Volume 3, Chapter 57 – Gaining Another Method

Supporting an old man, Han Yinshuang made her way back. From a distance she saw Bai Xiang standing with her hands behind her back amid the ruins, black robe billowing, white hair streaming, her delicate face spotless—as if she’d stepped out of a painting, utterly out of place with this filthy earth.

Thinking of that berserk scene earlier when the giant Buddha had raged at her command, Han Yinshuang didn’t dare let her thoughts wander. She brought the man over to stand before Bai Xiang.

“This old man… is Kong Tianbao.” The old man’s clothes were in tatters and one shoulder had collapsed, but he still did his best to clasp his fists and salute Bai Xiang.

“Senior Yinshuang has already told me the general course of events. Sword Lord Bai spared this old man’s life, and even saved me from that control. I ought to offer up my life in thanks.”

Here he paused. “But this old man’s body is already decayed. Even freed from that pit, I have little time left to live. I fear I can only thank Sword Lord Bai in words, and hope Sword Lord Bai will not hold it against me…”

As soon as Bai Xiang heard this, she understood that Kong Tianbao was truly afraid of her.

A man about to die shouldn’t have much to fear—but he was not alone. He had a Dao field he cared about and family he would leave behind.

What he was asking was that Bai Xiang not vent her anger on those people, at least not hunt them down to the last in revenge.

Deep feelings, indeed.

Bai Xiang studied Kong Tianbao for a while. In the restored lines of age on his brows and features, she could see a faint resemblance to Kong An.

Most likely, it was exactly because he cared so much that he was forced to answer the Immortal-Martial Decree. Lu Qingning blaming him for dragging his feet really had wronged him.

“Sword Lord Bai…?” Han and Kong both looked at her in fear and trepidation, not understanding what to make of the silence she kept.

Suddenly, Bai Xiang stretched out her hand, formed a sword-finger, and tapped it to the old man’s brow. Violent sword-qi shot straight in through the yintang point, just like what she had done to Lian Feng before, only with the process simplified.

“Pff!” Kong Tianbao felt as if blades were scraping his bones from within. Agony surged through him as he spat out a great mouthful of pitch-black blood.

“Ah!” When he saw the blood, he cried out. The black blood squirmed on the ground like a living thing, as if something inside were pushing outward, barely shaping the rough outline of his own face.

“That’s most of your demonic power, forced out,” Bai Xiang said casually. “Under normal circumstances, you could slowly refine it into qi-yuan, but your condition was too dangerous. I could only force out as much as possible and cut it away.”

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Qi-yuan?

What was qi-yuan?

He didn’t really understand the deeper meaning, but Kong Tianbao could feel his condition improving—at the very least, he no longer had the looming risk of keeling over from pollution. Staying alive was a lot better than dying soon.

“Many thanks, Sword Lord Bai!” He bowed once more, this time with far more genuine expression and movement. “Sword Lord Bai’s great kindness is beyond repaying. If Sword Lord Bai does not disdain it, this little old man is willing to follow at your side and serve as a menial!”

He really thought well of himself.

Bai Xiang snorted inwardly. These old codgers—there wasn’t a fool among them.

“Your son Kong An is currently helping guard the Zhen’nan Circuit in Xinzhou. Once things settle down, go find him.” She flicked her sleeve. “As for repayment, there’s no need to mention it again. If you truly feel uneasy, you can write out a copy of The Wind-Riding Fright-Bamboo Sky-Evasion Sword Scripture for my reference.”

This…

Kong Tianbao hesitated.

Serving Bai Xiang as a menial seemed like a loss on the surface, but if he treated that miraculous art she’d just used as her path-to-enlightenment secret, then what he stood to gain was anything but small.

Face?

For a man who, in truth, should have died soon, and in the eyes of society had already vanished with little hope of survival, face was worth nothing.

Following Bai Xiang would not only let him keep living, it might give him a chance to learn her entire enlightenment method. A deal with nothing but benefits and no drawbacks like that—you’d be hard-pressed to find one even with a lantern.

But The Wind-Riding Fright-Bamboo Sky-Evasion Sword Scripture was another matter entirely.

That involved not just him personally, but the independent inheritance of the Fright-Bamboo Sword Dao.

Idiot, what are you hesitating for at a time like this?

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Han Yinshuang jabbed him from the side, jolting Kong Tianbao awake.

Right—what good would hoarding it do?

The Wind-Riding Fright-Bamboo Sky-Evasion Sword Scripture was certainly precious, but as for independence… it had already been lost the moment the Suzhen Dao came knocking on their door.

If Bai Xiang were to learn of that one day, would she resent him and say, “Suzhen can have it, but I cannot?”

Kong Tianbao now did not dare in the slightest to offend Bai Xiang. He nodded at once, and after asking about her memory, began to recite, dictating the complete text of The Wind-Riding Fright-Bamboo Sky-Evasion Sword Scripture from memory.

Not bad.

