NOVEL WEB Chapter 1: Chapter 1: Assignment
Third Month of 49 AT
At the exit of the Sect Assignment Pavilion of the Everlasting War Sect, a tall young man, 22 years old, walked out. Beside him, a slightly shorter 21-year-old followed closely. Both wore sect robes—one in red, inlaid with golden sword patterns, signifying higher status, while the other wore blue, embroidered with white swords.
The younger man leaned in, whispering, "I heard Fang Jun returned to his family two weeks ago, sneaking away in the middle of the night. He gave up the inner sect exam just to help his father ascend to the duke position. By now, he must have reached his ancestral lands. If not, we could have ambushed him. It's unlucky for us. If I had known about his grandfather's condition earlier, we could have planned something. Lan Wei, should we leave the assignment to the boys and sneak into Fang territory to cause chaos?"
Lan Wei paused, deep in thought, before replying in a quiet tone, "That isn't necessary. The assignment is more important than Fang Jun and his family. He lacks ambition—he can't see the bigger picture. Even if he had a hundred years, he wouldn't grasp it. Chen Yi, gather the boys and inform them that we leave before nightfall. Tell them to prepare themselves—what we'll face isn't pretty. We'll be attacking cultists."
Chen Yi hesitated, his face conflicted. Still, he nodded and turned toward the living quarters to inform the others. Sensing his unease, Lan Wei asked, "What's bothering you, my friend? Speak your mind."
Chen Yi sighed before responding, "Boss, why are we wasting time on some backwater bandit camp? There's nothing in it for us. Sure, we'll get some enchanted combat items, but the journey alone will take a month, and the return another month. Tracking the camp could take another week or two. By then, Fang Jun will be back at the sect after helping his father. You know what that means—elders will be eager to recruit him because of his father's newfound status. They'll protect him during next year's inner disciple exam. We won't be able to touch him. And once he reaches your level, with those elders backing him, he'll come for us. My parents can't contend with him and the sect elders. You have no family. Misses, although a princess, won't get help from her father—he fears a civil war. We'll be alone, isolated, and underpowered. But if we kill Fang Jun and his family now, we'll have the breathing room we need to grow within the sect and cultivate stronger. Bandits in some remote corner of the world shouldn't be our problem."
Lan Wei simply smiled. "Trust me, my friend. This is the right thing to do. Just trust me."
Chen Yi observed Lan Wei's expression for a moment, then realization dawned on him. There was something at that bandit camp—something Lan Wei wanted. Understanding that his leader wouldn't make a reckless move during such a crucial period, he nodded slowly, a smile creeping onto his own face before heading off to inform their subordinates.
Lan Wei watched him leave before turning his gaze toward the Sect Assignment Pavilion. This mission wasn't something that was assigned to him at random. He had arranged it.
A Week Earlier
Inside a secluded courtyard, a middle-ranking inner disciple named Liu Shen sat across from an older disciple, his face uncertain. The older disciple, a trusted aide of the Second Elder, chuckled as he leaned back.
"You're worried about Fang Jun?"
Liu Shen hesitated before nodding. "Fang Jun is a talented outer disciple, but his journey home isn't safe. He slipped away quietly, but there are plenty of people who'd rather see him fail than let his father claim a noble title. If he's ambushed before reaching his homeland, it'll be a disaster. The Second Elder has taken an interest in him. If something happens to Fang Jun, it could reflect poorly on all of us."
The older disciple stroked his chin. "The sect doesn't usually intervene in personal matters. What are you suggesting?"
Liu Shen frowned, struggling to voice his thoughts. "If certain individuals were occupied elsewhere, Fang Jun's journey would be much smoother. There are disciples who might want to challenge him, disrupt his path. If they were given a different focus… perhaps sent far away…"
The older disciple raised an eyebrow. "You want to assign a mission specifically to move potential threats away from Fang Jun's path? That's a bold move."
Liu Shen quickly shook his head. "Not at all! The mission must be genuine, and the selection must appear natural. However, I came across a bandit extermination request from the Lengyan Kingdom. It's far from here and involves a group of troublemakers strong enough to require skilled disciples to handle it. If a certain group were to take this mission, it would ensure they're out of the sect for months—long enough for Fang Jun to return safely and establish himself under the Second Elder's guidance."
The older disciple considered the idea, a slow smile forming on his lips. "You make a good point. Assigning strong disciples to deal with this mission would also demonstrate that the Second Elder's people take initiative in handling external threats. I'll mention it to Zhou Ping. He handles mission assignments. If he sees the logic, he'll push it through."
Liu Shen bowed. "I appreciate your guidance, Senior Brother."
Days later, Zhou Ping recommended the bandit extermination mission to the sect's mission office. Lan Wei, along with his followers, was assigned to lead it.
Neither Zhou Ping nor Liu Shen ever realized that the idea had not been their own.
The Archive
With his orders given, Lan Wei exited the assignment pavilion and made his way to the sect archives. He navigated through the vast collection of documents, searching for records dating back 50 years. His focus was on the rise and fall of the infamous Tyrant. Many of the documents had been revised or redacted over the past two to three decades, and numerous records remained restricted. Fortunately, as an inner disciple, Lan Wei had no trouble accessing them.
