Volume 4, Chapter 10 – Testing

Longchuan was already within Maozhou’s borders, and from here the straight-line distance back to Zhen’nan Circuit was more than half again shorter than when Bai Xiang had returned from Luohou. Holding Bai Zhuqing in her arms and using the Divine Movement Chapter to fly through the air, she was back before the mountain gate in less than half a day.

The trip passed in silence, mainly because Bai Zhuqing had learned her lesson and knew she shouldn’t show off when they were handling serious business.

In any case, she absolutely was not going to tell Bai Xiang that the whole way, she’d been thinking, If instead of being held in Sis Xiang’er’s arms, I were riding on her hips while we flew, how comfortable would that be…

“We’re back.”

Bai Shengju had long since led Xu Shu and the other disciples to wait for her in front of Listening-to-Rain Tower. Once he greeted the two of them, he nodded in satisfaction, then schooled his face and admonished the others, “Well? Hurry and pay respects to the Dao Lord.”

Xu Shu immediately and properly led everyone in bowing to Bai Xiang. “We respectfully welcome the Dao Lord’s return!”

This made it feel just like some demonic cult.

Bai Xiang frowned and used her qi to gently support their spines, pushing everyone’s bent backs upright again. Out loud, however, she said nothing.

She had read many books and understood perfectly well what it meant that no rules meant no order. Especially now, in an age of great contention, a time of chaos. Chaotic times called for heavy-handed measures. Her grandfather’s firm insistence on internal rites and etiquette did have its reasons.

“Qing’er, go attend to the Dao Lord’s welcome and washing off the dust,” Bai Shengju said, determined to see the rules carried through to the end. His stern gaze fell on Bai Zhuqing. “We will wait in the hall.”

Bai Zhuqing answered obediently, sneaking a look up at Bai Xiang, her breathing unconsciously a little quick.

This phrase “welcome and wash off the dust” was, for her, pure eye candy…

Unfortunately, there was business to be dealt with this time. Bai Xiang didn’t give her the chance to look for long. She took only a quick bath and then came out to change.

Pulling on her close-fitting underclothes in front of her little sister, Bai Xiang slanted a look at her, then reached into the wardrobe. From the corner of a drawer she took out a wrapped bundle of cloth.

She unfolded it, and a pair of black silk pantyhose, matching in color, slid out.

Under Bai Zhuqing’s wide-eyed, hungry stare, Bai Xiang lifted one leg after the other and pulled the stockings on, only then donning a pure white robe-dress, fastening a sash around her waist, and throwing a black gauze outer robe over the dress.

Her Qi-Origin vibrated, and her white hair rose, surrounded by a faint mist like drifting clouds and water. Bai Xiang found a chair and sat, raising both hands behind her head to gather her hair, and at the same time stretched out one black-silk-clad foot toward Bai Zhuqing, calmly saying, “Come. Help me with my shoes.”

Here we go again.

Bai Zhuqing’s cheeks flushed a little. She gave Bai Xiang a look that was part aggrieved, part coy, and without even bothering to put on her own outer robe first, she went in her underclothes to fetch the shoes.

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Sis Xiang’er is just unbelievable. It’s like she can always find new opportunities and ways to seduce me. And the moment I get too flustered, she says my mind is unsettled and insists she’s only helping temper my Dao heart.

Head lowered, eyes respectful, the girl served Bai Xiang even as her thoughts wandered wildly.

It’s infuriating. Is this kind of “tempering” even remotely scientific?

If she weren’t absolutely sure that letting her actual thoughts be seen would get her strung up and beaten, Bai Zhuqing would almost suspect her sister was deliberately getting revenge.

Idiot.

Sitting in the chair, watching her little sister stroke the arch of her black-silk-clad foot while deliberately slowing her movements as she eased the boots on, Bai Xiang could only feel speechless at her density.

Had she really not noticed that being “tormented” like this all along, combined with her instinctive use of the Clear-Heart Formula, had raised her resistance to Demon Pools’ Illusory Gods many times over?

On this trip, they’d run into no shortage of Demon Pools.

Moonlit shadows on a forest path at night, capable of reading a person’s gaze and thoughts and turning into loved ones—slip up for a moment and those shadows would burrow into your body and devour your soul.

The abrupt temple by the mountain stream, where cooking smoke seemed to curl up and monks chanted sutras. In truth, it was an outer Aspect of a Demon Pool. Accept the invitation to eat a vegetarian meal, and your soul would be seized by the idol on the high hall, becoming yet another agonized human face carved into its surface.

The stronger a Demon Pool’s Illusory God was, the less it had to do with intelligence.

It wasn’t as simple as “once you spot something that obviously violates common sense, you won’t fall for it.”

No, being able to notice that wasn’t enough.

You also needed soul strength, the willpower to directly resist the Illusory God.

With all the Demon Pools they had encountered along the way, if it had been the Bai Zhuqing from a year ago, and without outside warning, she most likely wouldn’t have escaped.

But in reality… many times, Bai Zhuqing could see through the tricks on her own without any help. That was very clearly external proof of a huge increase in soul strength and a multiplied will.

It showed their cultivation was working, and working well.

With that in mind, just before her right foot was fully inside the boot, Bai Xiang lifted it, her big toe pushing against the stocking to prop up her little sister’s chin.

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“With your soul strength now, you can formally start cultivating the Mingxin Method,” she said coolly, eyes fixed on Bai Zhuqing’s stunned expression. “You have ten days. If you don’t manage to achieve Jade Spirit, forget about sharing a bed with me.”

What kind of hell difficulty is that!?

Bai Zhuqing’s eyes flew wide. Her soft lips pressed together as she ground her teeth, looking like she’d love nothing more than to bite right into Bai Xiang’s black-silk-covered foot.

