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

The Immortals’ earlier amusement disappeared almost immediately.

For several breaths, none of them spoke.

The vast internal space alone was enough to hold their attention, but what occupied its center made the silence deepen further.

The Black-Ice Golden Core rested there. Ten Tribulation Marks remained etched across it, while the Greater Golden Core structure extended far beyond what an ordinary Golden Core should have been capable of supporting.

One of the Immortals finally broke the silence.

"What kind of Golden Core is this?"

Su Bai considered the question.

"It happened naturally."

The Immortal did not answer.

Another ancient soul slowly circled the Black-Ice Core with its spiritual sense before muttering, "I somehow expected that answer, yet hearing it still makes the situation worse."

Several of the others gave faint spiritual fluctuations that might have been agreement.

Their attention soon shifted upward.

The Crystalline Tree Spirit Root rose directly from the Black-Ice Core, its roots fused deeply into the dark sphere while its trunk and branches spread above.

Nine Soul-Bloom Lotuses rested among those branches.

The Dao-Devouring Blank Stele remained embedded within the tree.

The Ashen-Frost Blight Flame spread across the upper branches, forming the tree’s entire ash-gray canopy.

The Immortals became quiet again.

This time, the silence carried a different weight.

One of them slowly spoke.

"So that aura came from here."

Another Immortal examined the tree more carefully.

"A Spirit Root fused directly to an abnormal Golden Core, carrying a Heavenly Flame as its canopy and supporting nine strange lotus-shaped growths..."

A third voice interrupted.

"You forgot the accursed Stele embedded inside it."

The first Immortal paused.

"...I was trying to forget that part."

Several ancient souls laughed softly.

Another spiritual sense passed over the Dao-Devouring Blank Stele but wisely avoided touching it.

"I have seen that thing devour a cultivator’s Dao and cultivation method until nothing remained. So why is it sitting inside a Spirit Root as if it belongs there?!"

Su Bai remained silent.

The Immortals continued examining the tree.

One of them noticed the nine Soul-Bloom Lotuses more closely.

"And each of those Lotus carries a Natal Weapon!"

Another ancient soul gave a low sigh.

"Of course it does."

The Immortal who had spoken first seemed increasingly entertained.

"An Infinite Dantian, ten Tribulation Marks, a Golden Core that refuses to behave like one, a Spirit Root carrying things that should not coexist, and nine Natal weapons growing from flowers."

A faint laugh followed.

"Perhaps this is why he could kill those creatures."

Another Immortal agreed.

"One impossible existence meeting another."

Su Bai’s eyelid twitched.

He was beginning to feel slightly insulted.

Unfortunately, he could not argue with their observations.

Their attention moved away from the Infinite Dantian and followed the Myriad-Path Meridian Web.

The reaction changed almost immediately.

The Immortals had already noticed that Su Bai’s meridians were abnormal, but tracing the network directly revealed the true extent of it.

Routes branched, merged, redirected, and connected across his body with none of the rigidity expected from ordinary cultivation pathways.

One Immortal followed several of those routes before its spiritual sense suddenly stopped.

"Wait."

The others noticed it as well.

Nine internal spaces lay distributed throughout the circulation network.

Their attention shifted toward them.

A long silence followed.

One of the calmer Immortals finally spoke.

"Those positions..."

Another finished the thought.

"They should be his Major Meridian Gateways."

Their spiritual senses entered the first structure.

The stable internal foundation immediately became apparent.

Qi circulated within it naturally.

The space no longer depended entirely on the surrounding meridians to maintain itself.

The same structure appeared in the remaining eight.

One of the Immortals sounded genuinely bewildered.

"How did nine Meridian Gateways become Dantians?"

Their attention turned toward Su Bai almost simultaneously.

Su Bai could only give them a helpless smile.

The Immortals stared at him for several breaths before one of them finally sighed.

"I am beginning to think asking how anything inside your body happened is pointless."

The Immortals returned to the nine Gateway Dantians.

Their curiosity had become much more serious now.

They examined the stable internal anchors, the way each Dantian remained connected to the Myriad-Path Meridian Web, and how all nine still operated as parts of one greater cultivation system rather than separate foundations competing against one another.

One Immortal spoke after several breaths.

"This should not work."

Another answered almost immediately.

"And yet the circulation is stable."

"There is no conflict between the ten centers."

"The main Dantian still governs the foundation, while these nine distribute and support it."

A thoughtful pause followed.

"Strange, but remarkably complete."

Su Bai listened carefully.

That was probably the closest thing to praise his cultivation structure was going to receive.

The Immortals continued deeper into the Gateway Dantians.

Their spiritual senses finally reached the centers.

The nine dormant seeds appeared before them.

Every conversation stopped.

Su Bai noticed the change immediately.

Their reaction to his Infinite Dantian had been surprise.

Their reaction to the Gateway Dantians had been disbelief.

This was different.

