Volume 1, Chapter 23 – An Old Regret

If Bai Shengju counted as the first generation of the Bai family, then his eldest son Bai Guanshan, second son Bai Lianzhou, and youngest son Bai Qingmin were the second generation.

By contrast, Bai Zhuqing, Bai Leying, and Bai Maoxu—plus Bai Qingmin’s son, Bai Senyu—together with Bai Xiang, made up the third.

Only, according to the memories Bai Xiang had retrieved, in all her years with the Bai family she had never once come across anything telling her that the second generation had a fourth member.

An aunt?

Was it… that this aunt met with an accident, leading to a split in the family’s philosophy toward the sword dao?

Bai Xiang recalled Bai Guanshan’s bias against sword dao, then his “special treatment” of her, and guessed the matter might also tie into why she had been adopted into the family.

“Your younger aunt, Bai Nianchan, was an even brighter sword dao seed than Lianzhou.”

“Sadly, her edge was too keen and drew Heaven’s jealousy. She was framed and died in prison, with the truth never made clear.”

Bai Shengju lifted his eyes to the sky, blinked, and began telling Bai Xiang the old story.

Years ago, when he returned from studying sword arts abroad, he found that in his absence the Bai ancestral Shenming Dojo had been occupied by a group calling themselves “Chengfeng Sword Dao.” In a fury, blood splashed within five paces, and his name went onto the Inspectorate’s case ledger.

But he was upright by nature. He came back just as a demonic unrest gripped the southern region; he set home aside to help everywhere and put out fires on all sides, forged ties with many figures, and since he had been in the right to begin with, the dao community, holding to the idea that “we must not chill the hearts of righteous men who shed blood,” ignored Chengfeng Sword Dao and levied no punishment on Bai Shengju.

He was deeply grateful for the Dao’s forbearance. Spending himself and his skill, he repeatedly saved people amid the chaos. As he won a name for Shenming Sword Dao, he also drew the hearts of many young women.

In the end he married a woman named He Qiuming, and together they had four children.

The eldest, Bai Guanshan, bold and forthright.

The second, Bai Lianzhou, quiet and restrained.

The third, Bai Qingmin, cultivated and witty.

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The youngest daughter, Bai Nianchan, stunningly gifted.

“How old are you this year?”

After those four words—stunningly gifted—Bai Shengju suddenly asked Bai Xiang.

“Seven months from now, I’ll be of age.” Bai Xiang answered honestly from remembered records.

“Entering the Dao at seventeen…” Bai Shengju nodded. “Even today, that merits the title of a talent.”

“But do you know how old Lianzhou was when he entered the Dao?”

He answered himself: “Sixteen.”

“Do you know how old your aunt was when she entered the Dao?”

He answered again: “Thirteen.”

At last Bai Xiang was a little surprised—entering the Dao at sixteen already counted as outstanding talent for Bai Lianzhou, yet Aunt Bai Nianchan had been even more monstrous, pulling that record three years earlier.

Generally speaking, the ideal age to assault the Forge the Sword realm was eighteen.

Because by then—brain aside—the body was basically fully developed and could bear the scouring of demonic power.

And before forging at eighteen, each year you entered the Dao earlier meant one more year to temper the body and firm up your foundation.

Those who entered early could start Nurture the Spirit ahead of time, while those of middling talent only barely entered the Dao after eighteen and would spend their entire four university years just on Nurture the Spirit.

By the time they hesitated over whether to make a run at Forge the Sword, those geniuses had long since finished the Dao-Initial Three Realms and begun striving toward paths more transcendent.

The gap would widen beyond imagination.

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Entering the Dao at thirteen—Bai Nianchan’s talent would have been called stunning among the Nine great sword daos.

Bai Xiang couldn’t understand why such a prodigy would be murdered.

Worse, after her death there seemed to have been no ripples at all. The Bai family looked as if they’d resigned themselves; she’d never heard of them crossing any powers over it in all these years.

“Your aunt wasn’t only early to enter the Dao—she had her own insights into Nurture the Spirit practice,” Bai Shengju continued.

“Nurture the Spirit has ten tiers; the normal pace is two tiers per year.”

“Ordinary people need a full five years to walk those ten tiers. She finished them in just two.”