Tyrant had been a member of the royal family of the Lengyan Kingdom, located at the eastern edge of the continent. The kingdom possessed natural defenses—great jungles teeming with powerful beasts on two sides, and the treacherous eastern sea on another. This geography forced invading armies to attack from a single direction, creating a formidable natural barrier. While Rank 4 and above cultivators could fly over the forests, they were still vulnerable. During the Second Alliance War, 18 Rank 4 cultivators perished in an ambush attempting to infiltrate the royal palace.
Tyrant himself had been the third son of the emperor's brother, a powerful cultivator said to rival even the emperor. Some rumors suggested he had reached Rank 6, though this was widely doubted. However, Lan Wei wasn't interested in Tyrant's early years. He was far more intrigued by the latter part of his life.
After the Seventh Alliance War, Tyrant constructed a retreat palace deep in the northern forest of his kingdom. Yet, at the onset of the Ninth and final Alliance War, he personally destroyed the palace while retreating to the royal capital. Treasure hunters scoured the ruins for decades after the war but found nothing of value. Eventually, the site was abandoned and became home to the very bandits that the Everlasting War Sect had now commissioned for extermination.
The reason for Lan Wei's interest in the ruins was simple—the blood rituals.
According to reports from the local kingdom, the bandit leader was a Rank 2, third-stage cultivator who had taken nearly 4,000 children hostage during the early years of his occupation. He had performed a demonic ritual using them as sacrifices. Such rituals were not unheard of in the mortal world. Even some cultivators engaged in them to gain minor advantages in their cultivation. Over the past five years alone, Lan Wei had heard of at least 40 such rituals occurring near the surrounding kingdoms. But what caught his attention wasn't just the ritual itself—it was the location and the age of the victims.
Four years ago, during a mission in Ning Xue's kingdom, Lan Wei had met her grandfather, the former emperor who had ruled during Tyrant's era. They had bonded over their mutual boredom with palace politics and spent the day in the royal gardens, where the old man played backgammon with another elder. Lan Wei had joined them, offering strategic advice during the game. As the evening wore on, and the wine continued to flow, the former emperor became nostalgic.
He spoke of the last war. Unlike the history books, which had carefully omitted details, the old man revealed the true horrors of Tyrant's reign—blood sacrifices ranging from infants in their cribs to teenagers on the cusp of adulthood. The leaders of the Alliance had deliberately erased all traces of these rituals, fearing that another Tyrant might rise. They had destroyed every known ritual site and silenced those who had witnessed them.
The old emperor had no fear of Lan Wei revealing this secret. By then, he already viewed him as family, thanks to his relationship with Ning Xue. But Lan Wei left that conversation with more than just stories—he gained knowledge. He knew the locations of some ritual sites, the conditions required, and the benefits they bestowed. Increased Qi regeneration in battle, enhanced cultivation resource yields—these were only some of the effects. More importantly, he suspected these rituals had been part of an inheritance. The source was unknown, and the full inheritance was believed to have perished alongside Tyrant, his soul and body completely annihilated.
He quickly located a few scrolls detailing Tyrant's movements during the Ninth Alliance War. He traced the inked path with his finger, noting the confirmed locations of Tyrant's retreat palaces. The ruins he sought lay deep within the northern forests of the Lengyan Kingdom. The documents didn't provide an exact location, but they indicated a general region where Tyrant had hidden during his final years.
Lan Wei closed the scrolls and returned them to its proper place. This mission wasn't just about bandits. He had a different goal entirely.
With this information fresh in his mind, Lan Wei left the archive. As he stepped into the courtyard, he spotted Ning Xue approaching. A smile spread across his face, and in an instant, he embraced her, pulling her into a kiss. She responded, cupping his face with her hands as she kissed him back.
Ning Xue possessed the distinctive silver hair and ethereal beauty of her royal lineage, as well as an exceptional talent for Ice and Water Dao.
She released his face and spoke, "Fang Jun has returned to the kingdom. My father received word that he has started eliminating his father's political opponents. Lan Wei, what are you going to do? This can't continue."
Lan Wei sighed. "I can't act now. The second elder assigned me to a mission. I have to go to the Lengyan Kingdom to exterminate bandits. When I return, I'll deal with him."
Ning Xue frowned. "This isn't like you. You always plan ahead. How can you let him gain the dukedom unchallenged? You and I both know the second elder is an old friend of Fang Jun's father. He assigned you this mission to keep you away from this conflict. We can't let Fang Jun win so easily."
"I won't let him win," Lan Wei assured her. "Trust me. I have a plan."
She hesitated before revealing, "My father received a marriage proposal from Fang Jun's father. If his father wins the dukedom, my father will consider it—no matter what he tells me."
Lan Wei's expression darkened, but before he could speak, she pulled him in for another kiss. "I have a mission as well. I'm leaving for the Eternal Azure Sect in the Central Continent for half a year. Let's go inside before I leave."
Hours later, as they parted, Ning Xue's usually icy demeanor melted, her eyes threatening to cry. Lan Wei kissed her cold hand and then her cheek and whispered to her ear: No one can take you away from me. We are bound together for eternity.
After watching Ning Xue leave to Everlasting Azure Sect with a female elder Lan Wei turned away, finding Chen Yi and the others waiting. They were no longer in sect robes, but armored for battle. It was time to depart.