Cultivating in Reverse: My Sign-In System Wants Me Dead

Chapter 266: Chapter 266 - A Familiar City and a Long-Awaited Return

Grand Radiance City appeared beneath the distant mountains.

Su Bai slowed his flying sword as the familiar walls came into view.

Soon, he descended several miles away from the city.

The moment his feet touched the ground, his spiritual sense quietly spread outward.

What he found surprised him.

Grand Radiance City was far more heavily guarded than he remembered.

Radiant Sky Sect disciples had been stationed along the walls and at every major entrance. Patrols moved through the surrounding roads in regular intervals, while cultivators entering and leaving the city were being checked carefully at the gates. Even the traffic above the walls was being watched rather than allowed to pass freely.

Su Bai continued toward the city at an ordinary pace.

The closer he came, the more details he noticed. The guards were alert, but there was no panic among the mortals. Merchants were still conducting business, carts continued entering through the gates, and ordinary people moved through the streets without the frightened expressions he had seen elsewhere during his journey.

Seeing that, some of the tension Su Bai had carried for the past week eased.

Radiant Sky Sect had not abandoned the city. That mattered more than it might have seemed.

Mortal settlements were usually the first places to suffer whenever conflicts between cultivators spread.

He had read records describing similar situations throughout history. The remnant souls’ memories had also shown him that even thousands of years ago, powerful forces sometimes treated the mortal populations surrounding them as little more than a layer between themselves and approaching enemies.

When danger came, cultivators withdrew behind formations and prepared their strongholds.

The mortals outside those formations were left to endure whatever reached them first.

Grand Radiance City was different.

The increased security told Su Bai that Radiant Sky Sect had prepared for trouble without simply retreating behind its own gates.

A faint smile appeared on his face.

At least something had remained the way he remembered it.

As Su Bai approached the main entrance, one of the outer sect disciples stationed there immediately stepped forward.

"Halt. Please show your identification before you—"

The disciple stopped halfway through the sentence.

Su Bai’s cultivation was almost impossible for him to read. Combined with Su Bai’s pale complexion and ordinary pace, there had been little reason to think the approaching young man was anything more than a mortal traveler.

Only after looking directly at his face did recognition arrive.

The disciple’s eyes widened.

For several breaths, he simply stared.

"Senior Brother Su?!"

His voice rose more than he intended.

Su Bai glanced toward the other guards beginning to turn in their direction.

The disciple seemed to realize what he had done.

"Is... is that really you?"

Su Bai coughed lightly and took out his Core Disciple Token.

The familiar token settled the matter immediately.

The disciple straightened so quickly that Su Bai almost heard his back complain before he gave a deep bow.

"Senior Brother Su!"

His expression had completely changed.

Shock remained, but genuine relief quickly overtook it.

Su Bai put away the token.

"I suppose that answers the question."

The disciple looked as though he wanted to shout toward everyone stationed on the wall.

Somehow, he restrained himself.

Barely.

"Please enter." He lowered his voice before adding, "We... have been waiting for your return."

Su Bai paused.

The simple words caught him more strongly than he expected.

He smiled.

"I’ve been waiting to return too."

The disciple stepped aside immediately.

Su Bai passed through the gate and entered Grand Radiance City.

Only after he had gone some distance did the disciple finally turn to watch his retreating figure.

His eyes gradually brightened.

"Senior Brother Su really came back..."

Another guard walked towards him.

"What are you mumbling about?"

The disciple cleared his throat and returned to his position.

"Nothing."

He lasted perhaps three breaths.

A grin crept across his face.

"Maybe Office Hours can finally return too."

He quickly suppressed his smile.

"After the crisis, obviously."

This time, he really did return his attention to the gate, although the excitement in his eyes refused to disappear.

...

Su Bai moved through Grand Radiance City without drawing much attention.

Nothing inside appeared seriously disturbed.

Security had increased, and the atmosphere was more cautious than before, but the city itself remained orderly.

Shops were open. Mortals still argued over prices. Children ran between streets while adults shouted after them. Cultivators passed through occasionally, yet none treated the city as though it had already become a battlefield.

Su Bai quietly observed everything until he reached the side of the city facing Radiant Sky Sect.

The sect’s outer territory began beyond it.

He had barely crossed into the area used regularly by outer disciples when his peaceful return finally ended.

A young woman carrying a bundle of medicinal plants happened to look in his direction.

Her steps stopped.

The herbs nearly slipped from her arms.

"Senior Brother Su?!"

Her voice carried much farther than Su Bai would have preferred.

Several nearby disciples turned.

One looked at Su Bai.

Another followed his gaze.

Someone farther down the road stopped walking altogether.

For a strange moment, the entire area seemed to freeze around him.

Su Bai suddenly had a bad feeling.

"Senior Brother Su?"

"He’s back?"

"Wait, is that really him?"

The silence shattered.

Disciples began approaching from every direction.

