Chapter 222 - The Sixth Stage and the Angry Spear
What the Dao-Devouring Blank Stele had given Su Bai was more than a collection of scenes.
The old man’s experiences remained vivid enough that Su Bai could remember the rhythm of battles he had never fought, the decisions made under pressure, and the countless small judgments accumulated across a lifetime of combat.
There was even comprehension mixed among those memories.
It’s not enough to become his own immediately, but enough to show him things that would have taken years to understand alone.
That distinction mattered.
Memory could tell him how the old commander moved his sword.
It could show him what the old man had perceived when facing an enemy, why he had chosen one strike instead of another, and how his sword path had gradually developed.
But, it could not make Su Bai reproduce the same result merely by remembering it.
Comprehension still had to become his own.
The same was true of the old man’s Sword Intent.
Su Bai could remember how it felt.
He could recall the pressure that accompanied it and the understanding supporting every strike, but the Sword Intent itself had disappeared with its owner.
What remained was knowledge of how another cultivator had reached it.
That alone was already valuable.
The old man had mentioned that a cultivator was not limited to a single Intent. With sufficient comprehension, one person could walk several paths at once.
Su Bai understood the attraction.
He also had no interest in doing that yet.
His Flaw-Piercing Needle Intent Seed was still incomplete.
Why begin collecting other Intents when the one he had chosen had not even matured?
If he had the choice between several half-developed Intents and one perfected Intent that truly belonged to him, Su Bai knew which one he preferred.
His attention drifted toward the faint needle suspended within his sea of consciousness.
Only the slightest trace of the old crack remained.
The Natal Needle had already shown him how much potential this path possessed.
There was still far too much he had not understood.
Su Bai slowly exhaled.
At least there was one thing in the old man’s memories that gave him some relief.
The final moments had not been false.
When the Dao-Devouring Blank Stele absorbed him, the obsession that had sustained the remnant for countless years had finally loosened.
The hatred was gone. The old commander had felt peace.
Su Bai could not say whether that made everything before it better, but at least the man had not disappeared while still trapped inside the same hatred that had kept him awake for so long.
His gaze lowered toward the ancient sword resting across his lap.
Up close, its condition looked even worse.
Dark corrosion covered much of the blade, while cracks spread across areas that should have broken an ordinary weapon long ago. Despite that, the sword remained intact.
It had survived the ancient war. It had endured the Ashen-Blood Miasma. More importantly, it had preserved the old man’s remnant soul through an age long enough for entire sects to vanish from history.
Whatever grade it had once possessed, this was not an ordinary sword.
Su Bai ran his fingers lightly along the hilt before placing it into his system inventory.
He could study it later.
For now, something else interested him more.
The old commander’s memories were still fresh.
His cultivation insights, battle experience, and understanding of higher realms had given Su Bai countless things to think about.
Even if he could not simply inherit another person’s comprehension, observing the path of a former Void-Shattering cultivator had widened his own understanding considerably.
Wasting that would be foolish.
Su Bai settled deeper into the recess.
The Nether Thread warning network remained undisturbed.
Ashen-Blood Miasma drifted densely through the surrounding ruins, while the Petrified Calamity-Magnet continued drawing more toward his hiding place.
Su Bai closed his eyes.
The Binary Void-Sun Supreme Method began circulating again.
Miasma poured into him.
His body accepted it as naturally as before, feeding the energy into his internal reserves before the cultivation method refined it into his own Qi.
The Black-Ice Golden Core turned steadily. Refined Qi compressed into it.
Su Bai did not rush.
He cultivated while sorting through the inherited comprehension, occasionally pausing to examine his circulation before continuing.
Time passed quietly.
...
Five days later, a faint vibration spread through the recess.
Su Bai remained seated as another wave of refined Qi entered the Black-Ice Golden Core.
The Core had reached the limit of its current density.
Its crystalline structure resisted for several breaths before beginning to compress inward. The dark ice grew deeper. The pressure contained within it rose.
Su Bai maintained the Binary Void-Sun Supreme Method and allowed the transformation to complete naturally.
A moment later, the resistance disappeared.
His Qi circulation changed with it.
Golden Core Sixth Stage.
Su Bai opened his eyes.
There was no dramatic eruption around him, only the quiet satisfaction of another successful advancement.
The memories of a Void-Shattering cultivator had not handed him a breakthrough, but they had helped him understand his own cultivation more clearly. Combined with the enormous amount of Ashen-Blood Miasma available to him, his progress had become frighteningly fast.
Su Bai spent additional time stabilizing the new stage rather than immediately standing.
Once the circulation settled, he finally examined the surroundings.
Something felt different.
He extended his spiritual sense.
The Ashen-Blood Miasma around the recess was noticeably thinner than before.
Su Bai looked upward.
The Petrified Calamity-Magnet had spent days drawing the surrounding miasma toward him while he cultivated. Considering how much energy he had absorbed, thinning the immediate area was hardly surprising.
What caught his attention was how slowly the miasma returned.
Normally, the surrounding mist should have gradually flowed back in from nearby regions.
This time, the recovery was sluggish.
Su Bai’s brows drew together.
His thoughts naturally went back to Layer One.
He had cut enormous amounts of essence-rich flesh directly from several sealed sources before leaving.
Those masses were still regenerating when he departed, but their recovery had already begun slowing after repeated harvesting.
