Taking advantage of the smooth commute, Su Bai opened his system interface.

His master had mentioned that he was in seclusion for three days and three nights. On the first day, he had manually signed in at the Grand Archive to receive the Blank Stele. However, because he was in a deep meditative trance, he had completely missed the daily sign-ins for the second and third days.

But when he checked his inventory, he was pleasantly surprised to see new items resting inside.

’System, did you log my attendance for me?’ Su Bai asked internally. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

[The system will sign in automatically at the Host’s primary location if the Host is in deep cultivation and cannot sign in manually.]

’Automated attendance tracking,’ Su Bai was thoroughly impressed. ’Excellent user experience. That saves me a lot of administrative headache.’

He immediately checked his new loot.

The automated sign-ins had triggered on Clear Cloud Peak, adding a fresh pouch of [Obscuring Mind-Fog Tea Leaves] to his inventory.

The second item, however, was entirely new. Resting in his inventory were three pale, beautifully inscribed parchment papers.

[Slumbering-Lotus Fog Talisman]

[Description: Upon activation, erupts into a dense, pale mist that smells faintly of sweet lotus flowers. Anyone caught in the fog finds their Qi flow slowing to a crawl. They become incredibly lethargic, their limbs feel like lead, and their combat reaction times drop by 90%.]

Su Bai’s smile widened. ’An area-of-effect de-escalation tool. Perfect. If someone tries to force me into unscripted overtime combat, I can just pop this, make everyone too tired to fight, and calmly walk away.’

It was the ultimate life-saving artifact.

"Keep up, my disciple!" Lu Canghai’s boisterous voice echoed ahead. "Our first stop is Verdant Peak!"

Su Bai seamlessly adjusted his trajectory, following his master down toward the lush, herb-covered mountainside of Verdant Peak, the sect’s alchemy hub.

The guarding disciples immediately bowed, recognizing the eccentric Peak Master and Su Bai.

Lu Canghai didn’t even bother waiting to be announced. He strode directly into the grand courtyard of the alchemy hall like a CEO crashing a lower-level department meeting.

Inside, Peak Master Yao Ding and his Core Disciple, Lin Mo, were sweating profusely over a massive, roaring bronze cauldron.

Yao Ding was currently in the middle of refining a highly volatile, rare pill for an Elder’s upcoming breakthrough. The air was thick with the scent of scorching spirit herbs.

The sudden, loud arrival of Lu Canghai almost broke Yao Ding’s ironclad concentration.

"Old Yao!" Lu Canghai bellowed cheerfully, clasping his hands behind his back. "Still struggling with that basic recipe? I see your disciple is helping you manage the flames. He looks decent. But have you seen my disciple lately?"

Yao Ding did not speak. He couldn’t. All his focus was on the cauldron. However, a thick, throbbing vein visibly bulged on the side of his forehead.

For the past six years, Yao Ding had constantly (and somewhat smugly) offered him high-grade pills, subtly bragging about his own talented disciple in the process. Lu Canghai had endured it quietly. Now, it was time for payback.

"Take a look, Old Yao!" Lu Canghai gloated, aggressively pointing at Su Bai. "Ten Stages of Qi Refining! A flawless, heaven-defying Foundation Establishment!"

The bulging vein on Yao Ding’s forehead violently twitched.

The sheer annoyance broke his focus for a fraction of a second. His Qi wavered. Inside the massive bronze cauldron, the volatile medicinal liquids suddenly clashed. The cauldron violently shuddered, glowing a terrifying, blinding red.

"Master!" Lin Mo screamed, diving backward. "It’s going to explode!"

Just as the explosive shockwave of ruined herbs was about to detonate and blow the roof off the pavilion, Lu Canghai simply waved his hand.

A gentle, yet overwhelmingly dense stream of Lu Canghai’s Qi enveloped the massive cauldron. It seamlessly infiltrated the cauldron’s vents, delicately separating the clashing medicinal liquids and forcibly restabilizing the internal temperature in a microsecond.

The glowing red metal immediately cooled back to a calm bronze. The pill was saved.

Lin Mo’s jaw hit the floor. Peak Master Yao Ding’s eyes widened in absolute shock.

Only a master alchemist truly understood how terrifying that display was. To stabilize another person’s pill refinement from the outside, using pure, brute-force Qi control, required a level of microscopic precision that defied logic.

Lu Canghai was a true monster.

"Tch, tch," Lu Canghai clicked his tongue. He shook his head with an exaggerated sigh. "Losing your edge in your old age, Yao. You can’t even maintain a steady temperature anymore. Come, my disciple, let’s leave this amateur to his work."

With a swish of his sleeves, Lu Canghai turned and marched out of the courtyard, radiating absolute, smug satisfaction.

Su Bai stood there for a moment. He gave the sweating Peak Master Yao and the terrified Lin Mo a deeply apologetic, ’I am so sorry about my boss’ bow, before hurriedly following his master outside.

Back in the courtyard, Yao Ding wiped the sweat from his brow and finally condensed the pill. He turned to look at his trembling disciple.

"Did you hear that?" Yao Ding barked. "You should train day and night to be as good as your Senior Brother Su!"

Lin Mo visibly deflated. His shoulders slumped. "Master... Senior Brother Su is a peerless monster who broke the limits of the Heavenly Dao. I just mash spiritual herbs together. How can I possibly compare to that?"

He wasn’t jealous of Su Bai. There was simply no logical reason to compare a mortal to a god.

Yao Ding frowned. He was deeply displeased by his disciple’s lack of ambition. "Nonsense! Your herb-processing quota is doubled for the week!"

Lin Mo wanted to cry.

***

Meanwhile, Lu Canghai’s grand networking tour continued.

They visited Heavenly Forge Peak, Azure Sword Peak, and several others. The exact same routine played out every single time. Lu Canghai would relentlessly brag about Su Bai’s recovery, and successfully annoy the local Peak Master.

Su Bai felt entirely helpless. He spent the whole afternoon playing the role of the polite, apologetic intern smoothing over his CEO’s social blunders.

However, despite cursing Lu Canghai’s insufferable gloating, every single Peak Master and Elder had the exact same underlying reaction when they looked at Su Bai.

Genuine relief.

They were truly happy that the sect’s fallen genius had been reborn. They patted Su Bai on the shoulder, gifted him useful things, and offered warm words of encouragement.

The Radiant Sky Sect’s upper management was undeniably healthy.

Eventually, their flying swords hovered in the sky just outside the borders of a breathtaking mountain.

Silent Orchid Peak.

Lu Canghai stopped his sword. He stared at the pristine, intimidating pavilion belonging to the Head of Law Enforcement, Shen Youran.

For a moment, Su Bai thought his master was going to kick her doors in, too.

Instead, Lu Canghai awkwardly cleared his throat and slowly turned his sword around.

"Never mind this peak," Lu Canghai muttered, actively avoiding eye contact with the mountain. "That old witch will just look at us flatly and ruin my perfectly good mood. We skip this one."

Su Bai almost choked on a laugh. It seemed that no matter how powerful the eccentric startup founder was, everyone still instinctively avoided the Head of HR.

"As you command, Master," Su Bai smiled.

The deeply satisfied Lu Canghai led his disciple back to the quiet comforts of Clear Cloud Peak.

Su Bai was highly satisfied with the day’s corporate networking event as well.

Furthermore, while his master had been busy arguing with the Peak Master at Azure Sword Peak, Su Bai to successfully trigger a manual sign-in on their mountain.

And the unique reward currently rested in his system inventory.