Chapter 368 - Withering Years and a Troubling Report

Chapter 368: Chapter 368 - Withering Years and a Troubling Report

Su Bai stayed inside Jadeleaf City as the night deepened.

He had already received a useful treasure from his first sign-in.

Waiting until midnight would give him an opportunity to discover what the city offered next, and a few more hours would make little difference to the preparations he needed for the return journey.

The quieter streets suited him.

Without another person beside him, his thoughts gradually returned to the day’s events. He had begun by following the Dark Mark into a forest and ended the evening drinking tea with people who had once feared him dead.

Somewhere between those encounters, he had swallowed a demonic cultivator’s soul.

Su Bai directed his awareness inward.

The mark was gone.

He examined the place where its reversed connection had remained for so long. There was no distant pull now, and no trace of the presence that had led him to the camp.

With everything that followed, he had not stopped to notice when it finally faded.

The man who placed it had truly left nothing of himself behind to trouble him.

Su Bai allowed himself a small smile.

The discoveries surrounding that man remained unpleasant, but at least the immediate danger had ended.

Ning Shuang no longer needed to keep him weak, and Su Bai would never again have to wonder whether the connection might awaken because a recovered Void-Shattering enemy had returned.

He continued along the street.

A tea house still had its doors open. Warm light fell across the pavement, and he could hear customers talking inside. Earlier, a place like that would have offered little he could comfortably drink.

Now he had a cup waiting in storage.

The ordinary nourishment in the tea remained harmful. He had felt the small loss of Qi clearly enough. Yet the infused soul-eroding power had given Reversal something else to work with, and the result had allowed him to enjoy the taste without the familiar burning in his throat.

It was a small convenience compared with some of the things he possessed.

He found that he valued it a great deal.

Ning Shuang had called their outing an ordinary day. Su Bai understood why she appreciated it. They had walked through shops, discussed prices, and bought things without anyone trying to kill them.

For a few hours, even the attention of strangers had amounted to curiosity about how much tea one person intended to purchase.

Then his sworn kin had appeared.

He had spent so much time dealing with the dangers of cultivation that he sometimes forgot how many people he now wanted to see again.

Their lives continued beyond the moments when they traveled beside him. They cultivated, argued with their elders, managed markets, and waited for opportunities to meet.

Su Bai looked around the unfamiliar city.

He had entered this world long ago. Lately, he was beginning to feel how much of his own life had taken root within it.

By the time midnight passed, the streets had become considerably quieter. Su Bai stopped beneath the light of a roadside lantern and called to the system.

’Sign in.’

[Ding! Signed in at Jadeleaf City.]

[Reward: Withering-Year Tea Leaves.]

[Description: Rare spiritual tea leaves that consume the drinker’s lifespan. The longer they steep, the stronger their life-draining effect becomes.]

Su Bai read the description twice, then he grinned.

Tea that consumed lifespan would be a rather expensive way for an ordinary cultivator to harm himself. For Su Bai, the reversed effect offered a benefit he had very little reason to refuse.

He did not know how much a serving would restore. The leaves would require testing, and the teacup’s added influence would need to be considered separately. Those details could wait until he had somewhere private to brew them.

At present, he was simply pleased to have received them.

He had spent much of the day buying tea and had now been rewarded with leaves that appeared particularly eager to shorten his life.

The system remained dependable in ways most people would find difficult to appreciate.

Su Bai stored his attention along with the reward and resumed walking.

The desire to begin experimenting had become stronger. He wanted to examine the new Stele inscription, study the Void-Tempering Soul Scripture, and determine what the accumulated tea supplies could offer his soul.

First, he needed to deliver his report.

He passed through the gate without drawing particular attention. Once the city lay behind him, he found cover away from the road and used the Cloudshift Dressing Art. A different robe settled around his body, and he checked his concealment before taking out his flying sword.

The sword rose beneath his feet.

A moment later, Jadeleaf City began falling behind him.

His return was quieter than the journey east. He avoided busy routes where convenient and adjusted his course whenever gathering travelers made it sensible to do so.

The sword’s speed remained easy to maintain, but he resisted the temptation to spend the flight examining something that deserved his full concentration.

The new map and intelligence slip stayed safely stored.

Daylight spread across the land beneath him. He crossed familiar stretches of country, rested only when caution required a closer examination of his surroundings, and continued toward Radiant Sky Sect.