“With talent that terrifying, of course others took notice. For a time, quite a few well-known sword daos came seeking to take her as a disciple.”

“But she had long since been marked by Yuming Sword Dao’s sitting Dao Lord, Xiang Xian. Xiang Xian and I agreed that once your aunt turned eighteen— or if she herself judged the time ripe and wished to forge early—Xiang Xian would personally come to Chilong to fetch her and take her to the Jade Capital to Forge the Sword and seek the Dao.”

“The turn came when she was seventeen.”

“Yes, about your age now.”

“She told me she was going to South Mountain for contemplation, but on the way she fought someone and killed the young prince of the Nanling princely house. She was seized and thrown into prison.”

“Later, at pretrial, all we saw was your aunt’s own statement—saying the one she killed wasn’t the Nanling heir at all, but a cunning aberration wearing human skin and perfectly disguised!”

“Yet an autopsy on the spot proved the corpse wasn’t any monster in disguise.”

“Of course we believed she’d never lie, but with such a charge and evidence like iron, even Xiang Xian couldn’t get a single audience with your aunt—let alone us… I worked every connection I had and still couldn’t get in!”

“Until your aunt died in prison—until now—we haven’t even been able to reclaim her remains.”

“Your eldest uncle swung to extremes because of it, feeling Xiang Xian refused to go to bat for Nianchan, deciding that cultivating the sword dao was inferior to cultivating influence and power—if the Bai family held high office and great power, then relationships alone would be enough to save a life first.”

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“And your second uncle, a prodigious seed himself and slated to venture to the Jade Capital alongside your aunt—after this upheaval he not only chose to stay in the dojo, he even went against his nature and married the daughter of the on-duty deputy commissioner of the Transit Directorate.”

“Your third uncle blamed me for failing to protect his sister and left outright, crossing over half of Great Yu to live alone in distant Liangzhou at the far east.”

“In a single night, everything changed…”

Bai Shengju opened his mouth, blinked hard, and the fingers resting on his teacup trembled slightly.

“Afterward, I couldn’t bear the grief. I went to Yinling Temple to see Master Cizheng, and happened to arrive just as someone had left an abandoned infant at the temple…”

“I hold a little faith in the Buddha. I thought, right after your aunt’s misfortune, you came to us of your own accord—perhaps it was truly the turning of reincarnation the Buddha teaches—so I asked Master Cizheng to entrust you to me.”

“As I was leaving, Master Hua’an of Longhua Temple also came to visit Yinling Temple.”

“He saw what weighed on my heart and gave you a single-character given name, ‘Xiang’—and so you were called Bai Xiang.”

So that was it.

Bai Xiang fell silent; at last she knew the origins behind a chain of things.

Bai Nianchan had died wrongly in prison; because the Bai family was small and weak and lacked evidence, they couldn’t pursue justice and could only swallow the bitter fruit.

And because of his overwhelming longing for his youngest daughter, Bai Shengju followed Master Hua’an’s suggestion and named the adopted infant girl “Bai Xiang,” hoping to substitute for and commemorate Bai Nianchan—but this was something Bai Guanshan would not accept.

Bai Guanshan refused to recognize Bai Xiang as a stand-in for Bai Nianchan, and so he always took a dislike to her.

The others knew his behavior had its reasons. Even someone as stubborn as Bai Lianzhou couldn’t well force his elder brother to accept Bai Xiang.

Thus, all the threads came clear.

If Bai Xiang had to give a judgment, she found she didn’t much mind.

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However much Bai Guanshan looked at her askance or showed disdain on his face and lips, the New Year’s money still came every year, and the birthday gifts as well.

There was even a year she fell ill on her birthday, and Bai Guanshan gave double.

She wasn’t a child who’d hold grudges over someone’s outward attitude.

And Bai Guanshan had his own pain.

Put herself in his place, Bai Xiang wouldn’t accept it either—having an outsider replace the most beloved sister who’d died.

“I understand.”

So Bai Xiang took the initiative to signal to Bai Shengju.

“I won’t blame Eldest Uncle.”

“I can understand.”

Hearing this, Bai Shengju broke into a broad smile.

“Go wait for dinner.”

He flicked his hand toward the door.

“Go on!”

“After we’ve eaten, we’ll sit down this afternoon and talk it through.”