Chapter 330 - The Heavenly Reputation and the Waiting Factions

Chapter 330: Chapter 330 - The Heavenly Reputation and the Waiting Factions

While Su Bai settled into meditation on Clear Cloud Peak, another part of Radiant Sky Sect became considerably less peaceful.

The Grand Halls had been opened again.

By then, Shen Youran had already brought some order to the growing crowd outside the sect.

Representatives from the neighboring righteous factions that had arrived earlier were admitted first, followed by several delegations that had reached the boundary while the heavenly phenomena were still unfolding.

More had arrived afterward.

Among them were neutral factions and several forces whose disciples had formed Covenant Oaths with Su Bai.

The rest remained beyond the inner boundary, waiting under the suppression formation without complaint.

Li Xuanzong sat at the head of the hall.

The Peak Masters occupied positions nearby.

This time, nobody had any intention of touring the visitors around Radiant Sky Sect.

There were too many of them.

More importantly, a large portion of the sect was currently meditating.

Disturbing thousands of disciples while they consolidated benefits from a heavenly phenomenon simply to provide hospitality would have been foolish.

The visitors understood.

Most had come bearing gifts.

Those who had personally benefited from the heavenly phenomena looked at the boxes, jade cases, medicinal materials, and Spirit Stones they had brought with increasingly complicated expressions.

One elderly cultivator glanced at the gift his faction had prepared.

It had seemed respectable when they left home.

After having his spiritual foundation nourished by the Heavenly Soul Benediction and receiving a glimpse of Heavenly Law without paying anything, the gift suddenly felt rather modest.

He quietly looked toward one of his juniors.

The junior understood immediately.

Another storage pouch appeared beside the first gift.

Li Xuanzong noticed.

He pretended not to.

"Sect Master Li, congratulations."

A representative from a neighboring faction cupped his hands.

"To have such a heavenly phenomenon descend upon your sect is a tremendous fortune."

Li Xuanzong smiled.

"The heavens were generous."

Several Peak Masters maintained perfectly calm expressions.

Nobody mentioned that the same generous heavens had also beaten Su Bai to death.

Details were important.

Sometimes they were also unnecessary.

Another visitor sighed.

"The Heavenly Blessing alone was extraordinary. The Soul Benediction afterward benefited even those of us who remained outside."

His expression became sincere.

"We owe Radiant Sky Sect some gratitude."

Li Xuanzong accepted the words naturally.

"You were guests outside our gates. There is no need to speak so formally."

The visitor smiled.

Another gift box appeared on the table.

Li Xuanzong accepted that naturally too.

The Peak Masters glanced at him.

Sect Master Li did not react.

He had spent years keeping Radiant Sky Sect alive through difficult circumstances. If heaven itself decided to improve the sect’s reputation and encourage wealthy cultivators to bring gifts to his front door, rejecting them would have been disrespectful to fate.

At least that was the explanation he would use if anyone asked.

The conversations continued.

There was one subject many of the visitors clearly wanted to ask about, but none of them did.

The strange phenomena had all originated from somewhere within Radiant Sky Sect, but those waiting outside had never been able to see exactly what was happening on the Main Peak.

The suppression formation had already reduced their cultivation and prevented them from casually extending their spiritual senses into the sect. Even without it, attempting to pry into another sect immediately after receiving benefits at its gates would have been an excellent way to turn gratitude into hostility.

So they restrained their curiosity.

Some suspected that a senior of Radiant Sky Sect had broken through.

Others wondered whether the sect had activated some ancient treasure.

A few inevitably thought of Su Bai.

News that he had returned from the Fallen-Star Sanctuary had already spread among many factions, and everyone knew he had brought back things that could hardly be measured by ordinary standards.

Whether today’s phenomenon had anything to do with him was another matter.

No one in Radiant Sky Sect volunteered an answer.

Li Xuanzong was perfectly happy to leave it that way.

The sect had no reason to explain Su Bai’s cultivation, his breakthrough, or what had happened beneath the Heavenly Burial Palm to outsiders.

The blessings were real.

That was all the visitors needed to know.

More importantly, the atmosphere surrounding Radiant Sky Sect had changed.

Li Xuanzong could feel it in every conversation.

This was not even the first time one of Su Bai’s breakthroughs had benefited the sect.

His Golden Core tribulation had already brought down a blessing that nourished Radiant Sky Sect and left many people with gains they would normally have struggled years to obtain.

What happened today was different.

The scale alone was incomparable.

There had been the Heavenly Blessing Descent, followed by the Soul Benediction, and finally a glimpse of Heavenly Law that had reached even the cultivators waiting outside.

People who had merely come to visit had walked away with benefits.

That was the kind of thing cultivators remembered for decades.

Li Xuanzong almost wanted to laugh.

He had spent years carefully turning every advantage Radiant Sky Sect gained into a little more influence and a little more security.

Su Bai had somehow compressed a considerable portion of that work into a single afternoon simply by surviving something ridiculous.

Again.

Lu Canghai, seated beside him, caught the faint change in his expression.

"You seem pleased."

Li Xuanzong kept his face composed.

