Chapter 152 - The Soul Sparks and the Reversed Formation
Chapter 152: Chapter 152 - The Soul Sparks and the Reversed Formation
Outside the underground chamber, the group waited for as long as they could endure.
At first, no one moved.
Su Bai had told them not to enter.
But now, the pressure leaking from the chamber had weakened.
Most importantly, Su Bai had not come out.
Qiao Wen clenched his fists.
"Brother Su?"
No answer.
Mu Qing’s expression changed.
Chen Feng frowned.
"He may be dealing with something inside."
"Or he may be injured," one cultivator said anxiously.
No one wanted to say the worse possibility.
After a few breaths, Qiao Wen could not hold back anymore.
"I am going in."
Zhao Heng immediately raised his shield.
"I will go first."
Chen Feng looked at them both.
"You two move too slowly."
He drew his sword halfway.
The others also took out pills and talismans. At worst, they could consume more Immaculate Lotus-Heart Pills and retreat if the situation became too dangerous.
The group exchanged looks.
Then they entered.
But what waited inside was not what they expected.
The chamber beyond was no longer filled with red-black fog.
At first, everyone felt relief.
Then Mu Qing saw Su Bai. Her eyes widened at once.
Several female cultivators beside her also froze.
Then, almost at the same time, they yelped and covered their faces with their hands.
Of course, their fingers were not completely closed.
The gaps were very obvious.
The male cultivators also froze.
Then they started coughing loudly.
Su Bai, who had been studying the flesh fragment, finally turned around.
"What?"
The coughing grew even louder.
Then Su Bai noticed where everyone was looking.
He looked down.
Silence.
His robes had not survived the dense Ashen-Blood Miasma.
At some point, what remained of them had become more symbolic than practical.
Su Bai’s expression stiffened.
The chamber became even quieter.
Then someone, from somewhere in the group, muttered in shock, "So big! Brother Su is truly... formidable."
No one knew who said it.
No one admitted to saying it.
But the atmosphere changed instantly.
Several faces turned red.
Chen Feng’s expression twisted in a way that looked almost personally offended.
Mu Qing covered her face more tightly.
The gap between her fingers widened slightly.
Su Bai turned around and coughed once.
"It would help if you waited outside while I dressed."
The group reacted as if they had received an imperial pardon.
They retreated at once.
The chamber door closed.
Su Bai stood alone in the Root Formation Chamber.
For the first time in a long while, he felt that his dignity had taken actual damage.
Injuries could be reversed.
This one could not.
He looked down at the remains of his robe and sighed.
The Ashen-Blood Miasma had been ruthless.
His body had benefited.
His clothing had died.
And now, several young cultivators had seen something they absolutely did not need to see.
Su Bai rubbed his forehead.
How was he supposed to face these children later?
Then he paused.
Strictly speaking, it was not as if he had anything to be ashamed of.
His manhood was, admittedly, one of his assets.
And unfortunately for his dignity, it was a rather impressive one.
A man should not be too proud. But he should also not lie to himself.
Su Bai calmly decided that his dignity had not been damaged.
It had merely been misunderstood by the situation.
This conclusion was very helpful.
He took a fresh robe from his system inventory and dressed quickly.
While tying his belt, he made another decision.
After leaving this place, he needed to learn a quick-dressing technique.
Cultivators could draw swords in a blink, cross rivers on leaves, and split mountains with a finger.
Surely someone had invented a method to put on robes quickly.
If no one had, then the cultivation world was more incomplete than he had thought.
Before calling the others back in, Su Bai turned toward the dead flesh fragment.
He took out a jade box, placed the fragment inside, and stored it in his system inventory.
His stomach gave a faint reaction.
Su Bai ignored it.
Now was not the time to think about roasting ancient unknown flesh.
After that, he opened the chamber door.
"You may enter."
The group entered again.
This time, the atmosphere was strange.
Everyone tried to act normal.
No one succeeded.
Mu Qing and the female cultivators still found it difficult to meet Su Bai’s eyes. Whenever his gaze passed over them, they either lowered their heads, looked at the formation lines, or suddenly developed great interest in the cracked wall.
The male cultivators were not much better.
Qiao Wen kept his eyes fixed on Su Bai’s shoulder. Never lower.
Chen Feng looked at Su Bai once, then looked away with a dark expression.
For some reason, he seemed even more annoyed than before.
Su Bai remained calm.
In his previous life, he had long learned the value of maintaining a still face during awkward situations.
As long as he acted as if nothing had happened, eventually everyone else would be forced to do the same.
That was how dignity survived.
Finally, Qiao Wen could no longer endure the atmosphere.
He cleared his throat.
"Brother Su... what happened here? How did you cleanse the miasma?"
The question gave everyone something proper to focus on.
Their expressions immediately became serious.
Su Bai did not answer directly.
He had no intention of explaining the flesh fragment, the images that flashed through his mind, or the strange hunger his body felt after killing it.
Those matters were too dangerous.
They were better reported later to people who could actually understand them.
For now, the group only needed the practical truth.
"The miasma source here has stopped," Su Bai said. "Look around first. Notice the difference."
The others finally took in the chamber properly.
The Root Formation Chamber was circular.
Formation channels covered the floor and walls.
Pale seal-lines extended upward toward the cracked altar.
