Volume 3, Chapter 27 – Black

Two days went by in a flash.

Early this morning, while Bai Xiang was still cultivating atop the tower, Bai Zhuqing burst in. The little girl’s face was full of amazement and delight. “Big trouble! Big trouble!”

If it were really big trouble, would you be grinning like that?

Bai Xiang reached out, pinched her in place with invisible qi-force, and set her properly in front of her. “What happened?”

“It’s Grandmaster!” Bai Zhuqing’s smile was as bright as spring sunshine. “Grandmaster rebelled! She blew up Yujing!”

What the hell?

Even someone as calm and steady as Bai Xiang froze for a moment at this news. She squeezed Bai Zhuqing’s sweat-damp little nose and ordered her to lay everything out in detail.

So, a few minutes later… Bai Zhuqing finally lowered her waving hands, licked her lips with excitement still lingering. “That’s pretty much how it went!”

Let me sort this out.

Bai Xiang fell silent, running through the chain of events again in her mind.

First, her “bargain” of a master returned to Yujing, partly to report in, partly saying she was going to “clean house”.

But something must have gone wrong over there, leading to a clash between her master and Yujing, and with Qianyu Palace as well. In the middle of it all, they’d even drawn Suzhendao in; the Divine Fetus realm cultivators they sent were clearly meant to target her master.

But no one expected that a single move, “Furnace-Blasting Pill”, would completely neutralize everything.

Yujing was now suppressing the news with all its strength. Most people, even those with official posts, at most thought Baishan had suffered a terrorist attack. So if Bai Zhuqing knew this much detail, it obviously had to be from Master herself.

From the sound of it, those “Furnace-Blasting Pills” could be hidden in any pill.

Whether it was “Smooth-Qi Pills” for nurturing and regulating qi-breathing, or the most common “Demon-Transforming Pills”.

Even the products under the Yuming Sword Dao brand—sheets of compressed tablets, capsules, whitening creams and the like—the containers holding those things could all be hiding Furnace-Blasting Pills.

Impressive.

Once she understood the trick, Bai Xiang couldn’t help feeling a bit of awe as well.

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Checking something like that would be enough to kill a man.

Back when she’d asked if Master wanted her to accompany her, she’d been firmly refused. She’d known then Master definitely had some trump card prepared.

But that it would be a trump card like this—that Xiang Xian would just drop all pretense, using the entirety of Yujing itself as leverage to guarantee her own safe retreat, and at the same time win Maozhou half a year—no one could have seen that coming…

Master really had given her a huge surprise.

Though, it wasn’t entirely unexpected either.

Once the brief joy passed, Bai Xiang quickly calmed down.

She knew that if they wanted to make “Qianyu Palace give Maozhou a half-year reprieve” happen, Xiang Xian’s threat alone wasn’t enough. This definitely also had a lot to do with the “Creation Qi Tribulation” sword she had unleashed by the Jing River a few days ago.

My sword pressed them with martial strength.

Master’s explosion pressed them with strategy.

On top of that, there was the broader international situation and immense pressure from public opinion. Qianyu Palace absolutely couldn’t trumpet her to the world on the one hand, then on the other turn around and brand her a rebel like Yao Qingyuan.

They had their public image to maintain.

It was all these factors together that brought about this brief peace.

Of course, there was a sense of relief. Thanks to the scene Xiang Xian had just made, at least all those messy princes and nobles from Yong’an Prefecture, Taoding Prefecture… all sorts of royals and bigwigs, Bai Xiang wouldn’t have to bother with them anymore.

Before the Nine Prefectures Sword Meet at the end of August, they’d all behave themselves. No one would be foolish or blind enough to come running to her, trying to wring something out of her.

But the pressure had just doubled as well.

With Xiang Xian’s explosion, a lot of the schemes in the shadows had effectively been postponed and laid face up on the table.

For this half year, Maozhou would be free to develop—but after that half year, all of Maozhou… everyone who chose to stand on Bai Xiang’s side… would have to face the Sword Lords’ edge head-on.

Bai Zhuqing had clearly thought of this too. Her smile slowly faded. “Oh, so what really decides everything… is this half year.”

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She couldn’t help glancing at Bai Xiang in worry.

The pressure was enormous. You could say everyone’s hopes were piled on Big Sister Xiang’s shoulders.

If a Sword Lord really descended in half a year, it would be incredibly hard for Big Sister Xiang to hold them off…

Thinking of that, Bai Zhuqing glanced downward and saw the meditation cushion placed under Bai Xiang.

