561: Chapter 561 Stability Remains Unchanged Amidst Change

Su Ming's hands were folded steadily on his knees; he did not answer immediately.

Outside the Immortal Cave, the faint sound of mountain wind wailing through the pine forest could be heard.

"Master, what do you think I should demonstrate?" Su Ming looked up and asked back, his eyes deep.

Lin Yu snorted, his soul body floating back and forth a few steps in mid-air: "How should I know? The Way of Formations has ten thousand variations. Some seek a one-hit kill, others seek the growth of all things. Since you've formed your Golden Core, you should have your own foundation for the Way of Formations. Surely you're not going to perform how to repair a discarded Formation Plate in front of Master Xuan Heng?"

Su Ming remained silent for a long time. His fingers tapped slowly on his knees—once, twice.

He watched a droplet of deep blue water quietly condense at his fingertip, then slowly spoke: "First Senior Sister follows the path of slaughter, Second Senior Brother follows the path of vitality, and Third Senior Brother follows the path of explosive power. They have already taken these three paths to the extreme; if I were to compete with them, not only would I lose, but I would also appear superficial."

The deep blue water droplet slowly elongated at his fingertip, and under the extreme compression of spiritual power, it actually turned into a tiny shield that radiated a heavy aura.

"The path I follow is—" Su Ming paused and lifted his eyes, "Stability."

"Stability?" Lin Yu stopped floating, the luster of his soul body brightening slightly as if his interest had been piqued. "What kind of stability?"

"Not seeking to defeat the enemy in one strike, but seeking to be impervious to all techniques." Su Ming's voice was very calm, as if stating a common fact. "A discourse on the Dao is not about whose Formation is most powerful, nor is it a life-and-death struggle. It tests whether one's philosophy is self-consistent. Master once taught me that those who live longest in the Cultivation World are never those sharp-edged Geniuses."

Lin Yu fell silent for a moment. He stared at Su Ming with his deep eyes for a while, the luster of his soul body brightening subtly.

Then, he said in a tone two notches lower than usual: "Correct. You show them stability. Don't go chasing those flashy offensive Array Patterns; it's enough to clearly explain your defensive philosophy of overcoming hardness with softness. You need Master Xuan Heng to see that you are an unbreakable shield. As long as you are tough enough, there will always be a place for you on Formation Peak."

Su Ming nodded slightly, closed his eyes, and sank his entire mind into his Sea of Consciousness.

The vast Divine Sense of the Golden Core Stage instantly spread out. Seven hundred and fifty basic Array Talismans turned into a sky full of stars in his Sea of Consciousness, arranging and combining according to strict logic.

He didn't need to design an earth-shattering new Formation for the discourse; he only needed to push the most basic elements to their extreme.

The 'Solid' character provided the most basic spiritual power support, like the foundation of the earth; the 'Defend' character formed an outward resistance, stripping away direct impact; the 'Lead' character was a variant he had secretly learned from that ancient Formation Plate from Wanbao Tower, used to deflect irresistible forces.

Su Ming's right hand moved slowly through the void. As his fingertips traveled, three runes radiating different lusters took shape in the air one after another.

"This isn't enough." Lin Yu suspended himself in mid-air, pointing out the flaw incisively. "If the opponent's impact exceeds the endurance limit of these three runes, even if you shed half the force, the remaining half is enough to shatter your Formation eye."

Su Ming's finger paused in mid-air.

In his mind, he replayed the scene of refining pills at Danding Peak, facing those terrifying pill calamity tentacles, and Elder Qingyang's fire control method that divided the flame temperature into tens of thousands of tiny levels.

"Dissolve." Su Ming uttered a single word in a low voice.

A fourth rune lit up in the void. It was no longer made of hard lines but had turned into circles of ripples like water waves.

Immediately after, the fifth rune, 'Seep,' also took shape. It was like an invisible net, silently merging into the gaps between the first four runes.

The five runes connected end-to-end in the void, forming a palm-sized miniature defensive Formation. It no longer looked like a hard shield, but rather like a transparent jellyfish slowly wriggling in mid-air.

