The subtle crack on Lin Xueru’s crystalline coffin remained, an almost invisible flaw that Liu Jin monitored with relentless precision. Two weeks had passed since his trial, two weeks since he had been branded the Azure Sect’s ‘Frost Blade’. Each day brought new directives from the Council, each night a silent vigil over Xueru. He stood, an unmoving sentinel, in the perpetually cold corner of the infirmary, the crystalline scroll beside Xueru humming with the steady flow of his Qi.
His awareness, sharpened by the Sutra, encompassed the entirety of the sect. He registered the heightened security around Xueru’s chamber, the frequent patrols, the subtle shifts in the Elders’ Qi signatures as they passed by, monitoring him. Variables accounted for. No threats to primary objective detected wit
