The spiritual pressure lifted as suddenly as it had appeared, leaving us all gasping for breath. My legs nearly gave out as I slumped against the wall. I could feel my heart pounding as if I'd just run up Azure Peak without using qi. Even breathing felt like an accomplishment.

"Everyone okay?" I managed to ask between breaths.

Wei Lin was already pushing himself up from where he'd been bracing against the table, his hands still shook slightly as he straightened his robes. "I'm fine. Lin Mei?"

She nodded from her position on the floor, her face pale as she gathered herself. "That was... intense."

Liu Chen hadn't moved from his spot against the wall, his eyes wide and unfocused. I made my way over to him on unsteady legs, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Hey buddy, you with us?"

He jumped at the contact but then seemed to come back to himself. "What... what was that?" His voice was barely a whisper.

"That," Wei Lin said, finally regaining some of his usual composure, "was the Way Station Guardian making their presence known."

"Guardian?" Liu Chen's brow furrowed in confusion. "Like Rocky?"

"Not exactly," Wei Lin smiled slightly. "Each major Way Station has a Stellar Realm cultivator assigned as its guardian. They usually stay hidden, only revealing themselves when something serious happens."

"Like murder," Lin Mei added quietly.

"Only if the victim is important enough," Wei Lin corrected. "The Xiao clan must have demanded action. A young master being killed in such a manner... it's a huge loss of face. They'd want an immediate response."

"But why..." Liu Chen swallowed hard, then tried again. "Why did it feel so... scary?"

"That wasn't meant to frighten us," Wei Lin explained, though his tone suggested he hadn't found it particularly pleasant either. "It was a searching technique - extremely powerful but very precisely controlled. Notice how none of us were actually harmed?"

Now that he mentioned it, while the pressure had been overwhelming, it hadn't caused any real damage. Even my meridians felt fine, just a bit... rattled.

"The Guardian was looking for something specific," Wei Lin continued. "Probably traces of demonic cultivation or other forbidden techniques. That kind of spiritual pressure would break through most concealment methods."

"So, they're hunting the killer?" Liu Chen asked, finally peeling himself away from the wall. He retrieved his practice sword from where it had fallen, clutching it like a security blanket.

"That's the idea," Wei Lin nodded. "Anyone using techniques to hide their true nature would have been exposed."

Lin Mei, who had been quiet for a while, spoke up. "The Xiao clan must have quite a bit of influence to make a Stellar Realm cultivator act so quickly."

"Of course they do," Wei Lin snorted. "Why do you think Xiao Feng acted so arrogantly? When your family can command that kind of power..."

He trailed off, perhaps remembering that Xiao Feng's arrogance hadn't saved him in the end.

We spent the next half hour trying to recover our composure. Wei Lin paced by the window, occasionally glancing outside as if expecting to see something. Lin Mei had pulled out some kind of spiritual herb that helped calm nerves, sharing it between us. Even Liu Chen seemed to relax a bit after chewing on the bitter leaves.

I was just starting to think we might be stuck in lockdown all day when a knock on the door made us all jump.

"Azure Peak disciples?" A guard's voice called through the wood. "The lockdown has been lifted. The culprit has been apprehended."

We exchanged glances. That seemed... fast.

"Already?" Wei Lin voiced what we were all thinking.

"The Guardian wishes all guests to vacate the premises for a thorough cleansing of the grounds," the guard continued. "Please gather your belongings and prepare to depart within the hour."

"Well," Lin Mei said after the guard's footsteps had faded, "that was..."

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"Convenient," I finished, frowning.

If they'd really caught Li Yuan - assuming it was him - why would they want everyone to leave? Wouldn't they want witnesses to see justice being served?

"We should see what's happening," Wei Lin suggested, already moving to gather his things. "This could be important."

He didn't need to elaborate. Information was currency in the cultivation world, and anything involving a Stellar Realm guardian was worth knowing about.

We quickly packed our belongings, though none of us had unpacked much to begin with.

When we emerged, we found that the courtyard was crowded with other guests who were similarly evicted from their rooms. The air was full of whispered conversations and speculation.

Then I saw him - or rather, them. A group of guards were escorting a prisoner across the yard. The man was wrapped in spirit-suppressing chains that glowed with complex formations, his head bowed and his steps stumbling.

"That's Chen Wuying," Wei Lin whispered, recognition in his voice. "The Bloodhand Butcher."

The name meant nothing to me, but Lin Mei gasped. "The one who killed all those merchant families?"

