Devika was dead, and not in an easy way. When her body was found, her head, hands, and legs were severed. Some parts were cut badly. Large portions of skin had been peeled off from her body. The entire scene was horrifying and terrifying.

  “No… this… h-how is this possible…”

  Shivansh could not understand. How did this happen, and why? Just a few days ago, he had met Devika again, and now this? It felt like a terrible nightmare. His eyelids grew heavy with tears.

  Devika had been a little strange at first, mischievous in nature, something Shivansh did not like much. But after spending the last few years with her, he had grown attached to her in a way he did not realize at first. He loved her deeply. And now, seeing her in such a condition, he broke from the inside.

  Shivansh was grieving, but someone else was in even greater pain.

  Surendranath. Devika’s father.

  When Surendranath first heard the news of Devika’s death, he could not believe it at all.

  But when he went and saw her body with his own eyes, the ground beneath his feet seemed to vanish. He could not believe what he was seeing.

  He cried. He screamed. His wails echoed throughout the entire Crimson Heaven Society. Within a very short time, the news spread across the whole Society.

  Surendranath was the third elder of the Crimson Heaven Society. What had happened to his daughter was no ordinary matter. This was something that would affect the entire Society. Everyone knew that.

  Jeet, the Death Hall Master, whose duty was investigation and handling crimes within the Society, abandoned all other work and focused entirely on this single case.

  The Crimson Heaven Society had strict rules. No member was allowed to kill another member. Defeating someone in combat, humiliating them, asserting dominance, or suppressing them with power was allowed.

  But murder was not.

  Killing was permitted only during a blood duel. In such a duel, the fighters were given full freedom to kill their opponent.

  But Devika had never participated in any blood duel. Nor did she have any known enmity with anyone that would justify such a brutal death. This clearly suggested the involvement of an external force. Perhaps a spy.

  This was exactly the kind of matter Death Hall existed for. Jeet immediately began working on solving the case. The sooner he resolved it, the sooner Surendranath’s rage could be calmed.

  But Surendranath had lost his only daughter whome he loved more than anything else. How could he remain calm?

  He began searching throughout the Society for Devika’s killer. He had already decided that whoever was responsible would not be spared, he would annihilation that person while family.

  While all this was happening, something else was also taking place elsewhere.

  Rumors were spreading within the Society. Strange rumors related to Devika’s murder.

  When people lack complete information, they create rumors among themselves. Some rumors may hold fragments of truth, but most are false. Yet people speak them, listen to them, and spread them further to satisfy their curiosity.

  Among those rumors, one began to circulate. What if Devika was killed by Shivansh?

  It sounded absurd and childish. Everyone knew that Shivansh and Devika had loved each other for a long time. It was an open secret within the Society. The obvious question was why would Shivansh ever kill Devika?

  But those who spread rumors always worked the same way. They picked a few scattered details and jumped straight to a final conclusion, answering every question with speculation.

  And they found an answer for this one as well.

  And that answer was—Cultivation.

  People began to say that after opening his Anahata (Heart) chakra, Shivansh might have killed Devika to open his next Vishuddha (Throat) chakra.

  There were a few, very unorthodox methods that allowed someone to increase their cultivation at an extremely fast pace.

  But those methods were cruel and inhumane, so much so that they were banned even within the Crimson Heaven Society. If everyone started using them, there would be no members left alive.

  This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

  Still, there were people who used such methods. So what if Shivansh had done the same?

  It sounded ridiculous and nonsensical. But that was the nature of rumors. People talked about the most absurd things just to satisfy their curiosity.

  When these rumors reached Shivansh and his friends, they were furious. First, someone had been murdered, and now people were saying anything they pleased about it. They could not tolerate this.

  Saksham, Aditya, Vansh, and Manish began hunting down those who spread such rumors or spoke about them. One by one, they caught them and taught them a lesson. But they could not stop everyone. There were limits to what they could do.

  Elsewhere, Shivansh was also angry and frustrated from these rumours, however he chose not to pay attention to them...

  How could he?

  His mind was in shock. He still could not understand how or why this happened. Why Devika? Why the girl he loved? Why her?

  Memories from years ago surfaced in his mind, when his younger brother had died in a similar way. He kept wondering why it had happened back then, and why it was happening again. It felt as if, somehow, the fault lay with him.

  If only he had properly guided his younger brother back then, maybe this would not have happened. And if today he had gone directly to Devika, then perhaps none of this would have happened either.

  His younger brother and Devika would both be alive.

