The second body appeared before dawn.
This time, the sect could not contain the rumors.
The disciple was found near the medicinal gardens below the eastern cliffs, collapsed beside an irrigation channel with his meridians completely hollowed out. No wounds. No signs of struggle. Just the same unnatural emptiness spreading beneath the skin like something had consumed him from the inside.
By sunrise, the outer sect was already unstable.
Fear moved quickly through weak cultivators because weak cultivators understood something powerful:
they died first.
---
Shen Luo arrived near the eastern gardens shortly after the area was sealed.
Not close enough to draw attention.
Just close enough to observe.
Several inner sect disciples guarded the perimeter while outer court elders inspected the corpse from a distance. No one touched the body directly.
Interesting.
That meant Elder Han shared more information internally than expected.
---
Groups of disciples whispered behind the crowd.
"Another one…"
"They say his Qi core collapsed…"
"No, someone drained him…"
"I heard it's demonic cultivation…"
Rumors always searched for familiar shapes.
People preferred monsters they already understood.
---
Shen Luo studied the corpse silently from across the stone terraces.
The convergence marks were clearer this time.
Dark branching veins beneath the skin.
Subtle distortions in surrounding Qi flow.
And most importantly—
the body itself was still releasing residue.
Which meant the process was accelerating.
---
"We're running out of time."
Wei Jun's voice came from beside him.
Shen Luo hadn't sensed his approach.
That alone said enough about the gap between them.
---
"The second death happened too quickly," Shen Luo said quietly.
Wei Jun nodded.
"Elder Han thinks the collapse at the western ridge destabilized suppression across the entire mountain formation."
Likely true.
But incomplete.
---
The pathway wasn't spreading randomly.
It was adapting.
Searching for resonance.
---
"Have they traced where the disciple went before dying?" Shen Luo asked.
"Yes."
Wei Jun's expression darkened slightly.
"He passed through the old lower tunnels beneath the eastern gardens."
Shen Luo looked at him.
"Qingyun Sect has underground tunnels?"
Wei Jun almost smiled.
"All old sects do."
---
Of course they did.
Large cultivation sects were never built once.
They accumulated over centuries. Expanding halls, abandoned chambers, buried formations, sealed passageways, forgotten storage vaults.
Structures beneath structures.
History compressed into architecture.
---
"The tunnels were sealed decades ago," Wei Jun continued.
"After several disciples disappeared during a cave expansion mission."
That immediately drew Shen Luo's attention.
"Disappeared?"
Wei Jun nodded once.
"No bodies were recovered."
Silence followed.
Neither of them believed in coincidence anymore.
---
The mountain itself was becoming contaminated.
Not externally.
Internally.
---
"You think another convergence point formed below the gardens," Shen Luo said.
"It's possible."
"No," Shen Luo replied calmly.
"It's certain."
Wei Jun studied him carefully after that.
"You sound very confident."
"Because the pathway follows pressure."
A pause.
"When the western ridge lost coherence, the remaining fragments would naturally seek new balance points."
Wei Jun frowned slightly.
"You speak about it like a living thing."
Shen Luo looked toward the sealed corpse below.
"…Maybe it is."
---
That answer lingered between them longer than either liked.
---
Movement near the crowd interrupted the conversation.
Several disciples stepped aside immediately as Elder Han approached the gardens with two inner court elders behind him.
Unlike the others, Elder Han didn't look at the corpse first.
He looked at the ground.
At the surrounding terrain.
At the flow of Qi beneath the terraces.
Searching for structure rather than evidence.
Good.
He understood the real danger.
---
The other elders didn't.
That became obvious almost immediately.
"This cannot continue," one of them said sharply.
"We should seal the eastern district entirely."
"And cause panic?" the second elder replied.
"Better panic than contamination."
Contamination.
Interesting choice of word.
---
Elder Han finally spoke.
"Neither solution addresses the source."
His voice remained calm, but the pressure beneath it silenced the argument immediately.
"The mountain formation itself is destabilizing."
The two elders exchanged uneasy looks.
One of them lowered his voice.
"…Then perhaps we should notify the upper sects."
That changed the atmosphere instantly.
Even Wei Jun's expression hardened slightly.
---
Upper sects.
Plural.
---
Shen Luo understood the implication immediately.
Qingyun Sect wasn't isolated.
It existed beneath larger powers.
Larger structures.
And if outside sects became involved, control over the situation would disappear quickly.
---
Elder Han remained silent for several moments before answering.
"Not yet."
The older elder frowned.
"Han, if convergence spread has truly begun—"
"It hasn't," Elder Han interrupted.
Not loudly.
Worse.
Precisely.
---
Shen Luo noticed something important immediately.
Elder Han lied smoothly.
Not because he believed the statement.
Because panic needed containment more urgently than truth.
---
The pathway had already spread.
Everyone intelligent enough understood that.
But officially acknowledging it would trigger intervention from forces Qingyun Sect likely feared more than the convergence itself.
---
Wei Jun lowered his voice beside Shen Luo.
"If upper sect investigators arrive, they won't care who survives."
That sounded personal.
Experienced.
---
"What are they?" Shen Luo asked quietly.
Wei Jun answered without taking his eyes off the elders below.
"Efficient."
---
Which usually meant ruthless.
---
Below them, Elder Han finally looked toward the corpse.
For only a moment.
Then his gaze shifted upward—
directly toward Shen Luo.
---
Their eyes met across the crowded terraces.
No expression changed.
No signal passed openly.
But Shen Luo understood immediately.
---
The elder wanted him involved.
Again.
---
And this time, the stakes were higher.
---
Because the pathway was no longer confined to hidden ruins.
It had entered the sect itself.
And once fear infected ordinary disciples, structure began weakening from within.
---
That was the real danger.
Not corpses.
Collapse of order.
---
Elder Han turned away first and began issuing commands to the inner sect elders nearby.
Formation lockdowns.
Restricted movement.
Inspection patrols.
Reactive measures.
Necessary, but temporary.
---
Because suppressing symptoms had never solved the pathway before.
---
Wei Jun spoke quietly beside him.
"You already have an idea, don't you?"
Shen Luo remained silent for several breaths.
Then:
"…Maybe."
Wei Jun exhaled slowly.
"That answer worries me more than certainty would."
---
Below the eastern cliffs, disciples continued whispering around the sealed corpse while fear spread invisibly through the sect like cracks beneath frozen water.
And somewhere deep beneath Qingyun Mountain—
something had already begun opening its eyes.