Chapter 369 - The Mountain Terrace and the Taste of Tea

Chapter 369: Chapter 369 - The Mountain Terrace and the Taste of Tea

After Lu Canghai left with the report, Su Bai took out his flying sword again.

He had noticed something near the sect’s outer boundary on his way home, but he had been too intent on reaching Clear Cloud Peak to stop and look.

He rose over the courtyard and followed the mountains back toward the outer sect.

He recognized the mountain by its slopes. The summit was another matter. Where the rock had risen to an uneven crest only a few days earlier, a broad terrace now stretched from one side of the mountain to the other.

Its surface lay below the neighboring peaks, yet it was wider than the sect’s training grounds. Tens of thousands of disciples could gather there without having to sit shoulder to shoulder.

Su Bai lowered his sword as he drew near.

At first, the lamps spaced across the terrace made it difficult to judge what stood between them. Then he caught sight of the tall stone faces and understood why someone had gone to the trouble of flattening a mountain.

The comprehension walls had been moved.

Their new position was close enough to the outer boundary that visiting disciples could reach them without passing through the inner sect.

Su Bai could see where the approach branched away from the paths that led to the other peaks.

The suppression array could deal with anyone who caused trouble, but directing visitors here would spare the sect from having to watch them travel through its heart every time a new rotation began.

He descended a little farther to examine the work.

The terrace looked open from above, though the people who had shaped it had left enough of the original rock to shelter portions of its edge.

Wind swept freely across one side of the terrace and scarcely stirred the grass on the other. The formations supplied the entire terrace with Qi, and the terrain influenced what gathered in each part.

Wind and lightning Qi were easier to draw in from the exposed heights, while Yin energy settled in the sheltered recesses.

Where sunlight warmed the stone throughout the day, fire Qi gathered more readily.

The same principle extended across the mountain.

Disciples could find surroundings that suited their methods, and even the ground with no particular affinity held enough Qi for ordinary practice.

Someone had given serious thought to what disciples would do after they rose from studying the walls.

A cultivator could move from a seat before the stone to a place suited to putting an insight into practice. Visitors with methods rarely seen in Radiant Sky Sect would have the same opportunity.

Several disciples were already making use of it. Those seated closest to the walls barely moved, while a few farther down the terrace quietly repeated the same movements until they found something worth keeping.

On the stairs, Su Bai passed a disciple who stopped halfway down to take out a jade slip. Apparently, whatever he had just understood could not wait until he got home.

A muted impact drew Su Bai’s attention toward an open stretch away from the seated disciples.

Han Yuelin was sparring with Qin Baoshan, although Qin Baoshan seemed content to let him do all the attacking.

He held a shield before him and adjusted its angle each time Han Yuelin struck. One blow drove him back a step. When Han Yuelin tried it again, Qin Baoshan caught it farther along the rim and sent the force sliding off to one side.

Qin Baoshan looked down at his feet and grinned. Han Yuelin was already studying the angle of the shield, and his expression suggested he had found something useful in the exchange too.

Su Bai watched them reset, then turned his sword homeward before either noticed him.

He had some things he wanted to test before morning.

Back in his courtyard, he took out the Soul-Steeping Teacup and set water to heat.

He chose a few samples from the leaves he had purchased, brought out his notebook, and considered how much of each variety he could spare.

It was a pleasant problem to have.

He had grown fond of several things that would make an ordinary cultivator ill, but the first cup he drank in Jadeleaf City had reminded him how much he missed the taste of ordinary tea.

The cheaper leaves gave him a useful starting point.

He used comparable portions and tasted them at intervals as they steeped.

The cup’s influence grew stronger at first, but once the leaves had been in the water for about a quarter of an hour, he could detect little further change in the soul-eroding power.

He left one sample longer to make sure. By the time he tried it again, the tea was bitter enough that he regretted being thorough.

Better leaves continued taking in the cup’s influence past that point.

He warmed the cup gently with Qi as the water cooled and found that the Obscuring Mind-Fog Tea Leaves could steep for a full hour without spoiling.

Reversal turned their original effect into sharper concentration, which made it easier to distinguish the cup’s influence from the tea’s own. He wrote down the hour as the longest he had tested and left the question of their upper limit for another night.

He was more cautious with the Withering-Year Tea Leaves. He used only a pinch and waited half a minute before tasting the first sip.

He had expected something bitter from a tea that consumed lifespan. Instead, it had a depth and fragrance that made him keep the cup near his lips while he waited to see how his body responded.

A faint vigor spread through him. The change was slight, but it became easier to notice as he tasted the same small serving at intervals.

He could believe the leaves had given him back some lifespan through Reversal. How much they had given him was another question entirely.

He recorded what he felt and kept the water warm until the leaves had steeped for an hour. Even then, the tea remained pleasant.

By the time daylight reached his courtyard, he had enough notes to guide his next attempts.

The cup left the taste of the tea itself intact. Its influence added a separate sensation that he could only describe as a flavor felt in the mind.

With ordinary spiritual teas like Jadeleaf Spring Mist Tea, he could still sense a little Qi slipping away as Reversal acted on their beneficial properties.

Most of the leaves he had bought were mild enough that this hardly bothered him, and the infusion made them comfortable to drink.

He still preferred the harmful teas.

Both sign-in rewards benefited him through their original effects, and the cup gave him something useful on top of that.

The Withering-Year Tea might have been his favorite even without the prospect of living longer.

Su Bai glanced at the unopened packages from Jadeleaf City.

He had plenty to work through while he waited to see what Qiao Wen and the others could obtain from their elders. With any luck, one of their factions took its tea as seriously as Jadeleaf City did.

He lifted his cup to finish the last mouthful.

Just then, Lu Canghai entered the courtyard with a face that suggested his morning had gone considerably worse than Su Bai’s.