Ashen-Blood Miasma ultimately came from the same corrupted system.
Perhaps weakening those bodies had affected how quickly the deeper regions replenished the miasma.
Su Bai could not confirm it from here.
Still, the possibility was worth remembering.
He stood and stretched.
Whatever the reason, this location had already given him what he needed.
It was time to move.
Su Bai collected the Petrified Calamity-Magnet, withdrew the surrounding Nether Threads, and left the recess.
He moved through Layer Two without choosing any particular destination.
For now, he only wanted another place with dense miasma and enough distance from powerful enemies to cultivate safely.
The ruined battlefield passed beneath him.
After traveling for some time, something familiar entered his spiritual sense.
Su Bai slowed.
A marking had been carved into one of the nearby stones. Lin Weiyang’s markings.
Su Bai changed direction and followed it.
He remembered this area.
Their group had passed through here before separating during the deeper exploration.
Not far from the marking, an ancient spear remained embedded in the ground.
Su Bai landed beside it.
The weapon was almost twice his height, with a dark shaft covered in old patterns and a spearhead that had somehow retained a faint metallic sheen despite the surrounding corrosion.
He remembered this spear clearly.
They had discovered signs that something remained within it, but nobody had been certain whether it contained a remnant soul or a true artifact spirit.
At the time, there had been more urgent things to worry about.
Now Su Bai had considerably more experience with one of those possibilities.
He stared at the spear.
If another remnant soul tried to enter him, the result probably would not be particularly complicated.
An artifact spirit was different.
A true artifact spirit belonged to the weapon itself. Unless it deliberately tried to invade him, there was no reason for the Dao-Devouring Blank Stele to treat it the same way it had treated the old commander.
Su Bai became curious. He approached the spear. His gaze traveled from the long shaft to the pointed head.
A thought occurred to him.
"A spear is basically an oversized needle."
The spear trembled.
Su Bai stopped. He stared at it.
The weapon trembled again.
"...Did you hear that?"
He reached toward the shaft.
Before his fingers could touch it, an enormous repelling force erupted from the spear.
Su Bai’s hand was thrown backward.
The ground beneath his feet cracked as he slid several steps across the ruins.
A furious voice exploded from the weapon.
"Impudent brat! You dare compare this one to a mere needle?"
Su Bai stared at the spear.
The spearhead shook violently.
There was no mistaking it now.
This was not a fading remnant soul.
The consciousness inside the weapon was clear, stable, and extremely offended.
It’s a genuine artifact spirit.
Su Bai’s interest immediately increased.
He searched through the old commander’s memories.
The spear gradually became familiar.
It had belonged to another commander during the ancient war, a Void-Shattering cultivator who fought near the old man on several occasions.
The man had been infamous for his temper.
Apparently, his weapon had learned from the best.
Su Bai looked at the spear again.
"So you really can understand me."
"Of course this one can understand you!"
The artifact spirit sounded even angrier.
"What this one cannot understand is how an ignorant junior looked upon a magnificent spear and somehow saw a needle!"
Su Bai examined its shape carefully.
It was designed primarily to concentrate force into a narrow point and pierce whatever stood ahead.
His expression became increasingly thoughtful.
The spear began to feel uncomfortable.
"Why are you looking at this one like that?"
Su Bai raised one hand and traced the air along the weapon’s length.
"The principle isn’t that different."
The spear shuddered with outrage.
"Not different?!"
Its pressure surged.
"This one crossed battlefields beside a Void-Shattering commander! This spear pierced fortresses, broke formations, and skewered creatures larger than mountains!"
Su Bai nodded.
"That’s impressive."
The artifact spirit quieted slightly.
Su Bai continued, "Still sounds like a very large needle."
The spear erupted.
A wave of pressure blasted across the ruins, sending dust and fragments of stone outward.
"BRAT!"
Su Bai’s smile widened.
This was excellent.
The old man’s Sword Intent had given him another perspective on weapons and Intent, but Su Bai had no desire to abandon his own path.
This spear offered something much more useful.
It was a piercing weapon that had spent countless years pursuing an entirely different interpretation of the same basic act.
Reach the target.
Pierce through it.
The scale, method, and philosophy were different, but that was precisely why comparing them might be useful.
His Flaw-Piercing Needle Intent did not need to become Spear Intent.
He only needed to understand what another piercing weapon could teach him about his own needle.
Su Bai stepped toward the spear again.
The artifact spirit immediately noticed the change in his expression.
Its anger faltered.
"What are you planning?"
Su Bai’s Flaw-Piercing Needle Intent Seed stirred faintly within his sea of consciousness.
He raised his hand toward the spear.
This time, he was not merely trying to touch it.
A trace of Flaw-Piercing meaning gathered around his fingertips.
The artifact spirit went silent. It had mocked the needle only moments earlier. Now it could feel what Su Bai actually meant by one.
The pressure was incomplete. The Intent had not matured. Yet the principle carried within it made the spearhead tremble for an entirely different reason.
Su Bai looked at the ancient weapon with growing enthusiasm.
"I changed my mind."
The artifact spirit hesitated.
"About what?"
Su Bai smiled.
"You’re not an oversized needle."
The spear finally relaxed.
"At least you possess some—"
"You’re going to be my practice needle."
The spear froze.
A terrible silence settled over the ruins.
A moment later, its furious roar shook half the battlefield.
"YOU DARE?!"