370: The stage is set up

The Star Gazing Cliff at the hour of Mao was shrouded in blue-gray morning mist, like a piece of old cotton wadding soaked in cold water.

The black-clothed deacon of Criminal Law Peak used his sword flight to send Su Ming to the platform at the top of the cliff. Just as his toes touched the ground, before Su Ming could even stand firm, the man said nothing, only nodded slightly, and then transformed into a sharp sword light that streaked through the air. That departing figure was crisp and neat, exuding a cold indifference that said, "Mission accomplished, I don't want to be stained with more Karma."

Su Ming stood alone on the cold mountain rocks. The morning wind penetrated the purple true disciple Daoist robe, which was soaked with cold sweat and half-dry. The damp, cold fabric clung to his back like a layer of dead skin that couldn't be peeled off, bringing a bone-chilling cold.

He looked up at his Immortal Cave. The stone door was tightly closed, and the defensive Formation shimmered with a familiar faint light—it was the "home" he had personally set up.

He stumbled closer. The sensing runes on the stone door captured the owner's aura and silently slid open a gap. The unique warm and dry air inside the Immortal Cave instantly rushed out, enveloping him completely.

With a dull "thud" behind him, the heavy stone door closed completely, cutting off the wind and light from the outside world.

At that moment, the breath that Su Ming had been holding in his chest was like a punctured balloon, completely dissipating.

His knees went weak, and leaning against the cold stone door, he uncontrollably slid down along the door panel.

"Cough... cough cough cough!"

Violent coughing echoed in the empty Immortal Cave. Every vibration of his chest pulled at the needle-like pain deep within his Sea of Consciousness. Su Ming looked down and saw that on the front of his Daoist robe, the pool of blood he had spat out earlier on the Heart-Questioning Platform had already solidified and turned black, like a withered ink chrysanthemum.

His hands rested on his knees, his ten fingers uncontrollably spasming slightly—it was a physiological rebound of the body suddenly relaxing after extreme tension.

"Wheeze... wheeze..."

His heavy breathing sounded like an old pair of bellows.

Su Ming was in no hurry to move. He just sat slumped on the ground, head tilted back, looking at the few fluorescent stones used for lighting on the ceiling of the Immortal Cave. The light wasn't bright, yet it was somewhat piercing.

After confirming that the surroundings were absolutely safe, the defensive Formation was operating normally, and there was no Divine Sense prying, he finally completely relaxed his control over his body, letting exhaustion, pain, and the feeling of collapse after surviving a disaster wash over him.

He tried to circulate the Ruoshui Art.

As soon as he mobilized his spiritual power, a burning pain shot through his Meridians, as if what was flowing wasn't gentle Water Spiritual Energy, but molten iron. The circulation of spiritual power was extremely sluggish, a side effect of being forcibly crushed by the pressure of a high-level Cultivator.

Su Ming opened his mouth, his voice hoarse as if he had swallowed a handful of sand.

On the index finger of his left hand, the xuantian ring, which had returned to its dull gray appearance, suddenly flashed with an extremely faint eerie light.

Lin Yu's soul phantom emerged unsteadily.

This time, his figure was thinner than ever before, so transparent it seemed a gust of wind could blow it away.

"Finally... rolled back to the nest."

Lin Yu's voice was weak and hollow, as if drifting from far away. He tried to maintain his usual joking tone, sitting down in the air opposite Su Ming in a slumped posture, but he was clearly lacking the strength.

"That old hag's Soul Searching Technique... is damn intense." Lin Yu grinned, making a face as if he had a toothache, "It's like scraping brain marrow with a blunt knife... This Master's bit of Soul Power stored for several years was almost scraped into Soul Flying Away and Spirit Scattering by her staff."

Su Ming with difficulty swallowed back a surge of blood in his throat, wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth with his hand, and his eyes gradually focused.

"Master... did we... pass?"

"A close shave."

Lin Yu's phantom swayed, his tone carrying the relief of surviving a disaster, and a hint of fear he couldn't hide. "But we passed! We passed completely!"

He pointed a translucent finger toward the ceiling and chuckled. "That old fellow Yun Miao is truly a talent. We didn't even have to make it up ourselves; he set the stage all by himself and forcibly gave us the golden brand of 'Orphan of the Shen Family'."

Su Ming closed his eyes, forcibly guiding the last trace of Water Spiritual Energy in his Dantian, extremely slowly calming the churning blood in his body.

"'starfall soul nurturing ring'..." Su Ming repeated the name in a low voice, a self-mocking curve tugging at the corner of his mouth. "Since they believe this explanation, they won't look further into your origin. My 'abnormalities' now have a perfectly reasonable source."

"Exactly!"

Lin Yu snapped his fingers, though no sound came out. "This title might look like a hot potato right now, since it involves some ancient family and a massacre, but in the long run, it's simply a ladder to heaven delivered to our doorstep!"

Lin Yu counted on his fingers as he analyzed for Su Ming: "In the future, if your cultivation progresses too fast? That's 'accumulating steadily and breaking through'. You research some strange Formation? That's 'Bloodline Awakening' or 'Legacy' recovery. Even if we bring out some advanced stuff later, we can push it all onto that unlucky Shen Family."

"The most critical thing is—"

A sharp light flashed in Lin Yu's somewhat cloudy eyes. "With this identity, when the Sect gives resources, it will be under the righteous name of 'repaying Karma', and no one will be able to find fault."

Su Ming nodded slowly.

This was the Law of survival in the cultivation world.

The truth isn't important; logical consistency is what matters. As long as you give those in power a reason that can convince themselves and silence the masses, black can be turned into white.

"Alright, stop being so sentimental."

Lin Yu glanced at Su Ming's still slightly trembling hand. "Hurry up and crawl in to heal. Your dao foundation crack was already large, and after being tossed around by that old woman today, it's practically become a Spider Web. If you don't mend it soon, you'll just have to wait for the Qi to leak out."

Su Ming gritted his teeth, supported himself with both hands, and managed to push himself up from the ground.

He didn't go directly to the quiet room, but first took out a bottle of ordinary healing Medicinal Pills that Master Xuan Heng had given him before from his Storage Pouch. He poured out two pills and, regardless of wasting the medicinal effect, tilted his head back and swallowed them.

The Medicinal Pill entered his stomach and turned into a warm current, slightly alleviating the tearing pain in his Physical Body.

Then, he crawled into the quiet room on all fours and sat cross-legged on that warm jade prayer mat.

Discarding stray thoughts, he assumed the five-centers-to-the-sky posture.

The Ruoshui Art operated at full capacity.

The deep blue Water Spiritual Energy, like a dry riverbed finally meeting sweet rain, extremely slowly and gently moistened the damaged Meridians and the depleted Sea of Consciousness.

If it were a fire-type or metal-type Cultivation Technique, forcibly operating it now would only worsen the injuries. But the water-type was different. The 'softness', 'moistness', and 'life' of water were brought to the extreme at this moment.

Su Ming controlled the spiritual power, not rushing to break through barriers, but instead acting like a trickling stream, washing over the tiny cracks caused by the Divine Sense pressure over and over again.

Upon internal inspection, the Sea of Consciousness was a mess.

The originally abundant Divine Sense power was now nearly exhausted, leaving only a faint glimmer at the core, like a candle in the wind, flickering and ready to go out.

But fortunately, the core was undamaged.

As long as the wick is still there, the oil will eventually be refilled.