Volume 3, Chapter 65 – Turbulence (Two-in-One)

That night, Bai Xiang did not sleep together with Bai Zhuqing, because she had some things she needed to discuss with Xiang Xian.

Times change, and so do the meanings of things. In ancient days, once you said “closed-door cultivation,” you absolutely weren’t allowed to have any contact with the outside world—superstitious folks would call it “an insincere heart and will.” But in the modern era things are much looser; on this kind of matter, Bai Xiang had a flexible standard of judgment.

“The first batch of ‘Ginseng King Pills’ should be ready by tomorrow.”

On the first-floor great hall of Listening-to-Rain Pavilion, Xiang Xian sat across from Bai Xiang, calmly reporting on the progress.

There was a board set between them, and in the gaps between their conversation they dropped stones at random.

It looked like an absolute mess on the board, not following any theory or standard patterns at all—but one had to remember that both of them were being assisted by their Jade Spirits. Especially Bai Xiang: the computational power her Jade Spirit now possessed could already rival a computer, so the situation on the board was essentially the optimal solution produced by a contest of raw computing power.

If the two of them switched over to cultivate the Dao of the board, it wouldn’t just be a matter of sweeping up trophies and prize money—the entire world of established patterns in the game would be overturned by their Jade Spirits.

“How should I put it…” Xiang Xian dropped another stone, then lifted her gaze to Bai Xiang’s clear, pretty face. “I did follow the steps in Suzhen Immortal Martial Arts: Essence of Flora to the letter, but there are two ingredients I simply couldn’t find. I could only substitute something else—no guarantee it’ll have exactly the same effect.”

Suzhen Immortal Martial Arts was divided into four major volumes and three minor ones. The Essence of Flora volume not only taught all sorts of pharmacology, but also contained methods for manipulating and refining medicinal properties.

And the Ginseng King Pill was one of the more domineering pills among them. It was a necessary medicine for practicing Suzhen Immortal Martial Arts: Change Tendons and Temper Bones , while Bai Xiang wanted to see if she could use it together with the energy in the Immortal Martial Token to cultivate the Sun-Chasing Scripture .

“It’s fine.” Bai Xiang told Xiang Xian not to worry. “It’s just an experiment. Even if it doesn’t work out, it’s no big deal.”

What level was Bai Xiang’s strength at now?

Not counting sword arts and divine abilities, just relying on her flesh and blood body alone, she could suppress most Divine Fetus realm cultivators until they couldn’t catch their breath.

Once one’s physical body reached her level, trying to push it any further was inherently extremely difficult. She’d long since decided that if the Sun-Chasing Scripture really proved impossible to practice, she’d move on to preliminarily trying Suzhen Immortal Martial Arts .

Though the amount of Ginseng King essence in the Immortal Martial Token wasn’t enough—at most it would let her reach the threshold of the door—but what mattered most right now was finding a path.

As long as the road ahead was the right one, the rest would not be a problem.

While they played, Bai Xiang was also thinking through what her cultivation steps should be after the Sun-Chasing Scripture .

The most straightforward way to improve, of course, would be to find another ancient demon to kill.

Killing “Shiling” had given her around fifty years of extra lifespan. She had a vague sense that what had increased was her upper limit—like a lock that had previously been stuck due to lifespan had now been opened. She couldn’t directly gain power from the increase in years, but within that expanded cycle, she could raise her strength through cultivation, tonics, and so on.

She even suspected that the reason God-Descent Calisthenics still worked on her—able, on top of her current foundation, to provide “slight reinforcement” to her bones and physical toughness—was that she was riding on the coattails of this “unlock” advantage.

The problem was, she didn’t know how long this “unlock buff” would last. If it stayed forever, that would really be great.

Unfortunately… the idea of hunting down another ancient demon to kill was not realistic.

Very little had been left behind in records about ancient demons. For instance, the record on “Shiling” said that the reason it hid in the seams of time, instead of coming out in broad daylight to feed, was because it was hiding from its natural enemy, “You.”

Unlike Shiling, which at least had its name and appearance recorded, this “You” really had nothing but a name left; aside from that, the human world knew absolutely nothing about it.

Blindly seeking out that kind of opponent was extremely dangerous. Not to mention most ancient demons were already extinct; Bai Xiang also couldn’t possibly go support the modern demon clans just to find ancient demons to kill. She was never going to back those schemes.

So for now, that avenue was blocked. She planned to wait until her strength improved further before going to take a look at that “Blood Abyss.”

As for the next option…

She drew her left hand back, gently stroking the sheathed longsword resting across her knees.

Her memories went back to that battle with the ancient demon. After she won, she encountered the third Zhenyuan sword embryo. The Daokong Yaosui coiling around it had wanted to tempt her, inviting her to explore a certain Demon Kingdom Illusory Realm together.

