NOVPUBThe elder at the head of the table with long white hair trailing past his shoulders, murmured, "You think this is about Fang Chen."
Xiao Mei nodded. "It has to be. Think about it. We were the ones who placed the bounty on him after he absorbed the Dragon Tear Pond. And now everyone present when the decision was made is slowly disappearing."
"But he was only Foundation Establishment Realm," another senior disciple scoffed.
"So maybe he isn't the one doing the killing," Xiao Mei said. "But I have a hunch that it is very much connected to him in one way or another. Either another faction wants him for themselves, or he has powerful allies. Either way, he's the common denominator."
The room fell silent again.
"Then we set a trap," the elder finally spoke. "We use him to lure out whoever is behind this." 𝓃𝓸𝓋𝓹𝓾𝓫.𝒸ℴ𝓶
...
...
Back at their hidden base, Victor and Tarkos stood before the chained and bloodied elder. The man had lost one eye, and scars lined his arms, chest, and face. His robes were torn, stained, and crusted with old blood. His breathing was shallow, but at the very least, he was still alive.
"You're going to help us infiltrate the Emerald Coil Pavilion," Tarkos said coldly.
The elder let out a gurgling sound from his damaged throat that sounded like laughter. "Like this? They think I'm dead. I show up and their first thought will be necromantic manipulation or illusion."
Victor stepped forward while raising his palm. "Which is why I'm here to patch you up."
He spat into his palm. The glowing saliva shimmered with a golden hue.
"What the hell are you doing?" the elder spat.
Victor didn't reply.
Instead, he proceeded to rub the glowing spit over the elder's bruised ribs, shattered shoulder and cuts.
Slowly, the wounds began to close. Bone cracks reset. Burnt tissue reformed. Even the eye regenerated as the elder's body began to heal with miraculous speed.
Yuren, who stood silently in the corner stared in awe. "Truly remarkable..."
Victor glanced back and smirked. "Well, that's a better look than the one you used to give me..."
Yuren stared at Tarkos in disbelief. "Young Master… I think I understand you now."
Tarkos folded his arms in response. "Don't get carried away."
Victor straightened up and stared at the recovering elder. "Get up. You're going to walk through that barrier. You're going to play your part and get us inside."
The elder's restored flesh trembled. He realized now that this was no ordinary opponent.
Victor's eyes narrowed.
"We're not here to bargain. We're here to finish what you started."
The elder who had been completely healed from Victor's spit looked at his palms and arms with an expression teetering between awe and revulsion.
"You... used spit to do this?"
Victor shrugged casually. "Dragon pond of tears... otherwise known as my saliva now but you already knew this."
Tarkos stood beside the elder with his arms folded. "Don't mistake this kindness for mercy."
The elder turned slowly and looked at Tarkos and suddenly felt a cold pulse spread through his dantian. He collapsed to one knee while clutching his abdomen.
"What... what did you do to me?"
Tarkos crouched and lifted the elder's chin with two fingers. "Soul-devouring worm. If you follow instructions, you live. If you try to betray us, it devours your dantian and leaves you as little more than a crippled shell."
The elder's lips quivered as sweat lined his forehead. "I don't even have a token. According to you, they've changed everything. Access to the Pavilion requires unique tokens bound to one's signature."
Victor leaned forward. "Which is why you're going in. You're an elder. They'll unlock the barrier for you, especially after thinking you've been dead for two weeks. All we need is for you to get two tokens made—one for each of us."
"If I try to link the tokens to foreign energy, it could raise suspicion."
Tarkos smirked. "Then make sure you're subtle. Or the worm will do what it was born for."
---
Later that day, Victor and Tarkos followed the elder at a distance, staying concealed along frozen alleyways and atop mist-covered rooftops. Yinfrost City was quieter than usual. Word of the recent attacks had spread, and sect members were on edge.
The elder approached the serpentine barrier that now surrounded the Emerald Coil Pavilion. Immediately, alarm glyphs lit up in the air as loud danger sounds rang out.
Cultivators swarmed the front gate.
"Identify yourself!" one barked with a spear in hand.
The elder raised his hands and revealed his identity.
Gasps.
"Elder Huang?! We thought you were..."
Soon, the barrier was briefly opened and he was welcomed in with cautious celebration.
