Chapter 290 - The Last Percent and an Approaching Shadow

Chapter 290: Chapter 290 - The Last Percent and an Approaching Shadow

The construction of the Sect-Scale Formation continued without pause.

Another night passed over Radiant Sky Sect, and what had initially required constant discussion gradually settled into a rhythm.

The formation elders no longer needed Su Bai standing beside them for every anchor. Once the first distributed command nodes had been established and the circulation routes between them became clear, Huo Yan could handle most of the remaining adjustments himself.

Even the more troublesome portions had become increasingly straightforward.

By sunrise, Su Bai had gone several hours without being called over.

Li Xuanzong eventually noticed him standing beside another half-buried formation anchor and walked over.

"You should return and rest."

Su Bai looked at him.

"Sect Master, I’m still fine."

"That is not what I said."

Before Su Bai could answer, Lu Canghai appeared nearby and nodded in agreement.

"Go back first."

Su Bai looked between them.

Lu Canghai stroked his beard.

"The difficult part that required your understanding is already finished. Most of what remains involves placing anchors, stabilizing the larger circulation routes, and connecting what you already designed."

His gaze shifted toward Li Xuanzong and Jian Wushuang.

"We have two Void-Shattering cultivators here. If we still need a nineteen-year-old Golden Core cultivator to carry stones for us, Radiant Sky Sect might as well close its gates."

Su Bai’s mouth twitched.

"I wasn’t carrying stones."

"That makes it even easier for you to leave."

Huo Yan, who was several dozen steps away, did not even look up from the formation node he was examining.

"Go meditate. If something is wrong with your design, I will find you."

That was somehow less reassuring.

Su Bai wanted to continue helping, but after looking around, he had to admit that they no longer needed him.

The remaining construction depended more on manpower, precise placement, and overwhelming control over spiritual energy than on designing anything new.

Li Xuanzong and Lu Canghai happened to be exceptionally good at the last part.

Su Bai finally nodded.

"Alright."

Lu Canghai smiled.

"See? My disciple can occasionally listen."

Su Bai ignored him and returned to Clear Cloud Peak.

He intended to rest.

At least, that had been the idea.

When he sat on his familiar flat stone, however, closing his eyes proved considerably more difficult than expected.

His identity had already begun spreading among the enemy.

Resting suddenly felt much less appealing.

Su Bai opened his eyes.

If someone was already coming for him, he would rather spend the time preparing something useful.

His spiritual sense entered his storage.

After a moment, a large ring appeared in his palm.

It was one of the sealed storage rings he had obtained from the Immortals.

Their restrictions were too sophisticated to attack recklessly, and with everything that had happened since his return, he had never found an appropriate moment to study them properly.

Apparently, being ordered to rest was close enough.

Su Bai examined the ring carefully.

Layers of restrictions covered it.

Even with his current spiritual sense, tracing a single layer quickly revealed several more beneath it.

Su Bai stared for a while.

"This counts as resting, right?"

Nobody was around to disagree with him.

He activated the Dao-Shattering Jade within him.

The familiar pressure transformed almost immediately.

His thoughts became unnaturally clear.

The tangled restrictions before him stopped resembling an incomprehensible knot and began separating into recognizable relationships.

Su Bai’s expression gradually changed.

There was something familiar here.

The restrictions were not identical to the sealing arts he had inherited from the Court, but their underlying principles were unmistakable.

Su Bai smiled.

He could see where to begin now.

But that did not mean opening the ring would be easy.

Quite the opposite.

The storage ring had been designed so that forcing the wrong restriction could destroy the internal space along with everything contained inside it.

One careless move could turn an Immortal’s storage ring into an expensive piece of scrap metal.

Su Bai had no intention of finding out what treasures disappeared with it.

He lowered his breathing and began.

The process was painfully slow.

Rather than attacking the restrictions directly, Su Bai followed the sealing logic backward.

One line was disconnected. Another was weakened. A third had to remain untouched because removing it too early would cause four neighboring restrictions to react.

The work demanded enough concentration that the mountains around him gradually disappeared from his awareness.

By the time he stopped using the Dao-Shattering Jade, his stomach had already begun protesting.

Su Bai looked down.

At this rate, the Jade was going to force him into another meal sooner than his cultivation ever would.

He sighed and continued without it.

He had already understood enough of the structure to proceed carefully.

By midday, roughly a fifth of the restrictions had been dismantled.

The process became slightly faster once the outer layers were gone.

By evening, Su Bai had passed halfway.

He did not rest. Neither did much of Radiant Sky Sect.

Across the mountains, formation light occasionally flashed before disappearing beneath the ground.

The Sect-Scale Formation continued spreading outward.

While Su Bai worked on one ancient restriction, Huo Yan and the others worked on another kind entirely.

The night passed.

