Chapter 340 - Returning Genius and Gathering Clouds

Chapter 340: Chapter 340 - Returning Genius and Gathering Clouds

The first people to notice the gathering clouds were the Peak Masters.

Huo Yan looked up.

His face slowly went blank.

He had only recently taken over the Sect-Scale Suppression Formation after Shen Youran left without explanation.

A formation elder beside him also looked toward Silent Orchid Peak.

Dark clouds were spreading rapidly above it.

The pressure contained within them was far beyond an ordinary breakthrough.

Huo Yan rubbed his face.

"So that’s why she left in such a hurry."

The formation elder hesitated.

"Peak Master... it has only been a few hours."

Huo Yan looked at him.

That observation was not helpful.

A familiar laugh sounded nearby.

Lu Canghai had apparently arrived at exactly the right moment to make the situation worse.

"Old Huo, it seems your rest will have to wait again."

Huo Yan’s eyes narrowed.

Before he could respond, another voice joined them.

Yao Ding walked over with a broad grin.

"Why are you still standing there? Go prepare the formations before the heavens decide to renovate the sect themselves."

Huo Yan turned toward him.

"Old Yao, you should be preparing too."

Yao Ding waved dismissively.

"I still have pills left from when Old Jian broke through. I am prepared."

Huo Yan stared at him.

There were few things more irritating than a man who could insult you while also being technically correct.

Another figure approached.

Mo Shanyue glanced toward the gathering clouds, then toward Huo Yan.

Huo Yan immediately held out the authority token.

"Old Mo, take over the arrays."

Mo Shanyue looked at the token but did not accept it.

"What if I refuse?"

Huo Yan’s expression finally cracked.

"You old fools are ganging up on me!"

The surrounding Peak Masters laughed.

Even several nearby elders struggled to maintain proper expressions.

Mo Shanyue eventually accepted the authority token.

"Go. Before our beloved sect loses another mountain."

Huo Yan’s laughter disappeared.

He looked toward the Main Peak.

The urgent repairs had only just been completed.

Several damaged training grounds had been restored. Cracked stone platforms had been replaced. Formation lines that had been torn apart during the previous heavenly phenomenon had finally been redrawn.

Everything looked painfully intact.

Huo Yan’s expression became solemn.

"Protect everything."

One of the formation elders beside him nodded.

"We will do our best."

Huo Yan looked at him.

"That did not sound reassuring."

The elder wisely pretended not to hear.

Huo Yan gathered the formation specialists and headed toward the Main Peak.

If another tribulation was going to descend over Radiant Sky Sect, the barriers would be ready before the first lightning bolt fell.

Preferably, they would also remain standing afterward.

...

Elsewhere, the gathering pressure had already disrupted the meetings taking place within the sect.

Li Xuanzong stood among several visiting representatives when another rumble crossed the sky.

Conversation gradually faded.

Every cultivator present could feel it.

The clouds above Silent Orchid Peak were not ordinary.

Several older representatives exchanged looks.

"Void-Shattering Tribulation?"

The word spread quietly.

The atmosphere changed immediately.

Radiant Sky Sect already possessed two functioning Void-Shattering cultivators whose existence had forced neighboring powers to reconsider how they treated the sect.

If this breakthrough succeeded, another would be added to that number.

That was without considering the Ancestors who rarely appeared unless something serious happened.

Several visitors became noticeably more cautious.

Others began recalculating things they had probably been recalculating since they arrived.

A sect with another active Void-Shattering cultivator would not simply gain one powerful expert.

Its standing among surrounding factions would rise again.

Its deterrence would increase.

Its disciples would attract more attention.

Its enemies would have to think twice.

Some visitors, however, were thinking about something considerably less dignified.

One man glanced toward the dark clouds.

"Do you think there will be another blessing?"

Several nearby cultivators looked at him.

The man coughed.

"I was only asking."

Nobody answered.

Unfortunately, they were wondering the same thing.

The last major heavenly phenomenon had given them a glimpse of Heavenly Law while they were merely visiting the sect.

Some had returned to meditation afterward and gained more from that brief experience than they expected.

The possibility that another tribulation might produce something similar was difficult to ignore.

More calculating visitors considered another matter.

Even if someone wished to interfere with the breakthrough, the Sect-Scale Suppression Formation made such a thought nearly pointless.

Their cultivation remained restricted inside Radiant Sky Sect.

Trying anything under those circumstances would be absurd.

If the tribulation instead produced another beneficial phenomenon, remaining here might actually reward them.

Several people silently concluded that behaving themselves remained the most profitable choice available.

Li Xuanzong watched the changing expressions around him.

He understood exactly what they were thinking.

That did not mean he needed to acknowledge it.

"Everyone."

The conversations stopped.

Li Xuanzong looked toward Silent Orchid Peak.

"We will end today’s discussion here. One of our elders is approaching an important breakthrough, and I need to oversee the sect."

No one objected.

One representative hesitated before asking, "Sect Master Li, would it be permitted for us to observe?"

Li Xuanzong looked at him.

The man immediately regretted speaking.

Several others quietly looked away.

Li Xuanzong allowed the silence to remain for a moment before answering.

"You may remain here."

The visitors listened carefully.

"If you can perceive something from this distance, whatever you gain is your own fortune. However, this is a breakthrough belonging to one of Radiant Sky Sect’s elders. No one will approach without permission."

The representatives immediately nodded.

"Naturally."

"Of course."

"We understand."

Nobody asked again.

Being allowed to remain inside the sect while a Void-Shattering tribulation occurred was already considerably more than outsiders would normally expect.

Another wave of pressure descended.

Everyone turned toward Silent Orchid Peak.

A white figure rose into the sky.

Shen Youran emerged above the mountain.

Her robes moved gently beneath the gathering wind while the black clouds continued thickening overhead.

Several visitors froze.

Some were old enough to recognize her immediately.

"It’s Beauty Shen?"

A gray-haired cultivator stared for several breaths.

"So she really returned to that point."

Someone nearby exhaled slowly.

"She crippled her own cultivation and rebuilt from the beginning. Now she’s approaching Void-Shattering again?!"

There was genuine admiration in his voice.

Among cultivators, losing one’s cultivation foundation could destroy a person’s will entirely.

Doing it deliberately was already difficult to understand.

Returning to the same height through an entirely different path was something else.

Another older cultivator shook his head.

"A genius remains a genius."

A man standing slightly behind them sighed.

"And here I once thought I might have a chance to court Beauty Shen."

Several heads slowly turned toward him.

The speaker stiffened.

Nobody needed to say anything.

Shen Youran’s beauty had been famous in her generation.

So had everything else about her.

Cold temperament. Terrifying judgment. A sword that had never cared whether the person standing opposite her was charming.

The man cleared his throat.

"That was many years ago."

No one stopped staring.

"I was young."

The silence continued.

He looked away.

"Very young."

Several people quietly moved farther from him, apparently unwilling to be included if Shen Youran somehow heard the conversation.

Above them, thunder rolled through the clouds.

The humor faded.

Shen Youran lifted her gaze.

She had faced a Void-Shattering tribulation once before.

That had belonged to another cultivation path and another version of herself.

This time, the foundation beneath her was entirely different.

Years of rebuilding had brought her back to the same threshold.

The heavens had apparently decided that reaching it twice did not qualify her for an exemption.

Shen Youran’s expression remained unchanged.

After walking the wrong half of the Heartless Path for so many years, she had finally found what might lie beyond it.

Now the heavens wanted to know whether that path deserved to continue.