Su Ming clutched that heavy jade talisman, feeling his eyes burn with heat. 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

He suddenly stood up and bowed deeply, profoundly, to Xuanheng Zhenren.

This time, he said nothing.

A thousand words could not match the weight of this single bow.

“Mm.”

Xuanheng accepted his bow, his expression still cold and distant.

“Go on.”

He waved his hand and closed his eyes again, as if everything that had just happened was nothing more than a trivial matter.

“Disciple takes his leave.”

Su Ming bowed once more, then stepped back carefully, one step at a time, retreating from Star Pivot Hall.

Only when he stepped through the hall’s threshold and the warm sunlight bathed his body did he feel as though he had returned from a frozen sea of stars back to the mortal world.

He gripped the Grand Teleportation Talisman tightly in his hand, his palm warm from the contact.

After bidding farewell to his Master, Xuanheng, Su Ming did not immediately return to Gazing Star Cliff.

He went to Formation Peak’s library. With his True Disciple token, he passed through unimpeded to the second floor.

Here were stored the core texts of the path of formations, along with handwritten records from generations of elders.

Su Ming did not be greedy. He only took the first ten books from the reading list his Master Xuanheng had given him, planning to study them on the road.

On the following sixth day, Su Ming did not go out again.

Within the cave dwelling at Gazing Star Cliff, silence reigned.

He sat cross-legged on the stone bed, the dark-gold Grand Teleportation Talisman floating before him.

He simultaneously circulated the fourth layer of the *Like Water Art*, the “Abyss” method, consolidating his freshly stepped-into Foundation Establishment realm. His liquid spiritual energy flowed like the water of a deep pool, steady and powerful through his expanded meridians. At the same time, he split off a strand of his divine sense, cautiously probing into the Grand Teleportation Talisman, continuously warming and familiarizing himself with the vast, complex spatial power within.

This talisman was the final trump card bestowed by his Master; he had to be able to activate it perfectly with a single thought.

On the other side of the cave dwelling, the “Minor Heavenly Cycle Star Power Gathering Formation” specially arranged for the Profound Shadow Egg hummed silently.

The starlight falling through the skylight was condensed by the formation into a gentle silver pillar, precisely enveloping the eggshell. The dark-gold patterns on the shell’s surface pulsed in rhythm with a steady heartbeat, greedily absorbing the pure force of the stars.

Everything was in perfect order.

“Tomorrow is the seventh day,” Lin Yu’s voice sounded lazily from the Consciousness Sea. “Counting today, you have four days left before you set out. Anything else unfinished?”

Su Ming did the calculations in his heart.

“I’ve seen everyone I needed to see. I’ve taken everything I needed to take. The Repair Hall is being watched by Wang Defa and the others; nothing will go wrong there. The herb fields at Clear Stream Valley have automated irrigation and concealment formations set up. The gifts from my two senior siblings are all put away…”

He thought for a moment, and it seemed there really was nothing he had missed.

“Then take a moment to be still,” Lin Yu said, his tone uncharacteristically serious. “Once you leave the mountain and step into that rolling mortal world, you won’t have this peace anymore. What you’ll face is human hearts, schemes, and bloody conflicts of interest. It’ll be a hundred times more complicated than it is within the sect.”

Su Ming nodded. He withdrew his divine sense and immersed himself completely in cultivation.

The seventh day.

Su Ming ended an entire day of quiet cultivation, his spirit full and complete, his condition at an unprecedented peak.

He began his final inventory and packing.

Ten thousand mid-grade spirit stones were divided into ten portions, stored in different corners of his storage ring.

The Meridian Protection Pill – he took out one bottle and placed it in the most convenient spot for emergencies.

The ten high-grade talismans bestowed by Grand Elder Hao Yuan, along with the Grand Teleportation Talisman from his Master Xuanheng, were sealed in special jade boxes and kept close to his body. Such life-saving items could not afford the slightest mishap.

The few oddly-shaped suicide puppets given by Senior Brother Luo Feng were wrapped in oilcloth and stored at the deepest part of his storage ring. Lin Yu had commented that while these things looked ugly, they would be absolutely first-rate for covering a retreat in a critical moment.

He took a small jar each of the Hundred Flowers Nectar, Snow Velvet Fruit, and Myriad Beast Bone Powder given by his Second Senior Brother Qin Yi to bring on the road. The rest were tightly sealed and left in the earth vein secret chamber of his cave dwelling.

The “Frostheart Sword Seal,” containing a wisp of sword intent given by his Eldest Senior Sister Ling Shuang, was strung on a tough strand of ice silk and hung around his neck, pressed against his heart. That faint, icy sword intent constantly reminded him that he still had a decisive senior sister backing him up.

Everything was ready.

On the eighth and ninth days, Su Ming no longer cultivated.

He only sat quietly, drank tea, and watched the clouds.

He adjusted his state of mind to an absolute clarity and calm.

Finally, the tenth day arrived.

The Mao hour.

At the edge of the sky, a pale hint of fish-belly white had just begun to show. The heavy darkness of night was silently receding, and the distant mountains were still only blurry, dark-blue silhouettes.

The morning wind at the top of Gazing Star Cliff carried a bone-chilling cold.

Su Ming appeared punctually outside the mountain gate of the Cloud Hidden Sect.

He no longer wore that eye-catching purple True Disciple robe. Instead, he had changed into a low-key, blue inner sect standard robe, simple in style and ordinary in quality, making him completely unremarkable in a crowd.

His aura was perfectly concealed by the *Aura Concealment Art*, making him look like an ordinary late-stage Qi Refining disciple.

The Profound Shadow Egg had been left in the star power formation at Gazing Star Cliff, steadily absorbing starlight. The prohibitions placed there by his Master Xuanheng made it safer than carrying it on his person.

The mountain gate was massive and imposing, standing silently in the dim morning light like a mute, slumbering giant beast.

Su Ming did not approach. He only stood far off under an ancient pine tree, his figure blending with the tree’s shadow.

He was waiting.

Waiting for that equally unorthodox nominal master.

Time ticked by, drop by drop.

When the first ray of true golden sunlight crossed the eastern ridge and bathed this ancient mountain gate, a figure in a gray cloth robe finally walked out unhurriedly from within the gate.

Elder Qingquan.

He walked out of the mountain gate. Without searching, without looking around, without even a moment’s pause, he directly followed the path down the mountain, swaying lazily as he went.

As if he had no idea that a disciple was waiting for him behind.

Su Ming stood under the tree, watching the elder’s unrestrained, carefree back. He couldn’t help but smile bitterly.

This elder’s style of doing things was truly… unique.

The sun climbed higher, and golden light filled the entire mountain gate, illuminating the two characters “Cloud Hidden” on the archway until they shone brilliantly.

Elder Qingquan’s figure had already become a small black dot at the end of the mountain path, about to vanish into the morning mist.

His figure, neither hurried nor slow, followed with unwavering determination, gradually disappearing into the morning mist at the end of the mountain path.

The path to immortality. From this moment on, it would re-enter the mortal world.