Episode 2

Night fell quickly. After finishing every last chore — washing another round of laundry, scrubbing the dormitory floors, preparing dinner for the inner disciples — Lin Feng finally made his way to the lower library.

Blue Cloud Sword Academy had three tiers of library. The upper level was reserved for core disciples and Elders, housing advanced cultivation manuals and the academy's secret techniques. The middle level served inner disciples, stocked with intermediate manuals and general knowledge. The lower level was for servants and outer disciples — nothing but basic texts and outdated manuals that no one cared about.

Lin Feng knew every corner of the lower library by heart. Every night, when no one was looking, he'd steal time to read. Basic cultivation manuals, qi theory, the history of the cultivation world — anything that might deepen his understanding, even if he could never put it into practice.

Tonight, the library was utterly empty. Spirit stone lanterns cast a dim glow across the shelves. Lin Feng began sweeping with a broom and feather duster, but his mind drifted elsewhere.

Chaotic Spiritual Root. That was the name for his condition. In the cultivation world, everyone was born with an affinity for one or more elements — Fire, Water, Earth, Metal, Wood, Lightning, Wind, Light, or Shadow. This affinity determined what kind of cultivation suited them.

But Lin Feng? His spiritual core was a chaotic vortex that rejected every element at once. Any qi he tried to absorb would scatter and vanish instantly. No matter how many times he attempted it, the result was always the same.

"Failure," he muttered as he swept. "Always failure."

Lost in thought, he swung the broom too wide and clipped a stack of old books in the corner. They toppled and scattered, one of them slamming into the ancient wooden shelf behind it.

A sharp crack split the air.

The shelf splintered and collapsed, revealing something strange — the wall behind it showed the outline of what looked like a door.

Lin Feng froze. His pulse quickened. He'd been cleaning this library for ten years. He'd never known there was a hidden door here.

He should report this to the Elders. He knew that. But "should" had never been enough to overpower Lin Feng's curiosity.

With trembling hands, he pushed the door open wider. Behind it was an old wooden door layered with an illusion formation that had long since faded — which was why he could see it now.

Beyond that door, a stone staircase descended into darkness. The air rising from below was cold and stale, as if nothing had disturbed it for centuries. Lin Feng grabbed one of the spirit stone lanterns and began his descent.

Each footstep echoed through the narrow passage. The staircase went on and on. By now he had to be far beneath the library — far beneath the academy itself.

At last, the stairs ended at a circular chamber. And at its center stood an altar.

Lin Feng raised the lantern higher. The altar was carved from black jade, etched with nine dragons coiled around one another. Each dragon was different — one wreathed in lightning, one in fire, one in water, and so on.

And in the center of those nine dragons rested a scroll.

The scroll radiated light in nine distinct colors that bled together into one. Red, blue, brown, silver, white, gold, black, violet — and at the very center, a color that defied description. As if every color had merged into one, or no color existed at all.

Lin Feng stood transfixed. His feet carried him forward without permission.

*Don't,* whispered the voice of common sense. *This must be a powerful artifact. It must be under the academy's protection. Don't touch it.*

But deep within his chaotic spiritual core, something stirred. His hand rose on its own. His fingers brushed the scroll.

The world exploded.

Light of nine colors erupted from the scroll, engulfing Lin Feng completely. He tried to scream, but his voice drowned in a deafening roar.

Unimaginable energy poured into his spiritual core. And for the first time in his life, Lin Feng felt qi.

Not one type of qi — nine, flowing through him in perfect harmony.

Lightning that annihilates.

Fire that consumes.

Water that flows.

Earth that endures.

Wind that roams free.

Light that purifies.

Shadow that conceals.

Space that bends.

And at the center of it all — Chaos that unites.

Lin Feng felt as though his body would be torn apart. The energy was too vast, too overwhelming. His spiritual core couldn't possibly contain it all.

But then the impossible happened.

His Chaotic Spiritual Root — the root that had rejected every qi for as long as he'd lived — began absorbing this energy flawlessly. Like a puzzle piece finding its match at last. Like a key sliding into the lock it was made for.

The colors of qi swirled within his spiritual core, spinning, dancing, merging. Slowly, the chaotic vortex transformed — became something beautiful.

An ancient voice resonated through his mind, emanating from the scroll that had now fused with his soul.

*"The bearer of the Chaos Dragon Scroll has arrived. True heir to the Nine Dragon Orchestration. Listen well, young one, for I will reveal to you a truth buried for a thousand years..."*

But before the voice could continue, Lin Feng's consciousness faded to black.

He woke with a splitting headache.

He lay on the cold stone floor of the altar chamber, the spirit stone lantern still glowing beside him. How long had he been out? An hour? Two? *Please don't let it be morning already...*

He sat up slowly and turned his attention inward. What he found made him gasp.

Inside his dantian, something spun — slowly, steadily, alive. It was qi.

Lin Feng closed his eyes and focused. What he saw took his breath away.

Within his dantian was a small vortex of nine colors spinning in perfect harmony. Each color represented one element, and they all orbited a center of chaos.

"I... I can finally cultivate?" Joy blazed across Lin Feng's face.

He laughed — his first real laugh in years.

Ten years. Ten years of suffering. Ten years of scorn. And now, with the scroll merged into his soul, knowledge unfurled in his mind like a book opening itself.

*The Nine Dragon Orchestration. The supreme cultivation technique, created by the nine founders three thousand years ago. Split into nine scrolls to prevent its abuse. You have found the Chaos Dragon Scroll — the master scroll, capable of replicating and harmonizing the other eight.*

*But be warned, bearer of Chaos. Collecting all the scrolls will unlock a truth you may not be ready to face. The truth of why Heaven placed limits on cultivators. The truth of the price of true power.*

*And when that truth is revealed, you must choose: power for yourself — or sacrifice for the world.*

Lin Feng swallowed hard. The weight of those words pressed down on him.

But then he remembered his family's faces. The blood pooling across the floor of his childhood home. The masked cultivators who slaughtered them without mercy.

If this scroll could give him the strength to find those killers — if it could give him the power to avenge his family — then no danger ahead would stop him.

Lin Feng stood. He looked at the empty altar one last time, then turned and climbed the stairs.

His plan was already taking shape. He had to keep this secret. He had to keep pretending to be the worthless trash servant everyone believed him to be. He had to train in silence, growing stronger until he could withstand the attention that would inevitably come.

Because Lin Feng understood the cultivation world's one unbreakable law: power was everything. And the moment people learned he had it, they would come for him.

For the first time in ten years, Lin Feng had real hope. Not the paper-thin hope that had disappointed him time and again — but something solid. Something he could hold. Something he could make real.

Lin Feng smiled.

*Wait for me,* he whispered. *Wait for me, Father. Mother. Xiao Yue. I swear I'll find the ones who killed you. I swear I'll have my revenge. And this time — I have the power to keep that promise.*