Chapter 486: The Name of the Ancient Path
At the end of the mountain path, Star Pivot Hall lay ahead.
The main hall was built into the mountain, its entire body dark greenish-black, with little exterior ornamentation except for dozens of palm-sized metal formation plates hanging from the eaves. When the wind blew, they lightly bumped against each other, producing no crisp sound but only a low, steady hum of metal and stone that made anyone entering this place unconsciously calm down.
Two duty disciples at the door saw Su Ming and bowed in unison.
"Greetings, Senior Brother Su."
"Is Master inside the hall?"
"The Zhenren is already waiting for you."
Su Ming stepped into the hall.
Inside Star Pivot Hall, it was even quieter than outside.
Tall shelves stood everywhere, filled with all kinds of jade slips, formation plates, damaged artifacts, and sealed spiritual materials. The air carried a faint cold scent of metal and stone, mixed with the aged fragrance of books accumulated over years. A massive star chart was engraved in the center of the floor, with interwoven star points and lines of varying depths, as if someone had once used it to deduce the patterns of heaven and earth countless times.
Xuanheng Zhenren stood behind a long table, examining a dark purple jade slip.
He wore a deep purple formation robe today, his sleeves hanging down, his back straight, standing there.
Hearing footsteps, Xuanheng turned around.
His gaze fell on Su Ming, first sweeping over his robe, then his aura, and finally stopping on Shadow perched on Su Ming's shoulder. He paused for a breath before nodding faintly.
"Your cultivation has condensed further. Not bad."
Su Ming bowed. "Disciple greets Master."
"Sit."
Xuanheng gestured.
Su Ming sat down at the lower seat as instructed, and Shadow jumped onto the back of the chair to crouch there. The little creature was usually fearless, but before Xuanheng, it inexplicably restrained itself, even smoothing its feathers.
Xuanheng didn't speak immediately. Instead, he placed the jade slip back on the table and studied Su Ming for a moment.
"At the Sect Leader's Peak, was the matter resolved?"
Su Ming was momentarily startled, then quickly understood.
The Sect Leader had most likely already sent word about it.
"To answer Master, the Sect Leader has ordered that white crane grounded for three months and not allowed to leave Sect Leader's Peak."
Xuanheng hummed in acknowledgment, his expression revealing neither pleasure nor displeasure. He only said, "Being able to go to Sect Leader's Peak and state your grievance clearly is an improvement. Disciples of Formation Peak shouldn't court trouble for no reason, but they also can't let others step on their doorstep without speaking up."
With that single sentence, the matter was settled.
The last trace of worry in Su Ming's heart dissipated.
Seeing that Su Ming's expression had stabilized, Xuanheng raised his hand, took out an ancient jade slip from his sleeve, and gently placed it on the table.
The jade slip was grayish-white, with rounded edges, showing no signs of fresh carving but rather looking as if someone had repeatedly rubbed it over many years.
"The secret realm you're going to is called the Ancient Path."
Su Ming looked up at the jade slip.
Ancient Path.
The two words entered his ears, and his first reaction was not awe, nor mystery, but an almost simple tranquility.
It was far too plain.
The secret realm of Formation Peak, an opportunity countless sect disciples sought but could never obtain, was actually named just "Ancient Path."
Xuanheng seemed to notice the slight surprise in his eyes and said calmly, "Do you think it's too ordinary?"
"Disciple is just a bit surprised."
"A simple name because the one who left it behind was never one to chase after flashy things."
Xuanheng tapped his fingertip lightly on the jade slip, his voice low and steady, as if telling a story so ancient that even the dust had settled for ages.
"In ancient times, the Cloud Hidden Sect was not at peace. The northern border was plagued by endless demon tides. One of the sect's formation ancestors, in order to deduce the Border-Guarding Grand Formations, used an entire mountain range as the formation base and laid out a trial formation covering a hundred miles in the back mountain of the sect."
Su Ming listened, barely holding his breath.
Using a mountain range as a formation base.
That was no longer something an ordinary formation cultivator could touch.
"Later, that ancestor ascended and departed, and no one could fully take over the formation." Xuanheng continued. "Over successive generations, the sect repaired and maintained it, but could only manage its surface. As time flowed on, tens of thousands of years passed, and that grand formation evolved on its own, devouring and spitting out spiritual energy on its own, adjusting its own veins. Now, it is no longer a mere trial formation."
"More like... a living relic?"
Su Ming blurted out unconsciously.
Xuanheng glanced at him and nodded.
"Exactly. It is not a dead thing."
These words sent a slight tremor through Su Ming's heart.
A living formation.
He wasn't unfamiliar with this concept. The heavily repaired grand formation at Iron Wall Pass, the Eight Gates Lost Trace Incomplete Formation Elder Qingquan had given him, and even the Nine-Lock Linked Ring Formation outside Lantai Secret Garden had all given him a similar feeling.
But those were either incomplete, chaotic, or like cornered beasts fighting for survival.
What Xuanheng called the "Ancient Path," however, seemed like something else entirely.
Not a struggle, not a mutation, but a path that had self-generated and self-evolved through time.
Xuanheng reached out and pushed the jade slip toward Su Ming.
"What that ancestor was named, the sect can no longer confirm. But before he departed, he personally carved two characters on the entrance stone gate—'Ancient Path.'"
Su Ming looked down at the jade slip, a faint, indescribable respect rising in his heart.
A man who could use a mountain range as a formation base and tens of thousands of years as his ink, yet named what he left behind the Ancient Path.
Not "Myriad Phenomena," not "Heavenly Evolution," not "Divine Mechanism."
Only "Ancient Path."
Just two simple characters, yet they felt even heavier.
The hall fell silent for a moment, the only sound the distant clinking of formation plates in the wind.
After a moment, Su Ming raised his head. "Master, what exactly is inside the Ancient Path?"
Xuanheng didn't answer immediately.
He stepped out from behind the long table, walked to the massive star chart in the center of the hall, and stood with his hands behind his back. The cold light from the ceiling fell on his shoulders, making the dark patterns on his deep purple formation robe flicker between light and shadow.
"The Ancient Path is not a trial ground."
Xuanheng said.
"It wasn't set up for you to kill demons, break through barriers, or fight over treasures."
"It is a path."
He turned slightly, looking at Su Ming.
"When you walk in, what you see, what you encounter, and what you comprehend all depends on you. Your teacher cannot tell you what's inside—not because I'm unwilling, but because I can't describe it."
"Why?"
"Because what everyone sees is different."
These words fell, and Su Ming frowned slightly.
Everyone sees something different.
This meant that the Ancient Path was not a secret realm with fixed scenery or fixed trials, but rather something that changed with the walker's state of mind, cultivation, and understanding of the path of formations.
"Then what does the disciple need to do?"
Xuanheng said, "Walk."
Just one word.
Yet that single word was heavier than a lengthy speech.
"Walk for half a year," Xuanheng continued. "Don't seek speed, don't seek the end, and don't try to forcibly break through. Just walk along that path. After half a year, the token will automatically send you out."
Su Ming repeated slowly, "Just... walk?"