Volume 3, Chapter 16 – Malice

Near the end of two days of flight, Bai Xiang followed the Jing River basin all the way north and finally found a patch of blood cloud hanging over a deep ravine ahead.

As she dropped in altitude, the blood cloud expanded in size. It swallowed most of the forest on both banks, along with the Jing River between, forming a vast blood-colored, fog-choked marsh.

This had to be the “Blood Cloud Great Marsh.”

It gathered the spring vents from four places in Zezhou and two in Qizhou. The blood mist spewed from those springs ultimately converged here at this bend of the Jing River, pooling over time into this strange spectacle.

Bai Xiang didn’t rush to land. Instead, she drifted a full circle around the Blood Cloud Great Marsh, trying to figure out where the Prince of Nanling’s Manor lay.

That wasn’t hard. She soon noticed that at one section of the bank, backed up against a cliff face, the blood mist was clearly much thicker.

There was another piece of evidence: on the level ground nearby that the blood mist hadn’t covered, she could see clusters of “village” buildings set up. Those were most likely the military camps where the troops from the three states had been settled.

She was hesitating over whether to quietly slip in and take a look when three figures drifted up toward her from below, swaying on the air. They arranged themselves in a triangle around her.

One of them was broad-shouldered and thick-waisted, with a face full of heavy beard. He wore a dark black cloth robe, an armored waist guard hanging down over his legs, and held a broad-bladed war sword in his hand.

The second wore much the same, but his outfit was clearly plainer. His features weren’t as fierce and brutal as the first man’s, and he carried more of a scholarly air.

The third was straightforward enough—this man wore a daoist robe of dark black patterned with purple, his figure tall and straight, forehead full and rounded. Long black-and-white whiskers hung down to his chest, and the look he gave Bai Xiang was mild and genial.

“Dao Lord Tao?” Bai Xiang asked the daoist, testing him.

“That I am.” The daoist was holding a horsetail whisk. He shook it once and let it drape over his arm, then cupped his hands toward Bai Xiang.

“I am Tao Muyun, twelfth Dao Lord of Hantian Sword Dao. I greet Dao Lord Bai.”

Since the other party was polite, Bai Xiang returned the courtesy as well. “I am Bai Zhixing, ninth Dao Lord of Shenming Sword Dao. I greet Dao Lord Tao.” ①②

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①: This comes from the setting in the very first chapter of the book: Bai Shengju is the eighth Dao Lord of Shenming Sword Dao. ②: Great Yu’s rites do not permit women to take courtesy names. Bai Xiang is exploiting a loophole here, letting people assume “Zhixing” is a Dao title or religious name.

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“Dao Lord Bai, you’ve come this time to help us break through the Prince of Nanling’s Manor, haven’t you?”

Seeing that Bai Xiang seemed easy to talk to, the elder, Tao Muyun, brightened and glanced at his two companions while cheerfully steering the conversation.

“The Demon Pool ‘Shenli’ has wreaked havoc across Chilong Circuit more than once,” Bai Xiang nodded. “And I just happen to be someone born with a strong enough spirit-soul to withstand Shenli’s corrosion even before forging my sword. I figured I might be able to lend Dao Lord Tao a hand.”

“Good, good!” Seeing that she understood the situation, Tao Muyun was even more pleased. He hurriedly gestured toward the bearded hulk.

“Come, Dao Lord Bai, let me introduce you… This is Commander Zheng Xuliang. He’s brought the Western Army here this time and has done great work in the disaster relief efforts.”

Never heard of him.

The Jade Phoenix Library wouldn’t include deployment rosters for every local garrison. Bai Xiang had no prior acquaintance with him, so she simply gave a brief nod as a greeting.

“Hmph!”

The other man clearly didn’t buy it. He glared at her with eyes like bronze bells, snorted angrily, and turned his head away without responding.

“And this one,” Tao Muyun went on, pointing to the leaner, longer-faced man, “is Commander Lu of the Imperial Guard drills. I imagine Dao Lord Bai has at least heard of him.”

Lu Niezhi, then.

According to Wang Ran, there was some karma between them. As the commander in charge of all three forces stationed here, the Imperial Guard, the Western Army, and the Frontier Army alike had to follow his orders. You could say that if he didn’t nod, Bai Xiang had no way to peacefully achieve her goal.

So she gave him a suitable amount of respect, cupping her hands. “Lord Lu.”

“Dao Lord Bai.” Lu Niezhi cupped his hands as well, then said, “The wind is strong up here. Why don’t we go down and discuss things?”

As if afraid Bai Xiang might refuse, he added, “That way we can also confer on a campaign writ for Dao Lord Bai, to make it convenient for you to open the manor.”

Hm?

Bai Xiang was a little surprised.

A campaign writ was a document granting authorization to conduct troop movements at one’s own discretion.

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With that in hand, it was equivalent to having prior approval for the actions she would take next.

She’d originally thought this would require a round of arguing and bargaining, but she hadn’t expected Lu Niezhi to give his approval the moment they met.

This didn’t feel like the result of Wang Ran whispering in his ear. Wang Ran’s tone had been uncertain when he spoke of it; he didn’t have that much pull.

