The wind was wrestling against the frail window of disciple Yang Yue's room when a figure flopped down from the rooftop. Previously, he was sitting among the stacked piles of reports that he had snuck inside. Now, he gazed at the familiar figure illuminated by the oil lamp next to him.

"What is the matter?" He spoke calmly.

Wan Mingyue moved to climb over the window but there was something in his hand. As he handed it over, General Gu realized that it was a bamboo wind chime. 

"Put this where the strong wind can't reach. If it rings thrice, you must meet me at the Ancient Night Library."

"What is your plan?"

"We will do what everyone does." He turned his head and looked at him from the corner of his eyes. They were full of meanings he had not yet able to decipher, "And, you will see for yourself."

-
March 11

In the morning, Hua Ning was tagging along with him to their first elemental class. The class was to be split into two but when he saw Wan Mingyue, he had a very mixed feeling in his chest.

"Elemental Mastery, it is not common. And, it is even rare to master. Those born with incredible talents are few among the millennials. Nonetheless, it is in our nature to harness the power bestowed upon us by the four gods. As a junior disciple of the Nightstone Sect, one must not disrespect. One must not lie. One must not steal. One must not kill. And, one must not slack off."

This elder was the lord of Nightstone Elemental Peak. Unlike other elders here, he was an incredibly talented man with a few words. Outside of class, of course. "I am Wan Ning of the Nightstone Elemental Peak, responsible for training your foundation core. On our first day, I shall evaluate your innate ability and talent. It is not too early to hear this...give up if you think you are incapable."

The crowd was as silent and still as a scared bunny. He seemed to have expected it because he wasted no time to start. Elder Wan Ning already pointed at someone to move forward.

The disciple looked as ordinary as any of them but he had developed a fancy hand seal when he tried to call forth his elemental power. A pale yellow light emitted from the bottom of his legs, however, there only came a tiny shake of the earth. It should not even have been qualified as an earthquake.

But, General Gu understood that it was good enough in the elder's eyes because they were still at their foundation levels. The most this level could do were move the leaves, make their own tea, and light the fire in their kitchens.

Soon enough, Hua Ning arrived at his turn.

He had put a big smile on but in his hand was a small jade blade with a distinct carving of a white dragon. As expected from a noble family, they all used their heirlooms.

Hua Ning started twirling his right hand above the blade and amazing enough, it was starting to float and twirl. Lightly at first. As the seconds passed by, the blade was spinning madly. It did give off the impression that it was actually screaming for blood. 

Elder Wan Ning's face was still but his eyes said that he was pretty pleased.

When it was Wan Mingyue's turn, people were getting chatty.

"It's Ming Yue, I presumed."

"..." Wan Mingyue had always been wearing his signature 'I don't give a goddamn business about you' expression and if one had not seen this enough, one would have not noticed the slight twist of his lips and the disdain that consumed his eyes. Gu Changming was immediately reminded of the night they had met.

That hateful gaze as brazen as thorns...spilling blood so easily.

The once-bright sky of promising spring has begun to roll away. As the rain started to splatter, people felt quite unsettled. They did not know whether to run for shelter or receive the water bath because Elder Wan Ning had not moved from his spot earlier. Instead, he uttered with a tone like silent strokes of ink, "You have reminded me of a dear disciple of mine. Although it is impossible of a chance that you are of a blood relative of his, I do still hope it is like so. This elder will say this disciple is very promising."

General Gu was beginning to worry that the rain would not stop, however, Wan Mingyue had wrapped away his expression, and the sky once again opened up like a crack of light through the window of his room.

After Gu Changming downplayed his ability in a less dangerous way, the class ended that afternoon.

At night, Wan Mingyue was outside his window. "Tomorrow. You know what day it is?"

"12th," General Gu was cleaning his sword. It never went past his mind to count the date. Even though Wan Mingyue had doubted him, there was no reason for him to doubt himself. He would always try to catch that bastard at every opportunity he had. "Who do you think will be his next target?"

"It must be one of the elders. Everyone he has killed is of Nightstone. You know this. And, for some reason, he has not killed the Sect Leader even though he is the most important person. We have to trust that he must reserve him for last."

"There are two of us and three of them. We have to risk one."

"Whoever we don't protect will die."

"..." The scabbard was placed on the table in between their silence. "We only have to protect them from midnight to dawn. Then night to midnight. During the day, they will be all busy teaching."

