Chapter 182 - The Final Shell and the Silent Proof
Su Bai returned to Outpost No. 3 wearing yet another fresh robe.
There was a faint satisfaction in his eyes, the kind of satisfaction one had after settling an annoying account, sweeping the courtyard, and pretending the earlier anger had been dignified.
By the time Su Bai stepped through the safe zone’s edge, the outpost had finished clearing the last remnants of the miasma beasts.
Several young cultivators turned when Su Bai returned.
Their expressions were complicated.
There was respect, relief, curiosity, fear, and a small amount of sympathy for his robes.
"Brother Su!"
"Brother Su is back!"
"Brother Su, are you injured?"
Su Bai waved his hand.
"I am fine."
Everyone looked at his clean robe. Then they looked at the red mist behind him. Then they looked at him again.
The same question appeared in many minds at once.
What happened to the Returnees he dragged away?
No one asked.
The question reached the edge of their mouths, looked at Su Bai’s calm expression, remembered the earlier scene where several Soul-Bloom Returnees had been pulled away like troublesome sacks, and quietly returned to their stomachs.
Some truths were better left uninvited.
Su Bai did not explain either.
Soon, Lin Weiyang’s voice rang out from near the inner line.
"Brother Su! There is more. I cannot hold this one for much longer."
Su Bai stopped... completely.
The faint satisfaction in his eyes disappeared.
His mouth opened slightly, then closed.
For a moment, he looked like a man who had just remembered a debt he had personally buried under three layers of denial.
The star-metal shell shook near Lin Weiyang.
Boom.
The sound rolled through the outpost.
Boom.
The sealing lines flickered.
Lin Weiyang stood beside it with pale cheeks. The star-metal shell had not opened, but the Returnee inside was clearly still very angry about its lodging.
Su Bai looked at the shell, then at Lin Weiyang.
Lin Weiyang froze.
She immediately said, "You disappeared when I was about to tell you."
Su Bai stared at her.
Lin Weiyang stared back with the expression of someone who had truly wanted to report the matter earlier but had been interrupted by the battlefield, the mist, the self-blooming Returnees, and Brother Su’s unfortunate robe expenses.
After a breath, Su Bai sighed.
He said nothing.
He walked toward the shaking star-metal shell. The nearby cultivators instinctively moved aside, creating a path. Lin Weiyang hurriedly stabilized the last formation mark long enough for him to place one hand on the shell.
The thing inside slammed against the inner wall.
Boom.
A muffled curse twisted through the metal.
Su Bai’s expression did not change.
Nether Threads seeped from his palm and wrapped around the shell’s sealing lines. They slid through the narrow gaps between formation marks, pierced the weak points, and bound the struggling Returnee through the shell’s own restraints.
The shaking slowed, then stopped.
A heavy silence fell.
Su Bai lifted the shell with one hand.
Several cultivators’ eyelids twitched.
Su Bai carried it like an inconvenient water jar.
He turned toward a secluded section inside the outpost.
"No one follows me." His tone was calm.
Everyone nodded immediately.
Su Bai carried the shell away.
This time, he did not go back into the red mist outside the boundary. He found a secluded area behind a half-collapsed stone hall, checked the surroundings with spiritual sense, confirmed no one had followed, and placed the star-metal shell down.
He looked at his robe, then a very serious decision appeared in his eyes.
A few breaths later, the robe was carefully folded and placed inside his storage.
Only then did Su Bai begin handling the Returnee.
•••
Back near the inner line, the outpost finally began to breathe properly.
No one knew exactly what Su Bai was doing with the final sealed Returnee. No one wanted to know too clearly either.
After everything that had happened, a strange realization spread among them.
The danger had been real. And yet, once Brother Su appeared, the most terrifying parts of the battlefield had been dragged away.
That was not normal, but it was reassuring.
One injured cultivator leaned against a stone pillar and exhaled deeply.
"I thought I was going to die."
The person beside him nodded. "I thought you were going to die too."
The injured cultivator turned slowly.
"Could you not sound so certain?"
"I was preparing emotionally."
"That is not comforting."
"It was not meant to be."
Several nearby cultivators laughed weakly.
Fear had loosened its grip.
At some point, many of them reached the same quiet conclusion.
In the Fallen-Star Sanctuary, treasures were good. But the safest treasure was still Brother Su’s general direction.
They must stick with him.
Not too close, because his enemies tended to explode. But definitely not too far.
