Dawn broke in pale silver over the Feilun Sect.
The central courtyard—once a place of ceremony, of sparring, of youthful laughter—lay still in the early morning mist.
The carved stone tiles shimmered faintly with dew, and the air was thick with silence too heavy for the hour.
Tian Shen knelt near the leyline convergence point, his palm pressed flat to the ground.
Elder Su stood behind him, her foot lightly tapping the stone at her side, marking slow intervals as her spiritual sense swept across the space.
"There."
Tian Shen said quietly, his fingers brushing the barely-visible edge of an old formation glyph.
"This symbol... it's shifted."
Elder Su narrowed her eyes.
"It should align with the west one. But now it tilts... southeast."
She reached down, touching the glyph herself. Her expression darkened.
"That's not accidental. They're deliberately siphoning energy."
"To where?"
Elder Su's lips thinned.
"That's the puzzle."
