Cultivating in Reverse: My Sign-In System Wants Me Dead

Chapter 163: Chapter 163 - The Shared Spoils and the Next Path

Su Bai raised his hand.

One empty star-metal shell appeared from his storage ring and landed on the ground.

Dong.

The sound echoed through the underground chamber.

Then another.

Dong.

Then another.

The emptied shells stood before everyone. They no longer gave off that cold, wrong feeling, but their appearance still made several people’s scalps tighten.

Even empty, they did not look like ordinary treasures.

They looked like treasures that had once needed to be feared.

Su Bai said calmly, "The things inside have been removed."

No one asked what those things were.

That was wisdom.

Ji Ruyue stared at the shells for a moment, then looked at Su Bai.

"You removed them alone."

Su Bai nodded.

"I did."

A nearby cultivator immediately said, "Then these should belong to Brother Su."

Several others nodded at once.

"Brother Su took the risk."

"We did not help."

"We also do not want to know what was inside."

"That last part is important," another cultivator muttered.

The agreement spread quickly.

No one argued.

The shells had been terrifying even before they were opened. Whatever Su Bai had dealt with inside had clearly been worse.

Since he had taken the danger alone, no one had the face to claim them.

More importantly, no one wanted to be too closely involved with anything that had once needed a star-metal coffin.

Tang Ziyan looked at the empty shells.

"If anyone disagrees, they can sleep inside one for a night."

The agreement became absolute.

Su Bai looked at the group.

"You are certain?"

Everyone nodded very sincerely.

Su Bai did not act polite again.

There was no need to pretend.

He stored the emptied intact shells back into his storage ring.

After that, everyone’s attention moved to the cracked shells still left in the chamber.

Those were different.

The things inside had already escaped.

Only damaged star-metal plates, broken seams, and dried black-red stains remained.

Even looking at them made people uncomfortable.

Su Bai walked over and checked them one by one.

His spiritual sense swept across the cracks.

Then Ashen-Frost Blight Flame appeared at his fingertips.

The ashen-gray flame crawled across the damaged seams, burning away the remaining traces inside.

The smoke twisted faintly, as if unwilling to vanish.

Then it disappeared.

Su Bai checked the cracked shells several more times before nodding.

"These are no longer active threats," he said. "But they still need to be cleansed again before anyone refines them."

The cultivators looked at the cracked shells.

Then their eyes slowly brightened.

If the danger was gone, then treasure was treasure again.

The cracked shells entered the shared pool.

No one touched them directly yet. Lin Weiyang used bronze mechanisms to move them onto one side of the chamber.

Then came the chains.

The star-metal chains that had once bound the shells were still connected to the walls and floor.

Several cultivators looked at them with obvious longing.

Then they looked at the formation lines beneath the floor.

Then they became more honest.

A young cultivator asked carefully, "Can those be removed?"

Lin Weiyang crouched beside one chain and studied it for a while.

Her bronze mechanisms hovered around the lock points, pulsing softly.

"They can," she said. "But not by pulling."

The young cultivator withdrew the hand he had already half-raised.

Lin Weiyang worked carefully.

She did not destroy the formation.

She separated the dead connection points from the active ones, cut away the broken lines, and left the deeper structure untouched.

It took time.

No one rushed her.

A quarter hour later, the first chain loosened.

It fell with a heavy sound.

Then the second.

Then the third.

Every time a chain dropped, several eyes followed it like cats watching fish.

Star-metal chains.

Even damaged, they were treasures.

Soon, all removable chains had been taken down.

The ones connected too deeply to the underground formation were left alone.

No one complained.

As for the Star-Soul Verification Mirror itself, everyone reached the same decision very quickly.

Do not touch it.

The broken circular frame still stood on the sunken platform.

There was definitely star-metal in it.

Everyone also pretended very hard not to see that.

Some treasures could be collected.

Some treasures could be collected later.

And some treasures were best left for people one disliked.

This mirror belonged to the third kind.

After deciding what could and could not be touched, the group scoured the surrounding area again.

They found broken formation pins. A few star-metal arrowheads buried under red dust. Several pieces of damaged armor edging.

Lin Weiyang, the formation-aware cultivators, and two young refiners sorted the materials.

Finally, the treasure division began.

This time, the pile was enough to make even major sect disciples silent.

The rules remained the same.

Contribution first.

Standing around with bright eyes did not count.

Su Bai received a large share from the shared treasures once again.

After that, the others received their shares.

Then, just as the final portions were being recorded, two of the sleeping victims woke.

One was a young male cultivator. The other was a pale female cultivator.

They opened their eyes in confusion.

For a moment, panic returned.

Then their eyes landed on the treasure piles.

The panic stopped halfway.

The young man stared at a cracked star-metal plate.

The female cultivator slowly turned toward a pile of chain fragments.

Neither spoke.

But their expressions changed.

Every cultivator understood that expression.

Fear was still there.

But treasure had entered the room.

The situation became awkward.

According to the agreed rules, the sleeping victims did not receive battle spoils or exploration shares.

They had been protected.

They had been treated.

They would be allowed to copy the records.

But they had not contributed to the fight, the search, or the retrieval.

The rule was fair.

Unfortunately, fairness sometimes looked cruel when someone woke up pale and frightened beside a treasure pile.

The young male cultivator seemed to understand the atmosphere.

He lowered his head quickly.