Near dawn, Su Bai finally reached the inner layers of the storage ring.

Nearly ninety percent of the restrictions were gone.

Unfortunately, the remaining portion was also the most dangerous.

The inner restrictions were woven directly around the storage space itself.

Destroying one incorrectly would not merely trigger the surrounding seals.

It could collapse the ring.

Su Bai slowed down.

It was around this time that several powerful auras appeared far beyond Radiant Sky Sect.

He noticed them, but his concentration did not leave the ring for long.

There was no hostility.

The approaching cultivators did not conceal themselves either.

Soon afterward, Shen Youran left the mountains to receive them.

They came from righteous factions.

Some had apparently arrived because of the increasing disturbances outside, while others wanted information concerning the recent events surrounding Fallen-Star Sanctuary and the communication problems spreading between factions.

The Sect-Scale Formation was still incomplete.

Rather than allow several outside forces to enter the inner peaks while construction was underway, Shen Youran received them in the mortal city below.

That arrangement suited everyone well enough.

The guests could wait.

Su Bai had no interest in meeting them yet.

His spiritual sense returned fully to the storage ring.

One restriction disappeared, then another followed.

Morning passed gradually.

By noon, only a thin web remained.

The Sect-Scale Formation was also nearing completion.

Its outer command nodes had been established, most suppression sections were already connected, and only the final circulation routes remained unfinished.

By afternoon, Su Bai had dismantled almost every restriction on the ring.

’Ninety-nine percent done.’

Su Bai stared at the final structure for a long moment.

Only a small portion of the original restriction remained, but the closer he came to the end, the less room there was for error. The remaining lines were woven directly around the storage space, each one so tightly connected to the next that even a slight disturbance could spread through the entire ring.

He carefully extended his spiritual sense and began tracing the nearest line, waiting until he was certain of its role before touching it.

Just as he was about to continue, however, a strange sensation passed through his spirit.

Su Bai’s concentration broke instantly.

His eyes snapped open, and the storage ring was forgotten for the moment as he focused inward.

Something had stirred inside him.

The mark.

The hostile mark left by the demonic cultivator had remained quiet ever since his return, but now it was reacting.

Su Bai’s expression slowly hardened.

He knew what that meant.

The technique had originally been meant to recognize and track him, but Reversal had twisted its effect. Instead of giving the other side an easy way to locate him, the lingering connection had allowed Su Bai to sense the source instead.

Until now, that connection had always felt distant enough to ignore.

This time, it did not.

Su Bai stood abruptly.

The storage ring disappeared back into his storage.

His spiritual sense swept outward, but he found nothing.

That did not calm him.

The mark continued reacting.

Someone connected to it was approaching fast.

Su Bai’s expression hardened.

"So soon?"

The Sect-Scale Formation was not finished yet.

He disappeared from Clear Cloud Peak.

A moment later, he arrived above one of the outer construction regions.

Huo Yan was directing the final connection between two suppression sections while Jian Wushuang stabilized the spiritual energy flowing through a command node.

Li Xuanzong turned when Su Bai arrived.

"What happened?"

Su Bai did not waste time.

"The demonic cultivator who saw me emerge from the Sanctuary is coming."

Several people stopped moving.

Li Xuanzong’s eyes narrowed.

Jian Wushuang immediately extended his spiritual sense far beyond the mountains.

A few breaths passed.

His expression changed slightly.

"I sense nothing yet."

Neither did Li Xuanzong.

That only made Huo Yan look toward Su Bai with greater seriousness.

A Void-Shattering cultivator could scan an enormous region.

If neither Li Xuanzong nor Jian Wushuang detected an approaching enemy, then whatever Su Bai had sensed was either extremely distant or extremely well concealed.

Lu Canghai arrived from another section and heard the last part.

"How certain are you?"

Su Bai answered without hesitation.

"Very certain."

Nobody asked how.

Li Xuanzong looked toward the unfinished formation.

Only the final portions remained.

Stopping now would waste the best opportunity they had to complete it before the approaching enemy arrived.

He made his decision immediately.

"Continue."

Huo Yan looked at him.

Li Xuanzong’s gaze shifted toward the distant horizon.

"I will deal with the hindrance."

He stepped into the air.

There was no dramatic release of aura and no visible technique.

One moment, the Sect Master stood beside them.

The next, space seemed to fold beneath his feet as his figure vanished toward the horizon.

The formation elders exchanged glances before returning to their work.

Jian Wushuang remained behind.

Lu Canghai looked at Su Bai, then toward the direction Li Xuanzong had disappeared.

"Finish what we started."

Su Bai nodded.

Beneath them, the final circulation routes of the Sect-Scale Formation began to light one after another.

And somewhere beyond the mountains, something connected to the mark inside Su Bai was drawing closer.