A monster moved in the halls of the sect, her steps were silent but every footfall had weight to it, the tips of her claws left small indents on the wooden floor slowly hunting for her prey. Any other time such an occurrence would have thrown the whole sect in an uproar but tonight was a special night. Instead of a moon, a large glowing eye hung on the sky emitting titanic amounts of essence across the whole realm, those at the foundation realm or above thought it to be an auspicious event and went into deep meditation, everyone at essence refining or below found it hard to breathe as the essence flooded every inch of their bodies.

An old man, the keeper of the sect treasury was of the foundation realm and so he too went into meditation to hopefully gain some progress. No such luck, there was so much gunk in his essence channels that even such thick essence could not accumulate fast enough for his soul to refine it before the accursed resource melded into his regular essence. In exchange, however, a very tiny fraction of the gunk got purified. This only made him more frustrated, at the rate he was going, it would take at least a decade before his essence got completely purified and he was certain he did not have a decade left to live. So he focused on his other project, a trap to lure that cauldron out from that young brat everybody keeps heralding as the next god and into his more deserving arms. He would give the boy at least that much whatever cultivation he was fucking around with sure made good cauldrons and even made that bitch into a cultivator.

Cauldrons were a quick and easy thing to dump essence into, which included the impure essence as well. He had been doing it for years but his cultivation method as strong as it was collected impurities too quickly and he was too ingrained in it to change now. All that no longer mattered, the boy had found a girl with dragon blood with the highest purity he had ever seen and he was very sensitive to these things.

If history repeated, however, that cauldron too would become a cultivator and thus out of his reach so he needed to move quickly. He was scratching down the last symbols of his array, his arms transformed into the arms of a mantis as he used the razor-sharp to delicately finish it. He loved his transformations, it gave him an edge in combat nobody saw coming and the whole reason for his high status. But it was a blessing and a curse, his cultivation method gave him bestial aspects and transformations but at the same time, it made his essence a lot like theirs. Monster essence was horrible at purifying their essence instead relying on their monster core to do the job for them. When he first started cultivation he did not know and combined with monster cores generously but he never realized the cumulation of impurity before it was too late. Though he was considered the top prodigy during his time, now even as an old man he was unable to breakthrough into the Qi condensation realm.

All hope was not lost, dragon essence was well known for its ability to destroy impurity and one with that essence had fallen into his lap. His old withered son might not be up for the job but there were piles of pills designed to fix that. Dual cultivation was always beneath him, he felt it to be short cut and shortcuts always had drawbacks, sure he partook because it was a tradition at the sect but he could count those on one hand.

His mind was so consumed by a dragon that he did not see the irony and hypocrisy in his thoughts. To him what he was doing was just, after all, cultivation was the purpose of a cultivator, and anything that progressed was worth it, especially if he had no other options. This was the madness that was a cultivator, and the old man in question did not realize a part of the reason was not even his fault but something the very realm was making him do.

The other thing he had prepared was a soul artifact. Making it had taken a majority of his resources but it was the least he could do for the brat. He was no evil cultivator and if he used his things without permission and even damaged the least he could is give something back as recompense, even if he hated the boy's guts. He was a four-star smith and making a soul artifact was something he could though it came at great costs. This was an object even the heavens envied and he was sure if he gave it as an offering the brat would surely agree, and if not because everyone in the sect knew despite his genius the brat had a few herbs short of a pill, he would trap the girl do the did and use the artifact as a peace offering, the sect would be on is side as a soul artifact was worth multitudes more than the even most expensive cauldron.

This man was not evil, the fact that he was willing to compensate with something so valuable and not just hide the fact was proof enough, but like every other cultivator in this realm, his view was twisted and if the 'regular' channels did not suit him he was willing to go a much darker path.

Maybe if the old man was shown a better way, he could change and Simon himself had many ways he could help the old man. But sadly such a future would not come to pass because as stood up from placing down his contingency special array to trap the girl, something tapped his shoulder.

"Hello."

This would be the last voice the man would ever hear.