Lin Weiyang finally stepped away from the first shell’s position. Her face was pale from exhaustion, but her eyes still carried the restless brightness of someone who had just seen several terrifying mechanisms fail and somehow considered that educational.
Then, she noticed Zhuge Jing.
He had been silent for a long time.
His fan was half-open, but his gaze was not on the damaged barrier, the injured, or the mist. Instead, he seemed to be thinking deeply about something else.
Lin Weiyang walked over.
"What is the problem?"
Several nearby cultivators also looked at Zhuge Jing.
After today’s battle, no one dared ignore his silence. If Zhuge Jing looked troubled, there was usually a reason.
It might be an enemy tactic, a hidden flaw in the defense, or another piece of information that would make everyone’s head hurt.
Zhuge Jing remained silent for several breaths, then he said slowly, "No matter how I observe Brother Su’s movements, the overlap is difficult to ignore."
Lin Weiyang blinked.
"What overlap?"
Zhuge Jing’s expression became more serious.
"Speed beyond ordinary footwork. Needle arts with extremely fine control. Precise manipulation of internal energy. A body technique that avoids direct collision. An attack style that emphasizes speed, concealment, and overwhelming accuracy."
Several cultivators listened with growing attention.
Zhuge Jing continued, "Among the techniques I know, the highest similarity is with the Sunflower Method."
Silence fell.
It was then that several voices overlapped at once.
"That is impossible."
The words came too quickly, too firmly, and too synchronized.
Mu Qing, who had been passing by, stopped in place. Lin Weiyang had spoken. Several female cultivators from Su Bai’s earliest group had also spoken.
For a moment, everyone stared at them.
The women who had spoken at the same time looked at one another.
Their expressions changed.
Mu Qing’s face remained calm, but her ears turned faintly red. Lin Weiyang coughed and looked away. The female cultivators from the earlier procession suddenly found the damaged boundary extremely interesting.
Zhuge Jing’s eyes narrowed.
"How are you so sure?"
No one answered.
The silence became strange.
Some of the nearby cultivators looked confused. Others looked thoughtful. A few seemed to realize there was a reason but could not grasp what kind of reason would make several female cultivators deny the Sunflower Method so decisively.
The Sunflower Method was infamous, but its entry condition was even more infamous.
A man who cultivated it had to pay a price that most male cultivators considered worse than death and more frightening than tribulation lightning.
If Brother Su truly practiced the Sunflower Method, then certain evidence should be absent.
The female cultivators remained silent because they could not possibly say the opposite out loud.
No respectable woman wanted to stand in the middle of an outpost and explain that Brother Su’s proof of innocence had once been very visible during an unfortunate robe-destruction incident.
That was how reputations died. Not his, but theirs.
Tang Ziyan stood nearby and watched their expressions.
Her eyes narrowed slightly. She did not know the full story, but she understood enough to realize that the denial had not come from theory.
Liu Meng, who had been helping with medicine distribution, also paused.
Her ears seemed to become sharper the moment the topic involved Su Bai. She glanced between Mu Qing, Lin Weiyang, and the other female cultivators, then slowly looked toward Zhuge Jing. Suspicion appeared in her eyes.
Qiao Wen, Chen Feng, and several cultivators who had been present during "that" incident also became quiet.
Especially Chen Feng. His face darkened with the expression of a man who had been forced by fate to witness something he never wished to remember again.
He sighed deeply.
One cultivator beside him whispered, "Brother Chen, do you know something?"
Chen Feng’s eyes became hollow.
"I know too much."
The other cultivator immediately respected his pain and stopped asking.
Lin Weiyang stood very still.
She absolutely could not reveal that her recording mechanism had captured Brother Su during the ravine incident when his robes had disintegrated.
That would be shameless. Also, technically valuable evidence.
Unless a very good opportunity appeared, she would keep it hidden.
For research. Purely for research.
Zhuge Jing’s fan closed halfway.
"The Sunflower Method is still the closest match."
Mu Qing said calmly, "It is not."
Lin Weiyang nodded. "Definitely not."
One female cultivator added, "Absolutely impossible."
Another said, "No need to discuss it."
Their firmness only made everyone more curious.
Zhuge Jing looked at them for a long moment, then he said,
"Interesting."
That single word made several people nervous.
Just then, footsteps approached.
Su Bai returned from the secluded area wearing the same robe as before.
His expression looked refreshed.
Everyone turned toward him at once.
Su Bai paused. He looked at their faces.
"What are you all talking about?"
The female cultivators answered at the same time.
"Nothing."
The synchronization was too perfect.
Su Bai looked even more confused.