"The sect survived an abnormal heavenly phenomenon, our disciples gained benefits, our Ancestors gained lifespan, and the visitors brought gifts. Should I appear miserable?"

Lu Canghai considered it.

"Reasonable."

Li Xuanzong turned back toward the hall.

There was another advantage that none of them needed to state openly.

Few factions would casually provoke Radiant Sky Sect after what happened today.

People were superstitious about heaven for good reason.

Rumors would inevitably spread.

Some would claim the sect had entered a period of heavenly favor.

Others would exaggerate further.

A few would probably decide that attacking Radiant Sky Sect so soon afterward risked offending heaven itself.

Li Xuanzong had no intention of correcting them.

The irony could remain his private amusement.

Su Bai had brought the sect enormous benefits and equally enormous trouble.

Somehow, today’s events had also made that trouble more difficult for outsiders to approach.

Radiant Sky Sect was becoming too valuable to ignore and increasingly inconvenient to offend.

That balance suited Li Xuanzong very well.

The discussion gradually shifted toward another reason several factions had wanted to visit Radiant Sky Sect even before today’s disturbance.

Several representatives became noticeably more attentive.

One of them finally spoke.

"Sect Master Li, we heard that Radiant Sky Sect recently created a place where cultivators can study techniques and concepts more directly."

Li Xuanzong’s eyes moved toward him.

’So the news had traveled.’

That was not especially surprising.

Several neighboring factions had maintained contact with Radiant Sky Sect since the demonic cultivator attack, and information naturally moved through disciples, elders, allied forces, and visiting cultivators.

Something as unusual as the walls was never going to remain completely unknown once outsiders had seen hints of it.

Li Xuanzong nodded.

"There is such a place."

The atmosphere in the hall sharpened immediately.

The representative leaned forward slightly.

"We also heard that Radiant Sky Sect may allow limited access to outsiders."

"That is under consideration," Li Xuanzong replied. "Our own disciples will naturally have priority. If access is opened, it will be arranged through rotations."

Nobody objected.

They had expected restrictions.

Something capable of assisting comprehension was already precious enough. A sect willing to discuss opening such a resource to outsiders at all was unusual.

A middle-aged cultivator near the front cupped his hands.

"Has the first rotation been decided?"

"Not yet."

"We would like our faction to be considered when the arrangements are finalized."

Another representative spoke soon afterward.

"Our side as well."

More requests followed.

Li Xuanzong listened without interrupting.

Several of the factions asking had already brought unusually generous gifts.

Some had very clearly arrived prepared for this conversation.

Li Xuanzong’s smile became slightly warmer.

The cultivation world could be remarkably efficient when people wanted something.

"We will establish the arrangements after the sect finishes handling today’s matters. Once the conditions are finalized, the relevant factions will be informed."

That answer disappointed nobody.

They had never expected to walk through the doors and immediately gain access.

Being considered was enough.

One of the representatives from a faction whose younger generation had formed Covenant Oaths with Su Bai hesitated before speaking.

"May I ask whether Young Friend Su has returned safely from the Fallen-Star Sanctuary?"

Several gazes shifted toward him.

The question was much safer than asking whether today’s heavenly phenomena had anything to do with Su Bai.

Li Xuanzong understood the distinction.

"He has returned and is resting. He will not be receiving visitors for the time being."

The man immediately nodded.

"Of course. We only wished to know that he was well."

Li Xuanzong gave no further explanation.

Several people in the hall quietly connected that answer with the events of the day.

Others did not.

Nobody was foolish enough to press.

The meeting continued for some time.

Gifts accumulated.

Requests were recorded.

Even factions that had once considered Radiant Sky Sect a direct rival had become considerably more restrained.

Competition had not disappeared.

Neither had ambition.

But there was a great difference between competing with another sect and provoking one that had just spent an afternoon bathing half the surrounding region in heavenly fortune.

For now, even old rivals were remarkably polite.

Outside the hall, Radiant Sky Sect remained almost unnaturally quiet.

Most disciples were still in meditation.

The Ancestors had withdrawn to stabilize their gains.

Huo Yan and several elders were repairing the Main Peak.

Shen Youran continued controlling access through the suppression formation.

Radiant Sky Sect had rarely been busier.

It had also rarely been quieter.

...

On Clear Cloud Peak, Su Bai knew none of this.

The Supreme Dual-Origin Scripture continued circulating.

His Nascent Soul sat within the Nascent Origin while the Macro-Taiji turned smoothly through his physical and spiritual foundations.

Each completed cycle made the newly established connection more natural.

Gradually, Su Bai forgot about the visitors.

He forgot about the Main Peak.

He even temporarily forgot about the Immortal Stone he had just accused of contributing to his death.

For the first time since his breakthrough began, there was nothing trying to crush, bless, corrode, nourish, erase, suppress, or kill him.

The realization was strangely comforting.

Su Bai settled deeper into meditation.

Perhaps reaching the Nascent Soul Realm would finally allow him a few peaceful days.

Somewhere within his chest Gateway Dantian, a tiny arc of white-gold lightning moved across a golden leaf.