Bai Xiang used Jade Spirit to record and compile the technique into her archive, and her mood grew even lighter.

The wish she’d had earlier was now fulfilled. Lu Qingning was truly a god of wealth sent to her door.

Why didn’t the Suzhen Dao send a few more like her?

She also had a strange sense that the ginseng-demon essence stored in the jade token would be of great use to her, unlike those blood and souls that did nothing for her no matter how much she absorbed.

Since Suzhen cultivators mostly forged their swords with such spiritual items, if she killed a few more of them, wouldn’t she be able to refine the essence and grow stronger again?

Thinking of how Lu Qingning had once burned away more than half her clone’s essence to unleash the Three-Lives Tribulation Fire, Bai Xiang felt a pang of regret. She wished she’d killed her earlier.

“Sword Lord Bai…”

During Kong Tianbao’s recitation, Han Yinshuang had withdrawn to a distance to avoid the appearance of impropriety. Only now did she return, offering Bai Xiang a graceful salute. “I wonder if Sword Lord Bai has any instructions for me?”

“What exactly is going on between you and the Suzhen Dao?” Bai Xiang asked her.

Han Yinshuang recounted her encounters on the road, making it clear she had known nothing of the Immortal-Martial Decree.

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“I was stuck at a bottleneck and couldn’t advance an inch. I came out to find something to do to break the heart-knot.” She glanced around at the desolate surroundings and sighed. “Never thought I’d run into the Suzhen Sword Head and get controlled in a muddle. If not for Sword Lord Bai’s rescue, even if…”

Here, her words trailed off.

Bai Xiang understood. The rest was probably, “even if Lu Qingning had won, I likely wouldn’t have made it back alive.”

“Is the relationship between Suzhen Dao and Red Dust Dao that bad?” Bai Xiang asked again.

“For Sword Lord Bai’s understanding, it’s actually because of our Dao’s root method. That’s why Suzhen cultivators keep coming to Liangzhou to seize people.”

As mentioned before, the Red Dust Dao’s arts were unusual. Its disciples were prone to extremes, and the probability of losing control to pollution was much higher than with other root methods.

Which raised the question—if someone like Zhou Jing’an had people secretly watching him for signs of imminent loss of order, then in the eyes of organizations like the Sword Dao Association, Red Dust Dao would definitely be a key target of attention.

Whenever a target watched by the Sword Dao Association was judged to meet their criteria, a Suzhen cultivator would come to take them.

The seized simply vanished without a trace. They said they were taken away to be “nurtured,” but many in Red Dust Dao did not trust that explanation, believing that Suzhen was taking people to plug the gaps in the northern defense line.

There wasn’t much to complain about in sacrificing oneself for the country before going out of control—but they couldn’t force conscription, and then refuse to even grant posthumous honors, right?

So the two sides had deep conflicts. Han Yinshuang was in fact older than Kong Tianbao, and likely saw things even more clearly than Red Dust Dao’s resident Chen Yuchan. Naturally, when she met Lu Qingning, she was never going to show a pleasant face.

She had simply not expected the other side to carry the Immortal-Martial Decree and suppress her entire cultivation before she had the chance to act.

The Red Dust Dao was indeed a potential ally worth winning over.

Bai Xiang had already taken some interest in Red Dust Dao because of Chen Yuchan. Hearing that they also resented the two supreme Daos only made the idea more appealing.

“In that case.” She thought for a moment, then said to Han Yinshuang, “I do have matters that are inconvenient for me to handle personally. You can go back to Zhen’nan with him for now, but along the way you need to gather as many supplies for refugees as you can.”

Right now, the most urgent matter was obviously finding Dr. Evan and doing her best to stop him from resurrecting the ancient demon Shi Ling. But that meant it would be impossible for her to quickly send survivors and food from the villages and towns she passed back to safety. These two were just right to fill that gap.

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“Yinshuang understands.”

Han Yinshuang bowed again, eyes flickering as she asked, “I wonder, that technique Sword Lord Bai used earlier…”

As she spoke, she glanced toward Kong Tianbao, clearly harboring ideas of her own.

“When you get back to Zhen’nan, my master will tell you,” Bai Xiang said offhandedly.

She dismissed her with that and wasted no more time. Her figure left the ground, shooting up toward the sky.

Han and Kong watched her disappear into the distance. Then Han turned to look at him.

“Old Kong, how are you feeling now?”

“Heh, naturally quite good.” Kong Tianbao revealed a mysterious smile.

“How good is ‘quite good’?” Han Yinshuang frowned and pressed further. “If you had to guess, would it be that possibility?”

“Reaching Qi-Support Earth-Aspect within a year, and even breaking a siege equivalent to seven Divine Fetus cultivators.”

Kong Tianbao lightly stroked his beard.

“I don’t think there’s any other possibility left.”

“Then that means there’s a new path…” Han Yinshuang breathed.

“And right at a time like this. Truly forcing people to make a choice.”