Meanwhile, at the Ku Hai Sect's outer compound—
"Black-market trader…" Anna murmured the four words she had heard from the enforcement team before Voss left, unease creeping into her chest.
Her gaze fell on her intact right thumb.
That faint sense of dread spread like ripples across a still lake.
Her earlier judgment hadn't been wrong—Voss wouldn't mobilize such force just to inspect food distribution.
She had a feeling.
What they were really after… was this finger.
She could no longer rely on luck and passively wait.
She had to seize the initiative—even if only a sliver of it.
Taking a deep breath, she rummaged through the Black Baron's storage pouch and pulled out several worn manuals on ritual formations.
Against a disciplined squad of Qi Refinement cultivators—and a Baron-stage Voss—her current Five Ghosts Moving Mountains Formation was nothing more than an egg thrown against a stone.
"Dragon-Sealing Gate… Veil of Cloud Mist… Heaven-Stealing Sun-Phantom…"
By dim light, she rapidly flipped through the texts, searching for formations suited for entrapment and ambush.
Time was short.
She had to turn this courtyard into her hunting ground.
This time, she abandoned the crude method of laying formations directly on the surface.
Even that half-blind old Black Baron could see through it at a glance—let alone someone like Voss.
She took out the scorching-hot storage ring and, without hesitation despite the cost, crushed handfuls of spirit stones into fine powder.
Then she crouched low.
Using her finger as a pen and spirit dust as ink, she began to draw intricate formation lines—hidden across the courtyard floor, beneath corridor shadows, even under the eaves where no one would look.
Each section was carefully covered with dirt or dust, blending seamlessly into the surroundings.
Her plan was simple:
Lay the "circuits" in advance—
Then use the power of the Divine Finger as a fuse to ignite everything at once.
She started with the familiar Five Ghosts Moving Mountains Formation, her most reliable method for suppressing spiritual energy.
Next came the far more complex Dragon-Sealing Gate.
Anna frowned, comparing the diagrams.
Her finger paused midway through a line.
Is this stroke correct? Maybe… probably… something like this?
She scratched her head, hesitating.
"Not quite."
A clear, crisp voice suddenly spoke—right behind her.
Anna's soul nearly left her body.
Her instincts reacted before her thoughts.
She rolled forward in a swift, clumsy tumble, widening the distance. At the same time, her storage pouch flashed—
A long scythe appeared in her hands.
Twisting mid-roll, she swung it backward with a sharp howl—
The blade stopped just short of its target, trembling with a low hum.
Under the moonlight, Elena stood silently where Anna had just been.
No panic on her face.
Only calm understanding.
And… curiosity?
"S-senior sister?" Anna's heart pounded violently, her voice dry with shock. "Weren't you supposed to still be unconscious…? Oh… so you were prepared all along."
The drug in the food… the "coincidences" throughout the day—
It all clicked.
Elena clearly knew something.
But how much?
"Mhm." Elena nodded, her gaze sweeping over the partially buried formation lines.
"I know everything."
"…You know every—wait, what did you just say?" Anna froze, pupils shrinking.
"I said, everything."
Elena stepped forward, completely ignoring the scythe still pointed at her.
Her tone remained calm as she listed them one by one:
"The Black Baron's death. Viscount Goldrich's letters and profit chain. Your ability to turn spirit stone powder into ritual formations…"
"And even what Voss said to you outside earlier—about deliberately destroying your core."
Every word struck like a hammer.
Anna's grip on the scythe trembled.
A chill crept up her spine.
This seemingly weak junior—who had only been in the sect for two months—had quietly uncovered all her deepest secrets.
"…Since you know everything," Anna's voice turned cold, guarded, "then you should understand what's about to happen. This place will soon become a battlefield."
"Why haven't you run?"
Elena met her gaze.
The timid softness in her eyes was gone.
In its place—clarity and unwavering resolve.
"I want to help you."
Four simple words.
Yet they struck Anna harder than anything else.
Help her?
Since her mother died, all she had ever received were orders, scolding, exploitation, and schemes.
"Help you"—
That was something she had almost forgotten existed.
But reason quickly suppressed that flicker of emotion.
"Help me?" Anna hardened her tone. "You've only been cultivating for two months. Barely at servant level. What can you possibly do? Stop talking nonsense—leave while you still can!"
Elena neither argued nor left.
She simply crouched down again.
With delicate fingers, she brushed away the dirt covering Anna's incorrect formation line.
Then, dipping into spirit powder, she redrew it—smooth, precise, flawless.
Within a few breaths, the awkward, broken pattern became seamless, resonating faintly with the surrounding lines.
"Hmm… that looks much better."
Van Helsing's voice commented lazily in Anna's mind.
"You… you knew it was wrong and didn't tell me?" Anna complained internally, instinctively switching to a more respectful tone.
After all, she still needed his power.
"Tell you?" Van Helsing sounded innocently indifferent. "I don't need to draw formations myself."
To him, formations were just game mechanics—click to cast, click to place.
Who paid attention to the details?
Except obsessive theorycrafters.
Anna fell silent.
But compared to him—
Elena, who had only cultivated for two months yet handled complex formations with ease—
Was far more terrifying.
"You're wondering why I know all this?" Elena said, as if reading her thoughts.
Instead of answering, she asked:
"Senior sister, don't you find it strange? Why does the Ku Hai Sect maintain a large-scale protective formation over even remote towns like this?"
"What's strange about that?" Anna frowned. "To defend against external enemies."
"In the past century, has any enemy attacked a place like this?"
Elena shook her head.
"What does happen regularly… is the famine. Every twenty years. Like clockwork."
"And Viscount Goldrich profits from it."
Anna's heart skipped.
A terrifying thought surfaced—
"No. That's impossible!" she blurted. "If the sect created the famine, why distribute relief grain? That makes no sense!"
"I don't know the full truth," Elena said quietly, finishing the last formation line.
A faint pulse rippled beneath the courtyard.
"But I will find out."
Her eyes were clear. Unyielding.
"I'll uncover what really lies behind the disaster that took my parents."
Her voice was soft—
But resolute as iron.
Anna froze.
Looking at that burning determination, she finally understood.
Why Elena stayed.
Why she stepped into this danger.
If her suspicion was true—
Then both of them…
Were victims of something far greater.
"…Fine," Anna said softly. "I hope you find your truth."
She stepped forward, gently pushing Elena toward the gate.
"You've helped me. I owe you. But what comes next is beyond you. Leave."
"I can help maintain the formation!" Elena insisted.
"No. Go."
Anna's tone turned firm.
She shoved a pouch into Elena's arms—transferring part of the spirit stones from the ring.
"Take it. Don't come back."
The gate creaked shut.
Anna leaned against it, staring up at the narrow slice of night sky.
The air already felt heavy with impending bloodshed.
She took a deep breath.
Preparing for the storm.
Then—
"Are you sure you don't need me?"
A head suddenly squeezed back through the not-quite-closed door—
Wearing an innocent, stubborn expression.