『Fractured Entanglement』
A Fallen Prodigy The morning mist had yet to disperse over the Azure Cloud Sect's outer disciple trial grounds. Dressed in robes as pure as snow, Lin Qingxue swept her longsword into an arc of chilling light. A sword aura spanning three zhang cleaved a deep gouge into the testing stone. Surrounding disciples backed away one after another, their eyes filled with awe and envy. "Middle Foundation Establishment, with a fully realized sword intent!" the Deacon Elder announced aloud, his voice laced with undisguised praise. "Martial Niece Lin truly lives up to her name as the most brilliant prodigy our Azure Cloud Sect has seen in a century." Lin Qingxue sheathed her sword, her expression placid. She had long grown accustomed to such gazes, long grown used to looking down upon the masses from atop the clouds. There was only one exception—that good-for-nothing senior brother of hers, Li Fan. She cast her gaze toward a corner, and sure enough, saw that gaunt figure crouching before a forging furnace, clumsily fiddling with a few low-grade ores. Ten whole years, yet this senior brother in name only hadn't even reached the first level of artifact forging. She truly couldn't fathom why the sect had taken him in back then. "Trash," Lin Qingxue murmured under her breath, turning to leave. She did not even deign to let him hear it. No one knew that deep within a cave dwelling in the Azure Cloud Sect's forbidden grounds, the Sect Master was respectfully reporting to Li Fan: "Fan'er, your Late Nascent Soul realm has fully stabilized. It is time the world knew." Li Fan opened his eyes, a flicker of purple light passing through them before vanishing. "Let us wait a little longer, Master. Qingxue is far too proud; I fear—" "Fear she won't be able to bear it?" The Sect Master sighed. "That is precisely why we cannot wait any longer. An obsession has already taken root in her Dao heart. Letting her continue down this path will only destroy her." Li Fan remained silent for a long time. "Three days from now, at the Grand Sect Tournament." The news spread across the Azure Cloud Sect as if on wings. Li Fan, that good-for-nothing who had spent ten years at the first level of forging, had actually registered for the Grand Sect Tournament. Some said he had lost his mind, others said he was bringing humiliation upon himself, but most were simply waiting to watch a farce unfold. When Lin Qingxue heard the news, she was polishing her natal flying sword. The polished blade reflected her slightly furrowed brows. "Overestimating himself. Fine, let him learn just how high the heavens truly are." On the day of the tournament, the sky was clear for ten thousand miles. The first few rounds were entirely uneventful—until the moment Li Fan stepped onto the arena stage. His opponent was the outer sect's third-ranked disciple, an Early Foundation Establishment cultivator who attacked with full force from the very first strike. Everyone expected to see Li Fan sent flying with a single blow. Yet it never happened. Li Fan merely raised a hand and flicked his sleeve lightly. The disciple was hurled backward along with his sword, crashing violently into the defensive barrier and coughing up blood. A dead silence fell over the audience in an instant. "Th-this is impossible!" someone shrieked. "His cultivation—" An astounding spiritual pressure suddenly erupted from Li Fan, washing over the entire arena like a tidal wave. Late Nascent Soul! That spiritual energy fluctuation, so dense it seemed almost tangible, made the faces of every elder present drain of color. "Late Nascent Soul!" The Sect Master's voice rang out right on cue, carrying a majestic weight tinged with an irrepressible pride. "Li Fan is this seat's personal disciple. Because I swore an oath in my early years never to take apprentices, he has endured in secret until now. Today is the day he reclaims his rightful name." Standing among the crowd, Lin Qingxue turned deathly pale. She watched helplessly as the senior brother she had dismissed as 'trash' for ten years unveiled a cultivation base even deeper than her own master's. Every contemptuous word she had ever spoken to his face now turned into countless steel needles, piercing her heart one by one. "Impossible..." Her lips trembled. "He was clearly..." Li Fan's gaze cut through the crowd and landed on her face. That look was as calm as still water, yet it suffocated her like never before. After the tournament, Lin Qingxue entered closed-door seclusion for three days. When she emerged, her cultivation had plummeted to Early Foundation Establishment. "Her Dao heart has been shaken, and inner demons have taken root," the medical elder sighed, shaking his head. "She must quiet her mind. She cannot endure any further shock." Yet the shocks came one after another. Representing the Azure Cloud Sect in the Four Sects Meet, Li Fan fought three opponents single-handedly and achieved total victory. My name spread throughout the cultivation world overnight, becoming a legend of the younger generation. Meanwhile, Lin Qingxue, once the favored prodigy of heaven, was gradually forgotten by everyone. On another moonlit night, Lin Qingxue stood alone by the cliff of the rear mountains. She stared at the brilliantly illuminated main hall of the Azure Cloud Sect, where a victory banquet was being held in Li Fan's honor. Faint laughter drifted over, piercing her ears until they throbbed with pain. "Why..." Her nails dug deep into her palms, blood dripping down. "Why did you lie to me...?" In that moment, her inner demons erupted entirely. Black demonic energy surged wildly from her body, and the last shred of clarity in her eyes was consumed by madness. She had fallen into the demonic path. The righteous sects' kill order was issued swiftly. Three days later, Lin Qingxue was surrounded by seventeen righteous disciples in the Sunset Mountain Range. Fighting desperately to break through, she took several sword strikes and tumbled into a mountain ravine. When she awoke, she was inside a cave. Her entire body ached with agony, and her spiritual energy was nearly depleted. Worse still, she discovered she had been afflicted with a bizarre poison—those bandits... Clinging to her last thread of sanity, she had fled, though she had no idea where she had run to. A barren, untamed land. In the distance, the mournful howls of beasts echoed. She gripped her crack-riddled sword, her Dao heart long since torn to shreds. That 'worthless senior brother' she had ridiculed for ten years was actually a Late Nascent Soul expert. Every dazzling move he made had pulverized everything she once held dear. Her cultivation plummeted, hunted down by the righteous path, she had fled into this forbidden zone of life. Deep within the cave, a profound and familiar fluctuation of spiritual energy stirred. I was sitting cross-legged on a bluestone platform in deep meditation, the five points of my body turned toward heaven. She saw it was me, and charged forward. A whirlwind of disorientation, water splashing against the stone wall. "Senior Brother... why... why did it have to be you...?" The pale azure glow receded. I opened my eyes.
"I mocked his ten years of mediocrity; he watched as I lost the entire game."