Chapter 350 - The Forged Sea and an Old Wound

Chapter 350: Chapter 350 - The Forged Sea and an Old Wound

By the time sunlight reached the edge of the stone beneath him, Su Bai had covered several pages with revised circulation patterns.

The Nine-Fold Collapsing Sea Art remained open in his thoughts with its pressure changes becoming increasingly clear beside the principles of the Ancient Dantian Reinforcement Method.

Whenever he found a route that seemed promising, another interaction forced him to reconsider it. His brush hovered over one particular junction for a long time before he finally crossed it out.

The two methods could function together, but their individual progress remained separate.

A practitioner might strengthen the Dantian sufficiently to begin compression, then continue increasing the density of the Qi Sea long after the reinforcement stopped keeping pace.

The resulting damage would appear later, concealed beneath an apparently successful increase in reserves.

Su Bai had already seen enough of the original art’s consequences to know how dangerous that delay could become.

He needed the strengthening process to govern the compression itself.

Su Bai drew the circulation again, connecting the return flow from the reinforcement method to the route responsible for deepening the fold.

The pressure borne by the Dantian would affect that returning flow, giving the compression sequence something it had previously lacked.

It would respond to the foundation’s actual condition throughout practice.

As the strain approached what the reinforced walls could bear, the circulation would prevent further compression and direct the available Qi toward strengthening them.

The idea became clearer as he followed it through.

A practitioner would begin by reinforcing the Dantian, then gradually condense the Qi Sea until the first stable fold formed.

From there, the same circulation would continue strengthening the foundation while maintaining that level of compression.

The next fold would become accessible once the Dantian could support the additional pressure.

Someone with a weaker foundation could remain at an earlier fold for as long as necessary without having to abandon the method.

Su Bai leaned back slightly, examining the diagram.

’It was like increasing the storage load of a warehouse while reinforcing its supports. Every increase needed clearance from the structure carrying it.’

A faint smile appeared on his face. It had been some time since an explanation like that came to him so naturally.

Before, he had understood cultivation through familiar ideas from his previous life.

Lately, circulation patterns had begun making sense to him on their own. He could spend hours studying a technique without needing to translate it into something he once knew.

The realization left him quiet for a moment before he returned to the page.

There was still a great deal to finish.

The Dao-Shattering Jade had consumed a considerable amount of Qi while helping him untangle the conflicting principles.

He paid particular attention to the strange hunger that had troubled him before. So far, there was no familiar emptiness gathering beneath his concentration.

He felt clearheaded, his circulation remained steady, and the Jade’s demands were still manageable.

After checking his condition once more, he allowed its insight to deepen around the revised patterns.

Afternoon passed while he worked through the connections.

The first version restricted compression too early, leaving much of the reinforced foundation’s strength unused.

Another allowed the return flow to fluctuate whenever the practitioner changed how quickly he gathered Qi, which could make advancement inconsistent.

Su Bai followed those fluctuations carefully and adjusted the routes until the reinforcement answered to sustained strain.

Small changes in circulation would no longer be mistaken for permission to deepen the fold.

By evening, the technique had begun to hold together.

He could trace it from the initial strengthening circulation through the formation of the first fold without finding the old gap between preparation and pressure.

The later folds followed the same principle, with each stable level supporting the gradual development needed for the next.

The highest stage still carried the possibility of approaching the original art’s extraordinary capacity.

How far someone could advance would depend on the foundation he actually developed.

Su Bai ate a pill dreg while reading through the diagrams again. He then returned the jade slip to his palm and reviewed the original art from beginning to end.

Every inherited shortcut that relied on the practitioner enduring hidden damage received particular attention.

Night settled over Clear Cloud Peak.

Su Bai moved into his room and continued beneath the light of a small lamp.

He recorded the strengthening circulation first, then worked through how it joined the compression routes without interrupting the practitioner’s existing method.

An ordinary cultivator would need to maintain both consistently, so he simplified several transitions that his Meridian Web could have managed through instinct alone.

More than once, he caught himself accepting a route simply because his own body could perform it.

That mistake had already cost Ji Ruyue a robe.

He preferred to avoid discovering the equivalent flaw in a technique that acted on someone’s Dantian.

Su Bai reconstructed the ordinary meridian pathways in his thoughts and followed the Qi through them repeatedly, examining where the two demands competed.

The Dao-Shattering Jade helped him separate the unnecessary movements from those that truly supported the method.

