Two familiar figures suddenly rushed out from the crowd.

"Su Ming!"

Qingfeng and Mingyue practically shoved aside several outer sect disciples blocking their way as they charged up to Su Ming.

Looking at Su Ming's current state, Qingfeng opened his mouth, but the teasing words that had been on the tip of his tongue seemed to be blocked by something. His gaze lingered on Su Ming's torn and mended sleeve cuffs and his collar stained with black soot for a long time, finally transforming into a heavy sigh.

He reached out and gave Su Ming's shoulder a firm pat.

"Just glad you're back."

Only four words.

Yet they made Su Ming's heart, which had been as hard as iron ever since Iron Wall Pass, tremble slightly.

Mingyue held a small storage pouch in her hand. She didn't speak, just silently handed the bundle over.

Su Ming took it and extended his divine sense inside. Inside was a brand new set of outer sect disciple robes and several bottles of elixirs carefully wrapped in red silk.

"Thank you."

Su Ming looked at the two of them, the corner of his mouth twitching with great effort to form a faint, barely noticeable curve. "Sorry for worrying you."

"What kind of nonsense is that." Qingfeng sniffled, forcibly recovering some of his usual nonchalance. "The old guys at the Repair Hall are practically going crazy with worry. Wang Defa has been burning incense at the entrance every day, saying he'll go vegetarian for three years if you just come back. Since you're back, hurry up and go clean yourself up. Who are you trying to scare looking like a ghost?"

Su Ming nodded without saying more.

He turned around, faced Li Changfeng, bowed, and performed a flawless, textbook-perfect disciple salute.

"Elder, this disciple will now return to Formation Peak to report?"

Li Changfeng looked at him, a flicker of something complex and nearly imperceptible passing through his eyes, then nodded. "Shishu Xuanheng is waiting for you at Starfall Pavilion."

The two words "Xuanheng" were like a stone thrown into a still lake.

The crowd, which had maintained a surface-level silence, finally stirred with a suppressed commotion. Several stewards from the Discipline Hall exchanged glances. Among the inner sect disciples, some had their expressions change slightly, while others seemed lost in thought.

As soon as these words were spoken, the surrounding discussions that had just begun to subside exploded again like boiling water.

"Starfall Pavilion? Isn't that the forbidden area of Formation Peak?"

"Even the Sect Master has been alerted? What on earth did Su Ming bring back?"

"It seems the rumors are true..."

Su Ming seemed not to hear the suddenly intensified breathing and the subtle whispers. He gave Qingfeng and Mingyue another nod, then turned and walked towards the cloud-shrouded stone steps leading to Formation Peak.

He had walked this path countless times.

Before, he had been a lowly outer sect disciple, hustling for a living, carefully budgeting for those few spirit stones of monthly salary.

Back then, no one would spare him a second glance.

But now.

Su Ming could clearly feel countless gazes sticking to his back.

There was envy, the outer sect disciples' longing for "opportunity"; there was jealousy, the resentment of self-proclaimed geniuses wondering "why him"; and there was scrutiny, the greed of various factions trying to see through his cards.

Su Ming tightened his hand hidden in his sleeve.

He paid no mind to the fellow disciples on either side with their varied expressions.

Su Ming's steps were steady.

Each step on the stone stairs made a faint but clear sound.

Tap. Tap.

As the altitude increased, the surrounding mist grew thicker. The noisy human voices were gradually left behind, replaced by the unique spiritual energy fluctuations of Formation Peak.

For the Su Ming of the past, this spiritual energy field was a chaotic, oppressive fog.

But now...

Amidst the slight tremor of the "Border Defense True Seal" within his body, the myriad formations covering the mountain seemed to shed their mysterious veil.

