Zhao Zhiyu lay still for a moment, the faint warmth from successful cultivation lingering in his chest.
His breathing had just begun to steady when a sharp knock echoed through the room.
The sound rang against the metal door, abrupt and deliberate.
He frowned and pushed himself up slightly, the earlier sense of satisfaction fading into caution. Visitors were rare here.
Most people kept to themselves unless there was a reason... and reasons were usually unpleasant.
Another knock followed.
Zhao Zhiyu recognized the voice from outside.
Xi Sheng.
He had noticed Xi Sheng early on in the Mind Department. The boy was sharp-eyed, quick to adapt, and unnervingly observant. Over the past month, Xi Sheng had quietly gathered people around him, speaking in low voices, forming loose alliances whenever training ended. He wasn't loud or forceful about it, but somehow people listened.
Zhao Zhiyu had been an exception.
Xi Sheng had never approached him directly, and Zhao Zhiyu had done the same in return. There was no hostility between them, no conflict or provocation. They had simply… ignored each other, as if by mutual, unspoken agreement.
'He tried to pull in almost everyone,' Zhao Zhiyu thought, eyes narrowing slightly. 'But he left me alone. Now he's knocking? He probably needs something from me.'
That alone made this knock unsettling.
Zhao Zhiyu stood up, his movements quiet by instinct now. He walked to the door and paused, listening. He could feel the faint vibrations beyond the metal.
Zhao Zhiyu reached out and opened the door just enough to see him.
Xi Sheng stood there calmly, posture relaxed, expression neutral. His eyes flicked briefly over Zhao Zhiyu, sharp and assessing, as if measuring something invisible.
Zhao Zhiyu met his gaze without speaking.
'What is this guy thinking?' he wondered.
He had a feeling that whatever Xi Sheng wanted, it wasn't a casual visit.
Zhao Zhiyu took a small step backward the moment the door opened wider, his body reacting before his mind could catch up.
His weight shifted subtly, placing him in a position where he could retreat or lunge if needed. In this place, caution was not paranoia.
Xi Sheng noticed the movement.
His eyes flickered briefly to Zhao Zhiyu's feet, then back to his face. The boy did not comment on it.
Instead, he spoke in an easy tone, as if they were meeting in an ordinary courtyard rather than a prison disguised as a sect.
"Are you doing well, brother?" Xi Sheng said. His lips curved into a smile that was polite but oddly restrained. "I hope you can join us for dinner."
The word dinner made Zhao Zhiyu's stomach tighten.
The food here was tasteless and barely nourishing, but sharing it carried meaning. It meant proximity, conversation, and exposure.
Zhao Zhiyu studied Xi Sheng's expression, searching for cracks... hostility, calculation, mockery, but found none that were obvious.
That, somehow, made him more uneasy.
'He's too calm,' Zhao Zhiyu thought. 'Either he's confident, or he's hiding something.'
Still, refusing outright would isolate him further.
Connections mattered afterall.
Zhao Zhiyu exhaled softly and nodded. "Alright."
Xi Sheng's smile widened just a fraction, as if he had expected that answer all along. He gave a small nod in return and turned, already walking away without checking whether Zhao Zhiyu would follow.
Zhao Zhiyu hesitated for a heartbeat, then stepped out of his room and fell in behind him.
The corridor was dim, lit by torches spaced far apart. Their footsteps echoed faintly, though Zhao Zhiyu barely made any sound compared to before.
He kept his distance, watching Xi Sheng's back, noting the steady pace and unguarded posture.
'Is this confidence,' he wondered, 'or a test?'
Either way, he followed.
Zhao Zhiyu let his breathing slow as he focused on Xi Sheng's back.
He did not activate the shadow stalking technique abruptly. Instead, he eased into it the way he had practiced, allowing his presence to thin, his movements to align with the other boy's shadow rather than the corridor itself.
The change was subtle but immediate.
His footsteps vanished.
Not muffled or softened. It was simply gone, as if the ground no longer acknowledged his weight.
Xi Sheng's shoulders stiffened.
!!
A faint shiver ran through him before he even turned his head, the kind that came from instinct rather than reason.
He slowed, then stopped altogether. For a brief moment, the corridor felt unnaturally quiet.
Xi Sheng glanced back.
Zhao Zhiyu was still there, walking at the same distance as before, his outline clear under the torchlight. Yet something was wrong. The sound of movement that should have accompanied him was absent, and the air around him felt… hollow.
