Chapter 286 - A New Intent and Rising Walls

Chapter 286: Chapter 286 - A New Intent and Rising Walls

Lu Canghai had gone to Radiant Zenith Peak earlier.

Li Xuanzong and Jian Wushuang had just returned from their investigation outside the sect, and he had come to meet them before they began discussing what they had discovered.

They had barely exchanged greetings when the atmosphere changed.

The spiritual energy surrounding Radiant Sky Sect became unnaturally still, and before any of them could determine the cause, silver light began spreading across the mountains.

Lu Canghai looked up.

Countless translucent needles had appeared throughout the sky.

He had already sensed that the disturbance originated from the direction of Clear Cloud Peak, but before he could complain about his disciple causing another commotion, something deeper caught his attention.

Beside him, Li Xuanzong’s expression changed at almost the same moment.

Jian Wushuang slowly raised his head.

The three men remained silent.

What they felt was not simply another strange phenomenon.

Something had settled into Heaven and Earth.

It was faint, almost impossible to grasp directly, yet for cultivators who had stepped into the Void-Shattering Realm, the change was unmistakable.

A principle that had never possessed a complete path before had suddenly gained one.

Jian Wushuang’s eyes narrowed.

"This is... a new Intent."

His voice carried none of his usual calm.

Li Xuanzong extended his spiritual sense farther, following the strange resonance spreading through the sect.

The nature of it was unfamiliar, yet the countless silver manifestations made its origin difficult to mistake.

"Needle Intent?"

Lu Canghai’s gaze had already reached Clear Cloud Peak.

There, seated on the familiar flat stone, was a figure he knew far too well.

The old man’s mouth twitched.

"That brat again."

Jian Wushuang looked toward him.

Lu Canghai sighed.

"I would like to say I am surprised too."

Neither of them believed him.

There were very few people in Radiant Sky Sect capable of creating a phenomenon that covered the entire sect, and even fewer who could somehow create an entirely new kind of Intent while everyone else was trying to recover from the previous disturbances he had caused.

Before Lu Canghai could say anything more, one of the translucent needles descended toward him.

His expression changed slightly.

The needle entered his shoulder without encountering resistance.

There was no pain. There was not even the sensation of being touched.

Instead, something buried so deeply in his cultivation that he had long stopped noticing it suddenly became obvious.

Lu Canghai’s smile faded.

Years ago, when his foundation had been damaged, his body had been forced to compensate in countless small ways. Even after recovering much of what he had lost, several habits remained buried in the way he circulated Qi.

They were not serious enough to threaten him.

He had simply lived with them for so long that they had become part of what felt natural.

Now he could see them.

The illusory needle had not corrected anything for him, but it had revealed exactly where those old compensations remained.

Lu Canghai immediately closed his eyes and fixed the realization in his mind.

Beside him, Jian Wushuang had gone equally still.

A silver needle had passed through the arm holding his sword.

His fingers shifted almost imperceptibly.

The adjustment was tiny, yet his expression changed as though he had just discovered something he should have noticed years ago.

Li Xuanzong was staring toward the sect’s defensive formations.

Several silver needles had passed through the flowing spiritual energy surrounding Radiant Zenith Peak, and faint imperfections in the circulation of the formation had become visible to his spiritual sense.

His expression grew increasingly serious.

"This Dao Phenomenon cannot be wasted."

Lu Canghai opened his eyes.

He had reached the same conclusion.

They disappeared from Radiant Zenith Peak almost simultaneously.

...

Across Radiant Sky Sect, confusion had already turned into opportunity.

On the Main Peak, Shen Youran had been among the first to understand what the descending needles were doing.

Several disciples had initially panicked when the silver manifestations passed through their bodies, but the moment their expressions changed with sudden realization, she understood enough.

"Do not resist them."

Her voice spread clearly across the crowded training grounds.

"Remember whatever they show you. Whether you can correct it afterward depends on yourselves."

