Chapter 41 – Shadows in the Sect

  Akari could feel it.

  The watchful eyes of the sect.

  Disciples who once ignored her now whispered behind her back. Elders who had never acknowledged her now observed her with cautious glances.

  She wasn’t just another cultivator anymore.

  She was a subject of suspicion.

  And she couldn’t blame them.

  Even she didn’t fully understand what had changed within her after opening the Seventh Gate.

  Her qi no longer flowed like before. It felt… alive. As if something else resided within her, waiting, watching, lurking beneath the surface.

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  She clenched her fist.

  She wouldn’t let it control her.

  No matter what.

  ---

  The Restriction Seal

  By noon, an elder arrived at her courtyard.

  Elder Renshu.

  His long, dark robes billowed as he approached, his expression as cold as ever. "By order of the Sect Master, you will wear a restriction seal."

  Akari stiffened.

  A restriction seal. A powerful talisman placed on a cultivator to suppress unstable energy.

  A shackle.

  “I am in control,” she said, keeping her voice calm.

  Renshu didn’t waver. “This is not a request.”

  Tsubaki shifted uneasily on Akari’s shoulder, her golden eyes narrowing.

  Akari exhaled slowly. If she refused, it would only escalate things.

  She extended her hand.

  The elder pressed a glowing talisman against her wrist.

  Burning pain.

  Akari bit the inside of her cheek as the seal embedded itself into her skin, its intricate symbols pulsing with golden light.

  Instantly, she felt it—

  Her qi had been restrained.

  Like a chain wrapped around her soul.

  Renshu studied her reaction. “This is for your own good.”

  Akari said nothing.

  She could still feel the power of the Seventh Gate beneath the seal—dormant, but not gone.

  They could bind her body.

  But they couldn’t bind what was inside her.

  ---

  An Ominous Warning

  That night, she sat alone in her room, staring at the restriction seal.

  Then—

  A whisper brushed against her ear.

  "You cannot suppress what has already awakened."

  Akari froze.

  The voice was not her own.

  She turned sharply—but there was no one in the room.

  Only shadows.

  A slow chill crept down her spine.

  She wasn’t alone.

  Something was here.

  Something that had come with her from beyond the Seventh Gate.

  And it was waiting.