“Dead?” I repeated to make sure I hadn’t heard wrong. “How?”

  Lin Mei glanced at Liu Chen, and then back at me, before answering in a soft voice.

  “They found him in the storage courtyards,” she explained. “It was... messy.”

  Wei Lin ushered Liu Chen back to his bed. “Maybe you should go back to sleep,” he said.

  “No,” Liu Chen replied. “I want to know what happened. I’m not a baby.”

  I examined the boy’s face and saw fear, but I also saw a resolute determination in his eyes.

  Whatever his background was, he definitely wasn’t as naive as Wei Lin seemed to think he was.

  “Let him listen,” I said.

  It wasn’t going to be easy trying to hide anything from the boy in this room.

  Lin Mei took a seat beside Wei Lin on his bed.

  She fidgeted with her hands. “From what I heard, the guards found him about an hour ago,” she said softly. “His body was arranged like some kind of ritual. A spiral pattern. Formation marks made with his own blood. And... his cultivation base was drained. Every single bit of spiritual energy had been sucked out of his body.”

  “That’s impossible,” Wei Lin said immediately. “Not even a Stellar Realm cultivator can completely drain someone's cultivation base. Spiritual energy is tied so deep into the inner world—”

  “Unless,” I interrupted, thinking of Wei Ye's artificial channels, “somebody knew exactly how to suck it dry.”

  What I left unsaid was that it was probably the same type of person who could manipulate soul structures and produce artificial beings.

  “Master,” Azure’s voice echoed in my mind. “The timing…”

  “Yes, I know,” I replied mentally. Xiao Feng died almost immediately after I saw what appeared to be a resurrected Li Yuan. That couldn’t possibly be coincidental. Especially since Xiao Feng had killed Li Yuan.

  Was this a form of vengeance?

  But if Li Yuan really did come back to life, then why perform a complex ritual?

  Why not just kill Xiao Feng and be done with it?

  “The guards think it was a demonic cultivator,” Lin Mei said nervously. “Only they would resort to such… ways.”

  “The formation marks,” Wei Lin frowned. “That means that this wasn’t just revenge. A simple murder would have enough for that. Maybe you’re right. Maybe this was … something else.”

  “One of the guards mentioned it looked like a sacrifice,” Lin Mei said softly. “Like his spiritual energy was being offered to something.”

  I felt my blood run ice-cold. “Tell me we aren’t dealing with gods.”

  “Gods?” Liu Chen’s eyes widened.

  “Probably not actual gods,” Wei Lin assured him quickly. “Most likely someone trying to tap into divine laws or higher realm energies. Still bad, but not ‘a deity roaming the way station’ bad.”

  He was right — true divine beings were relatively rare in this era. Some might argue they were only myths. More likely we were dealing with someone who was trying to tap into forces they had little understanding of. Which was… probably worse.

  “What about his guards?” I asked. “The Elemental Realm cultivators. Where were they when this was going on?”

  “That’s the odd part,” Lin Mei said. “They were right there in the courtyard. They swear they sensed nothing: no spiritual fluctuations, no qi disturbance, nothing that indicated their young lord was in danger. Whatever technique the killer used, it completely got through their spiritual senses.”

  There was a pause as we each tried to wrap our heads around what we’d learned.

  “But why target Young Master Xiao?” Liu Chen asked, finally breaking the silence. “Was he… was he bad?”

  I glanced at Wei Lin and Lin Mei.

  We all had seen how carelessly Xiao Feng had ordered Li Yuan’s death.

  “He wasn’t a good person,” I said carefully. “He hurt people because he could. He believed his family’s wealth and power gave him the right to hurt others whenever he wanted to.”

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  “And now he’s dead,” Liu Chen said bluntly. “Because someone stronger hurt him back.”

  “That’s… that’s one way to view it,” I admitted. “Power doesn’t shield you; it makes you a target. Every young master believes he’s the main character of his own story, but there’s always a Son of Heaven out there to prove them wrong.”

  “Son of Heaven?” Lin Mei raised an eyebrow.

  “You know what I mean,” I waved my hand vaguely.

  I’d used the title ‘Son of Heaven’ consciously, knowing it was something Liu Chen would understand. Even in the villages, there were always stories of righteous cultivators achieving immortal status or wicked demons being vanquished by heaven’s chosen.

  “So… Xiao Feng thought he was a Son of Heaven,” Liu Chen said slowly, figuring it out, “but he met a bigger Son of Heaven?”

  Wei Lin coughed, trying to stifle what sounded suspiciously like laughter.

  “That’s… not exactly how I’d phrase it, but I suppose so.”

  “Is…. Is Rocky going to be okay out there?” Liu Chen asked, his voice small.

  “Rocky will be fine,” I reassured him. Though I wasn’t entirely sure either. “He’s in his transformation phase — most people would only see a large rock. And he’s far enough from the Way Station that whoever did this wouldn’t get to him.”

