Chapter 168: Chapter 168 - The False Faces’ Aftermath and the Greedy Hands
The entire outpost was silent.
Their eyes remained fixed on the place where the two false bodies had collapsed, then shifted toward the two sleeping originals on Lin Weiyang’s bronze platforms.
Su Bai returned to the group without haste.
Mu Qing was the first to move. She hurried toward the two sleeping victims with several cultivators and carefully checked their condition.
Lin Weiyang lowered the bronze platforms slightly so the healers could reach them more easily.
The two victims were still alive. Their breathing had grown slightly steadier after the faint soul fragments returned, but their eyes remained closed, and their spirits were still weak enough that even ordinary probing had to be done gently.
Mu Qing’s expression was not ugly, but it was not good either.
"The fragments returned," she said after a long while. "Their souls are more stable than before, but I cannot say if they will ever wake up."
Someone from the original rescued group asked softly, "Can they recover?"
Mu Qing did not answer immediately. That hesitation was already an answer.
Actually, there had been something in the jade slip records about a soul-nourishing plant and a damaged-soul recovery method. Some of the ingredients might even be among the things they had taken from the ancient greenhouse.
But no one from the group mentioned those records.
That silence was not cruelty. It was human nature.
The two sleeping victims were strangers to most people here. Even if they were from the same sect, risking rare ingredients, time, and safety for an uncertain treatment inside the Fallen-Star Sanctuary was not something most young cultivators could easily promise.
Compassion was precious, but so were life-saving resources.
Besides, without a true alchemist, a soul-recovery recipe from ancient records was only a dangerous possibility.
Su Bai could attempt something with Cold-Forging Alchemy if forced, but not here, and not before so many outsiders.
So he only said, "Stabilize them first. Do not force them awake."
Mu Qing nodded. "I understand."
Su Bai looked toward the rest of the outpost. The cultivators of Outpost No. 5 were still shaken. Several lowered their heads when his gaze passed over them, as if afraid he might find another false body among them.
"Let’s rest here first," Su Bai said. "Everyone sorts their injuries, storage, and information. No one leaves the outpost alone."
The outpost slowly began moving again.
People sat in groups, but the distance between groups had changed. Earlier, the cultivators of Outpost No. 5 had been separated by suspicion. Now, they were separated by guilt, fear, and a growing desire to understand what had nearly happened to them.
Su Bai found a quiet place near one side of the outpost and sat down to meditate.
Meanwhile, the two groups began exchanging stories.
At first, the conversation was stiff. The cultivators of Outpost No. 5 were embarrassed. They had been deceived by false bodies, stirred into conflict, and reduced to fighting over scraps. It was not a story any genius wanted to tell.
But Su Bai’s procession did not mock them openly.
Perhaps some people wanted to. Their expressions made that clear enough. But after looking once at the two sleeping victims, the mockery faded.
Being fooled by things that wore human faces was not ordinary stupidity. In this place, anyone could have been deceived if the same thing happened under the right circumstances.
So the stories came out slowly.
Outpost No. 5 had gathered many cultivators over the past few days. The two false bodies had not taken command openly, but they had been present at every bad decision, every useless argument, every strange rumor, and every route that led to danger without reward.
The more they talked, the more uncomfortable they became.
Su Bai’s procession also shared parts of their journey. Naturally, they did not mention every treasure, nor did they describe the full amount of star-metal they had collected.
Unfortunately, hiding wealth was difficult when half the group looked like people trying not to smile at their own storage rings.
The cultivators of Outpost No. 5 sensed it anyway.
Their eyes slowly shifted toward Su Bai.
At first, it was gratitude, then respect, then curiosity, then something brighter and more dangerous.
By the time several members of Su Bai’s procession finished praising him, the outpost cultivators’ expressions had changed completely.
Radiant Sky Sect already had a reliable reputation. After the false-body incident, Su Bai himself looked even more trustworthy. Compared to wandering alone, joining a large disciplined group led by someone who could expose borrowed faces seemed far better.
That was why most people became respectful... but not everyone.
A few young cultivators from Outpost No. 5 stared toward Su Bai with different eyes.
One of them whispered, "Why does he not have a lotus barrier?"
Another frowned. "Maybe he has a treasure protecting him."
The first cultivator’s eyes sharpened.
After a moment of hesitation, he quietly released a faint thread of spiritual sense toward Su Bai.
He did not dare probe too deeply. He only wanted to brush past Su Bai’s surface and confirm whether there was a hidden protective treasure.
The spiritual sense slipped closer, then it touched the pale bone mask covering the lower half of Su Bai’s face.
The cultivator’s body stiffened. He immediately withdrew his spiritual sense.
The person beside him noticed. "What did you find?"
The cultivator stared at Su Bai’s mask.
"There is something on that mask."
Both cultivators did not act immediately.
One of them first approached a cultivator from Su Bai’s procession with a friendly smile and asked casually, "Fellow Daoist, that mask Brother Su is wearing seems unusual. Is it a treasure from one of the ruins?"
The cultivator from Su Bai’s group glanced at him, then he glanced at Su Bai.
His expression became strange.
"I do not know."
The greedy cultivator was stunned. "You have followed him for so long, and no one asked?"
The cultivator from Su Bai’s group said seriously, "Brother Su has many strange things. If we asked about every one of them, we would not have time to find treasure."
The greedy cultivator had no answer to that.
Another person from Su Bai’s procession added kindly, "Also, it is better not to touch Brother Su’s things."
The warning was sincere.