Xi Sheng's throat tightened.
'He's still there,' Xi Sheng thought, unsettled. 'But why does it feel like he isn't?'
An eerie sensation crawled up his spine, as if something invisible was trailing him instead of a person. Regret flickered across his mind.
'Inviting him might have been a mistake.'
He forced himself to speak before the silence grew heavier.
"Please… don't be cautious, brother," Xi Sheng said, stopping fully and turning around. His smile was still there, but it was strained now, the corners of his mouth held up by effort rather than ease. "I won't harm you."
A bead of sweat slipped down his temple despite the cool air.
Zhao Zhiyu slowed and let the technique fade.
His presence returned gradually, like a shadow detaching itself from another and settling back into place.
The faint sounds of his movement returned.
He did not respond immediately.
Xi Sheng watched him closely, his eyes alert now, measuring. He had avoided Zhao Zhiyu before for a reason. The boy had seemed dull, quiet, and oddly detached during training—someone lacking ambition or awareness. Not worth recruiting. Not worth provoking.
Now, that judgment felt dangerously wrong.
"I invited you," Xi Sheng continued, choosing his words carefully, "so everyone can get to know each other better. That's all. In this place… allies matter."
Zhao Zhiyu met his gaze. His expression was calm, almost blank, but inside his thoughts churned.
'He felt it,' Zhao Zhiyu realized. 'Even without understanding how. So it means my technique is very flawed...'
That brought him a strange sense of reassurance.
The technique worked, not just mechanically, but psychologically.
He gave a small nod. "I understand."
Xi Sheng released a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. He turned and resumed walking, this time glancing back once more to make sure Zhao Zhiyu was still there and still normal.
Zhao Zhiyu followed at an ordinary pace, his steps audible again.
'He invited me to test me?,' Zhao Zhiyu thought. 'Or to bind me? Either way, he's cautious now.'
That was fine.
Caution, after all, was exactly what Zhao Zhiyu wanted others to feel around him.
Xi Sheng continued walking, but his mind no longer followed the corridor ahead.
Something about what had just happened refused to settle.
'That wasn't normal,' he thought, his fingers curling slightly at his side. 'That disappearance… it wasn't just quiet movement.'
He had trained as well. He knew the difference between crude stealth and something deeper. What Zhao Zhiyu had done was not merely hiding sound or suppressing breathing. It was as if his presence had thinned.
'Does that mean he already learned a technique?'
The realization made Xi Sheng's chest tighten.
'I've learned some too,' he reminded himself, instinctively touching the faint warmth in his chest where his soul resided. 'But that felt… different.'
His steps slowed again, almost unconsciously.
The shadow wolf soul he had consumed stirred faintly within him. It was not a voice, not a clear thought, but a pressure... an instinctual warning, like fur bristling in darkness. It sharpened his senses, made the corridor's shadows feel heavier.
Xi Sheng glanced back once more.
Zhao Zhiyu was walking normally now, his posture relaxed, his face calm to the point of looking harmless. That contrast unsettled him more than the technique itself.
'He's not showing off,' Xi Sheng thought. 'He's measuring me?'
The idea made his stomach sink.
'Was he testing my limits just now?'
He replayed the moment in his mind—the shiver, the emptiness behind him, the way his instincts had reacted before his thoughts did. The shadow wolf soul had reacted first, far faster than his conscious mind.
'If even my soul reacted… then that wasn't nothing.'
Xi Sheng exhaled quietly and forced his shoulders to loosen.
'No,' he decided. 'Calm down. Everyone here is changing. Maybe he just advanced faster.'
Yet, even as he tried to reassure himself, he adjusted his pace so Zhao Zhiyu never fell directly into his blind spot again.
The alliance he was building was meant to give him control.
But now, walking ahead with Zhao Zhiyu behind him.
They stopped in front of a wide metal door, darker than the others and worn smooth by countless hands.
The corridor here was warmer, the air carrying the faint smell of boiled grain and old stone. Dim torchlight leaked from the thin gaps around the frame, flickering as if something inside was moving.
Xi Sheng reached out and rested his palm against the door. For a moment, he hesitated.
Then he pushed.
Creeak..
The metal groaned softly as it moved, not a sharp screech but a low, tired sound, like something long used to being opened and closed.
The door slid inward little by little, the hinges protesting with a dull clank. Warm light spilled out, slow and cautious, brushing across the floor and stretching their shadows forward.