  These thoughts dragged his mind into deep despair. He became extremely depressed and sorrowful. He could have gone out to search for Devika’s killer, but he did not.

  Why would he? What would he gain from it?

  Devika was already dead. Her end had already come. Even if he hunted down the killer, what would change? What had happened would not be undone.

  He had thought the same thing when his younger brother died. What would revenge achieve other than meaningless loss of time? Back then, he had decided to let it go and ensure that nothing like that ever happened again.

  That was what he thought. But now, what happened to Devika shattered him completely.

  Meanwhile, the rumors within the Society continued to spread. They even reached the ears of the higher ups.

  They reached Surendranath and Jeet as well.

  But, Jeet dismissed these rumours without giving a second thought. Because he knew Shivansh would not do something like this, and the way Shivansh was acting these days, showed how much sad and depressed he was.

  So why would he do something like this? There was no way he could do these things.

  At first, Surendranath dismissed the rumors as complete lies and chose not to pay attention to them, like Jeet. But as time passed, the rumors began to sound a little... believable.

  But he still didn't believed in them.

  Soon, people said that some had seen Shivansh and his companions carrying pieces of meat and hides during the afternoon. And interestingly, one of the forbidden methods of rapid cultivation involved the use of meat and hides.

  And coincidentally, Devika’s body had missing limbs, and flesh had been removed from parts of her body.

  So what if the meat Shivansh and his companions were carrying was actually Devika’s?

  “Bullshit!!!”

  Saksham, Aditya, Vansh, and Manish spoke out loudly against those rumors. They openly stated, right in front of everyone, that the reason they were carrying pieces of meat and hides that day was because they were helping a new disciple with his first mission. That disciple had personally asked them for help.

  They also clearly said that the person was a new disciple of the Fourth Elder, the one who had requested their assistance. They even described the man’s appearance in detail. On top of that, they showed the Heavenly Purple True Herb that Shivansh had obtained by helping that Fourth Elder’s disciple.

  As soon as this was said, everyone’s gaze shifted toward the Fourth Elder.

  Some people even began to suspect whether the Fourth Elder himself had killed Devika.

  Hearing this, even Surendranath was momentarily swayed. Because the possibility was not small.

  The Fourth Elder was unlike the others. He did not practice martial arts. He was a shaman, a spiritual master. He used strange, almost magical techniques that people calls ‘Mystical Arts’.

  People like him were known to offer human sacrifices for their tantric or mystical practices.

  So what if this time, he had sacrificed Devika?

  When Saksham and the others thought about it, even they felt that it made unsettling sense.

  After all, why would the Fourth Elder’s disciple arrive at that exact time, just when Shivansh was about to go meet Devika? Why then, of all moments?

  Was it a coincidence? Or did he know? And if he knew… then how?

  Because when Shivansh and Devika were going to meet, the time, the place, everything, was known only to a handful of people. Shivansh, Devika, Jeet, Surendranath, and Shivansh’s close friends. No one else.

  So was there a traitor among them?

  Shivansh, Devika, Jeet, and Surendranath were unlikely. It made no sense to suspect them.

  That left only Saksham, Aditya, Vansh, and Manish.

  Saksham knew he was not the traitor. He would not even think of doing something like this even in his dreams. And on top of that, he spent most of his time with Shivansh. He saw him as his actual big brother. Why would he betray him?

  If they looked at the remaining three, the biggest suspicion naturally fell on Manish. Because on the day Devika was killed, Manish was not with them at all. He had gone on a different mission.

  Because of that, suspicion began to concentrate on him. But Manish flatly denied it. He outright refused the accusation and clearly stated that he had nothing to do with it.

  While all this was unfolding, Surendranath went to meet the Fourth Elder. He questioned him directly about Devika’s murder.

  If, by any chance, the Fourth Elder was truly involved, the entire Society would be thrown into chaos. Both were elders. A direct clash between them would undoubtedly destabilize the Crimson Heaven Society.

  But something extremely strange happened.

  Surendranath had gone there filled with rage.

  Yet after returning, there was no fight. No confrontation with the Fourth Elder at all. He simply came back without doing anything.

  That alone made things very strange and uneasy.

  Immediately after that, Surendranath went straight to the Death Hall and began looking for Shivansh.

  At first, no one in the Death Hall understood why Surendranath was doing this. Even Death Hall Master Jeet was completely confused.

  But when Surendranath finally confronted Shivansh, the words he shouted in rage left everyone stunned.

  “Why did you kill my daughter!!!”

  ‘!!!’