Chapter 284 - A Widening Path and Quiet Faith

Chapter 284: Chapter 284 - A Widening Path and Quiet Faith

The faint stirring of the Flaw-Piercing Needle Intent Seed did not disappear.

If anything, it became clearer the longer Su Bai watched Liu Meng work.

For a moment, he felt himself approaching that familiar threshold where everything around him would fade and only the emerging comprehension would remain.

Su Bai stopped himself before crossing it.

This was not the place.

Liu Meng was still sitting beside him, completely unaware that her stitching had nearly pushed him into enlightenment, and Su Bai had come to Verdant Peak for an entirely different reason. If he entered deep meditation now, there was no telling how long he would remain there.

Instead, he quietly activated the Dao-Shattering Jade.

The familiar pressure touched his mind, and his thoughts immediately became extraordinarily clear.

Su Bai fixed his attention on Liu Meng’s movements.

The angle of the needle, the control of her fingers, the point where the cloth yielded without tearing, and the subtle adjustment she made whenever the material changed all became remarkably distinct in his perception.

More importantly, he preserved the feeling that had caused his Intent Seed to respond.

He did not try to understand it completely.

That could wait until he returned to Clear Cloud Peak and had enough time to meditate properly.

For now, remembering it was enough.

By the time he stopped using the Dao-Shattering Jade, the restlessness within the Intent Seed had gradually settled.

It had not returned completely to how it had been before, however. Something had already changed, even if he could not yet tell exactly what.

Liu Meng remained focused on the robe.

Several more stitches passed through the dark fabric before she finally drew the thread tight and examined the formation pattern woven into the inner layer.

A faint spatial fluctuation appeared.

Her eyes immediately brightened.

"Senior Brother, it worked."

Su Bai looked over.

Liu Meng carefully lifted the finished robe from the table and held it toward him.

"Please take this one too."

There was pride in her expression that she made no attempt to hide.

Su Bai accepted the robe without ceremony.

The spatial area inside was not particularly large compared with an actual storage ring, but that hardly mattered. Liu Meng had successfully incorporated a stable storage space into something meant to bend, fold, and move constantly with the wearer.

"Thank you, Meng. I really appreciate everything you made for me."

Liu Meng blinked at the familiar way he addressed her before smiling.

"I’ll return the favor when I find something suitable."

She immediately waved her hands.

"Senior Brother doesn’t need to do that. I enjoyed making them."

Su Bai smiled but did not argue.

Whether she expected anything in return had nothing to do with whether he intended to give her something.

His gaze eventually drifted toward the closed door.

More precisely, toward what waited on the other side of it.

"Junior Sister, do you still have a use for the robes outside?"

Liu Meng stiffened.

The tips of her ears reddened almost immediately.

"Those are only failed attempts."

Before embarrassment could make her misunderstand why he was asking, Su Bai continued.

"If you don’t need them anymore, could I take them as well?"

Liu Meng stared at him.

"Senior Brother wants those?"

"I have an idea I’ve been meaning to test."

That immediately caught her attention.

Su Bai had ruined enough clothing during fights that changing robes quickly had stopped being merely an inconvenience. Drawing clothes from storage was easy. Actually putting them on in the middle of a dangerous situation was another matter entirely.

"I want to develop a technique that can put a robe on almost instantly," he explained. "I haven’t worked out how yet, so I’ll probably destroy quite a few while testing it."

His hand brushed the newly finished robe.

"I would rather not practice using these."

Liu Meng’s eyes widened.

Her embarrassment faded almost instantly.

"You can really make a technique like that?"

"I don’t know yet."

Su Bai smiled.

"That is why I need robes I can afford to practice with."

Liu Meng glanced toward the courtyard.

Those pieces had been sitting outside because she had found flaws in them and no longer intended to use them. Hearing that Su Bai could actually make use of them somehow made their failures feel considerably less wasteful.

"You can take them all, Senior Brother."

She hesitated briefly before adding, "If you need more practice robes later, I can make simpler ones."

Su Bai looked at the mountain already outside.

"I think those should last for a while."

Liu Meng followed his gaze.

After a moment, she laughed.

The awkwardness that had lingered since Su Bai entered the chamber gradually disappeared.

They remained there for some time afterward.

Liu Meng eventually asked what had happened to him after she and the others were forced out of Fallen-Star Sanctuary while he remained trapped inside.

Su Bai told her some of what followed, leaving out the more dangerous details. But even the shortened version left her silent more than once.

When he casually mentioned certain encounters that had nearly killed him, Liu Meng’s expression tightened enough that Su Bai began removing more details from later parts of the story.

In return, she told him about the months he had missed.

Most of her stories were far less dangerous.

