Volume 3, Chapter 9 – Bad Feeling

“Liang Qiusheng’s daughter, Liang Wanming, was killed by a demon cultivator. She died along with Liang Wenbo and the others in your family’s Ancestral Ground.”

“I hadn’t intended to bring this up again, but after that incident Elder Liang first went into seclusion for bitter cultivation, then applied for outside duty to go investigate in Zezhou. I suspect… he pinned what happened to his daughter on you, and so stepped onto the wrong path.”

There was a trace of sighing in Wang Ran’s voice. “If you see him when you go to the Prince’s Manor, do him a favor and put an end to it for him.”

Whatever Liang Qiusheng’s motive was, going to the Prince of Nanling’s Manor was already tantamount to treason. Wang Ran was deeply disappointed in him and did not want to see him captured alive by someone else and dragged into some scandal that would smear Benling.

Bai Xiang didn’t say much, just replied, “Alright.”

“When are you setting out?” Wang Ran asked again. “That commander, Lu Niezhi, had some karmic entanglement with me back when we were in the western lands. The man is fifty-six this year, upright to a fault and incapable of flexibility. In outsiders’ words, he’s blindly loyal to Qianyu. Clashing with him head-on will be difficult. Do you want me to put in a word for you ahead of time?”

Bai Xiang had originally been considering going through Tao Shuohua and Tao Muyun, father and daughter. She hadn’t expected Old Monk Wang to have this connection as well, so she simply went along with it. “That would be best.”

This girl’s something else. She talks to me entirely as an equal now.

Wang Ran could only shake his head inwardly. On the other end, Bai Xiang added, “But as for when I leave… that’s not fixed yet.”

“Mm?” Wang Ran was taken aback.

From what he’d heard, the team carrying the grading edict had already left Yujing. At the fastest they’d reach Maozhou in three or four days; at the slowest, a week. That was just enough time for a Divine Fetus-level cultivator to make a round trip from the Prince’s Manor, so wasn’t she planning to depart immediately and settle this first?

“There’s one last matter I need to deal with,” Bai Xiang said. “I’ll head out within two days.”

The next day at dawn, Bai Zhuqing jerked awake, drenched in cold sweat.

She’d had another dream, but the content was nowhere near as “great” as last night’s.

Not only was it not great, it was downright horror-movie material.

At first everything had been normal—she was still on the dragon throne, Bai Xiang in palace robes sitting in her lap.

Then suddenly, Bai Xiang reverted to her usual majesty. Just as she was pinching a grape with her toes, her movements changed—she stepped on Zhuqing’s face and kicked her off the throne. Under her gaze, Bai Xiang’s own skin began to split and swell inch by inch, transforming into a long-snouted, narrow-waisted fanged monstrosity.

Normally dreams were vague and hazy, and you barely remembered any details. But Bai Zhuqing could recall every inch of that monster’s appearance with crystal clarity.

The waist was thin, the snout long, and the limbs were long and narrow as well.

Its whole body was covered in an exoskeleton that might have been carapace or scales. Its head sprouted backward-facing spines, its fangs and claws were razor sharp, and even Bai Xiang’s signature golden eyes had transformed, the round pupils twisting into vertical slits.

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The pressure it gave off was immense, and it was brutally, hideously ugly.

Like some demon creature crawling up out of hell’s deepest pit, jaws gaping wide, its foul, fishy breath blasting right into her face.

Why would I dream something like that?

Shaking her head, Bai Zhuqing decided she was just a bit out of it.

Seeing it was already late, she hurried to wash up and get dressed, changing herself into an outfit of jeans with a light white T-shirt and a beige trench coat. Barefoot, she headed downstairs to look for shoes.

“Zhuqing.”

She was passing the table when Bai Xiang called to her. “Did you finish what I told you to arrange yesterday?”

“Of course!” Bai Zhuqing padded over on two little white cotton socks, thump thump , and stopped in front of Bai Xiang. “Elder Han and the disciples with him are all taken care of—they’re in the Rain Veranda Annex right next to Listening-to-the-Rain Pavilion!”

As she spoke, she watched Bai Xiang carefully. Her gaze went from Bai Xiang’s eyes, nose, and lips down along the lines of her figure, and she felt more and more like she’d lost her mind—to actually dream of her beautiful sister turning into a monster.

“I’m going out today,” Bai Xiang said, locking her gaze on Zhuqing’s eyes. “I’ll be gone about three or four days. While I’m not here, Listening-to-the-Rain Pavilion is yours to run.”

“I’ve already informed Lian Feng and Commandant Huang and the others. They’ll all cooperate with you… There are things you’ll need to pay attention to.”

Sister Xiang finally trusts me enough to give me responsibilities this important!

Bai Zhuqing straightened, spirits lifting. “No problem! Leave it to me!”

She didn’t notice the shadow hidden in Bai Xiang’s eyes. She only heard Bai Xiang continue, “In that student team from Liangzhou University’s Sword Institute, there’s someone with the surname Bai. I don’t have time to check if it’s real. Go ask where he’s actually from.”

Surname Bai?

Bai Zhuqing dropped her gaze to calculate… surname Bai… surname Bai…

There were plenty of people surnamed Bai in the world. Her sister wouldn’t randomly care about someone just because they were surnamed Bai.

Right! Dad had mentioned before that they had a third uncle who’d ended up outside, supposedly in Liangzhou…

Could it really be related?

“Gugu, then—”

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She lifted her head, wanting to ask Bai Xiang what they should do if it really was a blood relation—but there was no sign of Bai Xiang anywhere in front of her. Looking around, she couldn’t find her at all.