This must be that Lu himself doesn’t want to block me.

Maybe this is a case of each of us taking what we need.

With that thought in mind, Bai Xiang followed the three of them down toward the camp.

Zheng Xuliang clearly found Bai Xiang an eyesore. Once it was clear there wasn’t going to be a fight, he just slipped off.

Lu Niezhi had to fetch pen, ink, and the writ, so only Tao Muyun and Bai Xiang were left in the command tent to talk.

They hadn’t even rested five minutes, and hadn’t chatted more than a few sentences, when Lu Niezhi came back over with the campaign writ in hand, asking whether Bai Xiang had a seal.

Of course she did.

Hanging from Bai Xiang’s waist guard was a jade seal wrapped in a brocade-pattern cotton cover. When she slipped the cover off, it revealed a square stamp, personally carved for her by Bai Shengju on the day she succeeded to the Dao Lord’s position.

She dipped it in ink and stamped the four small characters “Shenming Bai Xiang” onto the writ. Lu Niezhi had her verify it, then folded the writ up before her eyes and presented it to her with both hands.

Bai Xiang couldn’t help but be moved. She accepted it with both hands and said solemnly, “My thanks, Lord Lu.”

She knew that both sides understood very clearly what the other wanted.

Her stated reason, on the surface, was to reclaim her little aunt’s corpse. Lu Niezhi, on the other hand, had long since run out of patience after being stymied by the blood-mist barrier for so long. As long as someone could break the barrier and open the manor, he likely wouldn’t care too much if something inside the manor ended up missing.

That was the logic of it.

But to know exactly what you need and then carry things out precisely according to that need—that was actually a very rare ability.

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This Lu Niezhi might not be as simple as blind loyalty.

Having secured what she needed most right now, Bai Xiang turned down Tao Muyun’s suggestion that she “rest one night before setting out” and went straight to inspect the blood cloud.

This, too, was the wonder of the Golden Core of the path of qi.

Any other Divine Fetus cultivator would absolutely need to rest and adjust their breathing after flying continuously for two days. But once she formed the Golden Core of the path of qi, Bai Xiang’s total reserve of primordial qi had skyrocketed. On top of that, she hadn’t been flying at full power, and still had plenty in the tank.

She didn’t need rest; she could start exploring the manor right away.

“Dao Lord Bai.”

As she stepped out of the tent, Bai Xiang heard someone call after her. She turned and saw Tao Muyun striding over, as if he had something to tell her.

“First, let me thank you once more on Shuo’er’s behalf for saving his life,” he said without any beating around the bush, speaking quickly. “Second, I need to remind Dao Lord Bai… Do you understand what price you’ll have to pay for coming here this time?”

Price?

Bai Xiang frowned. “Dao Lord Tao, please speak plainly.”

“You’re using the excuse of retrieving a relative’s remains. Normally, no one would care. But that depends on who it’s being used on.”

Tao Muyun had clearly accepted her as one of his own. He knit his brows and leaned in to speak in a low voice. “Dao Lord Bai, do you realize how conspicuous you are now?”

“Let’s say you’re eighteen. A Divine Fetus great cultivator at that age—if you look at history, only a few Holy Emperors ever reached that level. Do you think your situation is so different from Bai Nianchan’s was back then? How many people do you think there are who’d like to study you the way Yao Qingyuan did?”

“What you’re saying, Dao Lord Tao,” Bai Xiang said, glancing back toward the camp, “is that Lord Lu is only making things easy for me because he doesn’t want to wade into these muddy waters…?”

“Lu Niezhi may be a favorite of Qianyu Palace, but even he can’t block that many people,” Tao Muyun nodded. “He doesn’t want anyone to suspect that he has designs on your secrets.”

“The karma here is too great. He can’t afford to take it on.”

Is that so.

Sure enough, those people weren’t that easy to fool.

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Bai Xiang said nothing, but her expression grew colder.

Of course.

From ancient times to the present, so many people have thrown their lives at the pursuit of the Dao and eternal life, using any means necessary. For that goal, they’ll choose to become demons, to delve into Transforming Qi, to be reborn and cultivate again, to “ascend as immortals”—all those “devious paths.”

So why, exactly, would they simply accept that I, Bai Xiang, am a pure, natural genius, and not try to pry into my “secret methods”?

Just because I say there aren’t any, they must not exist?

Without capturing me, cutting me to pieces and studying every scrap of flesh and blood in detail, how could they ever be sure?

How could they possibly let this go?

The clouds of obfuscating mist were parted a little, and Bai Xiang could faintly feel the malice coming from the void.

Human beings cannot accept things that exceed the bounds of their common understanding.

She had broken common sense, so she was destined to endure this malicious scrutiny.

“Qianyu Palace is propping you up because it wants to trade for something from you as well.”

Watching her expression, Tao Muyun slowly offered his final reminder.

“What exactly they’ll trade for depends on what you have in your hands.”

“If you hadn’t come this time, it would have been easier to put them off, for the moment.”

“But now that you’re here, if you take Bai Nianchan’s corpse away…”

“That will inevitably hand some people the excuse they’ve been waiting for.”