The third day brought a different kind of silence. The frantic scratching and bickering of the "Vultures" at the base of the mountain had ceased, replaced by a tension so thick it felt like the air before a lightning strike.
From the balcony of the ruined Inner Sanctum, Elena saw it: a single, glowing speck of blue light moving toward the Pavilion gates. It didn't sneak like a scavenger. It glided with the steady, arrogant confidence of a master.
"A messenger?" Elena asked, her voice raspy. She had slept for only two hours, her dreams haunted by the sound of Cain's bones snapping inside the crystal.
"No," Malakor hissed, his emerald eyes sharpening. "A scout. But one with the backing of a Great Sect. That light is the Glacial Heart Qi. He is from the Azure Frost Pavilion."
Elena felt a cold sweat break out. The Azure Frost Pavilion was a Tier-1 sect, nearly as powerful as the Heavenly Pavilion had been. If they were here, it meant the world was no longer just curious—they were testing the waters for a full-scale invasion.
"General, stay in the shadows," Elena commanded, straightening her tattered dress and trying to wipe the soot from her face. "If he sees two Shadow Generals guarding a girl, he'll know Cain is incapacitated. I have to meet him alone."
"You are a mortal," Malakor reminded her, his voice a low warning. "To him, your life is worth less than the dust on his boots."
"Then I'll make sure the dust is very, very expensive," Elena replied.
She walked down to the main courtyard, her heart hammering against her ribs. Standing at the center of the shattered plaza was a young man in robes of pale cerulean. He looked around the ruins with a smirk of pure disdain, his fingers idly playing with a jade fan that radiated a bone-chilling cold.
[Target Identified: Disciple Mu (Level 52 - Azure Frost Pavilion)]
"So," Mu said, his voice echoing in the hollow courtyard. "The great Heavenly Pavilion, reduced to a pile of rocks by a single 'Sovereign.' And where is this monster? I came to pay my respects, but all I find is... a serving girl."
Elena didn't bow. She stood ten feet away, her hands hidden in her sleeves so he couldn't see them shaking.
"The Sovereign is busy," Elena said, her voice sounding steadier than she felt. "He is refining the Dao Core of your 'neighbor,' Lord Tyrant-Sun. He does not appreciate interruptions."
Mu's smirk faltered for a fraction of a second at the mention of the Dao Core. "Refining, is he? Or is he dying under the weight of a power he couldn't control? My Sect Master felt a tremor in the ley lines last night. A tremor of weakness."
Mu took a step forward, a wave of frost spreading across the marble floor toward Elena's feet. "Move aside, girl. I wish to see the 'Monarch' for myself. If he is as strong as the rumors say, he won't mind a visitor."
Elena didn't move. The frost reached her boots, the cold biting through the thin leather.
"The last person who tried to see him without an invitation is now a shadow on that wall," Elena said, pointing toward a blackened scorch mark where a Pavilion Elder had died. "If you take another step, the Sovereign's Decree will activate. I cannot stop what happens next."
Mu hesitated. He scanned the ruins with his spiritual sense. He felt the presence of the Shadow Generals—vast, terrifying energies hidden in the periphery—but they were strangely still.
"You're bluffing," Mu hissed, though he didn't move. "I see no mana in you. You are a puppet."
"A puppet who knows where the 'Heaven-Slaying' triggers are located," Elena countered. She pulled out the leather-bound ledger, holding it up like a weapon. "The Sovereign didn't just kill the Sect Master; he took the keys to the mountain. Do you want to see if the Azure Frost can survive a mountain-collapse?"
For a long minute, the only sound was the whistling wind. Mu looked at the girl, then at the pulsing violet light coming from the High Spire, then back at the ledger. He was Level 52, but he was a scout, not a martyr.
"Tell your 'Sovereign' this," Mu said, snapping his fan shut. "The Azure Frost Pavilion does not like neighbors who keep secrets. We will return in three days with our Elders. If he does not greet us then... we will assume he is a corpse."
Mu turned and vanished in a blur of blue mist.
The moment he was gone, Elena's legs gave out. She slumped to the floor, her breath coming in ragged gasps. The frost on the ground began to melt, but her skin remained deathly pale.
"Three days," she whispered.
Malakor stepped out of the shadows, looking at the gate where the scout had vanished. "You bought us seventy-two hours, My Lady. But he is right. When the Elders come, they will not be scared by a ledger."
Elena looked up at the High Spire.
[Status: Hibernation Day 3]
[Cain's Physical Integrity: 12%. Soul-Knitting in progress.]
"Twenty-seven days left," Elena murmured. She looked at her raw, bleeding hands and then at the ledger. "We can't win a fight against Elders. We need to find something in this mountain that even a Level 70 Master is afraid of."
She stood up, her eyes burning with a desperate, human fire. "Malakor, take me to the Forbidden Archives. Not the ones for techniques—the ones for the Primordial Gate."
If Cain was the key to the gate, Elena was going to find out what happened if someone tried to pick the lock.