Volume 4, Chapter 11 – Speaking Heart to Heart

Once the most important Aberration cases were discussed, what remained were some miscellaneous affairs.

For example, Xiang Xian reported the latest research progress on Yuming Peak, and Bai Shengju explained the results of contacting the other provinces.

For the former, thanks to Bai Xiang supplementing things with the memories she had extracted, Xiang Xian had already gained a preliminary grasp of Shenwu Heaven’s talisman techniques, and Guo Rongzhi was close to fully reconstructing the blueprints for the first flying boat. Actually building one, however, would still take some time.

There was no helping that. Maozhou had not been developing for long. To have gone in just a few months from people’s livelihood relying entirely on outside aid to being barely self-sufficient was already a miracle. There was simply no spare capacity to invest in heavy industry, so even if they finished tinkering with the blueprints, they would be useless for now.

Guo Rongzhi, of course, was unwilling to just finish the blueprints and then be unable to build anything. He had been pushing the plan to reclaim Chilong Circuit, planning to make use of the abandoned factories there. The dojo’s several expeditions to clear that area had all been at his suggestion.

It was also worth mentioning that “Dr. Lizard” Hannah had been assigned under Yuming Peak, and the research institute under her charge had been directly relocated to a remote hill beside Yuming Peak.

Listening on the side, Bai Zhuqing couldn’t help clicking her tongue inwardly when she heard this.

She remembered hearing about it. Although she had not looked into the specifics, she and Bai Xiang sometimes heard the rumors when they went out shopping, about discarded human bones often appearing in the ravine behind Yuming Peak, which had even caused public panic for a while.

She had not known the details before. Now, looking at the report, she realized it was Hannah using death row inmates for experiments.

This, too, was in order to complete Bai Xiang’s assignment: she intended to further improve the Shenming Refining Qi Formula and find the upper limit of pressure a human body could withstand.

“I have spoken with the lords of the other provinces, and according to them, nothing like the ‘Head Shop’ Demon Pool has appeared in their domains.”

Bai Shengju gave his final report with a rather heavy expression. “Even so, while there are no exact equivalents, all kinds of other Demon Pools, especially those involving cognitive tampering and pollution, are becoming more severe. Each province suspects that someone is probing them.”

Bai Xiang said nothing. She took the documents from her grandfather and flipped through them, and found that compared to the other provinces, Maozhou’s situation really was the lightest.

Just from the issues listed here alone… At the end of March, the drought in Luezhou worsened. Tao Shuohua bade farewell to Fang Xiaochun and returned to Hantian, personally leading a team to investigate. In the end, they discovered a group of “people” mixed in among the refugees who were spreading drought.

Spreading drought. The phrase sounded strange, but it was exactly as it described. These “people” kept spreading news that this or that place was suffering severe drought. As long as the rumor spread far enough, and enough people believed it, the drought they spoke of would become reality.

Once Tao Shuohua uncovered the truth, he cut these strange people down on the spot. They showed little fear, even dying with smiles on their faces, and when their bodies fell, they spontaneously combusted, turning for no reason into drifting ash.

Then there was the flooding in Xuzhou. At first, the State Chancery had not taken it seriously, treating it as a normal rise in water levels. Unexpectedly, the floodwaters kept building, soon about to surpass the highest warning line and inundate the earthen walls and city towers, and only then did they realize the cause was unusual.

It was only when Kong Tianbao and his son Kong An returned to Xuzhou, reclaimed Jingzhu, and conducted a thorough investigation that they traced the source back to a wild well that had appeared in the city out of nowhere, constantly spewing water.

Those strange people who spread drought were called “drought corpses,” and the wild well that brewed the flood was called a “flood well.” Although both had been destroyed once discovered, easing the disasters, similar cases had been appearing with increasing frequency. Clearly, they still had not eliminated the true source.

Seen in that light, the “Head Shop” in Maozhou had caused very little damage so far. Its impact was the lightest.

“There is one more matter…” Bai Shengju suddenly leaned in a little, speaking to Bai Xiang with some discomfort. “I may have… I made an agreement with Lord Fang that the next time there is air transport heading to Liangzhou, I will hurry to take a seat on it.”

