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Chapter 8: The First Refusal
The night was quiet.
Too quiet.
Even the wind held its breath as Yan Xue sat alone beneath the plum blossom tree in the courtyard of the Tianyu Sect. His cultivation robes were slightly loose, hair unbound, and his eyes reflected a mind burdened with failure.
He stared up at the stars.
They did not blink back.
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The Arrival
There was no ripple.
No tremor.
No spatial distortion.
Just a soft flutter, like silk brushing stone.
When Yan Xue looked down, it was there:
A single black lotus leaf.
Delicate. Warm to the touch.
Its surface inked with elegant crimson calligraphy:
"The Sutra of the Blooming Void beckons."
His heart skipped.
The name. He knew it. Everyone knew it now.
Even remote sects like Tianyu had received the Divine Court's ban.
"None shall answer the Silk Lotus Sect's call."
And yet, it was here.
Right in front of him.
The Pamphlet.
Despite himself, he read the first few lines:
Only men may enter.
You will be reshaped into a beauty—refined, perfected.
You shall dual cultivate only with the Sect Master.
All love, all duty, all past… must be shed.
In return… power, unimaginable.
He felt it.
A whisper—not in his ear, but in his bones.
A promise of freedom.
Of blooming potential.
Of ascension without shackles.
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He stood up suddenly, teeth clenched.
"No."
"I'm no deviant."
He threw the pamphlet into the dirt, hand trembling in anger at himself for being momentarily shaken by the promise of power.
"I'm not weak enough to fall for this."
He turned away.
"I have a path. I have righteousness. I have…"
"Li Mei."
His love.
His fiancée. Kind. Loyal. She brought him tea during night cultivation. Helped bind his meridians when he failed to stabilize them.
He would marry her in three months. The sect elders had already approved it. Their future was sealed in duty and virtue.
"I am not… that kind of man."
He walked back to his room.
Never once turning around.
Never noticing that the pamphlet had not burned, nor decayed.
It remained.
Lying in the grass.
Glowing faintly.
Patiently.
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The Sutra Waits.
Because it did not need to seduce him yet.
Not when he was already so close to despair.
Not when he had already looked.
Not when, in the back of his mind, a quiet voice now whispered:
"What if it's true?"
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