Volume 3, Chapter 15 – Growth

The next morning, Bai Zhuqing groped around as she woke up in bed.

Maybe the Vibration Art had burned through too much of her stamina; this time she’d slept without dreaming. When she got up and stretched, her joints crackled, and a lazy, indescribable comfort spread through her from head to toe.

To feel this good after just one night’s sleep left Bai Zhuqing genuinely surprised. She figured it had to be because Auntie had “vibrated” too many of her acupoints last night, stimulating her whole body into this state.

“Auntie should’ve left already…”

She looked around, and sure enough, there was no sign of Bai Xiang.

Bai Zhuqing didn’t mope over it. Instead, she replayed in her mind the words of praise Bai Xiang had given her yesterday.

To her shame, this was probably the first time she’d ever received that kind of recognition. The brand-new feeling was like a stalk of straw teasing the strings of a young girl’s heart—she found that she wanted more of it.

Then I’ll just keep doing my best to help Auntie!

Bai Zhuqing pumped herself up.

Yesterday already proved I’m not stupid at all! I can not only see abnormal things about demons, I can also pick up on what Auntie means! I even inherited Little Aunt’s talent! I’ve already proven that I’m useful too!

So keep going!

Make a tiny bit of progress every time… One day, people will have to look at me in a new light!

Beep-beep-beep—

The ringtone popped her swelling balloon. Bai Zhuqing hurriedly pulled her expression back in and dove onto the bed to search around.

“Phone… my phone… where did I put it?”

She rummaged like a little monkey, her smooth calves and bare feet lifted and swaying in the air, like a small animal with its tail stuck up and twitching.

“Got it!” She finally fished the phone out from between the bedding. One glance at the caller ID—and it was Grandpa.

Eek—

Her little heart gave a sharp twitch. Only now did she realize just what kind of job Bai Xiang had dumped on her.

Her current position couldn’t quite be called “acting Dao Lord,” but a “daoist field affairs steward” was definitely hers to run with. In theory, people really could address her as “Steward Bai,” and by that title she alone held authority over the entire construction project in the Zhen’nan Circuit—one word from her could mobilize the local garrison.

But a steward’s job wasn’t just that one bit of work. There was also appeasing the clan, maintaining connections, dealing with people and situations—all of that was on her plate too.

Those things might not sound like much, and Bai Zhuqing was willing to grit her teeth and step up.

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But was the problem really on her side?

Wasn’t the real issue whether the people she had to deal with, the things she had to handle, would actually recognize her as this steward?

It wasn’t enough that she was willing; she had to do it well enough—well enough that these people would accept her.

Otherwise, out of respect for Bai Xiang, they might not say anything to her face, but behind her back they’d be muttering about Bai Xiang, accusing her of favoritism, of letting some whiny little girl swan onto the big stage.

Especially Bai Shengju—family members never watched their mouths. Bai Zhuqing had already mentally prepared herself to be chewed out without mercy.

Ah… I hope Grandpa won’t be too harsh…

With that grim mood, she picked up the call.

“Hello…”

“I’ve already been informed about what’s going on over there.” Bai Shengju’s voice came through the receiver. It sounded even more booming and full-chested than she remembered.

“Xiang’er has told me everything. As for that God-Vein Demon, I’ll take the matter to Chief Inspector Zhang and have him pay special attention to searching among the displaced refugees.”

“But… Grandpa!” Bai Zhuqing’s brows pinched together. She gathered her courage and said, “I don’t think that method will work.”

“Oh?” Bai Shengju was a bit surprised. As far as his memory went, this was the first time his eldest son’s daughter had gone against him.

“The demon chaos may be over, but the upheaval it caused is still there,” he said solemnly. “How many families have been torn apart, how many households wiped out? The number of displaced people across two states and eight circuits has increased more than fivefold. All over, the circuit armies and prefectural troops have been forced to break up and turn into disaster relief. This is the best solution for the current situation.”

“You say you don’t agree… then you need to give me some reasoning, don’t you?”

“The God-Vein Demon is too strange. You can’t filter it out with ordinary methods.” Bai Zhuqing hesitated, then still chose to voice what was in her heart to Bai Shengju. “Grandpa, I want to go back to your side today and take a look.”

“Nonsense.” Bai Shengju shot her down on the spot. “Xiang’er dumped this burden on you because she wants to train your ability to deal with people and affairs. If you don’t stay in Zhen’nan and do your job as overseer, and instead run back to me—are you just looking to slack off?”

That…

Bai Zhuqing clenched her teeth.

The real reason, of course, was that only she had the inborn talent to see through a God-Vein Demon.

Anyway, Chilong and Zhen’nan were right next to each other, separated only by a single mountain ridge. You could practically call them twin circuit cities. Going back and forth once cost her almost no time.

She believed Bai Xiang would also agree with her decision—but this was something she couldn’t say out loud.

