And there I saw it—a small crack in his mask of confidence. Yan hadn't brought me here to kill me. He had brought me here to test my loyalty. To see if I was still his weapon, or had already become a threat that needed to be destroyed.
I had to play this very carefully.
Slowly, I came out of the water, my body wet and trembling—not just from the cold. "I'm sorry, Master," I said, bowing my head. "I... heard a voice. Something called from within the water. I thought it was part of the training."
Yan observed my face for a long time. "A voice?" he repeated, his tone unreadable.
"Yes, Master. Like... a whisper from my Seed. It was attracted to the energy in this pool."
It wasn't a complete lie. And Yan, who had studied my Seed for so long, might believe it—or at least, couldn't disprove it without evidence.
After a tense silence, Yan nodded. "Interesting. Your Seed does keep evolving in unexpected ways." He turned to Jiao. "And you? Why are you here?"
Jiao, who looked just as shocked by Yan's presence, stammered. "I-I... followed him, Master. I suspected he was planning to escape."
"Suspected," Yan mused. "Or jealous?" His eyes narrowed. "Return to your cells. Tomorrow, we will have a... special evaluation for both of you."
The threat was clear. We were both in trouble.
As I walked back, the metal box hidden tightly under my wet clothes, I realized one thing: this game had surpassed mere survival. It was about who would control the narrative—Yan with his project, or me with the knowledge I was stealing from behind his back.
And inside that box, there might be the answers I had been searching for.
---
END OF CHAPTER 18
Wa Lang retrieves a hidden metal box from the Forgotten Spring, only to find the meeting was a trap set by Yan. While he manages to avoid immediate execution by claiming his Seed was 'attracted' to the energy there, both he and Jiao are now under heightened suspicion. The box, however, contains a secret that could change everything.