Chapter 24 – The Living Ink

Lin Yue’s boots clicked against the stone path leading to Ink House. The bloated moon stretched dark silhouettes across Blackspire’s grounds, twisting ancient trees and walls into grotesque shapes.

“Too many souls give me indigestion.” Shadow drooped beside her. “Need sleep.”

“Shut up.” Lin Yue slipped through the massive doors into the Ink House’s pavilion. Ink and ancient paper filled her nose—the signature scent of demonic calligraphy. “Someone might hear you.”

“I told you no one can see me. I’m dying.” Shadow twisted dramatically. “First that creepy wrapped thing Darin, then all that running. A divine dragon needs proper rest.”

“You’re the furthest thing from divine I’ve ever encountered.” Lin Yue padded across the wooden floor toward the central pavilion’s staircase. The hall toward it felt longer than usual. Blue spirit-flame lanterns cast eerie light through empty halls.

Ice shot down her spine. The temperature plummeted until her breath fogged. Something heavy suddenly pressed against her skin, making the hairs on her neck rise.

Shadow’s complaints cut off. He trembled once before diving into her tattoos. The black ink rippled as he burrowed deeper beneath her skin.

“What is it?” Lin Yue whispered.

The ink on her skin only trembled harder.

The spiritual pressure transformed the familiar corridor into an alien landscape. Each shadow deepened into infinite pools of darkness that watched—waited. Lin Yue’s fingers brushed her knife handle.

“Don’t move. Don’t speak. Don’t breathe.” Shadow’s whisper barely registered against her skin.

The black mass coalesced into Master Ruixian’s form, his robes absorbing the blue spirit-flame light. His outline blurred and shifted like fresh calligraphy still wet on the page. Otherworldly power blazed in his eyes, sending Lin Yue’s meridians into screaming recognition.

The pressure doubled. Tripled. Lin Yue’s legs shook under the crushing weight. Her joints cracked as invisible force pressed down on her shoulders. Despite straining every muscle, her knees slammed against the wooden floor.

“My construct in the demon market.” Master Ruixian’s words sliced through the suffocating darkness. “Someone destroyed it quite spectacularly.”

The black ink patterns in the air rippled.

“Would you happen to know anything about that?” Master Ruixian stepped forward. His eyes blazed with centuries of accumulated power—the kind that could rewrite reality with a single brush stroke.

Lin Yue’s lungs struggled against the thickening air. Each breath felt like inhaling liquid iron. Shadow’s earlier warning echoed in her mind: Don’t move. Don’t speak. Don’t breathe.

“I witnessed the explosion.” Master Ruixian’s words dripped venom into the suffocating air. “Quite impressive for an untrained outer disciple.”

Why was he even paying attention to her? She had nothing, not yet. Why was he wasting time with her? She needed to understand that, or there would never be a way out of this trap.

“Someone who interferes with my work must be either brave or foolish,” Master Ruixian said. “Speak.”

Her meridians burned and dark spots danced at the edges of her vision. “I just returned to the sect.” Lin Yue fought to keep her voice steady. Sweat beaded on her forehead. “Perhaps another disciple might know something?”

Shadow whimpered from her tattoo—a tiny sound that rippled through her skin.

“I needed cultivation supplies.” The words came in a ragged gasp. “Spirit stones. For training.”

The darkness around Master Ruixian thickened. His spiritual pressure bore down like an ocean of ink, threatening to drown her. The shadows along the walls reached toward her with hungry tendrils, writhing like freshly painted calligraphy come alive.

Panic clawed at her. “I did it.” The words scraped past her throat. “Your construct attacked me in the market. I used an explosive talisman when it tried to kill me.”

The pressure released all at once. She took a deep guip of air.

Dark laughter echoed through the corridor.

“Very good.” Master Ruixian’s tone shifted to something deceptively casual. “I’ve watched your progress. This encounter was arranged.”

Lin Yue’s newly opened meridians throbbed. “The construct was a test?”

“A simple shadow construct.” Master Ruixian gestured. The darkness rippled around him like eager servants. “Programmed to detect unauthorized movement and eliminate escape attempts.”

“It tried to kill me.” Blood pounded in Lin Yue’s ears.

“Yet here you stand.” Master Ruixian’s approval sliced through the darkness. “No combat training. No advanced talismans. Just quick thinking and an explosive array that should have failed.”

Shadow stirred beneath Lin Yue’s skin. His ethereal head emerged near her neck. The movement drew Master Ruixian’s attention. His eyes tracked the spectral dragon, studying the black tattoos that writhed across Lin Yue’s skin.

The moment of silence was agonizing, but finally Master Ruixian reached into his sleeve. A jade pendant emerged, dangling from a black silk cord. Inner light pulsed from within the stone, pushing against the oppressive darkness of the corridor.

She stared at the intricate ink patterns carved into the jade. Ancient characters spiraled across its surface, refusing to stay still. Black ink filled each groove, radiating spiritual power that made her newly opened meridians hum.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“This is a personal disciple mark.” Master Ruixian held the pendant between them. “The patterns bind master and student—a tradition from our sect’s founding. Such recognition is rare. It grants privileges, but demands heavy responsibilities.”