  The boy nodded, though he didn’t seem entirely convinced. I couldn’t blame him. When your first genuine friend was a stone guardian, the thought that someone could suck spiritual energy from a person was frightening.

  The boy leaped to his feet, his practice sword shaking in his grip. “Can we train more? I want to get stronger. I want to be the greatest Son of Heaven so I can protect Rocky so no one will ever dare to hurt him!”

  I could see why the boy wanted to distract himself — physical activity could serve as an outlet for his fear and provide a mental distraction. But I needed to concentrate. I had to try to figure out what was going on.

  “Liu Chen…”, I began, then stopped, watching the boy’s fierce gaze.

  “Pleeease?” he begged insistently. “You said Son of Heavens are the strongest. So that means they can protect people. I want to be like that. I want to be so powerful that no one will ever be able to hurt my friends again!”

  Wei Lin and Lin Mei exchanged worried glances. We all learned the harsh reality the last time we were here — that having power typically draws more problems than solutions, and that being a “Son of Heaven” in this world typically leads to an untimely demise.

  But how do you explain that to a child whose entire existence has narrowed to protecting his stone friend?

  “Later,” I said gently. “I need to meditate first. Clear my head.” At the boy’s crestfallen expression, I added, “Protecting others isn’t simply about being strong, Liu Chen. It is about being intelligent. About knowing when to train and when to wait. Right now, we need to think clearly about what is going on.”

  The boy’s face crumpled, however, he nodded and returned to his bed.

  “Why don’t you show Lin Mei what Ke Yin taught you earlier?” Wei Lin suggested. “She’d love to see what you can do.”

  Lin Mei immediately picked up on what Wei Lin was getting at. “Yes!” she exclaimed. “And maybe I can help with your stance as well. I’m not as skilled with a sword as Ke Yin is, but I know the fundamentals.”

  As Lin Mei helped distract Liu Chen with sword training, I settled into a meditative position on my bed, shutting my eyes.

  Instantly, I was in my inner world.

  “Let’s talk about what we saw earlier,” I said. “You mentioned Li Yuan’s qi signature had been altered, could it be possession?”

  “No,” Azure responded thoughtfully. “If it was a live host possession, we would see a pattern of two spiritual signatures intermingling and competing for control.”

  “What about an empty vessel possession? If Li Yuan’s original soul was already dead?”

  “Then we would see discrepancies between the body’s intrinsic spiritual pathways and the new soul’s energy flow... unless they used techniques as sophisticated as those you experienced.” Azure’s tone shifted slightly upon mentioning my circumstances. “This is different.”

  “How?” I asked.

  “It is difficult to describe,” Azure replied. “Think of it as a painting. The brush strokes created by the original artist are still there, but another artist has gone over them, adding new layers that alter the entire image while preserving the underlying structure.”

  “So, it really was him? His original soul structure or whatever remained the same?”

  “Yes, and no,” Azure’s tone was reflective. “The foundational design was his, but it had been drastically altered. Essentially, someone had taken his spiritual matrix and… reused it. Used it as a foundation to construct something new.”

  “But why?” I frowned. “Why go through all the effort? Why not simply… I don’t know, develop a brand-new spiritual matrix from scratch?”

  “Maybe they can’t,” Azure suggested. “Or maybe existing matrices are simpler to utilize than building completely new ones. Think about cultivation; it’s always easier to follow an established path than to forge an entirely new one.”

  “So, somebody is… what? Collecting the spiritual matrices of deceased cultivators and reusing them in some way?”

  “It would explain both Li Yuan’s apparent resurrection and the ritual draining of Xiao Feng’s cultivation base,” Azure replied. “They might need the spiritual energy to fuel whatever process they are using.”

  “So, we really have to make sure this being doesn’t notice us,” I muttered with a frown. “If Wei Ye recognized the blue sun energy as similar to Life Realm’s energy, then it’ll definitely attract this thing’s attention.”

  The blue sun’s healing properties were beneficial, but not worth the risk of drawing attention to whatever was hunting cultivators. I’d have to make sure I didn’t use it, at least not until I returned to the sect.

  “We should also —” Azure’s voice was interrupted as a wave of spiritual energy washed over my physical body, forcing my spiritual sense out of my inner world.

  My eyes snapped open and I gasped for air.

  I found my friends, Wei Lin and Lin Mei, struggling to stay standing.

  As for Liu Chen, the poor boy was pressed against the far wall, holding the practice sword in front of him as though it would protect him from the unseen threat.

  The pressure bearing down on us was extreme.

  It was like being submerged beneath an endless expanse of water.

  This wasn’t Elemental Realm energy. This was something greater.

  “What…. What is that?” Liu Chen whispered weakly.

  “Someone very powerful,” Wei Lin managed to say, his voice strained and his usual confident demeanor shattered. “Very powerful.”

  The pressure continued to build, spreading through the Way Station like a tsunami.

  I could sense it probing, examining, seeking something, or someone.

  “Don’t move,” I barely forced out the words. “Don’t even think about using spiritual energy.”