486: Chapter 486 The Name of the Ancient Path

At the end of the mountain path, Star Pivot Hall was already ahead.

The great hall was built against the mountain, entirely dark green-black. There was not much decoration outside the hall, save for dozens of palm-sized metal Formation Plates hanging from the eaves. When the wind blew, they tapped against each other, not with a crisp sound, but with a low, steady metallic hum that caused one's heart to involuntarily settle upon entering this place.

The two Disciples guarding the gate saw Su Ming and bowed in unison.

"Greetings, Senior Brother Su."

"Is Revered Master inside the hall?"

"The Immortal Master is already waiting for you."

Su Ming stepped into the hall.

Inside Star Pivot Hall, it was even quieter than outside.

Tall shelves stood all around, filled with various Jade Slips, Formation Plates, broken artifacts, and sealed spiritual materials. The air held a faint, cold scent of metal and stone, mixed with the aged fragrance of books settled by time. In the center of the floor was carved a massive star map, with interwoven star points and lines of varying depths, as if someone had used it to deduce the veins of heaven and earth countless times.

Immortal Master Master Xuan Heng was standing behind a long desk, flipping through a dark purple Jade Slip.

He was wearing a deep purple Formation robe today, his sleeves hanging down, his back straight as he stood there.

Hearing footsteps, Master Xuan Heng turned around.

His gaze fell upon Su Ming, first sweeping over his Daoist robe, then his Qi, and finally resting on the shadow on Su Ming's shoulder. He paused for a moment before nodding indifferently.

"Your cultivation has become more refined. Not bad."

Su Ming bowed: "Disciple greets Revered Master."

"Sit."

Master Xuan Heng gestured with his hand.

Su Ming sat down in the lower seat as instructed, and the shadow followed, jumping onto the back of the chair to squat. The little thing was usually afraid of nothing, but in front of Master Xuan Heng, it inexplicably restrained itself a lot, and even its feathers were smoothed down.

Master Xuan Heng did not speak immediately, but placed the Jade Slip in his hand back on the table and studied Su Ming for a moment.

"Has the matter at Sect Leader Peak been resolved?"

Su Ming was startled, then immediately realized.

The Sect Head had likely already sent a message about this.

"Replying to Revered Master, the Sect Head has ordered that white crane to be grounded for three months and is not allowed to step off Sect Leader Peak."

Master Xuan Heng gave an affirmative hum, his expression unreadable, and only said: "Being able to go to Sect Leader Peak and clearly lodge a complaint counts as progress. A Disciple of Formation Peak need not stir up trouble without cause, but one cannot remain silent when someone steps on one's doorstep."

With one sentence, he set the tone for the matter.

The last bit of concern in Su Ming's heart dissipated.

Seeing his expression stabilize, Master Xuan Heng finally raised his hand, took an ancient-looking Jade Slip from his sleeve, and placed it gently on the desk.

The Jade Slip was grayish-white in color with rounded corners, showing no signs of new carvings, but instead looking as if it had been repeatedly fondled for many years.

"The Secret Realm you are to go to is named—Ancient Dao."

Su Ming raised his eyes to look at that Jade Slip.

Ancient Dao.

Hearing the two words, his first reaction was not of majesty or mystery, but a kind of almost simplistic quietude.

It was truly too simple.

A Formation Peak Secret Realm, an Opportunity that so many Disciples in the Sect sought but could not obtain, was actually named "Ancient Dao."

Master Xuan Heng seemed to discern the slight surprise in his eyes and said indifferently: "Think it's too ordinary?"

"Disciple is just a bit surprised."

"The name is simple because the person who left it behind was not one who chased after vanity."

Master Xuan Heng tapped his fingertip on the Jade Slip, his voice low and steady, as if recounting a very distant past—a past so distant that even the dust had settled in layers.

"In the ancient era, Cloud Hidden Sect was not peaceful. At that time, the demon tide in the Northern Territory was incessant. The Sect once had an Ancestral Master of the Dao of Formations who, in order to deduce a border-defense Formation, used an entire mountain range as a Formation foundation and set up an experimental Formation covering a hundred miles in the back mountain of the Sect."

Su Ming held his breath as he listened.

Using a mountain range as a Formation foundation.

This was already a feat beyond the reach of ordinary Formation cultivators.

"Later, that Ancestral Master achieved Ascension and departed, and no one else could fully take over the Formation." Master Xuan Heng continued, "Although successive generations of the Sect have repaired and maintained it, they could only ever manage its superficial aspects. As time flowed and tens of thousands of years passed, that great Formation evolved on its own, absorbing and exhaling spiritual energy, and adjusting its own veins. By now, it is no longer a simple experimental Formation."

"More like a... living ruin?"

Su Ming spoke subconsciously.

Master Xuan Heng glanced at him and nodded.

"Correct. It is not a dead thing."

This sentence caused Su Ming's heart to tremble slightly.

A living Formation.

This concept was not foreign to him. The great Formation at Iron Wall Pass that had undergone countless repairs, the Eight Gates Lost Traces Partial Array given to him by Elder Qingquan, and even the Nine-Lock Interlocking Formation outside Lantai Secret Garden, had all given him similar feelings.

But those few things were either partial, chaotic, or like a trapped beast fighting.

Yet the "Ancient Dao" in Master Xuan Heng's mouth seemed to be something else entirely.

It was not a struggle, not a distortion, but a path that had grown and evolved on its own through the ages.

Master Xuan Heng reached out and pushed the Jade Slip toward Su Ming.

"No one in the Sect can know for certain what the surname and given name of that Ancestral Master were today. But before he departed, he personally carved two words onto the stone gate at the entrance—Ancient Dao."

Su Ming looked down at the Jade Slip, and a faint sense of reverence inexplicably arose in his heart.

A person capable of using a mountain range as a Formation foundation and ten thousand years as ink, yet he named the thing he left behind Ancient Dao.

No Myriad Phenomena, no Heavenly Derivation, no Divine Mechanism.

Only Ancient Dao.

Two simple words, yet they seemed all the heavier for it.

The hall fell quiet for a moment, with only the distant Formation Plates clinking slightly in the wind.

After a moment, Su Ming raised his head: "Revered Master, what exactly is inside the Ancient Dao?"

Master Xuan Heng did not answer immediately.

He walked out from behind the long desk and came to the side of the massive star map in the center of the hall, standing with his hands behind his back. The cold light falling from the ceiling shone on his shoulders, making the dark patterns of his deep purple Formation robe flicker between light and shadow.

"Ancient Dao is not a trial ground."

Master Xuan Heng said.

"It was not set up for you to go and slay demons, break through barriers, or contend for treasures."

"It is a path."

He turned slightly and looked at Su Ming.

"What you see, what you encounter, and what you realize after walking inside, all depends on yourself. This Revered Master cannot tell you what is inside—not because I am unwilling, but because it cannot be said."

"Why?"

"Because what everyone sees is different."

As these words fell, Su Ming's brows knitted slightly.

What everyone sees is different.

This meant that Ancient Dao was not a Secret Realm with a fixed scene or fixed examination questions, but rather one that changed according to the state of mind, cultivation, and understanding of the Dao of Formations of the person entering.

"Then what does this Disciple need to do?"

Master Xuan Heng said: "Walk."

Just one word.

Yet that one word was heavier than a long-winded speech.

"Walk for half a year." Master Xuan Heng continued, "Do not seek speed, do not seek the end, do not seek to forcefully break the situation. You only need to walk along that path. After half a year, the token will naturally transmit you out."

Su Ming slowly repeated: "Only need to... walk?"