The moment Liangzhou was mentioned, Bai Xiang instinctively thought he meant to go there to see Chen Yuchan.

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Thinking carefully, though, Bai Shengju had been married for many years. Given his usual conduct, he was not someone who would do something so “out of bounds” and “sure to make the juniors unhappy.”

So it had to be related to her Third Uncle, Bai Qingmin’s family.

Sure enough, as Bai Shengju laid out the situation, Bai Xiang learned that Bai Qingmin’s family had been found in Liangzhou, and very fortunately, all three of them were alive, including “Bai Chenyu,” who had once been suspected dead, his body seized by a divine-vein demon.

“Chenyu was found in a private hospital,” Bai Shengju sighed. “His whole body bound, skin and bones, and those things were clearly using him for research…”

His tone was clearly anxious, and his gaze toward Bai Xiang was full of pleading, hoping she would nod and agree.

Grandfather really… If he had decided this privately and then just done it first and told me after, would I even be able to blame him?

To uphold propriety to this extent, Bai Shengju was sacrificing his own wishes to maintain Bai Xiang’s dignity as Dao Lord.

But by doing it this way, he gave Bai Xiang grounds to speak.

“This is not appropriate,” Bai Xiang said, shaking her head. “With the recent changes in the provinces’ disasters, this is the prelude to storm and upheaval, the opening of the celestial change. At a time like this, Grandfather should stay in the Dao and hold steady until the turmoil settles before traveling.”

“This…”

Bai Shengju immediately pulled a bitter face.

Of course he knew all that, but he felt he had owed his youngest son for many years. Right now, he could not bring himself to care about rules and propriety.

“Don’t worry,” Bai Xiang soothed him. “With Dao Lord Chen watching over them, Third Uncle’s family will certainly be safe.”

She analyzed the situation for Bai Shengju and stated firmly that the true arrival of celestial change would not be long now. Only then did she finally calm the old man and get him to agree to stay in Maozhou for the time being.

Once the big and small matters were all taken care of, she went up to the viewing platform and looked down over the foothills. Suddenly, she turned into a streak of rainbow light and in a very short time swept across the entirety of Zhen’nan.

Along the way, she did cut down four Demon Pools, but none of them were the Head Shop. That thing had simply vanished.

At least she had made her stance clear. If the other side was wary of her, then they would certainly come seek a detailed conversation.

Once she had that straight in her mind, Bai Xiang stopped bothering with the matter, flew to Yuming Peak to find Guo Rongzhi, and wrung quite a few precious materials out of him.

When Bai Xiang, relying purely on her sense, dug out the Meltwater Essence Stone he had squirreled away, Guo Rongzhi’s face darkened. He leaned in, baffled, and asked her, “Junior Sister, exactly whose sword are you planning to forge?”

Meltwater Essence Stone was a famous oddity. Just shaving off a small piece and tossing it into the forge to melt with other metals could harmonize them and dissolve their mutual repulsion. The finished sword would be supremely flexible, and it was always a top-tier material for forging soft swords and whip-swords.

Bai Xiang already had a sword of her own, and at her current level of cultivation there was no reason to start over from scratch, which meant it could only be for someone else.

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“I want to forge a sword for Qing’er,” Bai Xiang said frankly. “I might need to trouble Senior Brother when the time comes.”

So that was it.

In Guo Rongzhi’s mind, Bai Zhuqing’s lively, pretty face appeared. He nodded. “If you need anything, just say it.”

Bai Zhuqing and Bai Leying… especially the latter. When the little girl had nothing to do, she would come play over here, only to be dragged away by the ear by Bai Zhuqing every time. After enough of those visits, he and Bai Zhuqing had become familiar.

A very polite child, with a gentle and graceful temperament.

Junior Sister Xiang clearly liked this little sister very much, and worried that in turbulent times she might run into danger. That was why she meant to craft a treasure sword for her to carry as protection.

Fair enough.

Materials were dead things; people were living.

If it was for their own, Guo Rongzhi had no objections.

Soon the materials were gathered, and Bai Xiang and Guo Rongzhi began work together.

