Volume 1, Chapter 31 – White Ice Cream, Black Ice Cream

Wearing a faux-ancient long dress as she left Yinling Temple, Bai Xiang held a sword in one hand and another thread-bound classic in the other, mind replaying the standoff between the two monks.

The Canon of Returning to the Origin and Transforming Qi.

“Returning to the Origin” should mean “Five Qi Return to the Origin.” A Daoist term: the five qi are the qi of the five viscera. As for “return to the origin and transform qi,” if she hadn’t misunderstood, it was bluntly saying: unify the essences of the five viscera and transform them into qi-force.

As for what exactly this “qi” was… she truly didn’t know.

By Daoist explanation, qi is the innate energy of the cosmos. Strictly speaking, invisible energies like demonic power and heart-flow could all be lumped under “qi.”

But they weren’t; none of the classics or manuals used the word “qi.” Which clearly had its reason—meaning they definitely weren’t the same.

“Jinchan Temple’s old method, eh.”

She halted, leaned a little to the wall, pulled out her phone, went online, and began searching the term “Jinchan Temple.”

When Master Cizheng had said that, his voice was very low; he might have thought she hadn’t heard.

But ever since entering the Dao, Bai Xiang had found all her senses sharper than most.

Whispers, and shifts in Master Cizheng’s tone—she heard them clear as a bell.

Under her taps the “Nokia” kept beeping; the connection was slow, and it took a while before results popped up.

And those results—

“‘Content forbidden. Not displayed.’”

Staring at the screen, Bai Xiang nodded slightly to herself.

A feudal dynasty… about what she’d expected.

Judging by Master Cizheng’s tone, even if she could train from that classic, it would spell no small trouble—because it belonged to Jinchan Temple’s old method, and practicing it might violate a taboo.

Whose taboo? Naturally, the imperial house’s.

When “Yang Xing” had tried to recruit her, he’d mentioned many forces akin to the Demon-Immortal Dao—Jinchan Temple among them.

To be a temple at all meant that taboo hadn’t existed before.

Bai Xiang guessed Jinchan Temple had likely done something traitorous and been suppressed by the imperial house; their lineage had been smashed to pieces, left to hide everywhere like the Demon-Immortal Dao.

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As for why Jinchan Temple’s old method lay in the hands of Master Hua’an, chief of Kanjin… best to act as if she didn’t know.

Grandpa Bai Shengju and Master Cizheng were close friends, and Master Hua’an was Master Cizheng’s senior brother—their ties were excellent on both sides.

And Great Yu’s imperial house hadn’t benefited her in the slightest—on the contrary, over that wrongful princely-house case they’d killed her aunt.

Why worry on its behalf?

Thinking so, Bai Xiang put her phone away.

Without a detailed method, she could still use “spirit-illumines-the-inner-scene” to train it to perfection.

It would just take more time, that was all.

She’d been standing by the stone wall for a bit; her looks and bearing were uncommon, and in antique dress with a sword in hand, she drew the eyes of many passersby—some women included.

Ignoring them, Bai Xiang headed along the pedestrian street, planning to stroll and gradually seek out her two younger sisters.

She had just passed an ice-cream shop when a pale little hand thrust up a chocolate cone.

Bai Xiang leaned back, dodging the cone so it wouldn’t poke her in the face.

“Where are the others.”

She didn’t take the cone, but demanded to know why Bai Zhuqing was acting alone.

“Leying wanted cold jelly, but that place is a long walk.”

“I was worried about Auntie, so I waited here~”

Bai Zhuqing held a brown-black chocolate cone in her left hand and a pure-white vanilla cone in her right. As she spoke, she lightly licked the white cream with the tip of her tongue, all the while gazing longingly at Bai Xiang’s face.

Bai Xiang narrowed her eyes, fixing on that sleek black hair. “Do chocolate and vanilla mean something?”

Bai Zhuqing smiled. “What do you think?”

Bai Xiang shook her head and told her seriously, “I’m afraid I’ll spend this life specializing in the sword dao alone, with no energy for anything else.”

“So will I.”

Bai Zhuqing glared.

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“I like sword dao too—and I plan to keep drilling deeper.”

Bai Xiang said nothing, sidestepped, and turned into a lane on the right.

Bai Zhuqing hurried after her. She’d slotted a wooden sword slantwise through her sash, and now ran in quick little steps in sandals and white stockings, both cones raised in her hands—a comical sight.

“I don’t understand.”

Bai Xiang looked straight ahead, white hair lifting slightly.

“At our age.”

“With our relationship.”

“What made you develop feelings like that.”

“Obviously because…” Bai Zhuqing’s tone dropped.

“Because I’ve lost you before—that’s how I know how much I need you.”

“Lost?”

Bai Xiang started.

How old was she?

Did she even know what “loss” meant?

“Mm?” Bai Zhuqing stared back, indignant. “When I started junior high and had to be apart from you, that’s when I knew how much I cared about the ways you looked after me.”

“When I was bullied, you stood up for me.”

“When I wanted flowers, you picked them for me.”

“When Mom and Dad were both busy with work outside, you took care of me, even clumsily mending my clothes…”

Those memories did exist.

Bai Xiang acknowledged it.

But the issue was—

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“I did the same for Leying.”

“And even Maoxu got some looking after.”

Hence the saying “the eldest sister is like a mother.”

In that respect, she had done her duty.

“Then maybe I’m just too sensitive…” Bai Zhuqing slowly lowered her head.

“Leying doesn’t feel like this at all…”

“I don’t even know why—why is it only me who cares so much…”

You’ve got a mother-fixation, that’s why.

Bai Xiang finally saw it.

She realized one bad thing about Great Yu—there was no Freud.

“Auntie is strange too.”

Bai Zhuqing suddenly lifted her gaze to Bai Xiang.

“I haven’t asked Auntie for anything, nor made any excessive demands.”

“I just want to keep things as they are—no advance, only no retreat.”

“Why such a big reaction from Auntie?”

No excessive demands?

Bai Xiang stopped, looked down, and together they looked beneath the dress—at her black-silk-clad feet in red-thonged sandals.

Then she looked up at Bai Zhuqing again; the meaning needed no words.

“That’s not my fault, is it?”

Bai Zhuqing blinked.

“No bare legs allowed, and no trousers either…”

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“If I hadn’t given them, Auntie would’ve borrowed from my mom or Second Aunt anyway, no?”

As she spoke, she couldn’t help glancing down again.

Looking was one thing—but her eyes slid to the chocolate cone in her left hand.

This—look at her elder sister’s black stockings, then at the cone—Bai Zhuqing couldn’t help sticking out her little tongue and giving the black ice cream a quick lick.

Uh-oh…

The instant she licked it, she regretted it.

She hadn’t resisted—that was far too reckless.

Sister Xiang—would Auntie be angry?

But Auntie in that faux-ancient dress was too pretty…

That broad cloth sash cinched her chest just so, and beneath the hem, black stockings…

Her head was filling with unhealthy things when she looked up to see a shadow swoop toward her—Bai Xiang had seized her shoulder and hauled her to the side, dragging her a quick step away.

What was she doing?

The cones—she was going to drop the cones!

Bai Zhuqing’s heart gave a cry.

But before she could actually shout, she heard a swift “shff” at her ear as Bai Xiang drew the wooden sword.

“Clang—!”

A collision sounded overhead.

“Rrr—!!!”

And a rasping, bestial snarl.