The disciples quickly settled.

Those who had already received an insight sat down where they were, while elders prevented others from disturbing them.

Mo Shanyue had joined Shen Youran again, directing people away from congested areas and preventing several overly excited disciples from chasing the silver needles as though they could somehow catch more enlightenment by running after them.

One young disciple had barely taken three steps before Mo Shanyue’s spiritual pressure forced him back into place.

"The needles are coming to you. Stop trying to hunt them."

The disciple immediately sat down.

Shen Youran glanced toward Clear Cloud Peak.

Her expression remained calm, but it was already the third time she had looked in that direction.

Yesterday, Su Bai had filled the Main Peak with disciples because of several comprehension walls.

Today, he had filled the sky with needles.

She was beginning to understand why Lu Canghai looked perpetually entertained and exhausted at the same time.

The phenomenon continued spreading.

At Heavenly Forge Peak, Huo Yan abandoned the formation parchment in front of him when an illusory needle passed through one of the unfinished formation plates nearby.

His eyes widened.

A slight imbalance in the formation lines, one subtle enough that it would never have caused an immediate failure, suddenly became obvious.

Huo Yan stared at it for several breaths before looking toward Clear Cloud Peak.

"You really couldn’t wait until I finished studying the last thing you gave me?"

There was no one nearby to answer him.

He immediately began examining every formation plate within reach.

Verdant Peak benefited just as much.

Alchemists discovered minute problems in flame control, medicinal timing, and the way they guided spiritual energy through their furnaces. Some corrected habits they had carried for years, while others simply sat in silence and committed the fleeting realization to memory.

The phenomenon did not stop at the mountain paths.

Even the mortal city beneath Radiant Sky Sect was touched by the descending silver light.

Mortals could not perceive cultivation flaws the way cultivators did, but craftsmen suddenly noticed why a tool always slipped from the hand, physicians recognized small inconsistencies in familiar techniques, and artisans found imperfections in work they had repeated countless times.

For a short while, the entire region seemed to see itself more clearly.

The silver needles gradually became thinner afterward.

One by one, they faded.

By the time the last traces disappeared from the sky, Radiant Sky Sect had fallen into an unusual silence.

That silence lasted only a moment.

Excited voices soon erupted across the mountains.

Some disciples laughed after finally understanding problems that had troubled them for months. Others immediately returned to their training grounds to test what they had learned. Elders hurried away to record insights before memory dulled.

Another inexplicable blessing had descended upon Radiant Sky Sect.

This time, everyone knew where to look.

Clear Cloud Peak.

Su Bai had already ended his meditation by then.

He had noticed the illusory needles after awakening and briefly thought something had gone horribly wrong.

That concern disappeared once his spiritual sense spread across the sect and found disciples entering states of realization rather than collapsing from mysterious injuries.

Shen Youran, Mo Shanyue, and the other elders had already begun controlling the situation.

Su Bai therefore made the reasonable decision to let people more experienced at organizing thousands of cultivators continue doing so.

He turned his attention toward his newly completed Needle Intent instead.

His Nine Natal Needles moved around him.

They no longer flew merely according to the paths he imposed through spiritual sense. With the solid silver needle intent resting within his Sea of Consciousness, Su Bai found himself perceiving the space around each Natal Needle with much greater clarity.

He sent one forward.

The needle curved around a stone pillar, slipped between two leaves without touching either one, and returned from another angle before joining the others.

Su Bai’s eyes brightened.

He changed the pattern.

The nine needles accelerated around him, crossing one another repeatedly through increasingly narrow gaps while never colliding.

He was testing another variation when several powerful spiritual senses arrived almost simultaneously.

Su Bai stopped the needles and looked up.

Lu Canghai landed first.

Li Xuanzong and Jian Wushuang followed, while Shen Youran, Mo Shanyue, Huo Yan, and Yao Ding arrived not long afterward.

Su Bai stood and clasped his hands.

