A good mystery impacts people differently. Fear or curiosity? Mysteries can make rational people do irrational things, which is the essence of chaos.

~Balor, The Primordial God of Chaos

Vale woke with screams echoing throughout his bed chamber. The woman he had dual-cultivated the night before now had sunken eyes and a sallow face. Her hair had lost its luster and hung limply around her once-pure face.

She screamed because Vale gripped her throat. Crow/Sione’s Soul attack caused all the ghosts of his past to keep reappearing while he slept. It did more than injure his Soul—it destroyed his path. Now, he feared dual-cultivating these stupid cunts every time he shoved his dick in their holes.

At first, his dick remained limp when he brought this bitch to his room, his fear causing his impotence. She had the audacity to laugh at his flaccid state, which angered him to where rage blinded him and made him temporarily forget his fears. Usually, he’d spend a few days toying with his victims, but in his anger, he took away most of her vitality. She’d die if he dual-cultivated her again.

His demons kept surfacing because he felt karma was some backwater concept that idiots believed. Knowing now that his actions not only stained his Soul but tainted his karma, he doubted his path. Second guessed his following actions, which would be killing this bitch with his bare hands. Sione’s attack on his Soul was very sinister; even his master wasn’t sure she could survive such an attack.

Seeing the woman’s eyes dimming, Vale tossed her aside—disgusted at his cowardice. Although the woman’s vitality cured his physical injuries, no dual-cultivation technique could cure the Soul. Now that he knew his actions could turn against him, he didn’t dare kill her. It might be a moot point because he felt killing her was a mercy and the biggest crime was already done.

“Leave,” Vale commanded, feeling the scar on his face throbbing in shame.

The woman didn’t say a word but not because he nearly crushed her throat. She put her clothes back on and walked out with as much dignity as she could muster. As a mortal, she was just a slave of the sect. Even if she wanted to cry out because of the injustice, no one would stand up for her.

Stepping out of the room, a mature woman walked up to her. The beauty of this woman was beyond compare, and the slave girl shivered at her approach. Everyone in the Durex branch of Unhulde knew she was a demon, and they called her The Succubus. She was an elder that didn’t have any compunction about sleeping with a man or woman and had no boundaries. Married people, children, elderly, and even animals—if rumors were true, none were spared her seduction.

The human girl bowed her head and did not move. It was the proper form of obeisance, but any cultivator could hear her teeth grinding. The Succubus didn’t kill the girl but instead handed over a bright red pill.

“Take it; it’ll restore your vitality,” The Succubus said. Her voice was low and sultry, which caused the slave girl’s nipples to harden while she shivered in fear. She could even feel her vagina growing moist and hated her lack of control. Her trembling hand reached out and grabbed the pill. Not even caring if it was poison, she tossed it in her mouth.

Not even five seconds passed, and her sunken eyes, sallow face, and lusterless hair recovered. She might be even healthier than before being dragged into Vale’s room and knew that the pill wasn’t low-grade at all. The kindness scared her more than getting raped.

“Take this token and leave the sect once the gates are open again. Don’t lose it because it is the only thing granting you your freedom.”

The girl nodded and took the token.

“Are you not going to thank me?” The Succubus asked.

The girl lifted her head and stared into the goddess’s face while pointing at her throat. While the pill restored her vitality, it didn’t heal her wounds. Seeing Vale’s fingers had dug into the woman’s throat, the Succubus pouted. Clearly, she wanted to hear the slave praise her but wasn’t about to waste another pill on trash.

“Alright, leave.”

The Succubus knew she was even worse than the rumors portrayed her. It wasn’t like her to show kindness, but Vale wasn’t the only one scared by the technique Sione had performed the previous day. After being tortured by Vale’s bawling, she heard the details of the attack, and it left her chilled. However, now that he was recognized by that damned eunuch of an elder, she couldn’t go near that boy. Every time she saw Jeele, she wished she’d been the person to cut off his dick.

