Volume 4, Chapter 34 – Urgency

Cui Yuanhao was not dead.

Before she even truly landed in the square before the mountain gate, Bai Xiang already knew from Feixiang Heaven’s feedback.

Feixiang Heaven could run the rules of her soul-abilities inside its blade because she had forged and sacrificed it using the old Sword Dao methods.

Although the old Sword Dao had ultimately failed, by a twist of fate her fresh blood had soaked into the sword’s interior, and actual biological tissue and nerve tissue had grown within, making Feixiang Heaven formally part of the “Bai Xiang concept.”

For that reason, any remnant souls and blood slurry that were absorbed into the sword had their continued existence tied entirely to Bai Xiang’s will, with no room for argument at all.

By relying on this ability, Bai Xiang had completely wiped out Dao Steward Cui’s remaining true spirit. In theory, his lifetime of memories should now have flowed gently into her mind, but in reality… there was nothing. Bai Xiang couldn’t catch even the faintest hint of memory.

There was only one explanation: Cui Yuanhao was not dead. He had likely torn off a piece of his soul and hidden it in some kind of artifact as a precaution, and was using that “extreme cold begets flame” rule to resurrect somewhere else.

If that was the case, then his resurrected self and her physical location should now be a long way apart. And having had a taste of her power, this revival had likely cost him dearly. For the short term at least, she probably wouldn’t be seeing him again.

Turning these thoughts over, Bai Xiang touched down at the mountain gate.

The first to rush over was Bai Zhuqing. She charged toward her with Xiang Xian and Bai Shengju, grabbed Bai Xiang’s arm to support her, then stared wide-eyed at her left arm, voice trembling. “Sister Xiang… you’re hurt?!”

The upward lift of her tone held pure bewilderment. She truly hadn’t expected Bai Xiang to be injured.

Her Sister Xiang had never shown a single trace of injury in front of them…

Bai Xiang lifted her pierced left arm. She could see that the surface of the wound had already scabbed over, and the inside was healing even faster. The dried blood on the skin made it look frightening, but in a few days it would be as good as new.

That was purely the effect of her “natural recovery.” A normal person, even an Immortal Venerable, wouldn’t heal this fast. But she had cultivated two copies of the Sun-Chasing Scripture and returned her fleshly body to the Innate, which was why she had this kind of terrifying regeneration.

In fact, if she wished, she could right now use her soul-abilities to force the wound and internal damage to complete recovery.

But after condensing her Three Flowers and merging essence, Qi, and spirit into one, she had gained a vague new sense. Something told her that at times like this, she should follow “the Dao follows nature” and let her body recuperate according to its own restorative power. That was the most appropriate thing for her path forward.

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There was no enemy left to deal with at the moment anyway, so she didn’t mind and simply let the wound heal on its own.

She might not care, but the onlookers certainly did.

“All disciples back to your dorms! Don’t crowd around here!” Xiang Xian immediately drove off the disciples gathering around, then, together with Bai Shengju and the core elders, escorted Bai Xiang back to the main hall, taking great care to keep anyone from seeing the blood on her hand.

At first, Bai Xiang found this overprotectiveness very hard to get used to, but she quickly realized that her master and grandfather simply did not want to let one particular message get out—that “the Shenming Dao Master can bleed.”

Even setting aside the current chaos, even in a time of peace, injuries to a sect’s core fighting strength were top-secret matters to be tightly concealed in the competition between dojos.

There was no “why” to it—only because your enemies really would go digging for such secrets.

They would move heaven and earth to find out how you got injured, what exactly caused it, then use that to infer every detail of the battle, hoping to uncover some weakness they could target.

Bai Xiang herself didn’t feel that the dojo’s enemies could figure out much from a little blood, but she wasn’t about to reveal the secrets of her soul-abilities to anyone. So she simply let them block the news.

Back in the hall, Xiang Xian, skilled in medicine, personally washed away the blood and bandaged the wound for her. After she’d endured a round of concerned greetings and fussing over, Bai Xiang finally had the time to explain everything clearly about Sun Yaoming, Tianfu Mountain, and Cui Yuanhao’s line.

“So there are humans in the outer Illusory Realms as well,” Bai Shengju muttered, brows furrowed, though they soon smoothed out again.

Honestly speaking, Bai Shengju was the most conservative and traditional among them. The fact that he had still remained loyal to the court even after the Bai family’s unjust persecution years ago was proof enough.

The discovery that demons were colluding behind the court had shocked him greatly. If there really were orthodox human powers surviving in those Illusory Realms, he would actually lean toward working with them to drive out and suppress all demonic filth and strange evils.

