Chapter 88: Hero Energy
"Dead?" I repeated, allowing the word to hang in the air for a moment. "How?"
Lin Mei glanced nervously at Liu Chen before continuing in a lower voice. "They found him in one of the storage courtyards. It was... messy."
Wei Lin guided Liu Chen back to his bed. "Maybe you should try to get some more sleep—"
"I want to know what happened," Liu Chen protested, clutching his practice sword closer. "I'm not a baby."
I studied the boy's face – there was fear there, yes, but also a hardness in his eyes that spoke of someone who had seen worse. Whatever his past held, he probably wasn't as sheltered as Wei Lin assumed.
"Alright," I sighed, "but stay close."
Lin Mei sat down on the edge of Wei Lin's bed, twisting her hands in her lap. "From what I overheard, the guards found him about an hour ago. His body was... arranged. Like some kind of ritual."
A chill ran down my spine as I remembered the cloaked figure from earlier. "Arranged how?"
"In a spiral pattern," she whispered. "With formation marks drawn in his own blood. And his..." she swallowed hard. "His cultivation base was completely drained. Not just suppressed or broken – drained. Like someone had extracted every drop of spiritual energy from his body."