Volume 4, Chapter 30 – What She Seeks

After listening to Bai Xiang roughly explain Xu Ling’s mindset, Xiang Xian was briefly stunned before she finally said, “Then he really is a good person.”

The words sounded odd at first, almost like she was cursing him. But she meant them sincerely, without the slightest trace of mockery.

The reasoning had already been laid out—Xu Ling clearly did not want Bai Xiang to become like the current Yu Emperor Sacred Dynasty, continually elevating scholars and officials and letting them share rule of the realm with the sovereign.

He was dissatisfied with that system, so dissatisfied that he was willing to betray his own class in order to seek out an enlightened lord who was perceptive enough not to treat people of his kind as honored guests.

But his understanding of the court wasn’t deep enough.

Bai Xiang said this to herself in silence.

Because that so-called Yu Emperor Sacred Dynasty only superficially imitated a certain Song dynasty, following the model of “scholar-officials ruling the world together with the Son of Heaven.” In practice, it also put an extremely heavy emphasis on military violence; for any rising powerhouse, it didn’t just kill them off, it knew how to control them with pills to ensure its own absolute rule.

When the conditions allow, the world ultimately still bows to violence.

After chatting with Xiang Xian a little more, Bai Xiang asked about Starwater Company’s relocation. Xiang Xian replied, “It’s basically done.”

“That little girl in the wheelchair also asked me to bring you a message. She says she dug up a big rock and a bent rusty sword beneath the abyss and wants to know when you’ll have time to come take a look and see if it’s what you’re looking for.”

Bai Xiang nodded. “I’ll go over once I’m done dealing with those two.”

The big rock referred to the “Black Crystal Saint Venerable.” That thing had an extremely powerful contaminating ability; left unattended, it wouldn’t take long for it to spawn another Demon Kingdom. But if used properly, treated purely as a tool that produced black crystal, it could also bring considerable profit to the dojo.

As for the bent rusty sword, that should be the Zhenyuan sword embryo that stored the Vein-Connecting Method.

That thing had long ago been drained dry and discarded by Daokong’s true spirit. Bai Xiang had left in a hurry back then and hadn’t had the time to go looking for that piece of trash. Only later did she, through various channels, learn that there was also a “Saint-Weapon Dao” in this world and figure she could retrieve that scrap iron and keep feeding it to Feixiang Heaven.

In that way, counting Feixiang Heaven itself, this sword would then have absorbed a total of four sword embryos.

Given its attitude of never turning away other sword embryos and swallowing anything it could get its hands on, once nine swords were united into one, there might be some special change.

With that, Bai Xiang left the follow-up arrangements for the Cijing line coming to Maozhou to take office in Xiang Xian’s hands, then returned alone to the dojo’s mountain gate, where she immediately spotted Xu Shu waiting alone at the entrance.

“Dao Master!”

Seeing her drift down on the wind, Xu Shu hurriedly bowed.

He was an extremely “sensible” person.

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Back when Jiang Haojing defected from Shenming, it had been thanks to his timely decision to cut ties with her that he’d been able to remain in the Dao and continue as senior brother. That loyalty and perseverance had, in less than a year, earned him his current position as the sword leader among the disciples. He knew perfectly well whom he had to thank for that, and there was no way he would still indulge in daydreams about that aloof young girl who used to get up even earlier than he did and clean the dojo with him, rags, mops, and buckets of dirty water in hand.

“What are the casualties?” Bai Xiang flicked her sleeve to lift him back up and asked as she walked forward.

“In total, seven disciples and twenty-eight civilians were affected.”

“Only affected?”

“Yes. All because they got too close to the Head Shop.”

Bai Xiang fell silent, then said, “Observe and treat them with ordinary methods first.”

“If there’s no improvement, bring them to the main hall in batches early tomorrow.”

That way she could conveniently test out these eyes, save people in the process, and not waste any time.

But Xu Shu knew nothing of that hidden reason. He only took it as Bai Xiang being kind and righteous, and his impression of her was already quietly turning into something like worship.

“There’s one more matter,” he added. “The disciple you asked me to keep an eye on, Liu Yong—he does seem to have had the corresponding technique infused into him by Mr. Qin.”

He described Liu Yong’s behavior after approaching the Head Shop once through, then fell silent, waiting for Bai Xiang’s instructions on how to handle it.

“The Forget-Emotions Dao…” Bai Xiang’s brow smoothed slightly. “Don’t bother with him.”

“Treat him the same as the other disciples. Just see what kind of talent he has for cultivating the Refining Qi Art.”

If he turns out to be talented, are we going to snatch a disciple from Qingping Sword Master?

Xu Shu didn’t dare voice that thought. He only turned it over in his mind, took her meaning, and withdrew.

The Forget-Emotions Dao…

Bai Xiang, however, drifted once more toward the laboratory in the back mountain, repeating the term in her mind as she went.

She had wondered before why Chu Weiping’s cultivation of The Taishang Slaying-Emotions Life-Preserving Scripture could boost his combat strength so quickly.

Although his avatar Qin Wuyang had given her a detailed explanation at the time, it had still felt like looking at flowers through a fog; many of the principles remained hazy.

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But now that her Three Flowers had merged and she had learned the secret of the Divine Pool, looking back on these matters gave her new insight.

This so-called Forget-Emotions Dao was probably just another path related to a Divine Pool…

Similar to a Demon Pool, but with the difference that it anthropomorphized the concept. In the process of restructuring the rules along this path, being “heartless and desireless” became equivalent to the so-called “principle of the Demon Pool.” Once the new rules solidified, they could immediately form an independent lineage and break free of the constraints of the main world’s order.

That was why the Qingping method could have so many seemingly miraculous properties.

