Chapter 305 - Open Gates and Hidden Value

Chapter 305: Chapter 305 - Open Gates and Hidden Value

Huo Yan personally supervised the recovery of anything that had survived the fighting.

Broken talismans, fragments of the strange bells, pieces of the bronze mirror, and the remains of the escape discs were carefully separated before being sealed away for later study.

He treated even the smallest fragment seriously after seeing how many unfamiliar principles had appeared in the hands of the demonic cultivators.

The Formation-Eating Nail received considerably more attention.

Once the demonic cultivators began dying, the artifact had gradually gone quiet. The dark patterns covering its surface faded until the Nail stopped struggling entirely, leaving only the corrosion it had already inflicted behind.

More importantly, it remained intact.

Huo Yan crouched beside it for several breaths, studying the artifact with the focused expression of someone who had already forgotten that a banquet was being prepared elsewhere.

"This one survived."

A nearby formation elder glanced at him.

"That sounds less like relief and more like happiness."

Huo Yan ignored him.

The Boundary Pillar that had restrained the Nail was already gone. Su Bai had stored it again before the battle ended, leaving Huo Yan with no opportunity to examine the ancient sealing structure properly.

His gaze drifted toward Clear Cloud Peak.

Apparently, Martial Nephew Su had been keeping more treasures to himself than Huo Yan had realized.

He would ask later.

Preferably after the boy stopped collapsing from blessings.

...

While Huo Yan dealt with the battlefield remnants, Li Xuanzong turned his attention toward the guests still waiting near the mortal city.

He looked toward Shen Youran.

"Sister Shen, bring them in as well."

Shen Youran understood immediately.

The four Void-Shattering visitors had already been invited into Radiant Sky Sect. Leaving the other righteous cultivators behind after they had come to visit the sect would only create unnecessary resentment, something Li Xuanzong had little patience for.

Word soon reached the delegations waiting in the mortal city, and their reaction was immediate.

Several elders who had spent the past hours carefully pretending not to wonder what lay beyond Radiant Sky Sect’s boundaries suddenly became considerably more energetic.

Before long, they joined the rest of the group.

Li Xuanzong led everyone into Radiant Sky Sect together, with the four Void-Shattering visitors and the other righteous cultivators following behind him toward the inner mountains.

Their pace slowed almost as soon as they reached the Outer Sect.

The visitors had naturally expected Radiant Sky Sect to carry the stern and disciplined atmosphere of an old righteous sect.

What they found instead was far more relaxed than expected.

The atmosphere they encountered was surprisingly steady, especially after a battle involving eight Void-Shattering Demonic Cultivators had just shaken the surrounding region.

The disciples had clearly felt it. Some still glanced toward the distant mountains from time to time, and conversations occasionally paused whenever another trace of lingering pressure rolled through the air.

Even so, there was no panic.

Training had already resumed.

A pair of Outer Sect disciples were sparring beside one training ground, their weapons moving quickly enough to draw the attention of several visitors. The moment one gained a clear advantage, however, he stopped before the exchange became dangerous and immediately pointed out where his opponent’s defense had opened.

Several younger disciples watched from nearby while an older disciple repeated the movement more slowly for them.

Farther along the path, another group sat around an elder discussing a technique, asking questions freely while the elder answered each of them with the same patience.

The visitors gradually became quieter.

They had expected the aftermath of such a battle to leave the Outer Sect unsettled for at least a while. Instead, the disciples seemed to trust that the senior figures had already handled what needed to be handled.

What drew even more attention was how they treated one another.

Competition was still there. Disciples sparred, compared progress, and argued over techniques, but those rivalries never seemed to stop them from helping each other afterward.

A young visitor watched a senior disciple correct the stance of someone several years younger and murmured, "He gains nothing from helping him."

One of the Radiant Sky elders walking with the group heard him.

"He gains a stronger junior brother."

The young visitor fell silent.

Lian Qingyue had noticed the same thing.

Even the Glass-Lotus Holy See could not completely avoid divisions between inheritance lines and different generations of disciples. Here, the relationships between disciples felt unusually close, almost like an enormous household.

Yan Changkong watched two disciples argue loudly over the correct way to circulate Qi through a sword technique before eventually sitting down together to test both versions.

"They quarrel rather freely."

Han Jianyu glanced over.

"They also seem to forget the quarrel rather quickly."

"That might be the more difficult skill."

Zhuge Tianhe laughed.

Li Xuanzong continued leading the group without commenting.

This was one of the things he wanted them to see.

Radiant Sky Sect’s reputation now had never rested entirely on the strength of its experts. It had been called the most righteous among the righteous factions because of the culture maintained inside its mountains.

The procession eventually reached the Main Peak.

That was where the calm observation ended.

Zhuge Tianhe stopped walking.

His eyes had settled on the enormous comprehension walls standing openly within the peak.

At first, he thought he had mistaken their purpose.

After another look, his expression became strange.

"These are open to the disciples?"

One of the nearby Radiant Sky elders nodded.

"As long as they follow the rules."

Zhuge Tianhe stared at him before turning back toward the walls.

The techniques, methods, and traces of Intent carved across their surfaces immediately drew his attention.

His spiritual sense touched one section briefly.

The casual curiosity on his face disappeared.

Even at his realm, what he sensed there was enough to make him pause.

He withdrew his spiritual sense almost immediately. Whatever generosity Radiant Sky Sect showed its own people, standing in someone else’s home and openly studying their inheritance without permission would be shameless even by Lu Canghai’s standards.

Lian Qingyue approached another wall and studied it with her eyes alone.

"Some of these principles are extremely old."

Han Jianyu gave a slow nod.

"And they are placed here casually."

His emphasis made Yan Changkong understand what bothered him.

Such inheritances would normally be locked inside restricted halls, divided by contribution, rank, lineage, or permission from individual masters.

Radiant Sky Sect had placed them where ordinary disciples could actually study them.

The other visitors were having similar reactions.

Several Nascent Soul elders looked at the walls for a little too long before remembering where they were and quickly correcting themselves.

One whispered to his companion, "How much would a sect normally charge for access to something like this?"

The companion did not answer.

Li Xuanzong heard him anyway.

A barely noticeable curve appeared at the corner of his mouth.

Jian Wushuang, walking nearby, noticed.

His expression became suspicious.

He knew that look.

Li Xuanzong rarely smiled when nothing was being calculated.

None of the guests knew that the comprehension walls were relatively recent additions, much less that Su Bai had brought the inheritances that made them possible.

To them, the walls looked like another surviving piece of Radiant Sky Sect’s ancient foundation.

Li Xuanzong saw no need to correct that assumption.

The value was real either way.

The expressions around him had already confirmed something he had been considering since the walls were completed.

Radiant Sky Sect possessed things other factions wanted, and those factions possessed things Radiant Sky Sect could use.

There were many ways to turn that mutual interest into something useful without giving away what belonged to the sect.

His faint smile deepened.

Zhuge Tianhe happened to notice.

"Why do I suddenly feel that looking at these walls is going to cost us something?"

Li Xuanzong’s expression returned to normal.

"You are free to stop looking."

Zhuge Tianhe immediately turned back toward the wall.

"I never said I wanted to stop."

Han Jianyu sighed.

The tour continued deeper into Radiant Sky Sect.

Behind them, more than one visiting elder took a final look at the comprehension walls before reluctantly following.

Li Xuanzong noticed every one of them.

For once, inviting outsiders inside was already proving useful.