The Council Chamber at dawn felt colder than the deepest mine.
Zhou Kai stood alone in the center of the stone floor. The nine elders sat in a semicircle above him, their faces carved from shadow and judgment. Elder Mu was among them, but his expression gave nothing away. Elder Jin presided.
"You have confirmed Dao Feng's assessment," Elder Jin began, her voice echoing in the silent chamber. "You are a Void Saint inheritor. A legacy this sect believed extinct for three millennia. Your existence presents both an opportunity and a crisis."
She stood, descending the dais steps until she stood before him. "The Void Saints were wiped out for a reason. Their power was immense, but unstable. A man divided into seven selves cannot hold a coherent path. They descended into madness or were eliminated by the Celestial Harmonizers—the cosmic balance-keepers who prune anomalies that threaten reality's fabric."
She paused, letting that sink in.
"You are an anomaly, Zhou Kai. By rights, we should seal you and send word to the Harmonizers. Let them decide your fate."
A cold knot tightened in Zhou Kai's stomach.
"However," Elder Jin continued, "Elder Mu has argued that you demonstrate unprecedented control for your stage. The synergy you displayed with two Blades suggests your center holds. Furthermore, our sect faces external threats. The Earth-Shatter Sect's envoy left with a promise of 'consequences.' Rogue demon beasts encroach on our borders. We have need of unusual strength."
She turned, walking back to her seat. "Therefore, the council offers you a path. Not freedom. A probation."
Elder Mu spoke for the first time. "You will be designated a Special Strategic Asset. You will remain an outer disciple in name, but your training and duties will be designed by this council. You will report weekly for spiritual monitoring. You will undertake missions to prove your loyalty and control. In exchange, you receive protection from external powers and internal persecution. And access to resources to advance your... unique cultivation."
It was a cage. A gilded, useful cage.
Zhou Kai looked at Elder Mu. The elder's eyes held a silent message: This is the best possible outcome. Take it.
"What missions?" Zhou Kai asked.
Elder Jin gestured. A junior disciple unfurled a map on a side table. "The Earth-Shatter Sect is not our only concern. There are rumblings in the Nightwhisper Peaks to the west. Cultists. They preach of 'simplification' and 'purity.' They have been attacking minor sects, stripping them of artifacts and talent. We believe they may be led by a figure known as the Unity Sage."
The name landed like a stone in water. From the blueprint, Zhou Kai remembered: The Unity Sage: Believes perfect swords have no sheaths. Seeks to "simplify" Zhou Kai.
"He would see your divided soul as the ultimate impurity," Elder Mu said quietly. "A sevenfold self is an abomination to his philosophy. If he learns of you, he will come. Better we learn of him first."
"Your first mission," Elder Jin said. "Investigate the cultist activity near the border village of Oakhaven. Observe. Report. Do not engage unless necessary. This is a test of your discretion and control. You leave in three days."
She fixed him with a final, piercing look. "This probation has three conditions. First, you will not reveal the full extent of your abilities to anyone outside this council. Second, you will submit to a soul-mark that allows us to track your location and vital signs. Third, and most important: you will never forge all six Blades while under our watch. A sixth Blade would trigger the final Void Saint ascension protocols. We cannot allow that risk. You will cultivate to the peak of Core Formation if you must, but you will not attempt the fourth, fifth, or sixth forge without explicit council approval. Is this understood?"
Three Blades. He was to be capped. Frozen halfway to his own potential.
[Probation terms received.]
[Analysis: Partial freedom in exchange for partial identity.]
[Risk: Soul-mark is a leash and a vulnerability.]
[Opportunity: Resources, protection, purposeful missions.]
[Recommended: Accept. For now.]
Zhou Kai met Elder Jin's gaze. "And if I refuse?"
"Then we enact our duty to the wider world. You are sealed in the Soul-Silencing Crypt until the Celestial Harmonizers can collect you. You will be studied as a relic, not trained as a disciple."
No choice at all.
"I accept," Zhou Kai said.
Elder Jin nodded. "The soul-mark. Now."
Elder Mu stepped forward, a complex silver needle glowing in his hand. "This will not harm you. It will feel... cold."
He pressed the needle to Zhou Kai's sternum. A bolt of icy fire shot through Zhou Kai's spiritual core, branding it with a tiny, intricate seal. He felt it settle, a permanent chill behind his heart.
[Soul-mark applied.]
[Function: Location tracking, life-sign monitoring, spiritual outburst detection.]
[Removal: Impossible without council-level key.]
[Note: Mark may interfere with high-level void manipulations.]