If she was not mistaken, once Chu Weiping comprehended what she had left him, reaching this realm would be just a single thought away.

She just wasn’t sure which camp his insights—blending the Path of Qi, Dao-Void Methods, and sword dao—would ultimately be counted under, or whom he would choose to work with and whom he would choose to oppose.

Having understood things to this level, Bai Xiang actually had some basic ideas about an Immortal Venerable’s methods and how those at this realm fought others of the same rank.

The gap between an Immortal Venerable and cultivators below that level was enormous. Comparing it to how she had suppressed the Shenwu Immortal Dynasty that had once put such pressure on her after she returned, there was a clear sense of “if one does not become a Venerable, all sentient beings are as ants.”

She no longer even needed to descend from the void herself, sword in hand, to cut people down.

The difference lay in how much control one had over the Dao.

For her, this was the Dao.

The heart-aspect of her soul was the bone.

Returning to Origin and Transforming Qi was the flesh.

Taishang resonance was the skin.

Together with the hidden, inwardly stored soul-abilities, she had walked out a unique “Shaking the Void” Dao.

As for other people…

They were not like Bai Xiang, who had opened the legendary Hidden Spirit Orifice, but they could still fill the gap in their Three Flowers by condensing a Divine Pool, and that Divine Pool corresponded to the Dao they controlled.

“To forge disorder within ordered time and space, then turn that disorder into a killing move that is ordered only in relation to oneself and disordered toward everything outside—this ‘principle of the Divine Pool’ is the Immortal Venerables’ proudest method of protecting their Dao.”

That was Bai Xiang’s sketch of what an Immortal Venerable looked like in her mind. She believed that at this level, what decided battle between them was precisely the “principle of the Divine Pool.”

It came down to whose Divine Pool principle was stronger, more perfect, with fewer weaknesses that could be exploited once discovered. Whoever had that would seize the initiative in a fight.

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Why did that sound so much like solving the puzzle of a Demon Pool…

Thinking of that, Bai Xiang was slightly puzzled.

So was that why the Immortal Venerables of the Upper Realm all hid their heads and tails, so reluctant to show themselves and act?

To conceal the truth of their own Divine Pools?

To avoid revealing what kind of path they had condensed their Divine Pools along, so as not to let enemies find their weak points?

With these questions in mind, Bai Xiang sought out Ning Haiyun and Cui’er, took control of their true spirits, and interrogated them about Immortal Venerable Ningyuan’s Divine Pool.

“Don’t know…”

Cui’er’s answer was very hollow. “Everyone who knew that is already dead…”

“It’s an absolute secret that can’t possibly be told to anyone.”

Ning Haiyun’s answer was more specific.

“Even to me, and even to my few vicious older brothers, Father would never explain something like that clearly.”

After a few more questions, Bai Xiang was sure they really didn’t know.

At most, she could infer from some impressions of Immortal Venerable Ningyuan taking action that his Divine Pool was likely related to the soul.

In that case, he probably wasn’t all that formidable.

Bai Xiang came to that conclusion on her own.

Immortal Venerables really were powerful. The power of their Divine Pools was like stealing an exclusive rule from heaven and earth. Against enemies who hadn’t reached that level and didn’t understand the principle, it truly didn’t matter how many came; she could kill as many as came, and no amount of numbers would make a difference.

But when both sides had mastered such methods, what it came down to was whether the Divine Pool principle could be seen through, whose Divine Pool was tougher.

And from the two women’s descriptions, there were actually some Immortal Venerables in the Upper Realm who walked around with great swagger.

They didn’t care in the least if others knew how their Divine Pools had been formed or how their rules operated, nothing like the sneaky Immortal Venerable Ningyuan who had to keep his “mystique” tucked away.

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That was a sign of insecurity, proof that the quality of his Divine Pool wasn’t solid enough and he was terrified that if it were cracked, he wouldn’t be able to fight.

That included his daughter, Ning Haiyun. The path she had chosen was actually to tamper with recipes and create the concept of “like-eats-like.”

If she really managed to condense it and become an Immortal Venerable, then when she brought out her methods in battle they would probably amount to interference targeting the soul and will, making people salivate, their stomachs growling, unconsciously wanting to eat human brains like the victims bewitched by the Head Shop.

Methods like that were naturally terrifying against those below Immortal Venerable, but in a fight between peers, how much damage could they really do?

Looked at this way, the difference in combat power between individuals under the same Immortal Venerable title could probably stretch across several Western Oceans.

The strong Immortal Venerables feared nothing.

The weaker ones chose their words and actions carefully.

Weaker still were those like Ning Haiyun, whose condensed Divine Pool was utterly baffling. In a same-level clash, she would probably lose in a single move.

Following that train of thought, Bai Xiang realized this all counted as a kind of secret as well.

Ning Haiyun herself had no idea.

Otherwise, with her lofty pride, there was no way she would have been so desperate as to grab at whatever came her way. She would definitely have chosen a stronger path to condense her Divine Pool.

This isn’t a road I like…

Having further penetrated and deduced the mysteries of the Divine Pool, Bai Xiang felt deeply disappointed.

She had always believed in the idea of cultivating both life and fate, of great power returning to one’s own body. She disliked these roundabout methods that relied on messy rules to take shortcuts.

In that case, the path of the Divine Pool could be set aside for now.

She glanced at the two of them again, just in time to see them each raise their dominant arms and stab their fingers into the other’s eye sockets, ruthlessly twisting. Both of them collapsed, their breaths cut off.

Bai Xiang gathered up their remaining souls and read through them once. After confirming there were no discrepancies, she prepared to leave.

To go find her little sister for their routine cultivation.