Wei Lin nodded grimly. "Fifteen families in total. He'd torture them for information about their wealth, then kill them all - parents, children, even servants. He's been wanted for years."

I studied the prisoner more carefully. He certainly looked the part of a vicious killer - scarred face, muscular build, qi that radiated barely contained violence even through the suppression chains. But something felt... off.

"I didn't do this one!" Chen Wuying suddenly shouted, his voice raw with desperation. "I've killed plenty, aye, but not like this! I don't know nothing about soul-draining or formations!"

"Silence!" One of the guards struck him, the blow enhanced with qi that sent blood spraying from the prisoner's mouth.

I believed him. Not about being innocent in general - he was clearly a murderer who deserved whatever punishment he got. But this particular crime? The ritual arrangement of the body, the precise draining of spiritual energy, the complex formation work... it didn't fit the profile of a simple butcher, no matter how bloody his hands.

They'd needed a scapegoat, I realized. Someone already condemned, whose guilt or innocence in this specific case wouldn't matter because their fate was sealed anyway.

That's when I felt it - another wave of spiritual pressure, but completely different from the Guardian's overwhelming force. This was subtle, delicate, like silk sliding across skin. If I hadn't been hyper-aware after the earlier assault, I might have missed it entirely.

Inside my inner world, something unprecedented happened. The two suns, which had maintained their precise orbits since the creation of my terrain, suddenly veered off course. They dove beneath the Genesis Seed's spreading branches, their light dimming to barely visible glows.

The pressure passed over us like a gentle breeze, and I held my breath, fighting the urge to shiver. No one else seemed to notice anything unusual - they were all focused on the prisoner being dragged away.

"Azure?" I called out mentally. "Was that...?"

"Yes," he replied. "Life Realm energy, or something very close to it. The suns recognized it immediately - that's why they hid."

"Did they sense us?" The thought sent ice through my veins.

"I don't think so," Azure said after a moment. "The Genesis Seed's canopy somehow masked their energy signatures. I've never seen them react like that before."

I watched as Chen Wuying was dragged away, still protesting his innocence in this particular crime. Around us, other guests were already beginning to leave, eager to put distance between themselves and the site of a young master's murder.

"We should go," I said, touching Wei Lin’s arm lightly. "Whatever's really happening here, we don't want to be involved."

Whether Li Yuan was truly back from the dead or just a puppet dancing on someone else's strings, I wanted nothing to do with it. Let someone else play protagonist and investigate the mysteries - I had enough problems of my own.

"Wait," Liu Chen said suddenly, his voice small but urgent. "What about Rocky? He still hasn't come back."

With everything that had happened, I'd almost forgotten about the stone guardian's breakthrough.

"He should have finished by now," Lin Mei said, worry creeping into her voice. "Even a major advancement shouldn't take this long."

I exchanged glances with Wei Lin. After what we'd just witnessed - a young master killed and his spiritual energy drained, someone powerful enough to make my suns hide - leaving Rocky alone suddenly seemed like a terrible idea.

"We need to check on him," I said, already turning towards the gate. "Now."

No one argued. We quickly joined the stream of departing guests, though our pace was considerably faster than most. Liu Chen practically ran ahead of us, only Wei Lin's firm grip on his shoulder keeping him from sprinting down the road.

"He'll be fine," Lin Mei tried to reassure the boy. "Rocky's tough, remember? And who would want to hurt a stone guardian anyway?"

I wished I could share her optimism, but my mind kept circling back to that subtle wave of Life Realm energy. Someone powerful enough to manipulate souls was walking these roads. Someone who might be very interested in an elemental spirit undergoing a breakthrough.

"Master," Azure's voice was cautious, "the Genesis Seed is... agitated. The branches are moving without any wind."

That was new. The World Tree aspect of my inner world usually remained fairly static, its changes happening gradually over time. For it to show such immediate reaction...

"We need to hurry," I said, picking up my pace. The others matched my speed without question, perhaps sensing my urgency.

The road seemed longer than I remembered, each bend and turn caused Liu Chen’s face to grow progressively paler, his hands already white-knuckled around his practice sword.

Finally, we rounded the last curve that should have brought Rocky's resting place into view. Liu Chen broke free of Wei Lin's grip and ran ahead.

Then he stopped so suddenly it was as if he'd hit an invisible wall.

"No," the boy's voice cracked. "No, no, no..."

I reached him first, then froze myself.

The detection formation that Wei Lin had placed had not been trigged, yet the clearing where we had left Rocky was empty...