"It is done," Elder Mu said, stepping back. "You are now an asset of the Verdant Dawn Sect. Dismissed. Prepare for your mission."
Ling Yue was waiting in the herb garden, crushing leaves with more force than necessary. "They leashed you," she said without looking up.
"They gave me a path to survive," Zhou Kai corrected, sitting beside her.
"They made you a dog on a chain that can also bite." She finally looked at him, her eyes sharp. "The soul-mark. I can feel its resonance. It's a cage for your core."
"I know."
"What are the terms?"
He told her. The missions. The cap at three Blades. The Unity Sage.
When he finished, she was silent for a long time. "They're scared. They're giving you just enough leash to defend them, but not enough to ever be free." She wiped her hands. "I'm coming with you to Oakhaven."
"The mission is for me alone."
"Officially, yes. Unofficially, Elder Mu already assigned me as your mission-aligned herbalist and field medic. I received my orders this morning." She showed him a small scroll with Elder Mu's seal. "He knows you need an anchor. Someone who sees all seven parts of you."
Zhou Kai felt a surge of gratitude. Elder Mu was still shielding him, even within the council's strictures.
"Thank you," he said.
"Don't thank me. I'm doing this for the research. A Void Saint's physiological responses in the field are unprecedented." But her smile took the edge off her words.
The next two days were a whirlwind.
Zhou Kai was moved to a private courtyard on the sect's edge—not the outer disciple dorms, but not the inner disciple peaks either. A liminal space. His own small house, a training yard, and a sealed meditation chamber. It came with a "resource allowance"—spirit stones, healing pills, basic technique scrolls.
It also came with a watcher.
A silent, hooded disciple named Kael was stationed at his gate. His only role was to observe and report Zhou Kai's comings and goings to the council. He never spoke. He just watched.
[Watcher assigned: Disciple Kael. Cultivation: Core Formation (suppressed).]
[Purpose: Continuous assessment.]
[Recommendation: Do not attempt to circumvent. Operate normally.]
Zhou Kai ignored him. He focused on preparation.
He spent hours with Stone and Water, practicing fine control. He had them perform complex tasks simultaneously—Stone would sculpt a block of granite into a perfect sphere while Water distilled a bucket of muddy water into pure drinkable liquid.
Fire was the problem.
He manifested Fire in the sealed meditation chamber. The Blade was calmer than before, but restless. It kept shaping itself into violent, aggressive forms—spears, claws, wildfire.
We are not here to destroy, Zhou Kai thought at it. We are here to create.
He gave Fire a task. He brought in a lump of crude iron ore.
Refine this. Burn away the impurities. Leave the pure metal.
Fire stared at the ore. This was not a natural task for its nature. But it was a challenge. It enveloped the ore in a precise, white-hot sphere. The rock cracked, slag melted away, and ten minutes later, a small, gleaming ingot of pure iron lay on the floor.
Fire looked at its work. The flames softened to a warm, amber glow. It was... satisfied.
[Fire Blade stability increased: 28%.]
[New application unlocked: Precision Purification.]
[Obedience threshold: adequate for field deployment.]
Good enough.
On the evening before departure, an unexpected visitor came to his courtyard.
Dao Feng.
Kael, the watcher, moved to block him. Dao Feng simply showed a small token. Kael stepped aside.
Dao Feng entered the training yard where Zhou Kai was practicing sheathing and unsheathing Stone. The Blade would emerge, take one step, then flow back into the void. A drill for speed.
"You are preparing," Dao Feng said.
"Yes."
"The Unity Sage is real. I have... sources. His cult is small but fanatical. They believe complexity is corruption. They seek to 'simplify' all cultivation to a single, pure strand. A cultivator with one perfect technique, not a dozen mediocre ones. To them, your sevenfold soul is the ultimate heresy."
"Why tell me this?"
"Because the council sees him as a minor threat. He is not. He is a philosopher with an army. And he collects unique spiritual artifacts and beings. He would pay any price to put you on his dissection table." Dao Feng handed him a thin jade slip. "This is everything I've gathered. Locations, tactics, known lieutenants. Use it."
Zhou Kai took the slip. "Why help me?"
Dao Feng smiled faintly. "I am a seeker of truth. You are the most fascinating truth I have ever encountered. I would rather see you survive and evolve than be simplified into a footnote by a fanatic." He bowed. "Good luck, sheath-bearer."
He left as quietly as he came.
[Information packet acquired: Unity Sage cult.]
[Threat level reassessed: high.]
