Chapter 315 - The Path Between Two Selves

Chapter 315: Chapter 315 - The Path Between Two Selves

By the time Su Bai opened his eyes again, the light beyond Clear Cloud Peak had changed.

He remained seated on the familiar flat stone for several breaths without moving. Pages of notes were scattered around him, some covered in circulation diagrams while others had been crossed through so heavily that very little of the original writing remained.

A faint smile slowly appeared on his face.

’This might actually work.’

The answer he had been searching for was much simpler than most of the possibilities he had written down.

He had spent too much time asking what should happen to each individual part of his foundation when the Nascent Soul formed. Each abnormality in his body seemed to create a separate problem.

That was precisely where his thinking had gone wrong.

They were no longer separate foundations.

The Macro-Taiji had already proven that.

For an ordinary Golden Core cultivator, Yin and Yang maintained balance within a single Golden Core. If that core was damaged, the circulation helped restore its stability.

Su Bai’s Golden Core had expanded far beyond that structure.

His Macro-Taiji existed throughout the Greater Golden Core, and the balance between Yin and Yang extended across his entire foundation.

That was why damage to his body could be treated as damage to the Golden Core itself.

That was also why trying to transform only the Black-Ice Golden Core had felt fundamentally wrong.

Su Bai had spent the night tracing that balance as carefully as he could.

He followed the Yin and Yang through his whole foundation, watching where one weakened and the other strengthened, where they exchanged places, and how the circulation compensated whenever one side became unstable.

The longer he observed it, the more clearly he understood his own body.

By the time he finished, a path had begun forming in his mind.

The Macro-Taiji did not need to disappear when he reached Nascent Soul.

It needed to evolve with him.

At Golden Core, it maintained the Yin-Yang balance of his Greater Golden Core.

At Nascent Soul, it could become the bridge between his physical foundation and the spiritual body born from it.

’Two structures. One balance.’

The thought had seemed absurd at first, but the more Su Bai compared it against his cultivation, the more naturally everything fell into place.

His Nascent Soul would not replace what he had built.

It would become its spiritual counterpart.

Su Bai gathered the scattered papers and returned them to his storage before standing.

A familiar presence immediately drew his attention.

Lu Canghai had returned sometime during his meditation and was sitting nearby with his eyes closed.

The old man opened them almost immediately.

Their gazes met.

Su Bai smiled.

"Master, I’m ready."

Lu Canghai examined his face for several breaths before his own expression relaxed.

"Good."

He rose and brushed off his robes.

"The breakthrough ground is ready. Old Huo spent most of the day reinforcing it."

Lu Canghai paused before giving his disciple a meaningful look.

"After this, you should probably let him rest for a while. At the rate you’re going, that old man may die of exhaustion before any enemy gets the chance to kill him."

Su Bai opened his mouth, but nothing came out.

Indeed, ever since his return from Fallen-Star Sanctuary, Huo Yan really had been unusually busy.

Su Bai suddenly felt a small amount of guilt.

Lu Canghai saw his expression and laughed.

"Come. You can apologize after surviving."

Su Bai’s mouth twitched.

"That wording isn’t very reassuring, Master."

"It wasn’t meant to be."

The clouds surrounding Clear Cloud Peak parted as master and disciple rose into the air.

They did not travel far.

Lu Canghai led him toward the Main Peak, where the training grounds had been cleared completely.

Su Bai noticed the formation before they even landed.

Formation lines covered nearly the entire training ground. Layers of inscriptions had been sunk beneath the stone itself, while several formation pillars surrounded the outer boundary. Pale light traveled between them in steady pulses.

Huo Yan really had spent the day on this.

Su Bai was still studying the formation when he finally noticed everything beyond it.

He slowed in the air.

People surrounded the training ground. ℯℯ𝑙.

Outer Sect disciples occupied the distant sections. Inner Sect disciples stood closer, while disciples and elders from the various peaks had gathered wherever they could find space without interfering with the formation.

There were enough people that Su Bai briefly wondered whether someone had announced a festival.

Several disciples noticed him approaching.

Hands immediately rose.

"Senior Brother Su!"

Su Bai stared at them.

He eventually raised one hand in greeting.

The response somehow became louder.

Lu Canghai landed first and looked far too amused by the situation.

Su Bai followed him down.

Only after touching the ground did he notice the people waiting nearest the formation.

Li Xuanzong stood there with the Peak Masters.

That much Su Bai had expected.

The figures beside them were another matter.

All the Radiant Sky Sect Ancestors had appeared as well.

Su Bai’s steps slowed.

They looked remarkably lively.

One was examining the formation with obvious interest. Another was smiling toward Su Bai as though he had personally been invited to attend something entertaining.

Su Bai immediately understood part of the reason.

His previous breakthrough had ended with a Heavenly Blessing.

