The trap sprung during the Harvest Moon Festival, when security was traditionally relaxed and disciples celebrated.
Society agents made their move, attempting to extract Mo Chen and several stolen texts from the library. They walked directly into formations Sect Master Yun had prepared with Chen Wei's calculation of probable approach routes.
Eight agents captured. Interrogations revealed a network spanning three provinces, corruption reaching into a dozen sects, and plans that made Chen Wei's manipulation of Liu Yan look amateurish by comparison.
But the true revelation came from Scholar Xu himself.
Under interrogation, the old man laughed. "You think you've won? This was one cell of one province of one region. The Society has existed for three thousand years
"You think you've won? This was one cell of one province of one region. The Society has existed for three thousand years. We've watched empires rise and fall. We've guided the very evolution of cultivation itself."
Scholar Xu's kind facade had completely vanished, replaced by cold certainty. "Azure Peak is already doomed. Not because of anything I did, but because of what you represent, Chen Wei."
Chen Wei kept his expression neutral, but his mind calculated frantically. How did Xu know he was involved?
"Oh yes, I know about you," Xu continued, as if reading his thoughts. "The crippled genius who suddenly developed mysterious luck and calculation abilities. Did you really think we wouldn't notice? The Heaven's Calculation Scripture is one of three techniques we've been tracking for centuries."
Sect Master Yun's eyes narrowed. "Explain."
"The Scripture, the Fate Severance Manual, and the Karma Reversal Sutra—all three are fragments of the original Primordial Calculation System created by the Ancestor of Ten Thousand Paths. He used them to manipulate reality itself, nearly breaking the world's fundamental laws before we stopped him."
Xu smiled. "Chen Wei isn't cultivating toward immortality. He's cultivating toward becoming something that shouldn't exist—a being who calculates reality so perfectly that causality itself bends to his will. And when he reaches that point, the world's natural order will reject him violently. He'll become a calamity that makes demonic invasions look minor."
"Lies," Yun stated flatly.
"Test him then. Ask Chen Wei: how much of his humanity remains? Does he still feel fear? Genuine attachment? Or has it all become calculation?"
All eyes turned to Chen Wei.
He ran internal diagnostics on his emotional state. Fear: absent. Attachment: theoretical only. Empathy: simulated for strategic purposes. Even his desire for revenge against Liu Yan had been cold satisfaction of balanced equations, not hot fury.
When had he stopped being human?
"I feel what I need to feel," Chen Wei said carefully.
"Exactly," Xu laughed. "You've already lost yourself to the technique. In six months, maybe a year, you won't even understand the concept of 'Chen Wei' as a separate entity. You'll just be calculation itself, wearing a meat puppet."
Sect Master Yun's expression revealed nothing, but Chen Wei felt the shifting political currents. Yun had gambled on using Chen Wei as a weapon against the Society. But if Chen Wei himself would become a catastrophe...
"This disciple requests permission to speak with Sect Master privately," Chen Wei said.