[Allied intelligence source: Dao Feng. Reliability: estimated 90%.]
The morning of departure was grey and damp.
Zhou Kai wore simple traveler's robes. The sheath hung at his hip, now looking less like a symbol of weakness and more like a badge of hidden power. Ling Yue met him at the sect's western gate, dressed for travel, a herb-gathering pack on her back.
Kael, the watcher, was there too. "I will shadow you at a distance. Do not attempt to lose me. The soul-mark allows tracking, but visual confirmation is required for my reports."
"We won't lose you," Ling Yue said, her tone sweet and utterly false.
They set out on the mountain path. The sect dwindled behind them.
For the first hour, they walked in silence. Then Ling Yue spoke. "The Unity Sage. Do you think he already knows about you?"
"Dao Feng seems to think it's possible."
"He wants to 'simplify' you. What does that even mean?"
Zhou Kai touched his sheath. "I think it means he'd try to cut away the Blades. To make me just Zhou Kai. One soul. One path. Empty, in a different way."
"That sounds like murder."
"For the Blades, it would be. For me... maybe worse." He looked at the path ahead. "A sheath holding nothing is just a piece of leather."
They walked on. The forest thickened.
At midday, they stopped by a stream. Ling Yue refilled their waterskins. Zhou Kai sat, reaching out with Stone's earth-sense. He felt the deep patience of the mountains, the slow grind of stone. He also felt something else—a faint, rhythmic vibration, miles ahead. Like footsteps, but too heavy for men.
[Remote sensing: Large group movement detected. 5 miles west-southwest. Non-human gait pattern.]
[Likely identity: Demon beast pack. Direction: Towards Oakhaven.]
He stood. "Trouble ahead. Big. Moving toward the village."
Ling Yue was instantly alert. "How long?"
"At their pace? They'll reach Oakhaven by nightfall."
"We need to warn them. And fast."
Zhou Kai nodded. He looked back down the trail. Kael was a distant figure, watching. "We run."
They ran.
The forest blurred around them. Zhou Kai used tiny bursts of void-step, not full teleportation, but enough to eat up distance, pulling Ling Yue along. She kept up, her herbalist training giving her surprising endurance.
After an hour, they smelled smoke.
Not campfire smoke. Thick, black, choking smoke.
They crested a ridge and looked down into the valley.
Oakhaven was burning.
Not under attack by demon beasts.
It was under attack by men.
Cultists in grey robes, their faces masked by featureless porcelain, moved through the village with methodical brutality. They weren't looting. They were destroying. Smashing altars, burning scrolls, herding terrified villagers into the central square. Their movements were synchronized, emotionless.
And at the village's edge, lying slaughtered in a bloody heap, were the demon beasts Zhou Kai had sensed—a pack of bear-sized wolves. They hadn't come to attack the village. They'd been killed by the cultists. Efficiently. Almost surgically.
This wasn't a raid. It was a cleansing.
And standing on the roof of the village's tallest building, watching it all, was a tall figure in pristine white robes. His face was handsome, calm, and utterly empty. He held a single, long knife that gleamed like a sliver of moon.
The Unity Sage.
He had come.
And he was looking directly up at the ridge, directly at Zhou Kai, as if he'd been waiting.
A voice, soft yet carrying across the distance, drifted to them on the wind.
"Ah. The divided one. You are earlier than anticipated. No matter. We can begin the simplification now."
[Critical mission update.]
[Primary objective compromised.]
[Hostiles identified: Unity Sage cult. Leader present.]
[Villager status: Imminent danger.]
[Watcher Kael status: 2 miles behind. Unaware of situation change.]
[Recommended action: Immediate tactical assessment. Engage or retreat?]
Zhou Kai looked at the burning village. At the terrified people. At the calm, monstrous figure on the roof.
He felt the three Blades stir within the sheath. Stone's patience. Water's adaptability. Fire's rage.
He felt the soul-mark icy on his core.
He had his orders: observe, report, do not engage.
But the council wasn't here. The burning village was.
Ling Yue gripped his arm. "Zhou Kai. What do we do?"
He took a deep breath. The sheath felt heavy. Ready.
"We do what we came to do," he said, his voice calm. "We protect."
He started down the slope toward the fire, toward the white-robed figure, toward the first real test of what it meant to be a weapon with a leash.
And in his mind, the void-log pulsed its first, clear combat instruction:
[Deployment protocol: Alpha.]
[All three Blades authorized.]
[Objective: Protect innocents. Neutralize hostiles.]
[Let them see what the empty sheath truly holds.]