Master Ruixian raised his hands, fingers curved in an intricate pattern. “Channel qi like this. Follow the ancient scripts precisely. It will alert me.”

Lin Yue studied each deliberate movement. The pendant swayed between them, its jade surface catching the dim spirit-flame light.

“One mistake will trigger the binding arrays.” Master Ruixian’s qi flowed into the pendant. “The consequences would be... severe.”

He tossed it at her and she barely had the mind to catch it. The silk was soft, but the qi radiating from the jade pulsed with her heart.

“Let us discuss the price of misusing this privilege,” Master Ruixian said. “Previous disciples thought themselves clever. They believed rules existed for others.”

He reached out and ink flowed out of he sleeves to take several demonic shadow forms, red eyes and mouths flaring in the dark hall. The edges of the constructs flowed in a haze.

At the very edge of Lin Yue’s hearing she thought she could hear agonized screaming.

“I rendered them into pure ink.” His fingers sketched another symbol. “Their consciousness remain intact—aware of every moment. Years spent flowing through brushes, marking papers, serving as tools for their betters.”

Lin Yue’s stomach churned. The thought of existing as nothing but liquid consciousness made her newly opened meridians contract. Shadow’s terror pulsed through her tattoos in waves of cold energy.

Master Ruixian gestured to the pendant in her hand. “This mark grants protection from the other elders. When properly displayed, they must acknowledge they have business with me, and not you.”

Master Ruixian tapped his bottom lip. “Discretion. Your survival depends on understanding the deeper currents within our sect. I have a task for you, though you aren’t ready to complete it. You need to reach Qi Gathering… before the end of the year.”

Lin Yue let out a held breath. That was… that was less than three months!

“Move carefully, but swiftly.” Master Ruixian’s outline blurred at the edges. “Poor judgment carries consequences beyond mere death.”

Black qi swirled around his form like fresh ink dropped in water. The oppressive darkness receded as his form winked out. Spirit-flames flickered back to life, casting blue light across the wooden floor.

Lin Yue felt like falling over, and her legs felt weak, like she wouldn’t be able to get up off her knees.

“That.” Shadow emerged from her shoulder and floated. “Is going to give me indigestion.”

Lin Yue swatted at him. The spectral dragon circled her with uncharacteristic nervousness, his usual dramatics replaced by genuine fear.

Silence stretched. The jade pendant pulsed against her palm.

What did he really want from her? Why the elaborate hocus pocus? If he needed something from her, why didn’t he just take it? Why conscript her, and why give her the trinket?

The Ink House manuals had confirmed that Master Ruixian was the highest elder and leader of Ink House, but why would he bother paying attention to a mortal brought to him by Shadow? A simple outer disciple with no backing or use?

Why, why, why?

“We shouldn’t linger,” Shadow whispered.

Lin Yue pressed herself up off the floor. Her legs shook, but she made it to the stairwell and up the flights of stairs to her room. The dark jade pendant pulsed along with the rythmn of her breath.

It felt like a weight tied around her neck, pulling her down—or perhaps a blade waiting to fall and take her head.

The door opened with the press of her palm.

Xue slept soundly in their shared bed, curled under the blankets.

The click of the door shutting didn’t bring comfort.

Shadow twisted in the air. “He’s watching. Always watching.”

“Get out of my head,” Lin Yue muttered. “Your paranoia gives me a headache.”

“Paranoia keeps you alive.” Shadow coiled tighter. “I’ve seen what happens to failed disciples. Didn’t you see?”

“Enough.” Lin Yue watched Xue’s steady breathing.

She wasn’t sure wether the personal disciple mark would help or cause her problems. But it was clear she shouldn’t broadcast it.

It wasn’t worth the reminder of the leash around her neck. Or, well, the red ink brand that floated on her arm.

Qi Gathering in three months? She hadn’t even had her first lesson…

Ugh.

If she had been charging ahead blindly as fast as she could, now it felt like she needed to jump off a cliff to keep the pace.

It all came down to power.

Power meant everything in this world—and right now, she needed more of it. Wu Lan’s support hinged on proving the food venture viable, but even if that failed, Shadow could help her steal from the Tree of Inked Souls. Less meditation skill seemed worth the trade for raw spiritual power for her stones.

She rifled through her pack of ingredients. Flameheart and deadgrass packages crackled between her fingers as she sorted them into piles.

The small amount of dried rice and small bag of sugar would make a simple staple. Refined sugar was a luxury, almost wasted on the plain rice, but it would help hide any off taste.

The big test would be the affects of the drugs. Cultivators might ignore normal food, but with the right additions...

If they worked then the better food would just be a bonus.

“You’re planning something stupid.” Shadow coiled around her shoulders. “I can taste it.”

“Shut up.” Lin Yue measured portions of deadgrass into a seperate bowl. “We need test subjects.”

Shadow’s ethereal form twisted toward the door. “The tree would be easier. Safer.”

Lin Yue sorted out different dosages. She knew how much a normal person would consume, but what about a cultivator? She multipled it by ten for a start. “Xia Rou’s been suspiciously absent. Aren’t guides supposed to help new disciples?”

“Ah.” Shadow’s red eyes gleamed. “And she won’t know what’s in the food.”

“Exactly.” Lin Yue stroked her sleeve. “Time to be a good junior sister and share some treats.”