Radiant Sky Sect had benefited considerably.

Apparently, nobody had forgotten.

Su Bai approached and cupped his hands.

"Greetings, Seniors."

One of the Ancestors laughed and rested a hand briefly on his shoulder.

"There is no need to look so tense. Focus on your breakthrough. We will handle whatever happens outside."

Another Ancestor nodded.

"Do not divide your attention. If the heavens decide to become unreasonable, that is our problem until the lightning reaches you."

Su Bai was not entirely certain that sentence was comforting.

Still, he bowed sincerely.

"Thank you, Seniors."

The Ancestors seemed unusually pleased.

Perhaps reaching Nascent Soul at nineteen was enough reason for that.

Perhaps they were also hoping golden rain would fall again.

Su Bai decided not to ask.

Li Xuanzong stepped forward.

"Everyone, take your positions."

The mood around the training ground immediately changed.

Peak Masters and formation elders moved toward predetermined locations around the formation. The Ancestors rose into the air and positioned themselves farther out, their spiritual senses spreading across the Main Peak and beyond.

Qi entered the formation.

The engraved lines beneath Su Bai’s feet brightened.

Layer after layer awakened until a vast translucent barrier slowly rose around the training ground.

Su Bai studied it carefully.

Huo Yan had not merely built something capable of enduring a tribulation.

The innermost layer isolated aura and spiritual fluctuations, preventing anything Su Bai used inside from easily leaking beyond the barrier.

Outside that were reinforcement layers designed to absorb and disperse force across the wider formation.

Other channels led toward prepared outer sections, where excess heavenly power that had already passed through the central formation could be distributed rather than allowed to accumulate in one place.

Su Bai glanced toward the people waiting there.

So that was why some of them looked particularly hopeful.

There were also several controlled openings built into the formation.

Authority points.

If something went wrong, Li Xuanzong, Lu Canghai, Huo Yan, the Peak Masters, or the Ancestors could enter without destroying the entire barrier first.

Huo Yan had thought of almost everything.

Lu Canghai stepped near the edge of the inner formation.

"Disciple."

Su Bai looked toward him.

"Do not hold back because you’re worried about exposing something. The inner barrier will isolate the breakthrough as much as possible."

His expression became more serious.

"If something goes wrong, we can enter. Focus on yourself."

Su Bai nodded.

"I understand, Master."

Lu Canghai studied him one last time before leaving the central area.

The barrier closed completely.

Across the sect, preparations continued.

Shen Youran had not joined the crowd around the Main Peak.

She stood near the outer boundaries of Radiant Sky Sect instead.

The Sect-Scale Suppression Formation rested beneath her awareness, ready to respond at the slightest command.

If an outsider arrived today, hospitality could wait.

Nobody would be allowed to introduce an unknown variable into Su Bai’s breakthrough.

Shen Youran looked toward the Main Peak.

For a brief moment, the young figure seated within the glowing formation seemed to overlap with someone buried far deeper in her memories.

Her lips moved almost soundlessly.

"Senior Brother Su..."

The disturbance in her Dao heart came without warning.

Shen Youran closed her eyes.

Several breaths passed before the fluctuation disappeared.

When she opened them again, her gaze had returned to its usual cold clarity.

Whatever memories had surfaced could wait.

Today, nothing would pass her.

Back on the Main Peak, Su Bai had already sat down.

The noise beyond the barrier faded from his attention.

He placed the opened Immortal storage ring beside him before taking out one sealed Immortal Stone.

Even through the isolation formation, several powerful figures outside immediately noticed the change.

Su Bai ignored them.

His attention had already turned inward.

The Binary Void-Sun Supreme Method began to stir.

The method had evolved alongside his increasingly abnormal foundation. Each transformation had forced it to adapt until the method he practiced now barely resembled the simple path he had begun with.

This time, it responded again.

A route gradually became clear within his mind.

The method could guide him toward Nascent Soul.

It could not perform the breakthrough for him.

Su Bai understood the distinction.

The method showed him where the next road began.

Whether he could actually walk it depended on him.

He closed his eyes.

The breakthrough started.

His ten Dantians responded together.

Solid needle-shaped Qi began moving within them, entering the Myriad-Path Meridian Web in carefully controlled waves.

Su Bai then synchronized them.

Qi needles moved throughout the ten cultivation centers until their rhythms gradually aligned.

His entire Greater Golden Core began settling into a single unified state.

Only when the ten centers responded as one did Su Bai turn his attention toward the Macro-Taiji.

Yin and Yang accelerated.

The change spread throughout his whole-body foundation.

Su Bai felt every part of himself enter the same balance.

The first step was complete.

He drew a slow breath.

Now came the part that no amount of stored energy could accomplish for him.

His awareness turned toward the Sea of Consciousness.

His soul began moving inward.