Rеаⅾ оn КаtReaⅾіnɡСаfе

According to what that Daokong Yaosui said, although as a split soul it didn’t know Bai Xiang personally, the instant it saw Feixiang Heaven and sensed the aura on Feixiang Heaven that was extremely close to that of the Zhenyuan Sword, it immediately guessed what that sword was.

The existence of Feixiang Heaven proved that Bai Xiang had already thwarted at least one of Daokong’s possession attempts. So it promptly gave up on trying to tempt her, and instead tried to lure her with “gather all nine swords to attain immortal arts,” saying that there would definitely be a sword embryo hidden in that Demon Kingdom Illusory Realm.

Bai Xiang had nothing to discuss with such a corrupted demonic thing. In the past dealing with that kind of creature would have taken some effort, but now that she had Feixiang Heaven , which shared the same origin, she directly borrowed the sword’s power to draw Daokong in, and let Feixiang Heaven devour both it and the sword embryo in one go, powering the sword up yet again.

By the way, she also intermittently received some fragments of memory from that remnant soul, including the rough location of that Demon Kingdom Illusory Realm.

Legend said there were nine sword artifacts tied to Daokong, corresponding to his nine reincarnations—“one sword paired with one method.” Only in his ninth reincarnation did Daokong choose to refine the sword embryo, forging the Zhenyuan Sword to pacify the Demon Kingdom. Because of that, the Zhenyuan Sword became a holy sword of the human race, enough to be mentioned in the same breath as the Sacred Emperor’s blade.

Setting aside that Zhenyuan Sword, there were eight sword embryos that could still be found and used.

Bai Xiang had obtained three of them. One she had fused with her Enter-the-Dao wooden sword to forge Feixiang Heaven . She’d seized one when she slew the vessel of Yao Qingyuan’s split soul. The third was the one she acquired this time from killing the ancient demon Shiling.

Those three swords were tied to three methods: the Cicada-Shedding Method, the Soul-Refining Method, and the Blood-Transforming Method.

The Soul-Refining Method came from Yao Qingyuan’s remnant memories; the Blood-Transforming Method had been offered up this time by Daokong’s Yaosui.

The former was of little use to Bai Xiang—on every front, its efficiency was inferior to the way she cooperated with Feixiang Heaven . She’d long tossed it on the shelf to gather dust; if Daokong hadn’t reminded her, she would have almost forgotten about it.

That fallen monk had said that combining all nine methods would make one an immortal. Bai Xiang absolutely did not believe that.

But in that remnant soul’s memories, there was a note that the sword embryo in that Demon Kingdom Illusory Realm was tied to a method called the Meridian-Unblocking Method, created by a “heterodox of the demon race,” capable of opening up all the meridians in the body.

All of Bai Xiang’s meridians had long since been opened, but during her recent tempering of her body she kept having this sense that there were still parts of her body she hadn’t fully worked through.

It was a very strange feeling… By rights, she could perform “divine soul illuminating the body-scape,” essentially having her own X-ray for the inner body. Never mind the meridians—even her bone marrow, she could examine in real time.

And yet she still had that feeling.

Combined with the annotations on the Sun-Chasing Scripture she’d been studying these past few days, the diagrams of the flow of qi and blood inside gave her a similarly odd sense. She faintly suspected that there were other meridians hidden inside the human body.

Either meridians, or acupoints.

In any case, things hidden and not obvious. She was very much considering finding that Meridian-Unblocking Method to study, to see if it contained any descriptions of “hidden meridians.”

“Xiang’er?”

She’d been thinking for quite a while. Xiang Xian couldn’t help but lift her head and look over. “You don’t need that kind of long consideration for this kind of position, do you?”

“I was thinking… now that the southern demon calamity has temporarily subsided, what means will the court use to suppress the dojos?” Bai Xiang said as she dropped a stone.

“Until those two old coots over there can free up their hands, they can’t do anything about you,” Xiang Xian shook her head.

She knew about Bai Xiang killing Shiling. Faced with this disciple’s current strength, she could only say she no longer understood it.

“If I put myself in those bastards’ shoes as your master, the ways I could think of to limit you boil down to two.”

“First, Shenming has already received the official grading decree and is now a genuine tenth Dao. But we still lack a ‘Grand Ceremony of Attaining the Dao.’ They might try to overpraise you to death—raise you up and make you the enemy of all the other Daos.”

Bai Xiang didn’t react at all. That tactic was completely useless on her.

Never mind how many favors and connections Xiang Xian and all the former Yuming Dao Lords had accumulated among the other nine Daos. Just counting Bai Xiang herself, she already controlled two major forces: Shangqing Dao and Benling Dao.