Unfortunately, greed had always been good at mistaking sincerity for fear.
Tang Ziyan noticed their gazes first. Her lips curved faintly.
Ji Ruyue noticed next. Her eyes moved toward the greedy cultivators without emotion, and her hand lowered slightly toward her sword. Lin Weiyang’s mechanisms tilted in their direction. Chen Feng also turned his head.
Tang Ziyan lifted one hand slightly and stopped them.
Ji Ruyue glanced at her.
Tang Ziyan smiled without warmth. "There is no need to act."
Chen Feng frowned. "They are courting death."
"That is why there is no need," Tang Ziyan said.
Tang Ziyan had heard about that mask before. Tang Yuyan and Tang Sisi had mentioned seeing Su Bai wear it in Snowspire City.
Tang Yuyan had described the object as bleak and dangerous, the kind of thing that did not feel like a proper protective treasure at all.
Tang Ziyan had believed her Aunt.
Now, seeing several greedy fools treat it as a life-saving mask, she suddenly felt that the world still had many small entertainments.
The greedy cultivators stood.
They did not look like they were attacking. Instead, they put on friendly smiles and approached Su Bai as if they merely wanted to thank him, ask for guidance, or offer cooperation.
Their acting was not terrible.
Unfortunately, they had chosen the wrong audience.
Su Bai sensed them before they took the third step.
Most importantly, their greed carried a familiar scent. A certain kind of hungry calculation.
Su Bai had seen that look before in his previous life. It was the look of people who saw someone else’s work and immediately began thinking how to take credit for it.
Different world, different robes, same eyes.
He sighed inwardly.
’Some species were universal.’
He did not move.
He let his breathing grow softer and his posture sink slightly, as if he had truly entered deeper meditation.
The greedy cultivators’ eyes brightened.
One of them got close enough... then he moved.
His hand shot forward with impressive speed. A talisman flashed beneath his sleeve, boosting his movement for a single breath. His fingers caught the edge of the Glacier-Lung Bone Mask and pulled.
The mask left Su Bai’s face.
At the same moment, the thief crushed another talisman and retreated like a streak of light.
The other cultivators with him moved too, scattering toward the edge of the outpost as if they had practiced this beforehand.
The entire outpost froze.
For a moment, no one could believe what had happened.
Someone had actually robbed Su Bai after everything that had just happened.
Even the cultivators from Outpost No. 5 looked stunned.
Su Bai opened his eyes slowly.
He did not chase.
That made the scene even stranger.
The thief landed near the outer edge of the safe zone, holding the pale bone mask in his hand. His face was flushed with excitement and fear, but greed won over both.
The cultivators who had followed him gathered around quickly.
"Let me use it too," one said urgently.
"Do not keep it to yourself."
"We agreed to share."
The thief laughed once. "Of course we will share. With this, the Fallen-Star Sanctuary is ours."
Several people from Su Bai’s procession looked at him with complicated expressions.
Tang Ziyan’s smile grew brighter.
The thief turned toward Su Bai and sneered, "Fool from Radiant Sky Sect. You have been kind for too long. Did you forget we are cultivators?"
Su Bai looked at him.
He said nothing.
That silence somehow made the thief angrier.
He raised the Glacier-Lung Bone Mask and pressed it over the lower half of his face.
The mask settled.
For one breath, nothing happened.
The thief’s eyes shone. He took a breath through his nose and laughed behind the mask, then he exhaled.
His body stiffened instantly. The laugh stopped.
A horrifying cracking sound came from inside his throat.
His eyes bulged. Both hands clawed at the mask, but the ancient bone had sealed against his face as if it had finally found a wearer. The moisture in his breath crystallized, and razor-thin ice forced itself back down his windpipe.
The thief fell to his knees.
No scream came out. Only a wet, broken choking sound.
His companions staggered back.
"What happened?"
"Take it off!"
"Take it off!"
The thief tried.
His fingers scraped against the mask, but his strength was already collapsing. Blood mixed with frost at the corner of his lips. His chest convulsed, but every breath only made the damage worse.
The others panicked.
Then one of them did something even more foolish.
Instead of helping him properly, he snatched the mask from the thief’s face the moment it loosened and leapt backward.
The first thief collapsed, coughing blood and ice.
The second thief held the mask with trembling hands.
His eyes were frightened, but greed had not died yet.
"It must reject him," he muttered. "Maybe he used it wrong."
Several people stared at him as if he had lost his mind, then he put it on.
This time, almost everyone understood what was about to happen.
Some cultivators even looked away.
The second thief exhaled.
His legs gave out.
The same cracking sound rang out again. Frost spread along his jaw, and his throat seized as if pierced by countless invisible needles.
He fell harder than the first.
The remaining thieves finally realized something was wrong.
The mask was not a life-saving treasure. It was not even a defensive treasure. It was a punishment.
The outpost became silent again.
This silence was different from before.
Earlier, everyone had been afraid of borrowed faces.
Now, everyone was trying to understand what kind of person wore such a thing calmly during daily travel.
Su Bai stood.
He walked toward the fallen thieves at an unhurried pace.
The remaining greedy cultivators trembled and backed away. No one dared touch the mask anymore. It lay on the ground between the two choking men, as innocent-looking as bone could be.
Su Bai stopped before it.
He bent down and picked it up.
The mask returned to his hand quietly.
Then, under everyone’s horrified gaze, he wiped away the frost and blood with a cloth and placed it back over the lower half of his face.
Everyone was stunned.
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