Su Bai found himself enjoying those stories more than he expected.

Eventually, however, the reason Elder Qin had brought him here could no longer be ignored.

"Meng."

Liu Meng looked toward him.

Su Bai’s expression had become gentler.

"Your master is worried about you."

The smile on Liu Meng’s face slowly faded. She lowered her eyes.

"Master asked Senior Brother to come because of that?"

"He asked me to speak with you."

Liu Meng became quiet.

Su Bai did not immediately continue.

After what he had seen inside this chamber, simply repeating Elder Qin’s concerns would have been unfair.

"You haven’t abandoned alchemy."

Liu Meng looked up sharply.

Su Bai glanced toward the furnace, then toward the robes surrounding them.

"I can see that much."

For several breaths, Liu Meng said nothing.

Su Bai continued calmly.

"You are using medicinal refinement in the cloth, controlling spiritual flames to treat materials, and combining medicinal properties with formations. Even these robes wouldn’t exist without what you learned as an alchemist."

Liu Meng’s fingers tightened slightly around the edge of her sleeve.

"Master thinks I’ve lost my way."

"I don’t think that is what he fears."

Su Bai shook his head.

"He is worried because he doesn’t know whether this is the path you chose because you genuinely enjoy it, or because of what happened when I was trapped inside Fallen-Star Sanctuary."

That struck much closer.

Liu Meng looked away.

For a while, the chamber became quiet.

"When I first started, maybe he was right."

Her voice had softened.

"I couldn’t do anything after leaving the Sanctuary. I knew Senior Brother was still inside, but there was no way for me to go back."

She looked down at her hands.

"I hated waiting."

Su Bai remained silent and let her continue.

"So I started making something."

A faint smile appeared on her face.

"At first, I only wanted to make a robe for Senior Brother. I thought that if I kept working on it, then when you returned, I would have something ready."

Her gaze moved toward the hanging robes.

"But somewhere along the way, I started enjoying it."

Liu Meng’s expression gradually changed as she spoke.

"I did not stop liking alchemy. I still like refining pills. I simply discovered that the things I learned from alchemy could be used for more than pills."

She touched the sleeve of the robe nearest her.

"Some fabrics react to medicinal essence almost like spiritual herbs. Some threads can carry properties that normally disappear during refinement. Even controlling the heat while treating cloth taught me things I had never noticed when I only worked with a cauldron."

Su Bai smiled slightly.

That answered the question better than any persuasion could have.

Liu Meng had not lost her path. Her path had simply widened.

Still, Su Bai did not tell her what she should do next.

"If tailoring is something you enjoy, continue doing it."

Liu Meng looked at him.

"If you want to keep refining pills too, do that as well. You don’t need to choose one simply because everyone expects you to."

He paused before adding, "Just make sure whatever you choose is really yours."

Liu Meng’s eyes slowly reddened.

Su Bai pretended not to notice.

"We spend so much effort becoming stronger because we want the freedom to decide how we live. It would be strange if cultivation eventually became the reason we stopped doing the things that made us happy."

Liu Meng lowered her head.

For a moment, she said nothing.

When she finally looked up again, the moisture in her eyes had not disappeared, but her smile had returned.

"I didn’t know Master was this worried."

"He looked like he hadn’t rested properly in quite some time."

Liu Meng immediately looked guilty.

"I should speak with him."

"And Peak Master Yao too."

Her expression became slightly more complicated.

"He probably deserves an explanation too."

Liu Meng covered her mouth as a small laugh escaped.

"I’ll talk to both of them."

Su Bai nodded.

That was enough.

He reached out and gently patted her head.

"I believe you."

Liu Meng froze.

No lecture followed.

There was no warning about talent, no demand that she return immediately to pill refinement, and no attempt to decide which path was more worthy of her.

Just those three words.

Her expression softened completely.

The smile that appeared afterward was quieter than the excited one she had worn while showing him the robes, but somehow it felt much brighter.

Eventually, Su Bai gathered the robes she had given him, along with the failed pieces outside that Liu Meng no longer wanted.

By the time he was ready to leave, what had once been a small mountain in the courtyard had considerably diminished.

Liu Meng accompanied him to the entrance.

Su Bai took several steps before stopping and looking back.

"One more thing, Meng."

She tilted her head.

"If I need new robes in the future, can I come to you?"

Liu Meng stared at him for a moment.

Her eyes curved as the sweetest smile Su Bai had seen from her that day appeared.

"Mm!"

Su Bai smiled and turned toward the path descending Verdant Peak.

Behind him, Liu Meng remained outside the chamber for a little while longer.

For the first time since Fallen-Star Sanctuary had closed, the thought of returning to her alchemy furnace no longer felt like she was abandoning something else.