"Disciple Su greets Master, Sect Master, Martial Uncles, and Martial Aunt."

Lu Canghai stared at him.

His gaze shifted toward the nine Natal Needles before returning to his disciple.

"Brat, you really completed your Needle Intent."

Su Bai smiled somewhat awkwardly.

Lu Canghai folded his arms.

"Are you aware of what happened while you were sitting here?"

"I noticed after I finished meditating."

"And?"

"I saw that everyone seemed to be benefiting."

Lu Canghai waited.

Su Bai understood.

"Apologies, Master."

The old man sighed.

"You always apologize after giving your master more work."

A faint smile appeared on Jian Wushuang’s face.

Shen Youran ignored the exchange and looked directly at Su Bai.

"Heaven and Earth acknowledged your Intent."

Su Bai’s expression changed.

He had expected the phenomenon to be related to his breakthrough.

He had not expected those words.

Shen Youran continued before he could misunderstand.

"You did not merely complete an Intent that already had a known path. You opened one that did not exist before."

Su Bai glanced inward at the perfectly still silver needle in his Sea of Consciousness.

Nothing about it felt grand enough to justify what she was saying.

Jian Wushuang noticed his confusion.

"Most cultivators would not sense the difference directly. Those who have reached the Void-Shattering Realm can."

Lu Canghai had once stood in that realm himself, which explained why he had noticed the same change as Li Xuanzong and Jian Wushuang.

Jian Wushuang looked toward the sky where the last traces of silver had already disappeared.

"There is now a Needle Intent where none existed before."

Su Bai was silent.

He had been so focused on completing his own understanding that he had never considered what creating a new Intent might mean beyond himself.

Mo Shanyue rubbed his chin.

"You understand the troublesome part, don’t you?"

Su Bai slowly looked toward him.

Huo Yan laughed.

"It means some of us are about to become very busy."

The amusement faded slightly when Li Xuanzong stepped forward.

"Anyone sufficiently powerful who was paying attention would have sensed the birth of a new Intent."

Su Bai’s expression became more serious.

"They would know it came from here?"

"Not necessarily with perfect accuracy," Li Xuanzong replied. "But Radiant Sky Sect was at the center of the phenomenon. Anyone close enough, or anyone willing to investigate afterward, will eventually learn that much."

That was enough.

Heaven and Earth had effectively announced that something unprecedented had appeared here.

Su Bai’s already pale complexion seemed to lose another shade.

Lu Canghai noticed and laughed.

"Stop looking as though you personally invited every old monster in the world to our gates."

Su Bai looked at him.

"Did I not practically do that?"

The laughter around him became slightly less confident.

Huo Yan cleared his throat.

"That is why we should start working before any of them arrive."

Li Xuanzong nodded.

"Huo Yan already told me about the materials you donated and the Sect Suppression Array you created."

His gaze moved briefly toward Huo Yan.

"The Large-Scale version is valuable, but our current situation has changed too quickly. We cannot afford to leave the larger design as a future possibility anymore."

Su Bai immediately understood.

They wanted the Sect-Scale formation, the design he had previously said he could develop given enough time.

Lu Canghai stepped closer and rested a hand on his disciple’s shoulder.

"You do not need to carry the entire sect yourself."

His tone had lost its teasing edge.

"But if you can finish the Sect-Scale version you mentioned, it would give us considerably more room to deal with whatever attention comes next."

Su Bai looked toward the mountains surrounding Clear Cloud Peak.

Only moments ago, those same mountains had been filled with silver needles revealing flaws no one had known they possessed.

Now his own flaw seemed rather obvious.

He had brought too many things home, exposed too many extraordinary treasures, and somehow created an Intent that Heaven and Earth itself had decided to announce.

Fortunately, this particular problem had a solution he already knew how to pursue.

Su Bai looked back at his master and the gathered Peak Masters.

His expression settled.

"I’ll start working on the Sect-Scale formation today."