Chapter 267 - The Returning Disciple and an Old Master’s Pride

Chapter 267: Chapter 267 - The Returning Disciple and an Old Master’s Pride

The crowd around Su Bai had only grown larger.

Disciples from nearby peaks continued arriving after hearing the news, and the road through the outer sect had become crowded enough that passing cultivators were beginning to stop simply to see what was happening.

Liu Meng had finally stopped crying, although she still stood close enough to Su Bai that anyone could tell she had no intention of letting him disappear again anytime soon. Yan’er remained beside her, occasionally glancing at Su Bai as though confirming that he was still there.

Su Bai was beginning to wonder how long it would take him to reach Clear Cloud Peak at this rate when the atmosphere around the crowd suddenly changed.

Several powerful auras approached from the inner peaks.

The disciples immediately quieted.

Shen Youran arrived first.

Her gaze swept across the gathered crowd, and whatever excitement had been building seemed to retreat beneath that single look.

"Enough."

Her voice was not loud.

It did not need to be.

"You have all seen him. Disciple Su has only just returned. If you have questions, there will be time for them later."

Several disciples who had clearly been preparing to ask exactly one more question quietly closed their mouths.

Shen Youran’s eyes moved across the crowd again.

"Let him rest first."

That settled the matter.

The disciples began making space almost immediately.

Liu Meng finally released Su Bai as well, though reluctantly. She wiped the last traces of tears from her face and stepped back beside Yan’er.

Su Bai gave her a small smile before turning toward the figures who had arrived behind Shen Youran.

Huo Yan was there, along with Yao Ding and Mo Shanyue. Several elders followed behind them, all looking at Su Bai with varying degrees of relief and curiosity.

At the center stood Lu Canghai.

Su Bai’s expression softened.

He stepped forward and bowed.

"Su Bai greets the Peak Masters and Elders."

His gaze finally settled on the familiar old man.

"And Master."

For a moment, no one spoke.

Several of the elders looked as though they had a great deal they wanted to say, but one glance at Shen Youran was enough to remind them that this probably was not the time.

Lu Canghai, however, had no such concerns.

He walked toward Su Bai with his hands behind his back. His expression was composed enough that someone unfamiliar with him might have believed this reunion was nothing remarkable.

"Brat."

Su Bai looked up.

Lu Canghai stroked his beard.

"You’re finally back. You certainly made your master wait long enough."

Su Bai smiled.

Before he could answer, Huo Yan glanced sideways at Lu Canghai.

"Old Lu, why are you pretending to be calm now?"

Lu Canghai’s hand stopped halfway through his beard.

Yao Ding gave a small cough.

"It is rather different from how you behaved a few months ago."

Mo Shanyue nodded thoughtfully.

"You did look unusually miserable."

Lu Canghai slowly turned toward them.

The surrounding disciples immediately lowered their heads. Mostly because looking directly at Lu Canghai’s face at that moment seemed dangerous for entirely different reasons.

"Old Mo."

Mo Shanyue raised an eyebrow.

"You spent days sitting outside your hut without speaking to anyone."

"I was meditating."

"You were staring at the road."

"I can meditate while staring at a road."

Huo Yan’s mouth twitched.

Yao Ding looked away.

Su Bai lowered his head slightly, but the smile on his face had already betrayed him.

Lu Canghai noticed.

His expression darkened.

"You find this amusing?"

"Disciple wouldn’t dare."

The answer came far too smoothly.

Huo Yan finally laughed.

That was enough to ruin everyone else’s restraint.

Even several nearby elders turned their faces away.

Lu Canghai’s beard trembled.

"Unrefined old men."

He grabbed Su Bai by the shoulder before any of them could answer.

"Come. Your master has no interest in remaining here while these people spread nonsense."

Su Bai allowed himself to be pulled away.

Behind them, Huo Yan’s laughter only became louder.

Lu Canghai ignored it with the dignity of a man who had decided that acknowledging the problem would only make it worse.

The disciples watched the two disappear toward Clear Cloud Peak.

Little by little, the crowd began dispersing.

Yet the atmosphere across the sect had already changed.

For months, there had been a quiet heaviness beneath everything.

Cultivation continued. Missions continued. Disciples trained, elders taught, and the sect prepared for the growing conflict outside.

But one of their own had remained trapped somewhere none of them could reach.

That weight had never completely disappeared, but now it had.

Voices became louder. Smiles appeared more easily. Even the disciples returning to their duties seemed to carry themselves differently.

It was all because Su Bai had come back.

...

The path toward Clear Cloud Peak was almost exactly as Su Bai remembered it.

He followed beside Lu Canghai while familiar peaks passed in the distance.

The sight of ordinary sect buildings was unexpectedly comforting.

He found himself looking at everything.

Lu Canghai noticed.

"You seem happy."

"I am."

The answer came without hesitation.

Lu Canghai glanced at him once before looking forward again.

They continued for a while before Su Bai finally noticed something.

"Master."

"Hm?"

"I haven’t seen Sect Master Li or Peak Master Jian."

Lu Canghai’s expression became more serious.

He was silent for several breaths before answering.

"Yue Cangyu told you about the current situation outside, didn’t he?"

Su Bai nodded.

"He told me part of it."

"Then you already know the conflict has spread farther than most people expected."

Lu Canghai’s gaze moved toward the distant horizon.

"Li Xuanzong and Jian Wushuang left some time ago. Several stronger demonic cultivators began appearing in areas where ordinary disciples could no longer handle the situation safely."

Su Bai listened quietly.

