Volume 3, Chapter 70 – Drawing Near

The next day, Bai Xiang ended her seclusion and first sent Bai Zhuqing out to pass on the news.

Before letting her go, she called her little sister back and told her, “You absolutely must not show too much outside. You’ve got Senior Brother Guo and the others holding up the beam. It’s nowhere near time for you to show off yet.”

Her little sister’s leap this time was too great. In just over ten days she had gone from the second to the seventh layer of Refining Qi. If she flaunted that, it would cause an uproar.

Bai Xiang wasn’t afraid of Bai Zhuqing getting a reputation as a genius and drawing jealousy, but she did have her worries—namely, that some people who couldn’t do anything to her would go after her sister instead. So she didn’t want Bai Zhuqing’s sharp edge to be too exposed.

It wasn’t like there was no precedent. Just look at how the Prince of Nanling’s Manor had acted back then. She, for one, no longer placed any trust in outsiders.

Bai Zhuqing was very sensible and didn’t throw a little tantrum here. She agreed obediently.

Call it her nature, maybe.

Watching her graceful back as she left, Bai Xiang sat behind the desk, propped her chin up, and sank into thought.

She remembered the first time she had met Bai Zhuqing.

That had been at the hospital entrance. Second Uncle Bai Lianzhou had driven over to pick her up, and Bai Zhuqing had sat in the back seat with her.

Even then, Bai Zhuqing already carried herself with dignified elegance. It had always been Bai Leying who played the “lively” one, so Bai Zhuqing had never had anything to do with the word “willful.”

She was very mature… very understanding from a young age. Saying she was childish before hadn’t really been fair, because compared to her peers she was already outstanding enough. She just couldn’t be compared to a special case like herself.

But then why, when she was with her, did she seem so childish…?

Bai Xiang ran through a few key moments and still felt it didn’t quite make sense. In the end she simply shook her head, picked up her phone, and started drafting messages to Fang Xiaochun, Zhang Xianzhi, and the others.

All that had happened in Qi lands was that the major upheavals had stopped.

After the disaster, that was when the work was heaviest.

As Governor of Mao State, Zhang Xianzhi had already come around to Bai Xiang’s side on certain matters. He was the kind of man who, once he believed in something, carried it through firmly. Communicating with him was straightforward, and he very much agreed with Bai Xiang’s proposal to “govern by dispersing the populace,” thinking the idea highly feasible.

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And what did “governing by dispersing the populace” mean?

First, you had to talk about the size of Zhennan Circuit.

Zhennan Circuit was the capital of Mao State and the fastest-built, largest of Mao State’s four circuit cities. The other three circuits were probably not even at a tenth of Zhennan’s progress, so Zhennan had always been the main hub for taking in people.

Almost all of Qizhou’s disaster victims had streamed toward Zhennan Circuit. Before Bai Xiang went into seclusion, the population of Zhennan Circuit had already exceeded three million. She’d only been in seclusion a bit over ten days, and that number had climbed by more than another hundred thousand.

That couldn’t go on. It wasn’t a question of how much more supply they needed—it was that this was a bottomless pit. With too many people to manage, complaints and grievances piled up, a huge potential risk.

From that angle, they really did have the Demon Pools to thank.

Since the demon disaster had broken out, the number of Demon Pools that had actually invaded wasn’t that large. The ones that posed serious danger were quickly dealt with by high-level cultivators. The casualties caused by Demon Pools were negligible compared to the total population, but they had a strong deterrent effect.

Fearing Demon Pools lurking in the surroundings, the refugees were all very cautious in word and deed.

But that kind of atmosphere was too stifling. If it went on, something would eventually happen, so they had to find a way to disperse some of the refugees and let them play a concrete role.

Bai Xiang had Zhang Xianzhi pick out the able-bodied from among them and organize people to go out and open up more land.

Her thinking was simple—Mao State was different from other regions. Before Mao State had been established, the passes formed by the Nanluo mountain range had blocked threats from the “primeval jungle” outside the “plains.” But after Mao State was founded, this ring-shaped chain of passes became a natural barrier for the entire state.

As long as they sealed off a few gaps and took control of the mountains and waters, then demon disasters and demon tides would find it very hard to break in. That meant that any “villages” inside Mao State territory would be far safer than those in Qi lands.

So why should I copy Chilong Circuit?

With an advantage like this, why would I imitate other “base cities” and “fortress cities” by strengthening the walls and emptying the countryside? Wouldn’t that be idiotic?

So just send the people out instead.

If the circuit city couldn’t hold that many, then send them out to work, to stake out land, to draw their own borders and build new homes for themselves.

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It just so happened it was spring plowing season. The livestock and seeds the village refugees had brought with them needed to be put to use as soon as possible—and they’d be very willing on that front, too.

Bai Xiang knew things would be chaotic at the beginning of this process. But she couldn’t be bothered with that. She only laid out the rough framework and left all the details to Governor Zhang to handle.

