People always think of their sect as a shelter, a way out, a pure haven beyond the mortal world. Only later did I understand that some sects are themselves a trap.
It stands at the border between light and darkness. Within its gates are fellow disciples who share each other's lives, while beyond them lie decades of unresolved cases. Outsiders fight tooth and nail to get even one step inside. Those within spend half their lives trying to escape.
The youths were drawn into the trap one by one, all in their early years.
Jiang Xichen, Fei Jie, Jiang Junchen, Huangfu Shenghua, and the other youths were brought together by fate beneath the sect's roof. They seemed to live ordinary, peaceful lives side by side, sharing the vigor of youth and easing one another's loneliness as they endured countless difficult, unsupported years of growing up. What outsiders saw was a harmonious sect, a carefree gathering of young people.
But no one is born to belong together.
This seemingly ordinary gathering of disciples was never a matter of chance. It was a deliberate arrangement from the very beginning. Their backgrounds, bonds, and old wounds were all tightly linked by an invisible thread, tied to the same buried secret and entangled with every last remnant of the ancient Tianmai scheme.
In peaceful times, they were the closest of fellow disciples. They had one another's backs, saved one another, and found a home in each other within the small confines of the sect.
But once the old scheme stirred and the undercurrents began to flow again, their loyalties, pasts, and their fathers' grudges would weigh down on them, layer by layer. The warmth of the sect was real, and so were the shackles that bound them for half their lives. It had sheltered them through the loneliness of youth, yet also driven them deep into a generational game of vengeance.
Those inside wanted to get out, to break free from the chains of fate and cast off their restraints. Those outside wanted to get in, coveting the secrets and hoping to stir up the old scheme and claim a share of the spoils.
One sect, unruly youths, bonds spanning half a lifetime, and a fate no one could escape.
When every buried secret finally came to light, they saw the truth at last: they had never been beneficiaries of the sect, but merely the pieces to enter the board last and leave the game last in this long struggle.
Theme: Those inside want to get out, while those outside want to get in.
Come on, another thing is that when typesetting, some paragraphs are too long and look a bit laborious.
Jinjiang doesn't seem to like first-person writing. The writing is good, keep up the good work~
I am the first person to comment. Big boost for the author.