Volume 4, Chapter 42 – Kidnapping

The simplified version of the Void-Imagination Divine Sword was quickly delivered into Bai Lianzhou’s hands by Bai Zhuqing.

In addition, there was a gigantic scroll painting that had taken Bai Xiang more than an hour to complete with a large calligraphy brush. She had named it Void Cicada.

Unrolled, the scroll revealed a landscape done in broken-ink style. At first glance there was not a single cicada to be seen. Only if one stared for a long time, really letting oneself sink into it, would one feel that the inkwork and lines concealed a hidden spirit. As one kept looking, it was as if the sound of cicadas began to buzz faintly in one’s ears, and one’s mental and physical energy quietly drained away.

This thing could already be called a “visualization chart” on the Path of Qi.

After carefully examining both items, Bai Lianzhou gave them an evaluation of “extremely brilliant.”

“The dojo has now established a Qi-Refining formula. For the moment, there is no worry about Qi-refining cultivation. What we are missing is a sword art that truly fits it.” Bai Lianzhou set down the sword manual and looked up at the waiting girl. “Go back and tell your sister not to overwork herself.”

Bai Lianzhou did not know this was the simplified version of Bai Xiang’s new creation. He simply assumed Bai Xiang was thinking wholeheartedly of the dojo, of all the disciples and fellow clansmen, and felt deeply moved inside.

He and Bai Shengju had discussed the old version of Shenming sword arts more than once.

A lot of people could see that the old sword art did not match very well with the current Shenming Qi-Refining Formula. Apart from a few moves from Only Regret Summer Is Short, which were quite useful, the rest of the forms mostly shackled one’s strength instead of expressing one’s cultivation on the Path of Qi.

But creating a new art to match a new Qi-Refining formula was not easy.

Take another Mountains-and-Rivers-ranked dojo as an example: how many sword arts had Benling Sword Dao accumulated?

Within Benling’s Thirty-Six Stance Arts, each stance contained a sword art.

And then there was the Shangqing sword. The reason Abbess Li Sheng could stand so high and see so far on the path of swordsmanship, piercing to the heart with many of her critiques, was because she had a broad view. As a child, she had spent no small amount of time in the scripture tower browsing the techniques of other sword schools.

That was all existing quantity building up until it became qualitative change.

And Bai Shengju and Bai Lianzhou? They had never had that kind of condition.

Even after Yuming Sword Dao merged in, with Yuming’s collection of strange books and sword arts no worse than any other sect’s, fattening up Shenming’s newly established Sword Scripture Pavilion and leaving many disciples drooling over it, constantly scheming to earn enough merit to exchange for time inside, those two men’s horizons from childhood did not change, nor did the habits of thought ingrained by practicing one single way from an early age.

If Bai Lianzhou were to evaluate himself, he would say he had “average talent.” Switching to the Path of Qi and cultivating to a realm close to a False Core had already burned through the accumulation of many years.

Teaching disciples was still within his ability, but asking him to refine Shenming sword arts based on the Shenming Qi-Refining Formula?

That was something he truly could not do.

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It was because he could not do it, because he had tried and knew exactly how difficult such a task was, that he was especially moved by Bai Xiang’s efforts.

In his view, Bai Xiang not only had to shoulder the duty of defense, dealing personally with many covert invaders from the Illusory Realms, she also had to bear the pressure of the Nine Prefectures Sword Gathering and strain her talent in a short time to raise her cultivation. That was already a very heavy burden.

And their lot still made her divide her attention to help with teaching disciples, which really did feel like dragging her down.

“It’s actually not that bad.” Bai Zhuqing could sense Second Uncle’s attitude and felt proud of this gratitude and praise. Her face bloomed into a bright smile. “Sis says she did not put in that much effort. Maybe she just happens to have extra talent in this area. Second Uncle doesn’t need to worry too much.”

Bai Zhuqing did not really know what “not much effort” meant in Bai Xiang’s mouth, but from Bai Xiang’s casual attitude, she could more or less guess.

After all, when Bai Xiang had given her the Clear Heart Formula, she had acted the same way.

After enough times, the girl had finally believed that this was not modesty.

Once she was done basking in borrowed glory, Bai Zhuqing’s expression grew a bit conflicted. “Having a new sword art to practice is great but, Second Uncle…”

“Hm?”

“Don’t you think ‘Void-Imagination Divine Sword’ is a really weird name?”

“You want to change it back to ‘Shenming Sword’?” Bai Lianzhou did not immediately catch her meaning and quickly shook his head. “There’s no need. Shenming Sword was always just a collective name outsiders used for our sword arts. Besides, this is a technique your sister created. It is perfectly natural that she should have the right to name it.”

That’s not actually what I meant…

Bai Zhuqing bit lightly on her lower lip.

Who cares about that broken label “Shenming Sword”? It was just that it was rare to have a chance to name something like this, and it might even go down in history. Why pick such a low-key name?

Call it something like “Great Evolution Sky-Trembling Shenming Qi-Sword,” or “Taishang Sky-Trembling Shenming Sword Formula.” Wouldn’t either of those sound more impressive?

Sis Xiang was perfect in every way, except her naming sense was really nothing to write home about.

“Stop thinking about that nonsense. If you’ve got spare time, you might as well go see your mother more often.” Bai Lianzhou suddenly changed the subject and started scolding Bai Zhuqing’s way of life.

“Your devotion to cultivation is ambition, and that is a good thing.”

“But your father and mother are both living in Zhen’nan too, not far away, and you haven’t brought Leying to visit them even once in all this time. That is somewhat inappropriate.”