He "saw" (not with his physical eyes, but with the perception granted by the True Seal):

The "Gravity Fine-tuning Formation" hidden within the stone steps beneath his feet;

The "Lost Trace Illusion Formation" drifting within the clouds on either side; 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

Further away, the "Five Elements Restriction Formations" guarding various cave dwellings resembled cocoons of light in different colors;

And deep within Formation Peak, several massive, ancient formation veins, seemingly fused with the mountain itself, pulsed slowly like the blood vessels of a slumbering giant dragon...

This was the "Heavenly Eye" of a formation master.

Su Ming's footsteps paused for an imperceptible moment.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath of the air saturated with the rhythm of formations.

When he opened them again, the faint golden starlight deep in his eyes brightened by another degree.

He was no longer merely a "returnee."

He was beginning to truly examine this immortal mountain where he would reside long-term, from the perspective of a "formation master."

He didn't know how long he had walked.

At the end of the mist, a simple, ancient pavilion slowly revealed its form.

Starfall Pavilion.

Its entire structure was a dark, somber black that seemed capable of absorbing all light. The material was neither metal nor stone, its surface covered with naturally formed silver patterns resembling stellar trajectories. There was no vegetation around the pavilion, no insect sounds, even the wind here became gentle and silent, as if this space had been carved out from the world.

There were no guards outside the pavilion.

Only two eternal lamps burned quietly in the wind, their flames an unusual cyan-green color, emitting a serene fragrance that calmed the mind.

But Su Ming stopped.

Because he felt pressure.

It wasn't spiritual pressure, nor killing intent.

It was a more vast, more primordial "sense of presence." As if what stood before him wasn't a pavilion, but a coiled, slumbering primordial star beast. Its every breath caused the spiritual energy within a hundred zhang to ebb and flow accordingly. The dust in the air slowly rotated and settled along some profound trajectory. Light distorted here, making the pavilion's outline sometimes clear, sometimes blurred. What made Su Ming's heart palpitate even more was that the "Border Defense True Seal" within his body, which had always pulsed steadily, now trembled slightly, emitting a complex fluctuation mixed with reverence, affinity, and an extremely faint trace of provocation.

"Hoo..."

Su Ming stood on the stone platform before the pavilion, taking a deep breath of the cold, damp air.

He lowered his head and glanced at the blood-stained robe on his body that resembled beggar's clothes.

By convention, when meeting the Sect Master and Peak Master, one should bathe and change clothes to show respect.

But he didn't move.

He merely reached out, gently smoothed down a piece of dried blood crust that had curled up at his collar, and straightened the longsword at his waist, its blade rolled and its scabbard cracked.

This was his medal.

His motivation.

And the only confidence he had when facing this behemoth right now.

"Master, I'm going in."

"Go ahead." Lin Yu's voice held a hint of amusement. "Remember, don't chicken out."

"Mhm." Lin Yu's voice lowered, the Xuantian Ring emitting an imperceptible fluctuation, wrapping and hiding his soul core layer by layer. "Remember, neither humble nor arrogant. Say what should be said, and don't utter a single word about what shouldn't."

Su Ming raised his head, his gaze passing over the two eternal lamps, looking towards the tightly closed black door of the pavilion.

On the door, starlight flowed, faintly forming a star chart of the Northern Frontier. One point within it, corresponding to the location of Iron Wall Pass, flickered slightly.

Su Ming hesitated no longer.

He lifted his foot. With the first step, the stone platform beneath his feet rippled with a barely detectable circle.

With the second step, the heavy scent of blood around him seemed to be washed away and restrained by an invisible force.

With the third step, the last trace of the "survivor's" daze in his eyes completely vanished, leaving only ice-cold calm and determination.

Then, he stepped into that starlight portal that seemed capable of devouring everything.

The moment his figure disappeared.

The cyan-green flames of the two eternal lamps suddenly leaned towards the door in unison, as if bowing in respect, or perhaps... scrutinizing.

The mountain wind remained, the clouds and mist churned.

Starfall Pavilion stood silently atop Formation Peak, like a massive enigma that had just swallowed another enigma.