Late night inside the administrative archive. Xiao Fen reviews copied vote ledgers and medical notes from the previous imperial cultivators.

Fen isolates Elder Qiu's name from old council rosters and attendance lists.

Fen asks the archive clerks about Elder Qiu under the cover of requesting old cultivation commentaries.

Fen prepares a formal, harmless request to visit Elder Qiu for scholarly reasons.

Fen submits the request through proper channels so the meeting looks ordinary.

Elder Shu approves the harmless visit, treating Fen's interest as academic eccentricity.

Fen crosses from the bright main halls into the neglected rear garden where Elder Qiu lives.

Fen reaches Elder Qiu's secluded hall and notices signs of old wards and abandonment.

Fen meets Elder Qiu Meiran in person for the first time.

Fen begins with the scholarly cover, and Qiu immediately tests whether she has another purpose.

Fen reveals that she knows Qiu dissented from the previous imperial harvest decisions.

Qiu closes old privacy wards before answering anything directly.

Qiu does not deny the pattern and admits the sect harvested the previous imperial cultivators.

Qiu describes her failed opposition to the council decisions.

Qiu explains why she cannot act openly or rescue Fen.

Fen confronts Qiu's survival, and Qiu refuses to pretend she was brave.

Fen asks what will happen to her, and Qiu begins explaining the real timing of the harvest.

Qiu explains the bloodline-specific threshold in plain terms.

Qiu uses Xiao Rong's case to show Fen how close the schedule is.

Fen realizes her current cultivation schedule mirrors Xiao Rong's path toward the threshold.

Fen asks how much time she has left on the schedule.

Fen asks Qiu to help her, but Qiu will not openly oppose the sect again.

Qiu offers limited practical help: a safe excuse and warnings, not open protection.

Fen leaves Elder Qiu's hall with the truth and a borrowed commentary, forced to continue as if nothing has changed.