Su Bai had no choice but to comply. Refusing a direct system audit from the Head of Compliance would only guarantee his immediate termination.

He slowly extended his arm. Shen Youran reached out. Her pale, slender fingers gently wrapped around his wrist. Her skin was as cold as carved ice.

Without a word, she sent a thread of her diagnostic Qi directly into his meridians.

She was looking for the devastating damage. She expected to find his foundation rotting away. She expected it to be polluted by the violent, toxic, and chaotic Qi he had supposedly absorbed from the Outer Sect laborers.

But the moment her icy diagnostic Qi entered his body, Shen Youran completely froze.

Her eyes widened in microscopic shock.

Instead of resisting her intrusion or showing signs of broken meridians, Su Bai’s body didn’t resist at all. In fact, his body eagerly latched onto her Qi, trying to happily absorb it like a sponge soaking up water.

For Su Bai, the sensation was absolute bliss. It felt like stepping out of a sweltering desert directly into a perfectly air-conditioned server room.

’This absolutely confirms it,’ he suppressed a contented sigh. ’My hardware craves this type of energy.’

Slightly bewildered, Shen Youran furrowed her perfect brow. She carefully released a larger, more probing wave of diagnostic Qi, pushing past his outer defenses to inspect his core.

She was successful this time, but what she saw inside his Dantian left her momentarily speechless.

There were no shattered meridians. There was no rotting foundation.

Instead, she sensed the purest, most untainted foundation imaginable. It was a flawless, crystalline spiritual sea that resonated with a terrifying, unblemished clarity. This instantly convinced her that Su Bai’s Dao Heart was absolutely clean.

However, her diagnostic scan finally brushed against the stubborn "food baby" pressing against his white robes.

There it was. A massive, compressed ball of undigested, chaotic Qi. It roiled in his stomach like a ticking time bomb.

But just as Shen Youran was about to react to the poison, she noticed something else.

Su Bai... was at the 8th Stage of Qi Refining now. And his cultivation base was rapidly humming and hovering close to the 9th Stage.

The chaotic Qi wasn’t killing him. His pure foundation was slowly, methodically grinding it down and using it as fuel! 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

A flash of understanding dawned in Shen Youran’s icy eyes. She remembered the report her disciple, Ji Ruyue.

It had only been a few days since he came back to Qi Refining, but his progress was absolutely frightening.

She already knew Su Bai was highly unusual.

Shen Youran finally understood the whole picture. Whatever Su Bai was doing, he wasn’t committing a senseless suicide. He was deliberately using lethal, impossible situations as a crucible to temper his own foundation! He was a cultivator who flourished exclusively when standing on the edge of the abyss.

Slowly, Shen Youran withdrew her icy fingers. She stopped the diagnosis.

Su Bai stood perfectly still. His heart pounded in his chest. He waited in agonizing anticipation for the verdict. She had just seen his embezzled chaotic Qi. She had just seen his bizarre foundation. His body was a walking HR violation. Was she going to expel him? Seal his cultivation?

The Ice Queen looked at him. Her expression returned to its untouchable, flat calm.

"If taking risks will make you stronger," Shen Youran said flatly. "Then do it. But do not go overboard."

Su Bai blinked.

His corporate brain rapidly processed the statement. ’Wait. Did upper management just give me official consent to continue embezzling toxic waste?! Is she approving my hazardous work environment?!’

Su Bai was so incredibly happy he couldn’t entirely suppress the shark-like, capitalist smile that tugged at the corners of his mouth. He bowed deeply.

"Thank you for the teaching, Martial Aunt. I will ensure my future acquisitions are handled responsibly."

Shen Youran gave a single, satisfied nod. She didn’t stay to chat. With a graceful sweep of her robes, she summoned her flying sword and shot into the sky, then left Clear Cloud Peak behind.

Once she was out of sight, Su Bai finally let out a massive sigh of relief.

’I passed the audit,’ he thought gleefully. ’This means I can continue siphoning Qi from the disciples without the Law Enforcement Hall breathing down my neck. This is phenomenal progress!’

Plus, as a bonus, he was indirectly fixing the sect’s bottleneck issues. It was a rare win-win in the corporate world.

Deciding to stay on Clear Cloud Peak for the rest of the day to properly digest his "lunch," Su Bai sat down on his favorite flat stone and opened his internal interface.

"System, sign in."

[Ding! Signed in at Clear Cloud Peak.]

[Reward: Obscuring Mind-Fog Tea Leaves]

A small, sealed paper pouch materialized in the system inventory. Su Bai checked its description.

[Use: A highly toxic weed. Brewing and consuming these leaves causes severe brain fog, intense lethargy, and completely destroys the user’s attention span. It makes it physically impossible to meditate, strategize, or comprehend martial arts. Cultivators usually burn this weed on sight just to get rid of it.]

Su Bai nodded slowly. To anyone else, this was literal garbage. To his Reversal Body, consuming a tea that destroyed attention span and caused brain fog would result in hyper-lucid focus.

’It’s basically an Adderall brew.’ Su Bai noted.

Still, Su Bai couldn’t help but feel that today’s reward was a bit... underwhelming.

’The first-time rewards for new locations are always massive,’ he realized. ’Does repeat check-ins only yield common consumables.’

Su Bai felt that the System was incentivizing him to travel. If he wanted the truly amazing rewards to help him reach higher realms, he was going to have to go on a business trip and explore the rest of the sect.

"Well, I’ll schedule a trip to the next peak," Su Bai muttered, opening the pouch. "For now, let’s take a tea break."

He gathered some fresh mountain spring water, ignited a small fire array, and brewed the toxic weed. It had been a long time since he had tasted a beverage without it feeling like swallowing battery acid.

He took a cautious sip of the steaming, light-green liquid.

His eyes widened in pleasant surprise. "Wow. It tastes exactly like matcha!"

He smiled, leaning back on his stone and enjoying his Sabbatical.

***

Outside of Clear Cloud Peak, the PR nightmare was swiftly brought to a halt.

Shen Youran released an official statement from the Law Enforcement Hall. She declared that she had personally inspected Su Bai’s body and found absolutely nothing wrong with his foundation. In fact, she stated he was healthier than ever.

This official HR memo immediately eased the panic of the upper management. The Elders collectively sighed in relief. They naturally assumed that Peak Master Shen had secretly helped Su Bai stabilize his condition during her visit.

However, the Outer Sect disciples heard the news entirely differently.

"Oh, Heavens!" a junior disciple gasped, clutching the viral painting of Su Bai to his chest. "Even absorbing our lethal, toxic impurities cannot blemish Senior Brother Su’s terrifyingly pure body?!"

"The darkness simply cannot exist in his presence!" another disciple wept with profound reverence. "Is he... is he a living Saint?!"

Within hours, the legend of Saint Su Bai grew even more utterly, ridiculously out of control.