“Should I introduce her to Master Liu?”

After hanging up the phone, Zhang Xianzhi sat dazed for a moment, suddenly doubting his life.

He had originally thought Bai Xiang was just a genius in Sword Dao, that the reason she impressed him was that she was “too upright,” and that she simply saw the big picture more clearly than he did.

But now he no longer thought that. He felt that if Bai Xiang focused on politics, he might not be able to beat her.

Fang Xiaochun’s tone, on the other hand, was much less pleasant.

“Girl Xiang, you’ve really made life hard for me!”

He complained to Bai Xiang over the phone.

And in truth, that was exactly how it was. Bai Xiang had scooped up three million people from Qi lands in one go. Her Mao State was well fed now, but what about Qizhou? They had lost at least one-seventh of their population!

Strictly speaking, it wasn’t Fang Xiaochun’s fault. But because he had gotten too close to Shenming Sword Dao and the Bai clan earlier, the Court inevitably treated him “differently,” naturally seizing on this flaw and criticizing him heavily.

No matter what excuses you had, the fact that Qizhou had lost a million people under your governance was nailed in place. There was no way to wriggle out of it.

“Uncle Fang, Lord Fang,” Bai Xiang said with a smile in her voice, “I think all that is unimportant. What Qi lands should care about most right now, aside from post-disaster governance, is that ‘Blood Abyss’ out on the wasteland.”

Fang Xiaochun frowned. “What do you mean, girl Xiang?”

“Lord Fang is a smart man. I don’t think I need to spell it out too clearly.”

After ending the call, Fang Xiaochun also pondered for a long time.

To be honest, he hadn’t really understood what Bai Xiang meant.

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The “Blood Abyss”?

What about that thing?

It was certainly a troublesome thing, yes, but it was spreading far too slowly. It shouldn’t be something to worry about so urgently.

Not until he looked up at the map of the southern region on the wall, saw how the Jing River neatly sliced Ze and Qi apart and, together with the Nanluo mountain range, penned Qizhou in, did he realize what Bai Xiang was thinking.

“That brat steals a few million people from me and still isn’t satisfied—she wants to swallow my entire Qizhou?”

Hinting that if the Blood Abyss blew up, Qi lands would have nowhere to run—either cross the river into Ze or head south into Mao. Wasn’t that exactly what she meant?

Fang Xiaochun laughed in fury, but as he laughed, he slowly began stroking his chin, frowning as he stared at the map in deep thought.

Bai Xiang’s third call was to Mount Wuqiu.

“Dao Lord Wang.”

“Dao Lord Bai…”

Wang Ran’s tone was very courteous.

In fact, if you listened closely, there was a hint of nervousness in it.

When he and Abbess Li Sheng had jointly decided to send Xia Ran, Leng Qiu, and the other disciples to Shenming to re-cultivate on the path of qi, they hadn’t held much hope.

Even with a ready-made example like Bai Xiang, history had far too many failures in this area. Wang Ran hadn’t dared imagine there was truly a new path, nor that it could be replicated so easily.

It wasn’t until a few days ago, when Xia Ran returned to Qizhou University and he checked his disciple’s progress on the path of qi, that his opinion truly changed.

“May Shenming’s qi shape mountains and rivers!” Wang Ran offered the formal congratulations. “I wonder when the Dao-Establishment Ceremony will be held? I’d like to bring people to offer my respects!”

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“When I’ve picked a time, I’ll notify you in advance, Fellow Daoist.”

Then Bai Xiang shifted the topic. “Has Fellow Daoist decided on his future path?”

Wang Ran hesitated. “This…”

“Since ancient times, no reform has come without bloodshed.” Bai Xiang’s voice cooled slightly.

“I advise Fellow Daoist to think it through. This is not something you can watch from the middle.”

With that, she hung up.

This was just planting a wedge, after all.

She hadn’t planned on pushing too hard yet.

A few days later, news spread from Mao State. By imperial decree, Shenming Sword Dao had been formally ranked, skipping over Hero-ranked dojos, Champion-ranked dojos, and several other tiers in one leap, directly entering the Mountains-and-Rivers Hall at tenth place.

This was something to celebrate with a grand Dao-Establishment Ceremony, and for a while it drew heated discussion and attention from all across the Nine Provinces. People anxiously debated whether Shenming Sword Dao was just making up the numbers and whether they truly deserved the honored position of this “tenth Dao.”

At the same time, by the Blood Abyss, a pair of master and disciple were stumbling along—a shabby old man and an equally shabby woman.

“Old geezer…” the woman panted as she walked, “you say you don’t care, but here you are rushing over to pick a fight…”

“Silly disciple, you don’t get it. This isn’t what you call picking a fight.”

The shabby old man chuckled.

“If they can’t even beat me, old Qin, then they’d better stir less trouble and stop making life hard for the common folk…”