The female cultivator nodded at the group awkwardly.

But her eyes still drifted once toward the star-metal fragments.

Everyone pretended not to see it.

Su Bai looked at the two of them.

Then he took several small star-metal fragments from his own portion.

He placed them before the two newly awakened cultivators.

The two froze.

The young man stared at the fragments.

"Brother Su, this..."

"You woke late," Su Bai said calmly. "That was not your fault."

The female cultivator looked at him.

Her eyes brightened despite her pale face.

Several cultivators nearby fell silent.

Giving comfort was easy.

Giving star-metal was not.

A few people suddenly felt that the words they had prepared earlier were very cheap.

They had been about to say something like, "Rest well," or "Do not blame yourself."

Brother Su directly gave treasure.

The difference was too obvious.

Someone whispered, "Brother Su is truly..."

He did not finish.

But many people silently agreed.

Tang Ziyan looked at Su Bai.

"Trying to become a saint?"

Su Bai ignored her this time.

The two newly awakened cultivators accepted the fragments carefully.

Their hands trembled.

They did not receive much.

But to them, it was already more than enough.

Their gratitude was real.

Su Bai did not dwell on it.

He asked Qiao Wen and Mu Qing to check their condition.

After confirming they were weak but stable, he allowed them to copy the jade slip records like the others had done before.

The familiar cycle began again.

Copy the records.

Explain the situation.

Warn them about borrowed faces.

The young male cultivator listened until his face turned even paler.

At the end, he asked weakly, "Can I choose to faint again?"

Qiao Wen patted his shoulder.

"No."

The young man looked deeply disappointed.

Everyone rested after that.

Meanwhile, Su Bai was busy searching for skeletons.

The verification post had many dead.

A few still held faint rune structures.

To the others, Su Bai looked like he was paying respects to the fallen again.

No one disturbed him.

He sat before another skeleton.

The Vanguard’s Entropy-Detonator appeared in his palm.

He activated it.

A silent detonation entered his mind.

The Reversal Body twisted the harm.

The fragments came.

Then the memory shattered.

Su Bai opened his eyes.

Then moved to another skeleton.

Again.

More memory fragments.

Su Bai remembered all of it.

When enough broken pieces overlapped, patterns appeared.

The Fallen-Star Sanctuary was slowly becoming less unfamiliar.

At least this outer region was.

By the time Su Bai finished the last usable skull rune, the underground chamber had grown quiet.

When he opened his eyes again, the second day inside the Fallen-Star Sanctuary had already ended.

A new automatic sign-in had arrived.

For a moment, Su Bai did not move.

It had been one hundred days since his eighteenth birthday. One hundred days since the system appeared.

Su Bai looked at the ruined underground verification post.

He felt a little nostalgic of the past.

Then he investigated his newly acquired reward.

[Vial of Ashen-Dew Runoff.]

[Description: Triggers Qi-Petrification. The dead energy aggressively attacks the target’s spiritual foundation, turning pure flowing Qi into heavy toxic sludge. It can permanently solidify the Dantian and cripple the cultivation base within seconds.]

Su Bai’s eyes moved slightly.

This reward was vicious and useful.

Su Bai did not take it out yet.

Because Lin Weiyang approached him.

"Brother Su," she said. "Everyone is ready. Where should we go next?"

Su Bai looked over.

The group had packed their treasures.

The wounded were stable.

The newly awakened victims rested on the bronze platforms.

The loose star-metal fragments had been divided.

The dangerous areas had been marked.

Everyone’s eyes turned toward him.

They were waiting for his answer.

Su Bai stood.

He looked at the crowd.

Then asked, "Do you trust me?"

The sudden question made everyone pause.

For a breath, no one answered.

Then Zhao Heng spoke first.

"I do."

Qiao Wen nodded.

"Brother Su has already saved us several times."

Mu Qing said softly, "If not for Brother Su, many of us would not be standing here."

Several others agreed.

"Brother Su sees danger before it reaches us."

"Following Brother Su is safer than wandering blindly."

The two newly awakened victims were still pale, but they also nodded very hard.

They had received star-metal from him.

Their trust was currently very bright.

Tang Ziyan looked at Su Bai.

"If you lead us into death, I will poison your corpse."

Several cultivators froze.

Su Bai nodded.

"That means you trust me."

Tang Ziyan narrowed her eyes.

"Do not translate my words for me."

Chen Feng crossed his arms and just snorted.

"Hmph."

Su Bai looked at him.

Chen Feng looked away. After a moment, he said, "Your direction has not been wrong so far."

That was probably agreement.

Lin Weiyang smiled slightly.

"I will follow Brother Su’s arrangement."

Ji Ruyue looked at Su Bai.

"Lead."

The group quieted.

Su Bai looked toward the routes from the soldier’s memory.

Then, he said, "Then from now on, those willing to follow me will move together. Treasures found along the route will be shared according to contribution. Danger will be faced together."

Everyone listened seriously.

He continued, "If you want to separate, you can do so now. I will not stop you."

No one moved.

Su Bai waited for a few breaths.

Then nodded.

"Good. Then I will lead the way."

The group’s expressions changed.

There was fear.

There was exhaustion.

There was trust.

And after everything they had gained, there was also expectation.

Su Bai stepped forward.

Behind him, more than thirty cultivators followed.

This time, they were not merely a temporary group that had survived by chance.

They had become a team.