By the time its mountains appeared, another day’s travel was nearly behind him.

Su Bai followed the permitted route through the formation. The familiar paths of Clear Cloud Peak came into view, and he descended toward his courtyard with a sense of relief he had begun associating with returning home.

He had barely put the sword away before calling for Lu Canghai.

His master arrived looking as though he had expected a message long before he expected the disciple himself.

"You are back already?"

"Master, I found something I need to report."

Su Bai’s expression made Lu Canghai’s next remark disappear before he spoke it.

They sat beside the stone table.

The parchment map appeared first. Su Bai spread it carefully, then placed the intelligence jade slip beside it.

Lu Canghai examined the marked settlements while his disciple began with the encounter in the forest.

He described the borrowed body and Ning Shuang’s discovery that its occupant had changed. He explained the formations found beneath the clothes, the related markings on the other disciples, and the appointments with the visiting formation master.

Lu Canghai listened without interruption.

Su Bai made clear which details he had examined personally and which came from his source.

The relationship between the escape formation and the receiving arrays remained something he had inferred from their surviving principles and the possession itself.

"I do not think that body was chosen by chance," he said. "There were other prepared disciples nearby."

His master’s gaze remained on him.

"And the man occupying it?"

"The same one who escaped outside the sect. I recognized enough to be certain."

Su Bai continued through the interrogation. He described the prisoner’s fear when asked about beings from outside the Human Realm and his determination to die rather than identify the people directing him.

Then he reached the Maw.

"When I drained his remaining Qi, he recognized something in the technique. He called me a Hungry Ghost."

Lu Canghai’s hand stilled beside the map.

Su Bai allowed him a moment before continuing.

"He believed I belonged to the people who had used him. He was wrong about that, but he seemed certain enough that he stopped treating me as someone who knew nothing."

"Did he identify anyone?"

"No."

Su Bai’s expression tightened.

"He spoke as though more than one person was involved. I cannot tell you whether all of them were human."

Lu Canghai leaned back slightly. He had heard enough of the unfamiliar artifacts and methods to take the possibility seriously, but he offered no name for the people behind them.

His attention returned to the parchment when Su Bai began explaining the assignments.

The interception network was familiar. Li Xuanzong and Jian Wushuang had already brought back evidence of it. What changed the old man’s expression was the survey work around mortal settlements and the marks left at suitable formation sites.

Su Bai indicated the annotations Ning Shuang had added.

"These are places her group examined. The marks show where the conditions matched their orders."

Lu Canghai studied the arrangement around one settlement.

"And some groups remaining nearby?"

"She does not know their purpose. I suspect they may be carrying out the next part of the work."

Su Bai explained why, then stopped short of claiming that formations had already been installed. They had not inspected one of those sites after the survey. The map offered places where someone could investigate that possibility.

His master lowered his eyes to the parchment again.

The room remained quiet long enough for Su Bai to hear the wind moving through the courtyard.

Finally, Lu Canghai picked up the jade slip containing the collaborators’ information. He read through part of it, returned to the beginning, and examined the distinctions Su Bai had recorded between confirmed meetings and secondhand accounts.

When he finished, he looked at his disciple.

"How long were you outside?"

Su Bai considered the journey.

"Long enough to buy tea as well."

Lu Canghai closed his eyes briefly.

Under other circumstances, the answer might have earned him a complaint. His master had already returned his attention to the map, however, and the expression on his face left little room for amusement.

Their investigators had found isolated groups and tools. Su Bai had brought back information that might explain how several parts of the activity supported one another.

The possibility involved occupied settlements.

Lu Canghai rose.

"I am taking these to Old Li."

Su Bai nodded and gathered the loose edge of the parchment so his master could roll it safely.

"The source must be protected."

"She will be," Lu Canghai said. "We will also need to verify the sites before anyone makes a public accusation."

He secured the map and jade slip, then looked toward the mountains beyond Clear Cloud Peak.

"If formations are being prepared around settlements, we need to find out how far the work has progressed."

His voice had become very quiet.

Su Bai watched him leave with the report. The tea in his storage could wait a little longer. For the first time since hearing Ning Shuang describe her assignments, the information was in the hands of people who could investigate several places at once.

He hoped they still had time.