Along the walls hung six red-black cocoon sacs.
Inside them, faint human shapes could still be seen.
Several cultivators’ faces changed.
Qiao Wen stepped closer, then stopped.
"Brother Su... these are..."
"The real people were above," Su Bai said. "These were grown below."
A chill passed through the group.
Mu Qing’s face paled.
"Grown?"
Su Bai nodded.
"The fake Luo Shenshui should have come from something like this."
The chamber became silent.
Everyone turned toward the six sacs again.
There were six.
They had already destroyed one fake Luo Shenshui outside.
Above, there had been roughly a dozen cocooned victims.
If these six sacs corresponded to completed or nearly completed borrowed faces...
Then there might still be more false bodies outside.
Five more.
Perhaps, they were already moving, wearing familiar faces.
The thought made everyone’s backs turn cold.
A young cultivator whispered, "Then some of the people outside..."
"May not be real," Chen Feng said grimly.
No one laughed this time.
Su Bai took out the True-Sight Bodhi Bead.
"Use this carefully. Do not rely only on appearance, voice, or memories. These things can borrow fragments from real people. They may know names, habits, even private details."
Qiao Wen’s face darkened.
That was exactly how fake Luo Shenshui had almost deceived him.
Su Bai passed the bead to him first.
"Look at the sacs. Remember what the false shells look like."
Qiao Wen received the bead carefully and activated it.
The moment his gaze passed over the red-black sacs, his expression changed.
Through the True-Sight Bodhi Bead, the human outlines inside became grotesque.
Qiao Wen’s hand tightened.
He passed the bead to Mu Qing.
Mu Qing looked.
Her face became even paler.
Then Zhao Heng.
Then Chen Feng.
Then the others.
Each person who used the bead became quieter.
Su Bai had them record what they saw.
Which false shell resembled which victim.
Which cocoon contained traces of soul light.
Which one looked closest to completion.
The more they recorded, the heavier the atmosphere became.
At least four of the sacs had recognizable traits from the rescued cultivators above.
One resembled the young woman from Verdant Rain Hall.
One had a sword-shaped Qi trace similar to a Myriad Swords disciple.
One was too distorted to identify.
Su Bai raised his hand.
Black Qi needles formed again.
This time, the needles were fewer and more precise.
"There are still soul fragments trapped inside. I will destroy the shells and release what remains."
Su Bai moved his fingers.
The needles shot forward.
They pierced the first cocoon sac.
A muffled, mouthless cry came from within.
Then the red-black shell collapsed inward.
A faint soul spark flew out and drifted upward.
"That direction..." Mu Qing whispered.
"The hall above," Qiao Wen said.
The soul spark was returning to its owner.
Su Bai did not stop.
The second cocoon collapsed.
Another soul spark flew upward.
Then the third.
The fourth.
The fifth.
When the sixth cocoon was pierced, its membrane resisted.
A warped face pressed outward.
Its mouth opened.
"Senior... Brother..."
Su Bai’s gaze remained cold.
"Too late."
The needle pierced through the face.
The cocoon shrieked and collapsed.
The soul spark emerged from within, trembling faintly before flying upward.
The six red-black sacs slowly dissolved into dry ash.
The Root Formation Chamber became quieter.
At that moment, one of the cultivators who had been studying the formation lines suddenly spoke.
"Brother Su."
Everyone turned toward him.
The cultivator’s face was pale, but his eyes were bright with shock.
"This formation... something is wrong."
Chen Feng frowned.
"We already know something is wrong."
The cultivator shook his head.
"No. I mean the structure itself. These lines were not originally meant to do this."
Su Bai looked at him.
"Explain."
The cultivator crouched and pointed toward several pale formation channels on the floor.
"These parts are old, but their direction is clear. They should have drawn harmful corruption downward, away from the wounded. The altar above should have separated contamination from flesh and soul, then sent the corruption here to be sealed."
He pointed toward the red-black lines.
"But these parts were bent later. The flow was reversed."
Mu Qing’s expression changed.
"So instead of drawing corruption out..."
"It drew something else out," Qiao Wen said quietly.
The formation cultivator nodded with difficulty.
"Soul fragments. Memories. Identity traces. Perhaps even names."
The chamber became deathly silent.
Everyone understood.
The Treatment-and-Containment Hall had been built to prevent corruption, treat the wounded, and contain what was removed.
But the root formation had been corrupted.
The altar’s effect had reversed.
What once saved people now harvested them.
What once contained contamination now fed it.
What once protected identity now stole it.
Chen Feng’s grip on his sword tightened.
"This was not an accident."
The formation cultivator hesitated.
"I cannot say. I might be wrong too. But this reversal is too complete."
Qiao Wen looked toward the collapsed cocoon sacs.
"So the fake Luo Shenshui..."
"Was made by a treatment formation turned into something else," Mu Qing said softly.
No one spoke for several breaths.
The discovery was worse than simply finding a monster.
A monster could be killed.
A corrupted healing formation meant the sanctuary itself could turn old protections into traps.
And if this was only one outer-area hall...
How many more places had been reversed?
Su Bai looked at the formation lines in silence.
A reversed formation was like a wrong road carved into stone. Even if the carriage stopped moving, the road still led in the wrong direction.
Su Bai finally spoke.
"Let’s record everything."