The alarm bells didn't stop.
Deep bronze tones echoed across the Azure River Sect, rolling through valleys and stone halls like a warning carved into the air itself.
Outer disciples froze mid-training. Inner disciples stepped out of their courtyards. Even elders paused in meditation.
Something had broken order.
And the sect was listening.
Inside the enforcement hall, a fractured silence hung over the room.
Three bodies lay on the ground.
Not dead.
Not injured in any normal sense.
Empty.
A senior inner hall steward knelt beside one of them, fingers pressed against the disciple's forehead. His expression darkened with every passing second.
"No Qi… no spiritual residue…"
He moved to the next.
Same result.
Then the third.
Still the same.
His voice dropped.
"This isn't defeat."
An elder standing nearby narrowed his eyes. "Explain."
The steward stood slowly.
"It's removal. Their cultivation wasn't destroyed in battle… it was extracted."
A heavier silence followed.
One of the younger elders scoffed nervously. "Extracted? What technique does that?"
No one answered immediately.
Because no known technique in Azure River Sect—or even the surrounding hundred-mile region—functioned like that.
Finally, the hall master spoke.
"Where is the suspect?"
A disciple bowed quickly. "Still in the outer courtyard zone. He hasn't escaped."
"Good," the hall master said quietly. "Lock the sect perimeter."
The moment those words left his mouth, the atmosphere shifted.
This was no longer an outer disciple incident.
It had escalated.
Elsewhere, Li Feng sat in silence inside the broken hut.
The wind moved differently now.
Not physically.
Perceptually.
He could feel it bending around structures of intent—disciples running, formations activating, spiritual barriers slowly unfolding across the sect like a tightening net.
[Sect-wide energy fluctuation detected.]
Li Feng stared at the system panel.
"Lockdown," he murmured.
He wasn't surprised.
He had expected this.
What he didn't yet understand was scale.
He had consumed three Dao fragments. Three cultivators reduced to emptiness. But instead of fear, what rose inside him was something far more neutral.
Analysis.
He stood up slowly.
The broken wooden wall beside him creaked as wind pushed through it.
Then—
A presence arrived.
Not loud.
Not flashy.
But heavy.
Li Feng's eyes shifted slightly.
Someone was standing outside the hut.
This presence was different from the enforcers.
Stable.
Refined.
Controlled.
And most importantly—
Aware.
A voice spoke from outside.
"You are Li Feng."
Not a question.
A statement.
Li Feng didn't respond immediately.
The system flickered.
[Target detected: Inner Sect Hunter Unit — Rank: Suppression Class]
[Cultivation Level: Qi Condensation Stage 6]
[Threat Level: High]
Stage 6.
A clear gap.
Li Feng processed that calmly.
Then he stepped forward.
"I am."
A pause.
The voice outside became slightly colder.
"Open the door."
Li Feng looked at the broken frame.
"It's already open."
Silence.
Then the figure stepped inside.
He wore black-grey robes with a single vertical silver line running down the chest—different from both outer and normal inner disciples.
His presence pressed into the room the moment he entered.
Not aggressively.
Naturally.
Like gravity increasing by a fraction.
His eyes scanned the broken interior, the collapsed wall, and finally Li Feng.
"You don't look like much," he said.
Li Feng studied him in return.
This was the first person since his awakening who didn't show immediate confusion or panic.
Control.
Experience.
The hunter stepped forward once.
"You crippled Zhao Kun. Then erased three enforcement disciples."
Li Feng nodded slightly.
"They attacked me."
The hunter's expression didn't change.
"That is irrelevant."
He raised his hand slightly.
A thin ripple of spiritual energy formed around his fingers.
"You will come with me. Alive, if possible."
Li Feng tilted his head slightly.
"If I refuse?"
A faint silence.
Then—
"Then you will be treated as a hostile anomaly."
The air tightened.
Li Feng felt it immediately.
This wasn't like the others.
This man didn't rely on brute force Qi bursts or unstable techniques.
His energy was compressed.
Refined.
Structured.
The system reacted.
[Warning: Target combat structure significantly superior to previous encounters.]
Li Feng exhaled slowly.
So this is what "real" inner sect looks like.
Interesting.
The hunter moved.
No warning.
No buildup.
Just action.
In an instant, he closed the distance.
A strike aimed at Li Feng's shoulder—not to kill, but to disable.
But Li Feng didn't try to block.
He stepped sideways.
Wind perception activated fully.
The movement wasn't seen.
It was understood.
The attack passed where his body had been.
The hunter's eyes narrowed slightly.
"…Predictive movement?"
Li Feng didn't answer.
He reached out.
Contact.
For a split second, the hunter's expression changed.
Not fear.
Recognition of something abnormal.
"Don't—"
Too late.
[Consumption Initiated.]
A sharp pulse of distortion spread between them.
But this time—
It didn't work cleanly.
The hunter's Qi resisted.
Not like the others.
It stabilized against collapse.
Li Feng felt it immediately.
The structure was reinforced.
Layered.
Anchored.
"Interesting," Li Feng said quietly.
The hunter pulled back instantly, breaking contact.
His arm trembled slightly.
"So that's your ability…"
His voice lowered.
"Devouring cultivation itself."
Li Feng didn't deny it.
The hunter took a slow breath.
Then he smiled faintly.
Not fear.
Not panic.
Recognition.
"You are not a disciple."
He shifted stance.
"You are a deviation."
The air around him changed.
His Qi condensed outward—not chaotic, but controlled like a sealed blade being unsheathed.
Li Feng felt it.
Danger increasing.
Not because of raw power.
But because the structure was adapting.
The hunter spoke once more.
"I will report you… after I confirm what you are."
Then he moved again.
This time slower.
Deliberate.
Measured.
The ground beneath his feet cracked slightly as his technique stabilized.
Li Feng raised his hand.
Wind perception sharpened.
Everything slowed in his perception—not time itself, but information density.
He saw it now.
This was not just an attack.
It was a sealing sequence.
If it landed, his movement would be restricted.
His system flickered.
[High-risk suppression technique detected.]
Li Feng stepped forward instead of back.
And met him halfway.
The moment they collided, the hut's remaining structure gave way completely.
Wood exploded outward.
Dust filled the air.
Inside the chaos, two forces clashed—one refining, one dismantling.
The hunter's voice came through the dust.
"You adapt quickly."
Li Feng replied calmly.
"So do you."
A brief pause.
Then—
A faint pressure spike.
The hunter's tone dropped.
"Let's see how you handle this."
Outside the collapsing hut, sect bells rang louder.
This was no longer an incident.
It was becoming a threat classification event.
And deep within the sect's higher halls, someone finally opened their eyes.