Using as the main body the piece of Sunflower-Wood Gold Essence Song Ruhua had previously gifted to Bai Xiang and the piece of Luoli Crystal Bai Xiang had bought herself, then cutting off a large chunk of Meltwater Essence Stone and mixing in various other materials, after a full five days of hammering and shaping, they finally brought out the sword’s prototype.

It was indeed a soft sword.

Yet as soon as qi-force was poured into it, the blade snapped straight, and its toughness would not be inferior to any rigid sword.

The cleverest part was that the blade could detach from the guard and hilt and the whole metal edge roll up into a ball, forming a spherical sword-orb that could be controlled at a distance with qi-force.

“This has to be the strangest sword I’ve ever made,” Guo Rongzhi said, watching Bai Xiang test the control of the sword-orb, shaking his head again and again.

With a structure like this, the sword would never be all that stable when slotted back into the hilt.

In his view, the sword-orb was the weapon’s true form, and the scabbard and hilt crafted from top-grade wood were just decoration, meant to mislead people.

“Not bad,” Bai Xiang said after testing the sword. She reassembled it and slid it back into its scabbard.

“Its song is clear and high, its flight as mist.”

“You’ll be called Clear Mist, and from now on you’ll stay by Qing’er’s side.”

Clear-Mist Sword.

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Clear-Mist Peak.

This was basically set in stone, wasn’t it?

Guo Rongzhi raised his brows and chose to pretend he was still in the dark.

Another day later, Bai Xiang placed the Clear-Mist Sword in a wooden case. After dinner, she stayed in the bedroom of Listening-to-Rain Tower, quietly waiting for her little sister to come back.

Bai Zhuqing had not been idle these past few days either, always shut away in seclusion cultivating.

Her own threat that if Bai Zhuqing didn’t cultivate Jade Spirit within ten days she would not be allowed to share a bed had clearly scared her quite a bit.

Amused by the thought, Bai Xiang couldn’t help the curve of her lips.

She had realized that as her thoughts centered more and more on her little sister, she seemed to be developing a darker sense of humor and growing ever fonder of teasing her.

Apparently she had even slipped out for a while that afternoon, sneaking off alone without taking anyone. It seemed she had cultivated herself into a fit of restlessness and wanted to calm her mind outside.

No matter.

The Clear-Mist Sword was forged. It was the perfect time to give her a surprise.

Time passed, and at last there were footsteps at the stairway. Bai Zhuqing crept up like a thief, a box clutched in her arms.

What’s that?

Bai Xiang frowned slightly but did not think too much of it. She called Bai Zhuqing over and motioned for her to open the case holding the Clear-Mist Sword and see how the weapon felt in her grip.

“This… Aunt!”

Holding the Clear-Mist Sword, Bai Zhuqing’s face went blank and her eyes reddened.

Bai Xiang had data on her body. The length of the blade, its weight, even the size of the hilt had been tailored to her. In her hand it felt like an extension of her own body. How could she not be moved?

Right.

With that thought, she put the Clear-Mist Sword back on the table, hurriedly picked up the box she had brought back, and, cheeks flushed, held it out to Bai Xiang.

Hm?

Bai Xiang raised her brows. “For me?”

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The girl smiled in embarrassment and nodded hard.

Bai Xiang watched her closely for a long moment, and when she saw the emotion in Bai Zhuqing’s eyes almost overflowing like water, something stirred faintly in her heart.

Could it be…

She opened the box and saw, resting on a bed of fine velvet, a pair of dark-gold earrings carved in the shape of cicadas.

“I… I bought them with the pocket money I’ve saved since I was little…”

Bai Zhuqing explained in a soft, sticky voice.

As Bai Xiang sat motionless, she began to grow uneasy.

“If Aunt doesn’t like them…”

“Qing’er.”

Her words were cut off halfway.

With a wave of Bai Xiang’s hand, the earrings flew into her grasp. She lifted her bright, beautiful face slightly and smiled at the stunned girl.

“Will you come put them on me?”

Bai Zhuqing was completely dazed.

The soft light fell across the face she cherished most in the world, the most perfect, beloved face, its gentle lines and alluring gaze. For a moment, she could only stare in a trance.

Of course the answer was yes…

She told herself so in her heart.

Her most beloved Sis Xiang’er.

Her most beloved Aunt.

As long as it was your request, no matter what it is, I’ll do it.