Inside, several disciples whispered among themselves.
Elder Huang was brought before Elder Shun, one of the Pavilion's senior most authorities.
"You vanished nearly two weeks ago," Shun said. "What happened?"
Elder Huang spun a tale of a misfired transportation array during a secret mission. Of wandering spiritual fog. Of memory lapses and ambushes by rogue beasts. He never mentioned Victor. Never said a word about Tarkos.
Elder Shun nodded slowly, then exhaled. "We're glad you returned. Honestly, we were afraid you'd become another casualty. There have been... incidents."
"Incidents?" Huang echoed with feigned ignorance.
Elder Shun leaned closer. "Senior Disciples Zhao Feng and Xu Jian are dead. Two elders have vanished. Multiple disciples missing. We believe someone is targeting us."
Huang's eyes widened. "Who would dare?"
Shun frowned. "That's the thing. We think it's someone tied to the one we've been targeting since the Dragon Tears pond indecent... Fang Chen."
Just as Huang processed this, Shun added, "But don't worry. We're setting a trap."
He leaned in and whispered the plan causing Elder Huang's eyes to slightly widen.
---
Back outside, Victor and Tarkos had eyes on one of the other senior disciples—the smug, arrogant one with a hooked nose and golden robes. He had wandered out of the Pavilion on his own, flanked only by two juniors.
Victor cracked his knuckles. "Talk about luck. One of our targets, walking right into our lap."
"Feels too convenient," Tarkos muttered. "Still..."
They stalked him through a long, winding alley that spilled into a frozen courtyard behind a trading post. The area was quiet, almost too quiet.
Victor pulled his scarf up over his nose, using it to mask his face. Tarkos summoned a sliver of tattoo ink into his palm, already sharpening into a dagger.
Just as they prepared to strike, something unexpected occured.
A spectral image appeared before them, glowing in a dull jade hue.
"It's a trap," the spiritual medium of Elder Huang stated with a tone of urgency.
Apparently, he had used astral projection to send a message to them since he was also a Soul Transformation Realm cultivator.
Victor and Tarkos both froze.
"Around you, hidden in the wind, twenty-eight disciples. Further back, six more. High-level cultivators. They've masked their energy and placed concealed formation markers across this area. If you strike, they'll descend."
Victor cursed. "Damn. If they tried to set a trap, that means they know everyone we're after."
Tarkos hissed. "We need to fall back."
They retreated quickly, vanishing into the alley shadows, all while the unaware senior disciple they had almost attacked walked casually on, baiting a hook they never bit.
---
In a small cavern hidden beneath a collapsed chapel on the edge of Yinfrost, Victor and Tarkos regrouped with elder Huang's astral projection.
"You were right on time," Victor said.
"I had to earn your trust," Huang replied. "That trap would've killed you. I'm not willing to have a soul devouring worm stuck in me forever."
Tarkos raised a brow. "Ready to earn more?"
The elder nodded.
"Then make sure you get us those tokens," Victor stated.
The elder gave a tight nod and his projection vanished afterwards.
...
...
The high-ranking disciple continued his rounds through the mist-veiled streets of Yinfrost City.
Unbeknownst to him, Victor and Tarkos remained silent specters in the shadows, watching his every movement from rooftops and alleys, ignoring the perfect opportunity to strike. They knew better than to bite into bait clearly laced with poison.
After nearly three hours of circling, the disciple huffed in annoyance and returned to the Emerald Coil Pavilion. Upon his arrival, the others were quick to gather around.
"You were out there for almost three hours," one grumbled. "What happened?"
"Nothing. They didn't show," he replied with an irritated tone. "Not a damn ghost in sight."
"That doesn't make any sense," Elder Mu brows furrowed. "They've been opportunistic until now. Why not take this chance?"
Xiao Mei narrowed her eyes. "Unless they knew it was a trap."
The room grew tense. Someone asked the obvious: "But how?"
...
...
Meanwhile, back at the hidden abode nestled near the icy ridges of Yinfrost, Victor and Tarkos waited. It wasn't until deep into the night that the faint knock signaled Elder Huang's return.
The door opened slowly, revealing him with tired eyes and bloodstains still on the hem of his robe.
"You're late," Tarkos said flatly.
