Morning breakfast hall. Disciples eat rice porridge. Ning quietly swaps Wen's cup with her own before anyone else notices the serving boy approaching.

A serving boy bumps the table. The removed cup shatters, revealing a dead poison worm in the spilled tea.

Outside the breakfast hall under jade eaves, Wen corners Ning with the broken cup wrapped in cloth.

Wen visits the records hall, a cool archive of hanging scrolls and abacus counters. Yan Suyu works nervously at the desk.

Yan pulls mundane accident scrolls. Wen notices repeated dates and locations matching his dream fragments.

Wen follows Ning to the abandoned bell tower at the edge of the sect. The sky is clear, yet thunder trembles through the beams.

Inside the dusty bell tower, Wen waits until Ning leaves, then searches the place she touched.

Ning returns unexpectedly to find Wen holding the hidden talismans. Dust hangs between them like incense ash.

Ning snatches the talismans. Thunder shakes the tower though no storm exists.

The tower feels suddenly too small. Wen catches the impossible number; Ning chooses escape over explanation.

Outside the bell tower at dusk, Wen stands alone holding the torn talisman fragment. Above him, the sealed sky omen resembles an eye that refuses to open.