The next morning, the air in the Hua Sect was thick with a palpable tension, heavier than the usual mountain fog.
Lin Lee stepped out of his newly assigned inner-sect residence, a small but elegant stone courtyard, and immediately sensed the chaos brewing.
Other disciples of the inner sect rushed past him with pale, wide eyed expressions, their usual composure looking shattered.
Ding! Ding!! Ding!!!
The steady rhythm of morning bells, which cultivators usually called to practice, was replaced by the sharp, metallic clang of an emergency alarm… a sound typically reserved for invasions.
'It seems my timing was perfect,' Lin Lee thought, his face impassive as he walked toward the main training square, observing the unfolding panic.
He overheard fragments of frantic conversations:
"...Elder Yao's token shattered last night. His soul lamp is extinguished!"
"...Dead! A Jindan elder, just like that? Who would dare attack our sect?"