"flexible force-shedding structure." Su Ming withdrew his hand and looked at the Formation. "When force hits it, it will be absorbed by 'Seep,' diverted by 'Lead,' and finally neutralized by 'Dissolve.' As long as the spiritual power of my Golden Core is not exhausted, it will never break."

Lin Yu stared at the miniature Formation and did not speak for a long time. Only after half an incense stick of time did he slowly exhale a breath of non-existent turbid air and utter one word: "Superb."

The night gradually deepened, and the light from the ever-burning lamp cast quiet shadows on the stone walls.

"Gulu..."

A growl, even carrying a hint of horror, suddenly sounded in the corner of the stone room.

Su Ming snapped his eyes open, his gaze sweeping like lightning toward the nest woven from Spiritual Plants.

Ying, who had been curled up in a deep sleep, had stood up completely at some point. Its pitch-black, iron-like feathers stood on end like sharp steel needles. Its pupils with double golden rings radiated a cold, fierce light in the gloom, staring fixedly toward the direction outside the thick stone door of the Immortal Cave.

A faint trace of Power of Stars circulated between its wings; it was the precursor to the 'Sharpness' Art being forcibly activated.

The deep blue luster instantly dimmed.

Lin Yu's soul body did not return to the xuantian ring but instead pressed directly against Su Ming's back. His voice was compressed to the extreme, sounding only within Su Ming's Sea of Consciousness: "Don't move your Divine Sense! Someone is scanning this place with their Divine Sense. It's very hidden and of an extremely high rank."

Su Ming's body tensed instantly, but he forcibly suppressed his instinctive urge to resist, not even allowing his breathing frequency to change in the slightest.

"Nascent Soul?" Su Ming asked in his Sea of Consciousness.

"Higher, not lower." Lin Yu's speaking speed was extremely fast. "If it weren't for this feathered beast's exceptionally keen perception of the Power of Stars, even I would have almost mistaken it for an ordinary mountain wind just now."

Su Ming's right hand was hidden within his wide sleeve, his thumb and index finger slowly rubbing together. His fingertip had already touched the great teleportation talisman bestowed by Master Xuan Heng at the edge of his Storage Pouch. The texture of the Talisman allowed him to maintain absolute calm.

The enemy is in the dark while I am in the light; curiosity is the fastest-acting poison in the Cultivation World.

Su Ming's finger slowly moved away from the great teleportation talisman and rested back on his knee.

He did not release any Divine Sense, but merely through a faint resonance with the Immortal Cave's Formation, he re-checked the spiritual power nodes of that five-fold defensive Formation. After confirming that the 'Lesser Heavenly Cycle Water Rhyme Formation' was operating perfectly, he naturally closed his eyes.

"Go to sleep." Su Ming issued a soothing yet mandatory command to Ying within his Sea of Consciousness.

The low growl in Ying's throat continued reluctantly for a few breaths. Finally, under the suppression of the blood contract, it shook its feathers somewhat irritably and lay back down in the grass nest, but those golden eyes remained wide open.

Lin Yu's soul body made no sound, silently fading into the xuantian ring, but the Soul Power protecting the periphery of Su Ming's Sea of Consciousness was heavier than ever before.

That mysterious Divine Sense was like a true night wind, circling outside the stone door of the Immortal Cave for about half an incense stick of time. It seemed not to have noticed anything unusual and eventually withdrew soundlessly, disappearing into the vast sea of clouds.

Su Ming sat on the cold jade bed, motionless.

Did that Divine Sense come from his Revered Master, Master Xuan Heng, concerned about whether his Realm was stable? Or from the Dark Hall deacons of Criminal Law Peak who still held suspicions about him? Or perhaps from some unknown powerhouse coveting the border guarding true seal within his body?

He didn't know, and he didn't want to know.

He simply guided the spiritual power within his Golden Core according to the route of the Ruoshui Art, performing regular and monotonous cycle revolutions. The core of The Way of Cautious Survival was never to solve all mysteries, but to survive until tomorrow morning.