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Bai Zhuqing’s parents, Bai Guanshan and Zhu Ying, had been busy with business lately, so they were not living on the mountain. Instead, they were staying at a hotel in the Dao city, convenient for contacting companies and negotiating deals.

In truth, Bai Shengju had wanted his eldest son Bai Guanshan to come back and practice sword.

It was not that Bai Guanshan lacked martial talent. It was purely that Bai Nianchan’s death back then had hit him too hard and made him decide that practicing sword had no future. In a fit of anger, he had abandoned martial arts for business and later started a small company.

But when the matter was brought up, Bai Guanshan refused.

His general meaning was that someone in the family had to do this sort of thing. If he also practiced sword, and since the Bai family had hardly any relatives by marriage now and could not trust outsiders, then no one would be left to do it.

So he had not come back to train with the sword.

These days, Bai Guanshan really did count as somebody out in the world. Not only was he Vice Director of Maozhou’s Transport Directorate, at the same rank as Shen Xuelan’s father, he was also on close terms with many officials of various offices. Everyone knew that if you wanted to expand your company into Maozhou, you had to build a relationship with him first.

For Shenming Sword Dao and the Bai family’s current stable life, Bai Guanshan had contributed quite a lot.

Bai Lianzhou saw all of this, but he was not good at expressing himself and was too embarrassed to visit personally. This was the only way he could make up for it a little.

And even if he did not say these things, Bai Shengju would scold Bai Zhuqing next time he caught her anyway.

Better to give her a heads-up himself and push her to make a trip. Then the scolding would be lighter when it came.

“I would like to…” At the mention of this, Bai Zhuqing’s face fell. “But those two are busier than Sis these days. It’s not that I don’t want them. I feel more like they don’t want me and Leying.”

“Don’t talk nonsense.” Bai Lianzhou’s face darkened at once.

“No respect at all.”

“If you don’t want Grandpa to catch you and make you kneel in the main hall, you’re going this afternoon.”

Having thus shooed Bai Zhuqing away, Bai Lianzhou looked again at the manual and the huge scroll, thinking about hanging the scroll on the wall of the inner room of the training hall later, so only meritorious disciples would be allowed in to comprehend it.

Bzzz, bzzz.

Just then, his phone vibrated.

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He picked it up, glanced at the screen a few times, and frowned slightly.

“Taixu Monastery, Qinglan Immortal Sect, and Mingyuan Temple have all turned up together to deliver gifts and socialize…?”

Taixu Monastery… if he remembered right, that was a sect from the Illusory Realms. That Yu Gong of Taixu had once challenged Shangqing Sword Dao and ended up losing to Leng Qiu’s blade.

Those people had been watching from the sidelines the whole time, ignoring Maozhou completely.

For them to all suddenly show up at once meant that Xiang’er’s battle record had finally started spreading under the surface.

“…So this is why you dragged me out?”

The scene shifted. As the street scenery slid backward outside the window, Bai Leying sat in the passenger seat with a deeply sulky look on her face.

The theatrical movie of that girl band was premiering this afternoon.

She had finished her sword practice homework ahead of time and made plans with her friends to go watch it together. Being forced to stand them up felt like complete garbage.

“Second Uncle wasn’t wrong, though,” Bai Zhuqing said as she drove. “We really should go see Mom and Dad.”

Strictly speaking, she was not yet eighteen and, under the laws of Great Yu, could not even take a driving test. But Maozhou’s legal system had changed too much under the crush of demon disasters. In times like these, mechanically applying the old codes would only cripple efficiency. A lot of laws were laws in name only now. As long as nothing happened, no one cared.

“Hmph…” Bai Leying slanted a look at her big sister and teased, “You only act tough with me.”

“Be honest. How are things progressing with Sis Xiang?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Bai Zhuqing’s face flushed all the way to the tips of her ears. She turned her head and scolded, “You’re too young to be talking like that. I told you to stop listening to those trashy bands…”

Boom.

Before she finished speaking, both of them felt the sedan shudder.

No… it wasn’t the car shaking. It was the ground, the entire street.

What just happened?

In one fluid motion, Bai Zhuqing pulled over, flung open the door, and snatched the Clear Mist Sword from where it was strapped to the seat back. Standing at the side of the road, she scanned the surroundings and saw, about twenty meters ahead on the left, a shop window shattered, black smoke pouring out from inside.

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What was that?

It looked like a little restaurant… had there been a gas explosion?

Prompted by the Jade Spirit, she shifted her attention to several black-hatted men dressed like Inspectorate officers.

There were four of them, all in standard Inspectorate uniforms, rushing into the smoke and carrying one injured person after another out.

Wasn’t the Inspectorate short on manpower? How had they gotten here so fast?

Bai Zhuqing frowned, puzzled.

Then, in the next second, her eyes went wide. One of the people laid out on a stretcher was Liu Yong.

He had been eating in there too?

Wait, what was this—

Liu Yong was clearly unconscious, lying motionless on the stretcher. The men quickly lifted the stretcher into a waiting vehicle and, ignoring the other injured still howling on the roadside, all four of them climbed into the car, started it up, and prepared to leave.

Something was wrong.

Bai Zhuqing gritted her teeth, jumped back into the driver’s seat, and restarted her own car.

“Sis?”

Bai Leying stared in shock, still not understanding what was happening.

“Buckle your seatbelt,” Bai Zhuqing said through clenched teeth.

“And call Sis directly.”

“Tell her someone is kidnapping a dojo disciple and she needs to send support right away.”