Enough.

With small animals… tease them too much and it stops being fun.

She drew her foot back and slid it into the boot, then stood and stamped her heel down to settle it properly. Bai Xiang told Bai Zhuqing to hurry up and get dressed as well, then led her back together to the main hall of Listening-to-Rain Tower, lifting her robe as she took the central seat.

Bai Shengju and Xiang Xian rose the instant she sat. Guo Rongzhi, Song Ruhua, Bai Lianzhou and the others followed, then Xu Shu, Ma Yue, and the inner disciples, and finally all the other disciples stood as well, turning to the side to bow to Bai Xiang.

Only when they saw Bai Xiang flick her sleeve did they bow again, then either take small steps back to sit in their chairs, or, for those not qualified to sit, return to their places and stand.

The scene was immensely imposing. The ranks of people layered one behind another stretched all the way out of the main hall, and of those she could see clearly, there were more than two hundred.

At this moment, Liu Yong and the other two were waiting quietly outside the hall, and the sight left them deeply shaken.

Especially Liu Yong. At last he realized what kind of power he had joined, and he couldn’t suppress the surge of excitement and pride in his heart.

I… I finally get to meet the Dao Lord, don’t I?

His nerves didn’t last long. Soon, a disciple walked out from inside to announce, “Liu Yong, Zhang Donglai, Zhu Sheng, enter the hall!”

The three entered, with Zhu Sheng walking in front. The other two copied his bowing posture and saluted, then furtively lifted their heads to observe Bai Xiang.

Bai Xiang was currently looking over a handwritten manuscript. As if sensing the movements below, she asked directly, “Liu Yong?”

Liu Yong immediately ducked his head. “Disciple present!”

“You said you suspect the ‘Head Shop’ was a Demon Pool deliberately planted by someone, not something that formed naturally nearby. Do you have proof?”

“I do!” Liu Yong gathered his courage and raised his head again. “The proof is that before I went up the mountain, I was living with my Second Uncle Liu in Nanliu Alley, and I’d never heard of any Aberrations in the area. The moment I left, something happened there. That’s far too coincidental. That’s the first point.”

“The second is this.” He drew a breath. “When I first entered the mountain gate, the wealthy man Li Guangyuan tried to buy my ticket, but I don’t know this man at all. Later I asked Senior Brother Xu Shu and Inspector Zheng Fu for help investigating. While I was living in Nanliu Alley, the neighbors often asked me about the ticket, but none of them had any contact with Li Guangyuan. On what basis, exactly, did he insist so firmly I was carrying a ticket? That’s suspicious.”

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Hearing this, Xiang Xian raised an eyebrow. “If this man has done well in business, then knowing how to read people is the basic skill. Maybe he simply thought you looked too ordinary at the time and wanted to test you.”

“Then he should have called me out of the line first, and only then tested whether I had a ticket.”

Xiang Xian fell silent.

Liu Yong’s earlier reasoning had been fairly sound, but this line was a bit off the wall.

“Master.” Bai Xiang lowered her voice so only those nearby could hear. “Has this Li Guangyuan been checked out?”

Whether Liu Yong’s suspicions were reasonable really wasn’t important.

After all, Maozhou now was the Maozhou of Shenming Sword Dao.

If the dojo wanted to investigate something, it had no need of conclusive evidence.

“We did check,” Xiang Xian said with a frown, “but… together with his daughter and the household servants, he was found dead in a hotel this morning.”

Oh?

Bai Xiang raised her brows.

Silencing witnesses directly… that was a little crude, wasn’t it?

Just then, Guo Rongzhi shifted a step closer.

Bai Xiang immediately understood and said, “Senior Brother Guo, if you have something, speak freely.”

“Dao Lord,” Guo Rongzhi said—each of them, it seemed, addressed her in their own way—“just before I came over, I received a report from Dao Lord Pei Jian. The bodies of Li Guangyuan and his daughter are fake.”

“Definitely fake?”

“Definitely. Investigation showed they were stitched together from parts of multiple corpses. A fire was then deliberately set to destroy the faces and make the deception easier.”

I see…

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Hearing this, Bai Xiang let out a slow breath and closed her golden eyes, adopting a pensive pose.

She held that posture for nearly half a minute. In that time, no one spoke from top to bottom. Even Dongzi didn’t dare cut in now.

“Disciple Liu Yong.”

Suddenly, Bai Xiang’s voice came from above. “Well done. Record a merit at Grade B-Plus.”

Before Liu Yong could figure out what that meant, she tilted her chin slightly, and the disciple who had led them in earlier stepped forward to escort the three of them back out of the main hall.

He drifted along in a daze the whole way, only vaguely remembering that before they parted, that disciple shot him a look—eyes full of pure jealousy…

After this little trio left, Bai Xiang continued issuing instructions.

“Double the patrols.”

“Make it high-profile. Stir up a big commotion.”

“Spread the word. I want even the newly arrived refugees to know there’s someone manipulating things behind the scenes, and to know they’ve already enraged me, and that I’m determined to fight them to the death.”

Xiang Xian immediately grasped her meaning. “Xiang’er, you want to force them to show themselves?”

“If the other side really wanted to make a move, more than a handful of people would be dead by now,” Bai Xiang said, neither confirming nor denying.

She had already read through all the files.

According to the tally, including Second Uncle Liu, there were fewer than ten people whose perceptions had been altered by the Head Shop.

Given the population density in the resettlement housing, that number was far too low.

Compared to an invasion, this looked much more like a test.

A test of her, this Dao Lord—or rather, this Immortal Venerable’s—attitude.