Some looked openly relieved. Others stared as if they were trying to decide whether the man standing before them was real. Several immediately began asking what had happened inside Fallen-Star Sanctuary, while others wanted to know whether he was injured.

One disciple stared at him for several breaths before relief softened his expression.

"We knew you’d make it back, Senior Brother Su."

Several nearby disciples nodded without hesitation.

"The Mystic Realm might have trapped you for a while, but no one here thought that would be the end of you."

Su Bai looked at the familiar faces around him.

Their confidence was so natural that, for once, he did not know what to say.

News spread with frightening efficiency.

Su Bai had not even made it through the outer sect before people farther up the mountain began learning that he had returned.

Questions followed him wherever he went.

"Senior Brother Su, what happened inside?"

"Were you really trapped there the whole time?"

"Are you injured?"

"Why can’t I sense your cultivation?"

Su Bai answered what he could without explaining anything important.

"Yes, I was trapped."

"No, I didn’t spend eight months peacefully sightseeing."

"My foundation is fine."

"No, touching me will not help you figure out my cultivation."

The disciple who had been slowly reaching toward his sleeve immediately withdrew his hand.

Su Bai sighed.

He had survived Fallen-Star Sanctuary.

Apparently, the outer sect would be what finally exhausted him.

Just then, his spiritual sense caught a familiar presence approaching rapidly.

Su Bai turned.

A small figure appeared between the gathering disciples, moving fast enough that several people hurried aside.

"Senior Brother!"

Su Bai barely had time to brace himself before Yan’er reached him.

She wrapped her arms around him without hesitation.

Su Bai’s expression softened.

He rested one hand on her head.

"I missed you, Senior Brother!"

"I can tell."

Yan’er finally pulled back just enough to look at him properly.

There was unmistakable relief in her face, but Su Bai also noticed the changes immediately.

More than eight months had passed for her too.

There was a little more steadiness in the way she carried herself, and the childish excitement did not completely hide the progress she had made while he was away.

Su Bai examined her for a moment before smiling.

"It seems you didn’t waste your time while I was gone."

Yan’er’s eyes immediately brightened.

"Hehe. I wanted to surprise Senior Brother."

"You succeeded."

She looked extremely pleased with herself.

Su Bai was about to ask her how the others were doing when a familiar voice suddenly came from above.

"Senior Brother!"

He looked up.

A flying sword was descending far faster than was strictly necessary.

Su Bai’s eyebrow twitched.

The cultivator standing on it barely waited for the sword to come close enough to the ground before jumping.

Liu Meng landed several steps away.

For an instant, she simply stared at him.

Su Bai saw relief cross her face first, then her eyes reddened.

Before he could say anything, Liu Meng rushed forward and wrapped both arms around him.

The force nearly pushed Yan’er aside.

Su Bai steadied himself.

Around them, the gathered disciples became noticeably quieter.

Liu Meng held onto him as though letting go might somehow make him disappear again.

Su Bai felt her shoulders trembling.

His expression softened.

"It’s been a long time, Meng."

Liu Meng tried to answer, but only a muffled sound came out.

She tightened her arms instead.

Su Bai had expected questions.

He had expected complaints, perhaps even a lecture about disappearing for more than eight months.

He had not expected Liu Meng to simply cry.

"Meng?"

"I’m okay."

Her voice was completely unconvincing.

Su Bai wisely decided not to mention that.

Liu Meng wiped at her eyes without releasing him, only for more tears to appear immediately afterward.

Apparently noticing the problem, Yan’er stepped closer and began patting Liu Meng’s back with all the seriousness of someone taking responsibility for a difficult situation.

"Senior Sister Meng, Senior Brother is already back."

"I know."

"Then don’t cry."

"I know!"

Yan’er looked toward Su Bai as though asking why her perfectly reasonable advice had failed.

Su Bai almost laughed.

Instead, he gently patted Liu Meng’s back.

"I came back safely."

That only seemed to make things worse.

Liu Meng buried her face against him again.

Su Bai stopped trying.

Some things apparently had to run their course.

Around them, more disciples continued arriving.

The news had already spread beyond the outer sect. Flying swords appeared in the distance, while disciples from nearby peaks hurried over after hearing that Su Bai had returned.

The questions had stopped for now.

A few disciples smiled.

Others looked away, perhaps remembering the months during which no one had known whether Su Bai would ever return.

Su Bai looked over the growing crowd.

He recognized more faces than he expected.

People who had attended his Office Hours.

Disciples who had trained with him.

Cultivators who had once asked him questions that had somehow taken three times longer to answer than they should have.

The sect had continued moving while he was gone.

Standing here now, surrounded by familiar faces, the reality of how long he had actually been away finally settled in.

Yan’er was still patting Liu Meng.

Liu Meng was still refusing to let go.

Several outer disciples were pretending not to stare.

Su Bai smiled.

The return he had imagined during the journey had been considerably quieter than this.

He found that he did not mind.

At that moment, Su Bai truly felt that he was home.