"They also wanted to investigate the righteous cultivators cooperating with the demonic side," Lu Canghai continued. "Sending too many people would only make whoever is hiding among us more cautious, so the Sect Master went personally."

Su Bai frowned slightly.

"Are they safe?"

"They were the ones who insisted everyone else stay here."

Lu Canghai snorted.

"If those two managed to get themselves killed together, I would personally drag them back and kill them again."

Su Bai stared at him.

Lu Canghai kept walking as though he had said nothing unusual.

A smile slowly appeared on Su Bai’s face.

That answer told him enough.

Radiant Sky Sect had not sent weaker disciples forward while its strongest cultivators remained protected behind the sect’s formations.

Li Xuanzong and Jian Wushuang had gone themselves.

It was exactly the kind of decision Su Bai had expected from them.

"That sounds like Sect Master Li."

They continued toward Clear Cloud Peak.

...

The familiar hut appeared not long afterward.

Su Bai slowed.

For several breaths, he simply looked at it.

Nothing about the small building was impressive.

Compared with the ancient halls he had entered inside Fallen-Star Sanctuary, it was almost painfully ordinary.

That only made the sight more comforting.

Su Bai smiled.

"I really am back."

Lu Canghai stopped beside him.

The old man glanced at the hut before looking at Su Bai.

"When I heard that Fallen-Star Sanctuary had appeared in the world again, I knew you would return sooner or later."

Su Bai looked at him.

Lu Canghai stroked his beard.

"Of course, only my disciple could disappear into a forbidden land for eight months and return by dragging the entire place back into the cultivation world."

The pride in his voice was impossible to miss.

Su Bai’s mouth twitched.

"Master, I didn’t bring it back because I wanted to."

Lu Canghai’s eyebrows rose.

"Oh?"

"If I hadn’t done it, I wouldn’t have been able to leave."

The hand stroking Lu Canghai’s beard stopped.

His expression changed.

The boastful amusement faded, and for the first time since their reunion, he looked at Su Bai without trying to hide what he was feeling.

"Was it that bad?"

Su Bai thought about the question, then he smiled faintly.

"It was complicated."

Lu Canghai stared at him for a moment, then he sighed.

"Having you back is enough."

Su Bai’s eyes shifted toward him.

Lu Canghai walked toward the hut.

"As for whatever chaos you created while escaping, we can worry about that later."

Su Bai remained still for half a breath before following.

Something warm settled in his chest.

His master had not asked what treasures he had obtained.

He had not asked how powerful he had become.

He had not even asked why an entire ancient forbidden land had suddenly returned to the world.

The first thing that mattered was simply that Su Bai had returned with it.

Lu Canghai sat down at the courtyard and gestured toward the seat across from him.

"Come."

Su Bai sat.

Lu Canghai leaned back slightly.

"Now tell me what happened."

Su Bai looked at him.

"Everything?"

Lu Canghai frowned.

"You disappeared for more than eight months and returned looking like someone drained half the blood from your body. What part do you think your master doesn’t want to hear?"

Su Bai considered that.

"Then, this might take a while, Master."

"I have time."

A smile slowly appeared on Su Bai’s face.

For the first time since leaving Fallen-Star Sanctuary, he realized he did not have to carefully decide which parts of the story were safe to reveal.

He did not need to hide his strange cultivation.

He did not need to pretend some discovery had come from somewhere else.

He did not need to remove the absurd parts simply because they sounded impossible.

This was Lu Canghai.

Su Bai relaxed against his seat.

"I’ll start from the beginning."

Lu Canghai nodded.

Su Bai began with the deeper areas of Fallen-Star Sanctuary.

At first, Lu Canghai listened calmly.

That calm lasted longer than Su Bai expected.

It disappeared when Su Bai reached the first truly troublesome part.

Lu Canghai’s eyebrows rose.

Su Bai continued.

The eyebrows rose farther.

A few minutes later, Lu Canghai stopped stroking his beard.

After that, he leaned forward.

When Su Bai casually mentioned something that had almost killed him, Lu Canghai’s face darkened.

When the story moved to something even stranger, the old man’s expression changed again.

Su Bai had not expected this part to be entertaining.

The longer he spoke, the more difficult it became not to watch his master’s face.

At one point, Lu Canghai stared at him for so long that Su Bai nearly lost his place.

"Brat."

"Yes, Master?"

"Did you intentionally look for every dangerous thing inside that Sanctuary?"

Su Bai answered honestly.

"Most of them found me first."

That somehow made Lu Canghai look even less pleased.

Su Bai finally laughed.

It was not the restrained amusement he normally showed around others.

For once, he simply laughed because he wanted to.

Lu Canghai stared at him, then shook his head.

"Continue."

Su Bai did.

As the story went on, he felt something he had not noticed he was carrying gradually loosen.

For months, everything that happened inside Fallen-Star Sanctuary had simply become another problem to solve.

There had always been another danger, another discovery, another sealed thing waiting behind the next layer.

Now he could finally sit somewhere familiar and tell someone how ridiculous the entire journey had been.

Perhaps there was a strange kind of relief in that.

Lu Canghai did not interrupt unless he needed clarification.

He did not question whether Su Bai was exaggerating.

He simply listened.

And whenever Su Bai reached another absurd part of the story, his master’s expression changed enough to make telling it considerably more enjoyable.

Su Bai smiled as he continued.

For the first time in more than eight months, Su Bai finally felt that everything inside Fallen-Star Sanctuary was truly behind him.

He was back where he belonged.