Chapter 198 | Post-Rift Maintenance

Chapter 198: 198 | Post-Rift Maintenance

By late afternoon, the Flying Spiritual Ship had entered a calmer stretch of the northern route.

The Weeping Cloud Rift was behind them. The hull had absorbed the spatial turbulence cleanly, exactly as its Tier-4 construction was designed to do. Still, standard protocol required a post-stress inspection of the spirit stone reserves and the main array core before the next rough stretch.

A steward’s voice carried across the nearby corridor.

"Clear the maintenance route. Representatives, wait at the marked position."

Disciples moved aside at once. A temporary wait zone formed along the allowed path, close enough to observe, far enough to stay clear of the work area. Lin Tian stopped with the others. He was simply one more representative held in place while the Array Peak handled routine maintenance.

Elder Bai arrived a short time later.

She walked into the maintenance area with two formation stewards behind her, robes neat, expression focused. As Master of the Array Peak, she carried the authority of Tier-4 formation mastery without needing to announce it. The stewards bowed and opened the sealed panel housing the main array core.

The array core sat behind a reinforced plate in the corridor wall — a rotating disc of interlocking rune channels carved into Profound Spirit Gold. Faint blue light pulsed through the carved lines in a steady, even rhythm. Beneath the core housing, six spirit stone sockets held high-grade stones that fed the ship’s flight formations. The stones glowed with a soft, consistent luminescence, their Qi draining at a controlled rate into the rune channels.

Bai stopped in front of the core housing and studied it in silence.

Her Exquisite Spirit Body let her read the structure quickly. Every rune path, every connection, every pulse of force from the spirit stones entered her senses at once. She traced the flow with her divine sense, checking each junction for residual stress from the spatial winds. The Tier-4 construction had absorbed the worst of the impact cleanly. The rune channels held firm. The spirit stone sockets showed no cracks, no leakage, no irregular drain.

"Stone consumption rate," she said.

One steward checked a jade gauge embedded in the socket panel. "above baseline during the rift crossing. Returned to normal once we cleared the turbulence."

Bai gave a slight nod. Four percent was well within tolerance for a Tier-4 vessel. Any ship below Tier-3 would have lost fifteen to twenty percent under the same conditions. The difference in construction quality was obvious.

"Core resonance," she said next.

The second steward placed a resonance-testing jade against the array core’s central axis. The jade hummed once, then displayed a steady frequency reading. Bai glanced at the number. The core’s resonance sat exactly where it should. No drift. No wobble. The rough passage had not disturbed the fundamental frequency.

"Resonance stable. No recalibration needed." She turned her attention to the rune channels themselves, running her divine sense along each visible line. "Check the outer channel ring for hairline stress. The spatial winds in the rift carry enough force to leave fractures in metal."

"Yes, Elder Bai."

The stewards moved to their tasks with practiced efficiency. One recorded the spirit stone readings on a jade slip. Another ran a fine-thread divine sense probe along the outer rune ring, checking for fractures thinner than a hair. Bai herself pressed her palm flat against the core and closed her eyes, reading the entire formation structure through direct contact.

The work was routine. Controlled. The calm precision of a master who had inspected hundreds of formations over decades. There was no urgency. No tension. The ship was exactly as well-built as its Tier-4 rating promised, and the inspection simply confirmed what Bai already expected.

Lin Tian watched from the wait line in silence.

When the outer channel check was nearly complete, one steward turned toward the wait line with a record jade.

"Identities of nearby representatives, confirm once for the maintenance log."

Anyone standing near restricted array work had to be recorded. One by one, the waiting disciples gave their names and showed their tokens. When Lin Tian’s turn came, he stepped forward, presented his participant jade token, and spoke his name clearly.

"Lin Tian."

Elder Bai glanced over at the sound of the name.

"Noted," she said.

That should have been the end of it.

But as Lin Tian remained near the front of the wait line, something subtle touched her senses. The pressure that usually accompanied deep array reading softened by a fraction. The sharp mental noise around the rune paths grew quieter. The constant, grinding strain of her fractured soul the one she had carried for years, the one that made every complex formation feel like pressing her consciousness against broken glass eased by a small, unmistakable degree.

Her palm stayed flat against the core, but her fingers tightened once.

The ease had come when the youth stepped closer.

She returned to the inspection without looking at him again. Her movements stayed precise. Her expression stayed cold. From the outside, nothing changed. Inside, a quiet question formed and refused to leave. Why would a Middle Stage representative’s presence make the soul strain lighter?

She filed the question away and continued working.

"Outer ring clear. No hairline fractures," the first steward reported. "All rune channels intact."

Bai opened her eyes and withdrew her palm from the core. The blue light continued pulsing in its steady rhythm. The spirit stones glowed softly in their sockets. Everything was exactly as it should be.

"Core stable. Stones within tolerance. Channels intact," Bai said. "Record the maintenance and clear the wait line."

"Yes, Elder Bai."

The temporary line dissolved. Representatives bowed and scattered back toward the open deck. Lin Tian cupped his fists once toward the maintenance area and left with the rest. He spoke no words to Bai. She called him back no further.

To every watching disciple, the event was entirely ordinary. A routine post-rift inspection. A brief wait. A few names recorded. The ship confirmed healthy. Nothing more.

Lin Tian walked toward the lower spirit deck with the same calm expression he always carried. He had been present during official work, and that presence alone had been enough for the Array Peak Mistress to notice him a second time.

Behind him, Elder Bai remained near the array core while the stewards closed their records. She pressed her palm against the housing once more, reading the resonance one final time. The structure was firm. The stones held steady. The work was done.

Yet her thoughts lingered on the wait line longer than they should have.

The youth named Lin Tian had stood there in silence. And for reasons she could not yet explain, the strain on her fractured soul had eased while he was near.

Bai’s expression stayed cold. She stored the observation deep, where no steward could see it. Interest was too strong a word for what she felt. It was closer to caution mixed with an unanswered question. If inspection duty brought him near again, she would watch more carefully.

Not because he had impressed her with knowledge, but because her own body and mind had reacted in a way she did not control.

She turned from the core at last.

"Return to normal route watch," she told the stewards.

Then she left the corridor with her usual steady steps, leaving only stable arrays, healthy spirit stones, and a quiet record behind.

On the lower spirit deck, Lin Tian stopped by the rail and looked out at the passing clouds. Qing’s route had opened through conduct duty. Liu’s route had opened through recovery verification. Now Bai had seen him under maintenance duty, and the contact had left a mark on her side even though nothing was spoken.

Three doors, each opened by official work rather than private risk.

The Flying Spiritual Ship continued north, calm on the surface, steady in its course. Inside its layered decks, the distance between Lin Tian and the women bound to him grew narrower with every formal meeting.

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