Chapter 11: Uncovers a Plot by His Former Enemies
The sect's training grounds buzzed with renewed vigor the next morning. The whispers had shifted — no longer mockery, but curiosity cloaked in fear.
"That servant… he's no ordinary one."
"Did you see how Jin Rou couldn't even land a strike?"
"Something's wrong with that Yao. Very wrong."
Raiyen wandered past them, robes plain, posture humble. He didn't even glance their way, though every word was absorbed, catalogued, and stored.
Attention was both fuel and fire — and he was learning how to wield it.
As he made his way toward the servants' compound, he took a detour through the outer disciple library. It was quiet, the scent of old paper and sandalwood thick in the air. No one paid him mind; a servant didn't belong here. That's what made it perfect.
He slipped into a shadowed alcove, crouched low, and pressed his ear against the lattice wall.
"…still sore about Jin Rou's humiliation," a voice muttered beyond.
"Elder Jin is furious," said another. "He wants the boy who beat him… watched. Maybe even punished quietly."
"Servant or not, he's made a fool of a core disciple. That's not something the Jin Clan takes lightly."
Raiyen's eyes narrowed. Familiar voices. Wei Tan, Bai Mu, and… Yan Lian.
Old names. Once his juniors. Now distant echoes of his former life.
They had once groveled before him, worshipped him — and later, betrayed him. Their signatures had been on the document that sealed his death. He remembered each stroke.
But in this life, they didn't recognize him.
He smiled coldly.
Let them plot.
He slipped out of the alcove and into the shadows.
That evening, Raiyen made his way toward the sect's lower archive—a place few ever visited, as it stored older scrolls, outdated cultivation manuals, and forgotten history.
But Raiyen remembered something from his past life: a hidden room beneath the archive's third shelf row. It wasn't just dusty records that lay there.
He walked slowly between the shelves, fingers trailing along the worn edges of ancient texts. Third row. He knelt, tapping the stone floor in a specific rhythm—seven knocks, a pause, then two more.
The floor clicked.
With a soft grind, a small section of the floor slid open.
Stairs led into darkness.
Raiyen descended silently, the air turning cool and damp. Ancient Qi, twisted and wild, coiled through the space like sleeping snakes.
At the bottom was a sealed door — engraved with forbidden script.
In his old life, he'd only discovered this place after he became a core elder. Now, he had the chance to access it centuries early.
He pressed his palm against the door.
The Sinbound System flared.
> [Demonic Aura Detected – Matching Signature Approved]
[Seal Bypass Initiated. Access Granted.]
The door slid open with a slow hiss.
Inside, the chamber pulsed with red runes — carved into stone, each glowing faintly. On the pedestal in the center lay a scroll, wrapped in black silk.
He stepped closer, the weight of ancient sin pressing down on him.
> [Relic Discovered: Demon's Testament Scroll]
[Contains forbidden cultivation techniques from the Abyssal Age. Warning: corruptive influence likely. System filters in place.]
Raiyen reached for it — but paused. There were whispers now. Low and maddening.
He smiled.
"Whisper all you like. I've already lived and died once."
He unwrapped the scroll.
A swirl of darkness leapt out, wrapping around his fingers like ink.
Pain lanced through his skull.
Visions. Flames. Screams. A man with burning red eyes standing above a mountain of corpses — smiling with the same smile Raiyen had once worn before death.
The scroll's secrets burned into his mind. Forbidden techniques. Curses. Ways to twist Qi into sin.
And one technique, scrawled at the end in a different hand.
Heaven-Binding Marionette Art.
A technique that let its user implant spiritual threads into the minds of others — slowly turning them into puppets loyal to their master.
Not mind control. No, far subtler. It twisted emotion, loyalty, desire.
Raiyen's fingers trembled slightly.
This was it. The weapon he needed.
He sealed the scroll away and turned to leave—but not before hearing the scrape of stone above.
Footsteps.
He extinguished his aura instantly and vanished into the shadows.
Moments later, a figure entered — lantern in hand.
Bai Mu.
Raiyen's eyes narrowed.
Bai Mu was one of the plotters. One of those who had advocated for Raiyen's execution in his past life, then stolen his spiritual inheritance.
Why was he here?
Bai Mu looked around nervously.
"He said it'd be here…," he muttered. "That old demon's legacy…"
So they knew.
Someone from his past life was spreading secrets.
Raiyen melted from the shadows behind him and tapped his foot lightly. Bai Mu turned just as a thin thread of Qi lanced into his neck — almost invisible.
He convulsed, eyes wide, mouth opening to scream — but no sound came.
The thread pulsed. Bound.
The Heaven-Binding Marionette Art was already at work.
Raiyen stepped forward, face shrouded by darkness.
"You're going to leave here, Bai Mu," Raiyen whispered. "And you're going to forget you ever saw anything unusual. You'll keep doing what you're doing. But when I whisper, you'll hear it."
Bai Mu's pupils contracted, then returned to normal. He blinked, confused — as if waking from a dream.
He turned and left, muttering about "must've been a bad lead…"
Raiyen exhaled slowly.
> [Technique Partially Activated – Target Bound: Bai Mu]
[Sin Points Gained: Deception +11]
The pieces were moving.
By the time he returned to his quarters, the stars were high above and the air was thick with frost. Qian Zhou met him at the servant gate.
"There's talk," Qian said. "Some of the outer disciples are planning a 'lesson' for you. Word is Elder Jin gave them the nod."
Raiyen nodded. "Let them come."
Qian hesitated. "You're not… scared?"
"I've been hunted before," Raiyen replied. "They're just boys with swords and borrowed arrogance."
Qian grinned.
But Raiyen's eyes remained distant.
He wasn't planning to survive.
He was planning to corrupt.
And soon, the sect would learn what it meant to betray a monarch.