General Gu has chosen to protect Elder Dong Qui. Whereas, Wan Mingyue left in the direction of Elder Wan Ning. Counting on their investigation so far, the criminal was of no insider in the Sect owning to all the questioning and spying being done. Thus, he had already arranged for his investigation team to protect the Sect outside its gate in secret as of tonight. 

He had just wished he had figured earlier of such an atrocious and glorifying style of murder to exist. It was indeed his negligence and dismissal that led the whole investigation bureau astray.

The night comforted him as he stood among the tall trees and there was no sign of the Midnight Magnolia.
-

March 13

The next day, Hua Ning was knocking on his door again. But, this time, his face was a gray block of mess. "Brother," his mouth was opened but his eyes were downcast. "There has been a murder."

As General Gu finally arrived at the scene, he spotted Sect Leader Mao Wu howling at the disciples. "Get the son of a bitch Gu Changming here! Get his entire bureau here and I shall make him see why he's so incapable!! Don't you hear me?"

It was the residence of Elder Bai Huang, peak lord of the archery division. Today was supposed to be his archery class but according to Hua Ning, they found him dead early in the morning.

"Such a horrendous event. This is only our second day. If this continues, at this rate, everyone here is in danger."

They saw Elder Dong Qui stepping forward in the middle of the courtyard. "All of you are not allowed to leave the Sect within the next few days. This is a serious matter concerning the Sect's safety. We will begin the questioning after we hold a funeral. Now, go back to your dorms. Whoever defies my order will be immediately kicked out!"

The two were returning to their rooms when Hua Ling called out someone's name. It was Wan Mingyue. He must have just left his room heading to the class. "Brother, where are you going?"

"To class. Move," his eyes flickered for a moment to General Gu with a hidden intention.

"Class? Haven't you heard about the murder?"

"He has no friends. How can he know?" It came out as bitter as he intended.

"What is it?"

Hua Ning clicked his tongue and sighed, "Elder Bai Huang was murdered. That Midnight Magnolia is a true headache. His name is becoming famous in the West. There is a rumor traveling around that he is not merely a grudge-holding criminal."

"Do elaborate."

The little noble lord raised his brows with a surprising smile and he could not resist a few words of exclamation, "Brother Yang! I have not heard such enthusiasm in your voice. Well, it is just a groundless rumor much like others about Midnight Magnolia we hear of today. It is spread that some noble lord or a person of high status is hiring him to assassinate those of the Nightstone for personal or political agenda. I find this doubtful, for there is no such severe internal conflict as far as I have heard from my father."

Hearing the rumor, they both fell into their own thoughts until something flashy suddenly popped in front of Gu Changming. Hua Ning looked quizzical but he had refrained from commenting on it because General Gu had dispelled the red floating badge as fast as lightning and stormed away to his respective room.

Wan Mingyue also returned with a deadpan face before Hua Ning could initiate a conversation.

Gu Changming gazed darkly outside the window at night. A figure approached with his crunchy footsteps. "You must be careful with that alert of yours."

"It is an emergency alert. It is rarely used, however, the team has failed to protect the Sect. They must report such a critical failure of a mission." 

His lips paused before he went back into his room. A few minutes later, he waltzed back out with the real face of an intimidating lord and a satin outfit. He had waited until nighttime to appear thus it would not arouse suspicion of his speedy arrival. "You wait here."

Captain Shao was inspecting a broken teacup the moment General Gu arrived at the scene. Fortunately, Sect Leader had lost his voice due to excessive shouting this prior morning, therefore he had gone back to recover his power since the afternoon. Only Elder Dong Qiu was the sole remaining Nightstone person that had greeted him. Nonetheless, he had no words to criticize General Gu anyway and had only given a bleak look towards his disappearing back.

"General," Caption Shao wore a dejected look bowing with clasped hands.

"Report."

A man was slumped on the floor. Stabbed onto his back was a silver arrow. In his blue and cold hand was a magnolia flower. "We have preserved the scene as you have instructed. The time of death is before dawn. However, the cause of death was not the wound from the arrow. He had been poisoned. The kind that destroyed his organs one by one before he inevitably met his death."

"Has there been anyone suspicious during the night?"

"We have kept tight security and scouted without rest until we were called for in the morning. It is impossible for anyone to pass through our formations and our spells without any alert."

Gu Changming crouched down to pick up the flower, his tone dropping, "You are saying this is done by an insider?"

"General, there is a possibility the Midnight Magnolia is among the new disciples being recently admitted."