With an icy glint in her eye, she entered her disciple’s room with a swing of her hips. Unlike her worthless protégé, she knew how to absorb in moderation to give her prey time to recover. She wanted to savor their fear and desire, and she did not even spare her disciple from her dual-cultivation methods.

***

“Did you investigate?” Elder Jeele asked.

“Yes, sir. The elder that admitted Sione into the sect claimed there was something odd about him. He might not have remembered Sione if it were not for the testing apparatus. That might be why no one knows who he is. However, he’s always performed his obligations on time, even went on missions and attended lectures. All these he had to register with his sect badge, so they can’t be wrong.”

“A physique?”

“Maybe. The techniques that Ghost Eaters practice specialize in being invisible and mysterious. Not being noticed is easy enough if he had enough aptitude with ghost techniques or other similar abilities before he came here.”

“The girl?”

“Sione might have been stalking her—or maybe he was protecting her from the shadows? It seems like he attended every event she did and even performed the same obligations. However, until recently, she didn’t even know he was there.”

“What happened?”

“That’s where it might get messy. Sione got mixed up with our first elder’s son, and that little bastard forced him to use his natural talents to spy for him. That boy has since disappeared—probably dead, based on what I saw yesterday. If he went after Zoe, there’s a chance Sione snapped. Damsel in distress type scenario.”

“Hmm… maybe.” Elder Jeele tapped his desk while reading through his subordinate’s report. On the surface, everything had valid reasoning and gave motive to every action Sione had taken. His background was a mystery, but nothing stood out as odd. Still, he couldn’t quite understand why he felt the boy had a big secret. “Try to destroy all those leads. Kill if you have to. When the first elder returns, I don’t want him to find any links between his son and Sione. What about that Soul attack? Any ideas what it was?”

“I found something, but I’m not sure how that boy would have gotten a hold of it.”

“What is it?”

“It was in a forbidden section that only core members or elders could access. It is called the Curse of the Myriad, but it was more of a theoretical manual than a technique. Here, I pulled it from the library.” The disciple passed a vestige over to his master, who scanned it while frowning. While it was interesting, it wasn’t quite what the boy used. If he understood the curse correctly, they meant it to be a Mind-based attack. While devastating, it didn’t nearly have the same impact as a Soul attack. However, it was more theory than a concept, so it wasn’t impossible if the boy somehow read it and gained his own insight. To manage it, he couldn’t even fathom the boy’s level of comprehension.

“Protect him from the shadows for now, but only interfere if older generations try to play their games. Might as well watch the girl, too. Give him the manual on Wraith’s Touch—the same person who came up with that curse developed it. I want to see how much of it he can comprehend. Tell him if he comprehends it and uses it during the annual inner disciple exam, I’ll take him as my disciple.”

“Should I tell him who you are?”

“No. If he’s as smart as I think, he’ll figure it out on his own. And don’t spy on his cultivation.”

“Why?”

“I’m certain he’d detect it and figure out we were the culprits. Don’t forget that curse grasps vague concepts of karma. If he used that attack, he could, at the very least, sense connections between people.”

“Understood, master.”

“He’ll be your junior brother if he succeeds. You can speak freely about him.”

“I trust your vision, and my doubts are only because of how impulsive he is.”

“He is, but if I’m not mistaken, that’s because his path is one of an unbending nature. He has confidence because there probably isn’t anyone at his level that poses a risk to him. I’m certain he knew I was there, which is why he did not care about his actions.”

“Your assessment of him is very high, master. I just hope you’re not taking action out of hot-bloodedness. This kid seems like a brewing storm,” the disciple said impassively before leaving.

Jeele’s eyes narrowed while staring at the closed door. Eventually, the muscles around his eyes relaxed, and he sighed. Maybe his disciple was right, and he was acting out of character. Still, something excited him about this boy, and he looked forward to seeing what this kid would do next.