During the demon calamity, those two Daos had seemed to stay hidden, but in truth Qiyun Circuit and Jing River had their own demon tides to clear; they really couldn’t be in two places at once.

And then there was the path of qi.

Rеαd оո ΚαtRеαⅾіոɡСαfe

Until the Sword Lord was brought down, the threat remained; this wasn’t a good time to spread the path of qi too widely. But if they really forced her hand, she didn’t believe those aged cultivators could resist the lure of the path of qi, and would rather swallow a Saint-Transition Pill than come over and submit.

Especially since the Kong clan’s example was right in front of their eyes.

In that case, the two Supreme Daos were far off in the distance, and after she killed Lu Qingning, they’d definitely have to rein themselves in for a while.

Of the remaining seven Daos, Yuming counted together with them as one side; Shangqing and Benling were hidden allies.

That left four.

Among those four, the Red Dust Dao Lord and her grandpa Bai Shengju had a special friendship.

The Kong clan of Jingzhu Dao currently owed her endless thanks; father and son Kong were even staying stationed in Zhennan to help hold the fort.

And Hantian Dao, thanks to Fang Xiaochun, was inclined toward her as well.

With all those vertical and horizontal alliances… you were left with only Jinlin Sword Dao standing alone. What could they possibly do, just by themselves?

So she really wasn’t worried in the slightest.

“As for the second,” Xiang Xian went on, “it’s figuring out a way to hoist you up high.”

“Isn’t that still the same thing?” Bai Xiang was puzzled.

Wasn’t that still just killing by praise?

“Not the same.” Xiang Xian shook her head. “One is inward-facing, one is outward-facing.”

“The second kind is about transferring you elsewhere.”

Bai Xiang thought of the federal intelligence that Elend had provided and said mildly, “As long as they’re not afraid of me stirring up trouble while flying Great Yu’s banner, I actually don’t object.”

“It won’t go that far,” Xiang Xian said with a laugh. “They’re bad, but they’re not stupid. At most they’ll send Shenming to take part in some Sword Dao competitions. That’s just giving you things to occupy you, to keep you from pulling any big moves again before the half-year deadline is up.”

Now that matched her expectations.

Bai Xiang nodded to herself inwardly.

This time the Fengchang Office had praised her a bit too much—it already felt like they wanted to set her up on a pedestal and use her reputation to tie her down in Zhennan, to stop her from going off elsewhere to cause trouble.

The reaction from Yujing and the two Supreme Daos had been very calm. Even though she’d killed Lu Qingning—a matter that didn’t need proof at all—they hadn’t made any kind of response.

Such quiet was very abnormal.

It was probably that they were heading into a truce period, just waiting for the Nine Prefectures Sword Meet to settle things.

“An external posting is nothing to fear. My progress in switching cultivation paths is almost there now. No matter which of us leads a team out, there will be someone at home to hold down the fort.” Xiang Xian continued, “It’s just this new path of yours… I don’t know if you’ve seen any sprouts of a result.”

She asked very cautiously.

Because whether Bai Xiang took another step forward on the path of qi was something that directly decided the outcome of the huge gamble she’d made.

“I’ve had some ideas, but not many,” Bai Xiang answered truthfully. “Once I have a couple of days free, I’m planning to make a trip to Luohou.”

Her planned trip to Luohou had been delayed for quite a while now; she was still planning to woo Fuhu Temple, too.

The Demon Kingdom Illusory Realm Daokong’s Yaosui had spoken of was over there. That was just something she could do along the way.

Rеaⅾ οո КаtRеαdіnɡСаfe

“Fuhu Temple, is it.” Xiang Xian misunderstood her intention and mused, “Back when Fuhu Temple split in two, it’s hard to say whether the other side took a portion of the true legacy away with them.”

“It’s good for you to take a look. Perhaps you’ll gain some insights.”

Night deepened, and the game gradually reached a deadlock.

Xiang Xian smiled, knowing Bai Xiang probably didn’t want to defeat her, so she rose to her feet to take her leave, and added that when she finished her closed-door cultivation, Guo Rongzhi had a gift to give her.

That had been agreed upon earlier as well. Bai Xiang pressed her lips together, thinking that this second senior brother of hers really was someone who took his promises seriously.

“Right now the dojo is split into three parts: Shenming’s main line, Yuming Peak, and Clear-Mist Peak.”

“If Fuhu Temple submits smoothly, we may have another peak to add.”

“It’s getting more and more like an immortal sect.”

She gave a soft shake of her head, but she knew all this glory was extremely fragile.

Drawing her longsword, she glanced at the blade, then sheathed it again. Bai Xiang rose quietly and went upstairs.

……

Elsewhere, Zhang Xianzhi, who had only just taken up the post of State Governor of Maozhou, was working furiously at his desk under the night sky.