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It wasn’t something that could be summed up with a simple “Grandpa can be trusted,” and it wasn’t just because she had some agreement with Bai Xiang. It was that the risk here was too great and the implications too wide; she didn’t dare have even the tiniest slip.

The more people knew, the messier the mouths got.

Family members, with the best intentions, could still botch things.

Rather than wait for some tiny hidden danger to explode later and leave them full of regret, Bai Zhuqing would rather hold it in and say nothing.

That was still better than getting an assassination team sent by the demon race and having the entire clan wiped out.

“This is a judgment I’ve made myself.”

Bai Zhuqing straightened her voice, speaking clearly and firmly into the phone. “I believe I need to do this.”

“If anything goes wrong while I’m taking action, I’ll shoulder all the responsibility.”

“You can’t shoulder it.”

But Bai Shengju was utterly unmoved.

“Taking the blame?”

“A military pledge?”

“Threatening to throw yourself on the line?”

“I played all those tricks to death when I was young.”

“You’re not seasoned enough, Qing’er…” Bai Shengju sighed.

“In history, there was a Chancellor Chu known as ‘Chu Wenzhong.’ He, too, trusted a subordinate’s military pledge. And what happened? A catastrophic defeat! In the end he could only execute his beloved general with tears in his eyes!”

His tone suddenly sharpened. “The world isn’t as simple as you think.”

“Your rank isn’t high enough—you don’t even have the right to say these things!”

Did I really oversimplify it?

Bai Zhuqing listened blankly to his scolding on the other end, her panic peaking.

According to my analysis, once the God-Vein Demon is exposed, all of the Nine Provinces will inevitably turn their eyes back here. The nine circuits and nine prefectures will all send forces to station in this area. They might even start arguing over it, vying for the chance to study it.

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And there’s Yujing as well. This thing is a far bigger threat than a Prince’s Manor that can’t even move. That Lu Niezhi will definitely draw troops to station in Zhen’nan. In that situation, there’s really no need to worry too much about Zhen’nan’s safety.

The demon race won’t be stupid enough to send forces to stage a rescue at a time like that.

And even if they do, they’ll only be able to hide within those dispatched units. At that point there will naturally be cultivators of the same level to keep them in check.

So if I care more about family and kin—about Mom and Dad and Grandpa, about Leying and Maoxu as well… is that wrong?

No.

I’m not wrong.

Forcing down the panic in her chest, Bai Zhuqing made herself calm down and ran through everything again in her head, stubbornly confirming that her line of thinking had no problem.

I’m not wrong. Auntie would agree with me too.

But she’d still been scolded by Grandpa and pushed into this predicament where she “had grievances but couldn’t speak them.”

Why?

It wasn’t that her thoughts were wrong… it was that her execution was.

“Grandpa.”

She spoke up again.

“Enough!” Disappointment filled Bai Shengju’s tone. “Just hold your post properly. Don’t let Xiang’er down.”

“Grandpa, hear me out.” Bai Zhuqing narrowed her eyes, her tone turning cold. “It’s true that me leaving my post like that wouldn’t be appropriate. If something happened, there’d be no way to justify it procedurally…”

“Then why doesn’t Grandpa come over instead?”

Huh?

This time it was Bai Shengju’s turn to be stunned.

What did my good granddaughter just say?

She’s actually asking me to take the initiative and move over?

“Grandpa should’ve moved over long ago.” Bai Zhuqing kept muttering on, “If you miss the old dao field’s environment, we can just move the land and buildings over together.”

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“The ancestral ground is quite close too. I calculated it myself—going from Tingyu Tower to the woods in the south is almost the same distance as going from Nanping Branch Road over there. That hardly counts as leaving home behind.”

“So why not come over?”

Bai Shengju murmured, “But…”

“Grandpa, you yourself said the defense forces everywhere are stretched thin right now,” Bai Zhuqing pressed on. “Chief Inspector Zhang is also facing manpower shortages and the like. Why don’t we just gather all the people we need to protect in one place? That way the Chilong Army on Nanping Road can be freed up too.”

Bai Shengju made one last struggle. “But this is, after all, a place of heritage…”

“If something happens to the people, keeping the land is pointless. And that’s also Sister Xiang’s view.”

Without any teacher, Bai Zhuqing instinctively resorted to “invoking Bai Xiang to order the lords”: “Sister Xiang also wants Grandpa to come.”

“……”

“……”

A long silence.

“You’ve changed quite a bit,” Bai Shengju sighed.

“All right.”

“I’ll have your second uncle pack up. We’ll head over around noon.”

Click.

He hung up just like that.

That was it?

Bai Zhuqing froze.

She hadn’t expected a conversation she’d mentally prepared to wrangle over for ages to be resolved so easily.

And with the best possible outcome, at that.

Her fingers rubbed the screen for a while. The girl tilted her head, feeling as if she’d had another little moment of enlightenment.