But Tianfu Mountain had no business laying a hand on Xiang’er!

Bai Shengju snorted coldly in his heart. When he looked up again, his eyes had narrowed to dangerous slits.

“The situation is murky right now, and many forces are still lying low,” Xiang Xian said with a shake of her head. “But these people have already come running to win Xiang’er over. It seems this peace won’t last long.”

She could see it clearly. Even though many Illusory Realm factions had come out challenging and making a name for themselves since June, that was only the prelude to a major upheaval. In essence, it was still probing. No one had gone all out yet.

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Knowing that Bai Xiang’s injury was no real problem and that she had defeated an Immortal Venerable-level opponent in this fight, they were reassured—but they also couldn’t help feeling a surge of pressure.

Bai Xiang—Xiang’er—could bleed.

They had all seen it with their own eyes.

Right now, the entire dojo and all of Maozhou relied on Bai Xiang’s martial power for protection. If one day something happened to her…?

Under that weight of urgency, no one was in the mood to talk much. After each checking on Bai Xiang, they withdrew in turn. There was no need to ask: they were all going into seclusion to cultivate.

Even Bai Shengju had that attitude; Bai Zhuqing needed no explanation.

Before leaving, the girl took one long look at her elder sister, who was still speaking with their Grandmaster, and made a firm promise to herself.

One day, I’ll be strong enough to protect Sister.

One day, I… I’ll drop the “Sister” from “Sister Xiang”!

With her resolve set, the girl gripped the Clear-Mist Sword and turned away, almost as if she were afraid that if she looked a moment longer, she wouldn’t be able to leave at all.

Of course, Xiang Xian saw all of this. She glanced at Bai Xiang, half amused. “…When are you planning to explain things to Peak Lord Bai?”

She had long since noticed the “sisterly bond” between Bai Xiang and Bai Zhuqing.

She hadn’t said anything, partly because she’d thought it was no big deal for two girls to fool around a little, and partly because she’d felt they were still young—once their minds matured, they would naturally straighten things out.

But that relationship had lasted to this very day.

Bai Zhuqing might not understand where the line was, but Bai Xiang definitely wasn’t just playing around.

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Xiang Xian finally took this twisted romance seriously and was curious how Bai Xiang planned to break the news to Old Master Bai.

Old Bai was very traditional…

If he found out, wouldn’t he blow his beard out and glare holes in people?

“We’ll just stall him.” Bai Xiang’s expression was utterly unconcerned. “As the order collapses and the world falls into chaos, Grandpa will see more and more strange things.”

“Once he’s seen enough and gone numb, this won’t be anything.”

Good grief.

Xiang Xian’s eyes widened.

So that was another way to interpret the “wear the old man down” tactic?

But… it did make sense.

Thinking of her own experiences, Xiang Xian had to admit the tactic did have its logic.

If this had been years ago and she’d caught Bai Xiang doing something like this, she would definitely have scolded her, forbidding her from seeing Bai Zhuqing again.

But now…

After all the strange events and betrayals she’d been through, this kind of fooling around hardly seemed worth mentioning.

All she wanted now was some peace in their days; she had little patience for rules.

“This is what you asked for.”

Xiang Xian unhooked another sword from her belt.

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“Your uncle had someone send it.”

“And for what it’s worth, his business is doing quite well these days.”

She also took out two bottles of pills and handed them to Bai Xiang, then tidied the hair at her forehead, took a long look at her earrings, and finally turned to leave.

“Master worries about far too many things.”

Bai Xiang could naturally see what weighed on Xiang Xian’s mind and couldn’t help shaking her head inwardly.

Xiang Xian’s Path of Qi cultivation had long since fully transformed, reaching the False Core Realm—that same level Bai Xiang had broken through to on the night before the Qizhou University sword duel.

With her talent and comprehension, plus the aid of Jade Spirit and Bai Xiang personally explaining her own insights on breaking through, the Core Realm shouldn’t have been so difficult.

Bai Xiang suspected that Xiang Xian simply had too many concerns, muddling and tainting her desire for the Dao.

But there was nothing she could do about that.

Talking sense might work on a girl like Bai Zhuqing.

But Master was already of a certain age, and her experience might be richer than Bai Xiang’s. Words like that would never get through to her.

Lifting her bandaged arm for another look, Bai Xiang pressed her lips together and suddenly felt that her wound was actually a good thing.

It could give everyone a hard jolt of motivation.

Maybe Master would break through as soon as she went back.