Bai Xiang now did Sword Contemplation floating in midair, so the cushion sat unused. Bai Zhuqing dragged it out, shifted it over, and plopped herself down facing Bai Xiang.

Bai Xiang squinted. “What are you doing?”

Bai Zhuqing tipped her head back. “Cultivating, of course.”

“When the Sword Lords attack in half a year, I want to beat them up with Aunt together.”

You’re just at the qi-refining stage right now. The distance to condensing a Core is worlds away. What good are these little stunts going to do?

Inwardly, Bai Xiang silently shook her head.

These days, Bai Zhuqing had been serving as “manager of daily affairs” with some competence; a lot of her past greenness had worn off.

But at certain times, she still came off as a bit of a ditz.

Put nicely, she’d kept the innocence a girl in her teens ought to have. Put less nicely, most of her heart was hung up on this elder sister of hers; the moment something involved Bai Xiang, her IQ seemed to drop.

Wait… was it really her IQ dropping?

Thinking of that, Bai Xiang suddenly felt something was off.

It was her eyes.

If Zhuqing’s heart truly was wrapped around her, to the point of acting irrationally, then at times like this, her gaze should be much hotter when she looked at her.

But today, from start to finish, Zhuqing’s eyes had been very clear.

She’d thought through each step and was deliberately putting on a show for her to see…

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With a soft sigh, Bai Xiang more or less understood why the girl was doing this.

She was afraid the pressure here was too great, that Bai Xiang would get impatient in her cultivation and fall into madness, so she was deliberately finding an excuse to stay by her side.

And to be fair—

If I were a Divine Fetus of the Sword Dao, I really would have that need.

“All right, your au… your big sister isn’t that fragile.” Bai Xiang closed her eyes. “Go contact Lord Fang, handle the formalities of transferring the case to the Demon-Suppression Directorate, and have that Bolu crowd turned over to me.”

“Aren’t they all Shinu people?” Bai Zhuqing frowned, quickly guessing what Bai Xiang had in mind. “In half a year… Aunt is planning to use them to find Shinu laborers?”

Half a year.

Even with the most advanced construction firms providing machines, Maozhou couldn’t get that much built.

The reason was simple—there just weren’t enough people.

After the Southern Prince’s rebellion, Ze and Qi still had a decent population left, but why would those people all come to Maozhou to work?

Don’t be fooled by how many people there were in Zhen’nan Circuit now; most of them had only come because they couldn’t get by in the surrounding areas. Their level and quality varied wildly. To keep order in the lower ranks, they’d even had to bring in underworld gangs like the Shiyou Gang.

Zhen’nan Circuit was severely understaffed.

And throughout Maozhou, there were three more circuit-cities just like Zhen’nan, all desperately short on manpower.

So finding ways to pull in population was critical.

Bai Zhuqing figured Bai Xiang meant to use those Bolu people’s connections to have them go back and operate in the Country of Luohou, rustling up some Shinu to come over.

According to what she’d heard, the Shinu lived in terribly poor conditions. Coming over as manual laborers, at least they’d get to eat their fill. As long as there was a channel, it wasn’t that hard to arrange.

And if all else failed, there was still Fuhu Temple.

Fuhu Temple had originally been part of the power base here as well. Now that Yao Qingyuan was dead, they had no reason to keep supporting rebellion. They could be brought under control and turned into part of the dojo’s own strength.

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“Smart.” Bai Xiang nodded, counting it as praise.

“Then I’ll leave this to you.”

“But Shinu are really dark, aren’t they…” Bai Zhuqing muttered under her breath, lowering her head. “I don’t really like black…”

Those laborers, once they were settled, would end up marrying locals.

And, and, and… Bai Zhuqing really didn’t want Maozhou to be all dark-skinned in the future.

“The dark skin of the Shinu around Luohou is because of the equator’s influence. It’s not what you’re worrying about,” Bai Xiang said.

Seeing that Bai Zhuqing still looked a bit put out, she narrowed her eyes slightly, then suddenly raised one foot in black stockings and stepped it in midair onto her little sister’s face, looking down at her from above. “What did you just say?”

“You don’t like black?”

“I…!” Bai Zhuqing’s mind blanked; her little face flushed scarlet.

“Well? Get going.”

“Y-yes! I’ll go! I’m going right now…”

The girl walked off in a daze.

That strange expression of hers made it seem like she was savoring the moment.

My own heart must be in disarray too, doing something so out of line all of a sudden…

Bai Xiang frowned, a little displeased with that subconscious move just now.

“Still, I think I heard something about a demon uprising in Luohou not long ago.”

“This matter… I might have to make a trip there myself.”