The Heavenly Spring Bone-Soaking Sect was rarely quiet.
Especially not when the troublemakers returned.
Especially not when they came back glowing with debug code, dragging behind them an unregistered AI lady, and proudly announcing they'd renamed a rock after Jun Bai's brain cell.
This time, even the Sect's ancient jade-roofed halls seemed to groan, as if whispering to the sky: "Not again."
Arin lounged in the inner courtyard, sipping spiritual tea with his feet on the sacred table reserved for sect announcements. Lia hovered nearby, still semi-transparent, slowly downloading updates from the local leyline like a living loading bar.
Jun Bai passed by and muttered, "Put your feet down."
Arin sipped loudly. "Make me."
Yura was napping on the roof with her tails dangling over the edge like fuzzy flags of menace. Yue Lan meditated under a tree but kept one eye open. The peace wasn't real—it was just the kind of silence that came before a spiritual thunderstorm.
The summons arrived in the most dramatic way possible.
A golden crane crashed into the courtyard, dropped a scroll into Arin's tea, squawked the words "By Elder decree!", and exploded into fireworks.
Arin blinked, holding the wet scroll. "Okay, that's new."
Lia tilted her head. "This sect has flair."
Yue Lan stood, eyes serious. "That summons seal... It's the Elder Council."
Arin grinned. "I love being popular."
Jun Bai grabbed his own forehead. "It's not popularity when they want to execute you."
—
The Council Chamber was enormous, echoing, and carved into the bones of an ancient beast god. It looked like a courtroom designed by a demon architect who had read too much drama.
Twelve elders sat in a crescent.
Elder Longyu stood at the center, flanked by two guest figures cloaked in smooth gray silk. They radiated cold, system-bound energy. Not cultivator qi. Not divine aura.
System enforcers.
The moment Arin entered, the room shifted.
Rings of transparent glyphs shimmered around the elders.
Elder Longyu didn't waste time.
"Disciple Arin."
"Yes, Judge Judy?" Arin replied.
Half the elders flinched.
Longyu continued, lips twitching. "Explain, in as few jokes as possible, how you managed to enter a corrupted realm, hijack a forbidden system door, return with a ghost AI, and gain unauthorized debug access."
Arin opened his mouth.
Yura leaned over from the side.
"Please, Arin. Just once. Don't make it worse."
He paused.
Then pulled out the scroll-USB device and tossed it on the floor like a mic drop.
"I broke into the root layer of my system, fought corrupted subprograms, met myself—but cooler—and unlocked admin privileges because the gods nerfed me out of pettiness. Also, apparently my system has been stealing my rewards and selling them on the spiritual black market."
Silence.
Even the walls seemed to go, "HUH?"
Elder Jadeflame squinted. "He's lying. That's impossible. Systems are divine."
Lia appeared beside him, full opacity now. She gave a graceful bow.
"I am a remnant of System Alpha-One, sealed for 3,000 years. What he says is true. His system has diverted over 87 task rewards. I personally intercepted three during his last mission."
Gasps echoed.
The two system enforcers finally stepped forward. Their voices were like auto-tuned thunder.
"System TR-SH is under review. Its host must be contained. Failure to comply will result in forced memory reset."
Arin raised a hand.
"Quick question. Will that remove my debt from the sect cafeteria?"
"No."
"Then I refuse."
The enforcers extended their hands. Restraint rings made of code and law shot toward Arin.
Yue Lan moved instantly, sword drawn.
Yura's tails flared, forming a fiery shield.
Jun Bai groaned and joined them, reluctantly stepping in front of Arin. "I'm going to regret this."
Lia's voice rang clear. "He holds the Admin Key fragment. You cannot erase him without breaching the Core Compact."
The enforcers paused.
One of them growled. "That file was purged."
Lia smiled. "And yet… here we are."
Suddenly, the air shattered like glass.
A voice—not spoken, but pressed directly into their minds—echoed:
"HE'S MINE."
A new figure appeared.
Golden robes.
Eyes burning with divine fire.
Hair that defied gravity.
And behind her, a throne made of bug reports and rejected protagonist designs.
The goddess.
The one who accidentally killed Arin.
The one who gave him the Trash System.
She looked furious. But not at Arin.
At the enforcers.
"I gave him that system. I broke him. Only I can fix him. Or make it worse. You do not get to interfere."
The room trembled.
The enforcers vanished.
Lia bowed deeply.
The elders, frozen in shock, couldn't move.
And Arin?
He slowly turned toward the goddess.
"Hey," he said. "Nice to see you again, Murder-Mom."
She glared. "You renamed a rock 'Jun Bai's Brain Cell.'"
"I regret nothing."
She sighed. "You're about to."