Sai closed the door to his cave.
The sound echoed in the silence, and something inside him… relaxed.
There were no more disciples watching. No elders weighing every word. No expectant gazes.
Here, alone, he could simply… exist.
He sat down on his cultivation mat and let out a long sigh.
Tiring.
Maintaining the persona of a "kind and patient master" required constant effort. Every calculated smile. Every measured word. Every gentle gesture.
Not that it was necessarily false.
Sai poured himself some tea with slow, almost lazy movements. Unlike the ritualistic precision he displayed before his disciples, here his gestures were relaxed. Human.
He drank in silence.
Three seeds planted.
Wang Tao.
The most useful of the three. Talented, disciplined, desperate. The perfect combination.
Sai knew exactly what the boy carried — poison, debts, a dark past. He recognized that look. The look of someone who would do anything to be free.
And "anything" includes depending on me.
The first volume of the manual was genuine. Powerful, even. But incomplete.
Wang Tao would advance quickly. He would feel real progress. And when he reached the limit of the first volume…
He would come back asking for the second.
No one resisted the path to immortality. Not once they had already tasted it.
Yan Li.
The most unexpected one.
Sai had not planned to accept an artist. But when he saw her during the test, something caught his attention.
She did not seek power. She sought understanding.
And cultivators who sought understanding… were rare. Valuable.
Her Dao was still forming, malleable. That made her both fragile and promising.
If I shape her correctly…
She could become a Formation Master. Perhaps even something he had not yet considered.
But first, she needed to learn not to drown in her own soul.
Wei Lian.
Sai frowned slightly.
That one… was complicated.
Mortal. No apparent talent. And yet, he had passed the test.
Only later had Sai discovered the reason. A Special Body.
Wei Lian possessed one of the Celestial Bodies: Fragmented Soul Celestial Body.
And it aligned perfectly with the Dao he was pursuing.
The Dao of Identity. More precisely, the Dao of being seen.
Perfectly matching his mortal appearance, not caring about seeming ignorant before his sect brothers if it meant gaining recognition.
Dangerous. Unstable. But if controlled…
He might become the most useful of them all.
Puppeteers were rare. Masters of Identity, even more so.
Let's see how far he can go before he breaks.
Sai closed his eyes.
For a brief moment, he allowed himself to remember.
The peak.
Millennia of cultivation. Centuries of battles. Countless sacrifices.
And when he finally reached the summit… he realized he was alone.
There was no one beside him. No one who truly knew him. No bond that was not utilitarian.
Only power. Emptiness. And silence.
That was when his Dao cracked.
Not from lack of strength. But from lack of meaning.
And so, I chose to begin again.
But this time, I will not stand at the top alone.
I will build something along the way.
Bonds.
Even if controlled. Even if calculated.
At least they will exist.
Sai opened his eyes, his expression empty.
Even if they were only golden chains… they were still bonds.
A knock at the door.
Sai blinked, returning to the present.
In a single smooth motion, his posture changed. His shoulders straightened. His expression softened.
When he stood up, he was no longer the weary immortal.
He was Master Sai.
— Come in — he said, his voice calm and gentle.
The door opened. Lin Yao, the sect leader, entered and bowed respectfully.
— Elder Sai, forgive the interruption. But there is an urgent matter that requires your attention…
Sai smiled.
— Of course, Leader Lin. I am always at the sect's disposal.