The Immortals had become solemn.

One of them carefully examined the seed inside the nearest Gateway Dantian.

It did not touch the seed. Instead, its spiritual sense followed the faint connection left behind by the crystalline root that had created it.

The trail ran through the Myriad-Path Meridian Web and eventually returned to the Infinite Dantian, where it connected directly to the Crystalline Tree Spirit Root.

The other Immortals traced the remaining seeds in the same way and reached the same conclusion.

All nine connections originated from the same tree.

Su Bai’s heart stirred.

"Seniors?"

The Immortals did not answer him immediately.

One of the luminous souls remained focused on the dormant seed for several breaths before speaking to the others.

"You are seeing it too, aren’t you?"

Another orb gave a faint spiritual fluctuation.

"I am. But if that is really what I think it is, this should not be possible."

A quiet laugh came from one of the others.

"After everything we have already seen inside this young man, are you still using those words?"

That silenced the objection.

Another Immortal examined the seed more carefully.

"It has not fully awakened yet, but the imprint is already there."

"The parent root’s foundation..."

"Yes."

The atmosphere around the orbs grew noticeably more solemn.

Su Bai’s patience finally ran out.

"Seniors, would someone please explain what you are looking at?"

The ancient souls became quiet.

One of them drifted slightly closer to his consciousness.

"Young man, what kind of Spirit Root do you believe you possess?"

Su Bai blinked.

Of all the things inside his body, he had not expected them to question that.

"A mutated Wood Spirit Root."

The Immortals did not respond.

Su Bai frowned.

"My original Spirit Root looked like a Dead Bark. It later transformed into this crystalline tree. What else would it be?"

The silence became uncomfortable.

One of the Immortals finally released a low laugh.

"That conclusion is understandable."

Another added, "If all anyone ever saw was the tree itself, calling it a mutated Wood Spirit Root would be the obvious answer."

Su Bai’s confusion deepened.

"Then what is wrong with that answer?"

The first Immortal’s spiritual sense returned to the dormant seed.

"A normal Wood Spirit Root cannot produce this."

Su Bai looked inward.

"The seed?"

"Root Seed," the Immortal corrected.

Su Bai’s attention sharpened.

"That is what these are called?"

The ancient soul hesitated.

"It is the closest term."

Another Immortal continued.

"A Root Seed is not an ordinary seed formed from Wood Qi. It carries part of the foundational imprint of the Spirit Root that created it."

Su Bai became still.

His attention immediately shifted toward all nine Gateway Dantians.

"So if these grow..."

The thought came together before he could finish.

’Could they eventually become Spirit Roots of their own?’

He stared at the nine dormant seeds for several breaths.

One inside every new Gateway Dantian.

The possibility was absurd enough that he almost dismissed it, but after everything his body had already done, Su Bai had learned not to reject an idea simply because it sounded unreasonable.

One of the Immortals seemed to understand where his thoughts had gone.

"Do not decide what they will become yet."

Another ancient soul agreed.

"They have only just formed. We can recognize what they are, but not what they will become."

Su Bai nodded slowly.

That was enough to stop him from running too far with the idea.

His attention returned to the matter that had started this discussion.

"If these really came from my Spirit Root..."

He did not need to finish.

One of the Immortals answered immediately.

"That is precisely the problem."

Another luminous soul drifted closer to the nearest Root Seed.

"We were already doubtful before finding these. Now there is even less reason to treat your Spirit Root as an ordinary mutation of Wood."

Su Bai fell silent.

The Immortals had been questioning that conclusion from the moment they examined the tree closely. The Root Seeds had simply given them something much harder to dismiss.

After a brief pause, one of them spoke.

"We still cannot tell you exactly what it is."

There was no reluctance in the admission.

Another Immortal continued.

"We have seen too little of its true nature to give it a name with any confidence."

Su Bai accepted that.

Several Immortals had examined it together, and none of them were willing to guess simply for the sake of giving him an answer.

One of the luminous souls turned its attention back toward the Crystalline Tree Spirit Root.

"But there is one conclusion we are comfortable making."

Su Bai waited.

"It is not a Wood Spirit Root."

Another Immortal added, "And calling it a mutated Wood Spirit Root would be just as inaccurate."

Su Bai’s thoughts slowed.

That was far more definite than anything they had said before.

He had expected them to find something unusual about his Spirit Root. He had not expected them to overturn the classification entirely.

For a while, he simply looked inward.

The answer did not solve the mystery surrounding the crystalline tree, but at least it removed one possibility.

As for the nine Root Seeds, Su Bai’s earlier thought remained in the back of his mind.

If they truly continued growing, what would they eventually become?

None of the Immortals tried to answer that question, and Su Bai did not ask.

There was nothing more to conclude while the seeds remained dormant.

He released a quiet breath.

So his Spirit Root was not Wood.

That was one answer.

Unfortunately, it also left him with a much larger question.

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