This matter of appointing a state governor had caused quite a stir in court, because compared to the position, he was simply too young.

Though he came from an excellent family and had a clean background—not only was “Mister Cijing” Liu Haoran his teacher, he even had Chancellor Liu behind him in support—that still wasn’t enough to bear the weight of such an office.

Over these past days, quite a few people had submitted impeachments against him.

But Zhang Xianzhi knew this was only the beginning.

Compared to before, when he’d agreed with suppressing Bai Xiang, his thinking really had changed.

Bai Xiang had seized his seal and stripped his powers, but that had also led to him seeing the suffering of the common people clearly during their flight.

It wasn’t that he’d never seen or thought about these things before—but he truly hadn’t seen enough, and hadn’t thought deeply enough, to remotely grasp what those four words actually meant.

Take this transfer of Chilong’s residents to Maozhou, for example. The gang forces he’d brought in as partners ended up inflicting the greatest damage on the city.

The Jingyi Gang had let their members burn down shops and abuse and slaughter refugees. Even the destruction wrought by the demon tide hadn’t been as great as theirs, and that had deeply furrowed his brow.

Secondly, on the less-than-a-day’s journey to Zhennan, he’d personally witnessed people luring scattered families out, stabbing the parents to death and carrying off the children. He didn’t need to ask to know they were going to be sold.

He still had attendants under him. He ordered them to butcher those fiends and seized a survivor to interrogate. Only then did Zhang Xianzhi learn that it wasn’t just that some people were capturing foreigners to sell into Great Yu—snatching Yu children and women to sell abroad was also a line of business.

The circuit cities he’d governed in the past had either been farther inland or by the sea, so he didn’t see much of this kind of thing.

He was deeply shaken, and finally began to get a preliminary understanding of why Liu Haoran had looked at him that way back then, and resolved to reorganize all he’d learned over the years so he would “not betray His Majesty’s trust.”

After all, he’d been raised to this post by sacred favor; unlike Bai Xiang, his transformation in thinking couldn’t happen that fast.

Halfway through his writing, his phone suddenly rang.

Zhang Xianzhi hadn’t planned to pick up, but when he saw who it was, his eyes widened. He hurriedly dropped his brush, hit connect, and said excitedly, “Teacher Liu?”

“Mm.” On the other end was indeed Liu Haoran.

Reаd оո ΚαtRеαԁіnɡСafе

Ever since they parted years ago, this teacher had never once contacted him. Now he’d actually taken the initiative to call.

Zhang Xianzhi felt that it had to be something he’d done in Maozhou that had reached Liu Haoran’s ears. Uneasy, he asked, “May I ask, Teacher Liu… what guidance do you have, calling me so late?”

“I hear you’ve been refusing some people’s letters? Not letting them take posts in Maozhou?”

Liu Haoran cut straight to the point, his tone not showing a hint of politeness.

“Do you have any idea you’re courting death? Do you know what the consequences of this will be?”

“At worst I’ll be impeached.” Zhang Xianzhi was unmoved. “I understand this, and I’d already prepared myself mentally.”

“You…” Liu Haoran sighed.

“His Majesty made you state governor, but not so you could cooperate with the Bai clan to create self-rule.”

“I am not cooperating with the Bai clan,” Zhang Xianzhi raised his brows. “Everything has been open and fair. I rejected them solely because their applications did not follow procedure.”

“You really are living more and more backwards!” Liu Haoran was so angry he was practically blowing out his beard and glaring.

“When I told you to think more, I did not mean for you to go looking for ways to die!”

“In any case, don’t go too far!” He paused a beat, then softened his tone.

“You must remember—only by keeping yourself alive and useful can you better protect the common people.”

With that, he hung up, clearly quite infuriated by Zhang Xianzhi.

But Zhang Xianzhi, instead, froze.

This kind of anger… he’d never before felt it coming from Liu Haoran…

Only those students and disciples that the other party cared about the most would get scolded like this.

He stood there stunned for a moment, then Zhang Xianzhi broke into a grin.

He went back to his desk, laid out fresh paper and ink, and his brush strokes flowed even more boldly than before.

After hanging up, Liu Haoran sat alone, lost in thought.

“In all things under heaven, anything long besieged without being taken, long held without being broken—when the wall finally shatters, the rush will be as fierce as a waterfall. The momentum accumulated will far surpass any other turbulence.”

“Could Shenming Sword Dao be that special torrent?”

Thinking it over, Liu Haoran picked up his phone again and dialed a special number.

“Hello? Is this the Fengchang Office?”

“This is Liu Haoran.”

“Put your chief on for me—the one named ‘Meng Qian.’”

“Tell him I have something I want to ask him.”