The next morning, the Radiant Sky Sect awoke to a completely unified narrative carefully constructed by the executive board.

During the night, the Peak Masters had held an emergency closed-door meeting to address the absurdity of Su Bai’s breakthrough. They quickly realized that announcing a mortal had reached the 10th Stage of Qi Refining would invite catastrophic attention from rival sects.

Therefore, a massive PR spin was deployed.

According to the official sect mandate, the cosmic anomaly, and the lightning tribulation were all attributed to a single event: Ji Ruyue of Silent Orchid Peak flawlessly condensing her Golden Core.

There was absolutely no mention of Su Bai. His 10th Stage status was locked behind the sect’s highest level of confidentiality.

When Su Bai heard the official announcement echoing across the peaks, he couldn’t have been happier.

’A comprehensive Non-Disclosure Agreement. Perfect,’ Su Bai smiled.

Taking zero credit was the ultimate corporate survival strategy. It kept his profile low, and saved him from having to answer an endless stream of questions he didn’t actually have the answers to. As far as the public was concerned, he was still just the recovering cripple of Clear Cloud Peak.

Which made it incredibly ironic when he stepped onto his flying sword an hour later and shot into the sky.

Whoosh!

The rushing wind battered his white robes as Su Bai soared high above the majestic mountains. He threw his head back and let out a rare, genuine laugh.

It had been six long years since he last felt the thrill of flight. For over two thousand days, he had been a pedestrian, forced to walk up and down the mountain paths. But now, with his boundless 10th Stage Dantian and his widened meridians, the flying sword responded instantly to his thoughts.

As he flew, he casually experimented with his Devouring Maw.

Normally, using the technique to violently rip ambient Qi from the air or from opponents required immense concentration to prevent overloading his stomach. Now? He could literally spam the technique. He opened the pores on his arms, and ambient spiritual energy was effortlessly vacuumed directly into his inner void.

’I am a walking, self-sustaining power grid,’ Su Bai mused, banking his sword sharply to the right.

But despite his infinite power supply, he still had a glaring issue. He needed an Operating System. He needed a Cultivation Method to compress this massive ocean of gas into a liquid Foundation.

He adjusted his trajectory, aiming straight for Radiant Zenith Peak. It is the towering, central hub of the sect where the Sect Master resided, and more importantly, where the Grand Archive was located.

When Su Bai descended and smoothly docked his flying sword at the grand plaza. The two disciples guarding the pavilion doors rubbed their eyes in sheer disbelief.

"Senior Brother Su?!" one of the guards stammered. "You... you flew here?"

For the past six years, Su Bai had trudged up these massive stone steps on foot to read the archive’s mundane texts. The guards had befriended him over the years.

"A minor breakthrough, Junior Brothers," Su Bai smiled modestly, offering a polite bow. "The Heavens showed a sliver of mercy to this useless Senior Brother."

The guards erupted into joyous congratulations. They were genuinely thrilled for the man who had suffered so much indignity. Because they knew him so well, they didn’t even ask to see his Core Disciple token. They immediately stepped aside, pushing the heavy bronze doors open for him.

Su Bai entered the Grand Archive.

The pavilion was a massive, multi-tiered library. He walked past the public sections, heading straight for the restricted, high-security zones at the back. He placed his jade token against the shimmering array barrier, and the formation silently parted, granting him access to the sect’s core cultivation manuals.

As he crossed the threshold, he mentally called out to the system.

’Sign in.’

[Ding! Signed in at the Grand Archive.]

[Reward: Dao-Devouring Blank Stele]

[Use: A terrifying, featureless stone that exudes a bleak aura. Forcibly extracts and consumes a cultivator’s active Cultivation Method, leaving their foundation completely empty and useless.]

Su Bai stopped in his tracks.

He read the description again. His corporate brain instantly analyzed the brutal mechanics. It was a terrifying, cursed item. For a normal cultivator, absorbing this stele would be suicide. It would wipe their hard drive clean and delete their software entirely.

But if Su Bai absorbed this stele into his Dantian, the concept of "Devouring" and "Emptying" would be flawlessly inverted.

A slow, highly anticipatory smile crept across his face.

Su Bai translated in his mind. ’Would this act as a foundational compiler?’

He wasn’t sure yet.

Soon, he moved again.

He spent the entire day systematically sweeping through the restricted archives. He read through hundreds of jade slips and analyzed the sect’s prized Cultivation Methods.

But as the hours ticked by, Su Bai’s excitement slowly curdled into profound disappointment.

None of the software matched his hardware.

The generic Wood-attribute manuals were far too weak to compress his 10th Stage Qi. The advanced manuals relied heavily on traditional meridians that his Reversal Body had already completely restructured. Just visualizing the Qi circulation paths of the Azure Water Sutra made his head throb with a splitting headache.

Furthermore, the truly profound, top-tier legacy manuals weren’t even kept here. They were exclusively hoarded by the individual Peak Masters in their private vaults.

"Garbage. Outdated code. Incompatible patches," Su Bai sighed softly. He placed another useless jade slip back onto the shelf. Finding a Cultivation Method bizarre and extreme enough to trigger his Reversal Body in a productive way was going to be much harder than he thought.

Just as he was preparing to leave empty-handed, the rapid sound of footsteps echoed through the quiet aisles.

One of the guarding disciples rushed around the corner.

"Senior Brother Su!" the guard panted, bowing hurriedly. "I apologize for the interruption, but an urgent message just arrived at the plaza!" 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

Su Bai turned around, his calm demeanor instantly returning. "What is it, Junior Brother?"

"It’s Clear Cloud Peak, Senior Brother," the guard said. "Your Master... the Peak Master has finally returned to the sect!"

Su Bai’s eyes glowed with a sudden, sharp light.

The eccentric Peak Master of Clear Cloud Peak.

His ultimate superior had returned.