She’s already gone?

After searching upstairs and down and then noticing that one pair of white brocade long boots with golden python patterns was missing from the shoe cabinet, Bai Zhuqing finally confirmed that Bai Xiang had left.

Thinking it over, she headed downstairs and out of Listening-to-the-Rain Pavilion to the building next door. She arrived just in time to see some workers hauling equipment upstairs, with Han Yuanfeng standing nearby, looking comically at a loss.

“Elder Han.”

Trying to imitate how her sister usually handled things, Bai Zhuqing gave a little cough and stepped up to greet the visitor. “Did you sleep well last night?”

“It was quite good,” Han Yuanfeng said, frowning and drawing a few lines across his forehead. “It’s just this equipment…”

He pointed at what the laborers were carrying.

Freezers and microscopes were one thing. But they’d just hauled up a dissection table used only for surgery, and a cultivation chamber big enough to stuff an entire person into.

He really didn’t understand. What was that Shenming Dao Master trying to do with all this?

Even if Zhen’nan Circuit was still under construction and lacked medical talent for surgery, there was no need to rush this much, was there?

“Ahem! This… the Dao Master definitely has her reasons.”

Bai Zhuqing tried to steer the topic away.

“I heard Elder Han brought a genius class this time. Would you mind introducing them to me?”

Han Yuanfeng glanced at the girl.

He’d already learned that Bai Zhuqing was in fact Bai Xiang’s younger sister, not a typical reception disciple.

He didn’t understand why she was suddenly interested in these things, but there was nothing he couldn’t say about it, so he started explaining—telling her about the whole process from selection to evaluation.

He’d originally thought that would be enough, but when he saw she wanted to dig deeper, he simply called the students out to pay their respects to her, continuing to explain their backgrounds while they did so.

“Keep an eye out in a bit,” Han Yuanfeng said. “The one with the two braids hanging down in front of her chest is named Luo Yan.”

“Her family in Liangzhou is fairly well-off. They run a few rice-wine eateries. Her personality might not be very likable, but she’s not a bad person—she just needs training and polish.”

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“As for the taller one, she’s called A Jiu.”

“Her family was wiped out by a demon disaster elsewhere. She’s the only one left, and she was only nine at the time.”

“Since she was ninth in the family to begin with, she started calling herself A Jiu. Her close friends all call her Little Jiu.”

“Her personality is steady, and her talent’s decent too. Her only drawback is that she’s a bit old. She’s already nineteen this year. Her bones are set, so she’s harder to mold.”

Wow, this is way too detailed, isn’t it?

Bai Zhuqing quickly realized something was off.

She figured Han Yuanfeng must have misunderstood, thinking she was trying to learn about these students because Bai Xiang had sent her, and that Bai Xiang’s real intent was to pick a few out to take as disciples.

She couldn’t really blame him for that.

Putting herself in his shoes, if she were Elder Han, she’d probably assume the same.

And that was exactly what Han Yuanfeng was thinking, and he was more than happy about it.

They called it a genius class, but this group hadn’t actually been formally taken in as inner disciples of Red Dust Sword Dao.

Forget inner disciples—strictly speaking they didn’t even qualify as outer disciples, the Sword Institute students, since they hadn’t yet gone through the national entrance exam in three months’ time. Their connection to Red Dust Sword Dao was quite loose, and he couldn’t really be called their teacher.

If Bai Xiang wanted to take them, he’d happily hand them all over to her as a favor that cost him nothing.

With that in mind, Han Yuanfeng’s introductions grew even more detailed.

Meanwhile, Bai Zhuqing listened with a pained expression as he rambled on with “this one is called…” and “that one is good at…,” regretting ever bringing it up with him.

At last, the topic turned to “Bai Chenyu.”

“This Bai Chenyu…” Han Yuanfeng frowned. “He’s officially in his first year of high school, but he actually skipped a grade. He only just turned fifteen today.”

“What sets him apart is how precocious he is.

“He seems to have an adult’s way of thinking. He handles all sorts of small matters quite well and can look at issues from a broader perspective than his age would suggest.”

Bai Zhuqing couldn’t hold back. “Then what’s his background?”

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“As for Bai Chenyu’s background… his family should be merchants,” Han Yuanfeng said. “He mentioned once that his family fled north from the south, but I don’t really know the details.”

Merchants, from the south again.

Could he really be Third Uncle’s child?

Bai Zhuqing felt a little excited, but was annoyed that she couldn’t confirm it any further.

“Elder Han, you didn’t vet them before taking them in?”

“There are specific teachers in charge of that,” Han Yuanfeng said with a wave. “Everyone who passes the vetting gets put together. Don’t just ask about me—these kids only met each other this winter break.”

I see.

Bai Zhuqing understood.

She probably wouldn’t be able to get much more out of this. Even his companions might not know his family background.

She’d have to ask him directly.

All of a sudden, a strange feeling surged up from her chest, raising goosebumps across her skin.

It was a mix of cold dread and nausea, making her think of that bizarre nightmare from last night—of that savage demon form in the dream.

She whipped her head toward the front staircase of the annex and saw a group of boys and girls chattering as they came downstairs together.

Among them was a pale-faced boy wearing round glasses. He seemed to sense her gaze and lowered his head to look over, his eyes just happening to lock with hers.

Hum——

That cold, dreadful feeling doubled in an instant.

“That’s him.” Han Yuanfeng followed her gaze and pointed him out.

“Bai Chenyu.”

“That one there.”