Gradually, the circulation became clear enough to record without surrounding every passage with corrections.

The lamp had nearly burned through its oil when he finally set his brush down.

A fresh jade slip rested beside the notebook, containing the merged technique in full.

Su Bai read it twice before attempting the circulation inside his own body. His Myriad-Path Meridian Web responded smoothly, and he could follow the reinforcing flow as it joined the compression sequence. The technique encountered no ordinary Dantian boundary against which to measure the pressure.

Su Bai opened his eyes with a helpless expression.

His body could confirm that the circulation moved, but the very feature that made him difficult to harm prevented him from testing its most important safeguard.

He could spend another day running it through his Infinite Dantian and learn very little about what an ordinary practitioner would experience.

The realization was familiar enough that he almost laughed.

Creating techniques for everyone else continued to require someone other than himself.

The first pale light appeared beyond his window while he reviewed the instructions one final time.

Finally, he considered the title while holding the fresh slip.

The original name carried the danger that had defined the technique for so many years. His revision allowed the Qi Sea to become denser while steadily tempering the foundation around it.

A name describing that process would be sufficient.

Su Bai recorded the words at the beginning of the slip and read them quietly.

"Nine-Fold Sea-Forging Art."

He put it down with a satisfied smile, then immediately picked it up again to check whether he had omitted anything important.

That was how Lu Canghai found him a short while later.

His master entered the courtyard looking considerably more pleased than when he had left to deal with the visitors. The expression faded slightly when he saw how quickly Su Bai’s attention settled on him.

Lu Canghai stopped.

"What do you need this time?"

Su Bai stood and offered him the jade slip.

"Master, could you help me examine a technique?"

Lu Canghai accepted it with the resignation of someone who had already agreed to stranger requests. He sat down and sent his spiritual sense inside while Su Bai waited beside him.

The old man’s fingers rested loosely around the jade at first. Before long, they tightened.

He read through the technique again.

Su Bai watched the change in his expression and quietly withdrew the explanation he had been preparing.

Lu Canghai’s attention returned to the beginning, then followed the compression routes with a care that made the courtyard feel unusually still.

His gaze remained lowered for several breaths after he finished. When he finally looked up, the good humor he had brought with him had given way to something much older.

"This came from the Nine-Fold Collapsing Sea Art?"

Su Bai nodded.

"I found a method inside Fallen-Star Sanctuary that strengthens the Dantian against internal pressure. I thought I could combine its principles with the original art."

Lu Canghai looked down at the jade slip again. His thumb passed slowly along its edge, and the silence lasted long enough for Su Bai to hear the morning wind moving through the branches overhead.

The old man seemed to be remembering a place far from Clear Cloud Peak.

When he spoke, his voice had become quieter.

"If only we had someone like you then."

Su Bai remembered the disciples in the jade slip’s vision and understood enough to remain silent.

"The elder who created the original art taught more people than most masters ever will," Lu Canghai continued. "He never formally accepted a disciple. He said there were already enough people looking for promising successors, and someone ought to teach the children nobody had chosen."

A faint, painful smile touched his face.

"Your father respected him greatly. Su Qingshan could make almost anyone lose patience, but he always behaved properly when that elder was teaching."

Su Bai lowered his gaze toward the jade.

"He knew the disciples by name," Lu Canghai said. "Even the ones who had attended only a few lessons. During the Great Fissure, many of those same disciples used his art to remain standing when we desperately needed them to."

He stopped there, looking toward the mountains.

Su Bai had learned the technique through a vision, with the distance that came from watching events preserved in an artifact.

Lu Canghai had known the people inside those memories.

The difference became painfully clear as he watched his master hold the revised slip.

For a moment, he wished he had returned to the problem sooner.

"Master, it still needs to be tested," he said gently. "I can follow the circulation myself, but my Dantian cannot tell me whether the pressure response is correct."

Lu Canghai turned back toward him, and some of the familiar steadiness returned to his eyes.

"So you intend to test it on your master."

"You can judge your own foundation far better than I can," Su Bai replied. "I would also like you to review the circulation before trying it."

Lu Canghai studied him for a moment, then lowered his eyes to the jade slip once more.

The old sorrow remained, but his hand had stopped tightening around the jade.

He read the first passage carefully and settled himself more comfortably on the stone seat. When he looked up again, he gave Su Bai a small nod.

"Then let us see how far you have brought it."