Volume 4, Chapter 64 – Setting Out

“Have you decided to go to Shenwu Heaven and investigate this matter, Aunt?”

On the way back to Listening-to-Rain Tower, Bai Zhuqing kept close behind Bai Xiang, her bright black eyes fixed on Bai Xiang’s profile the entire time.

She really was sensible. During Bai Xiang’s handling of the matter just now, aside from throwing her sword in warning at the very beginning, she had not done anything else to interrupt. She had simply watched quietly as Bai Xiang and Xiang Xian spoke, only unable to hold back from speaking until they were on the way back.

“Wu Qing and the others left some books behind…” Bai Xiang tried to find an excuse, trying to make this journey sound safer.

Besides, that angel Yiin seemed not to have much subjective consciousness. She did not know where those people were gathering exactly, so the only way to find them and settle accounts was to go through Shenwu Heaven.

It would be best if they, too, had designs on that place.

But Bai Zhuqing cut her off halfway through. “It was not about any books. It is that you are highly skilled in the way of souls and know how to extract the relevant memory fragments before a soul dissipates, right, Aunt?”

Bai Xiang stopped, turned her head to look at her, and said nothing, tacitly admitting it.

To put it bluntly, this was not really something too embarrassing to admit. During the invasion of the dojo, those Daoists from Purple Soul Monastery in Shenwu Heaven had spoken viciously themselves. Wang Changhe in particular had declared that he would extract everyone’s souls and refine them for use. At the very least, Bai Zhuqing was hardly unfamiliar with such things.

“I’ve always felt there was something a little strange about you, Aunt, especially how decisive you are at critical moments, as if you know the enemy’s plans for certain.” Bai Zhuqing smiled brightly at Bai Xiang. “So this is the ability you have!”

She does not seem afraid of me at all…

That struck Bai Xiang as odd, and she narrowed her eyes. “You do not think… that this ability of mine is out of place compared with other sentient beings?”

“How is it out of place?” Bai Zhuqing shook her head. “I only think that if something exists in this world, then it must have its reason for existing.”

“Aunt, do not think so much. You just need to know that my feelings for you… ahem! My feelings for you will never change!”

So now she was deliberately trying to comfort me.

Bai Xiang could not help reaching out and catching one of her braids in midair, tugging it a few times. The little girl complained at once, while a pleased little smile reappeared on Bai Xiang’s face.

It had to be said, Qing’er was very keenly perceptive in this regard.

Just like before, when I had yet to fully comprehend the Innate and could not completely grasp the whole of myself, she still had a vague instinctive sense that “I am myself,” and felt not the slightest sorrow over the dissipation or replacement of consciousness.

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It was the same this time. As Bai Xiang walked, reflecting on herself, she realized that she did not really want her younger sister to feel fear because of those overly inhuman parts of her.

And once someone started from “overly inhuman” and went on to think of other aspects, the result could easily become estrangement and distance. There had been no shortage of such examples in history.

What did that indicate?

Since when had I begun to care so much about her feelings, and specifically about how she felt toward me?

Out of habit, Bai Xiang instinctively denied the possibility that was closer to the truth. Instead, she attributed this feeling to “playing it safe,” that is, that “I do not want to lose an ideal Dao companion who can help advance my cultivation.”

Although Qing’er and I have already pledged ourselves to each other, I would never let myself become immersed in that.

It absolutely could not be that.

Thinking that to herself, Bai Xiang only bullied her sister more. While the girl was tidying one braid, Bai Xiang quietly circled around to the other side and reached out to pull that braid loose as well.

“Aunt, you are awful!”

Hearing the lively commotion ringing down the road, Bai Xiang could not help curling her lips upward, taking it as merely strengthening her Dao heart.

That night, Bai Zhuqing did not sleep very soundly. She was still a little worried and afraid, and those emotions were directed at Bai Xiang.

No matter how one put it, Bai Xiang was already what those people called an Immortal Venerable, a revered sovereign, but the Illusory Realms of the Upper Realm were still places that had once existed only in legend, places they had never set foot in.

The unknown was always a source of unease. She could never let go of her concern for Bai Xiang, and as she lay in bed at night she kept stealing glances at the hazy silhouette beside her, afraid that if she closed her eyes and opened them again, that soft and fragrant figure would be gone.

Then, when she opened her eyes yet again to look at Bai Xiang, she felt a swift waft of fragrance through the air, and suddenly Bai Xiang had gathered her into her arms.

“Afraid I will vanish and leave without saying goodbye?”

The low voice hummed in her ear, making Bai Zhuqing’s ear itch and her face heat up rapidly.

“I truly am worried that while I am gone, no one here will be able to protect this place completely.” Bai Xiang let out a soft sigh in the dark.

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She did have a plan to help Master break through, but now was not the time to use it.

That was being saved for the Nine Prefectures Sword Meet…

After thinking for a moment, she drew a long object from beneath the pillow, pried open her younger sister’s fingers, and placed it into her hand.

This… this was?

Of course Bai Zhuqing knew exactly what it was.

After all, the only thing Bai Xiang had ever kept beneath her pillow was her natal Dao sword, Feixiang Heaven.

“Aunt…?”

“While I am away, you are to keep this sword.” Bai Xiang covered her hand, helping her grip the sheath more firmly.

“I have the Tianxuan Sword to protect me. I will have no use for Feixiang Heaven on this trip.”

“It also happens that by leaving this sword within the Dao, if something urgent arises, I may be able to help you in person through this connection.”

Buzz, buzz.

Feixiang Heaven trembled, seeming faintly dissatisfied.

Bai Xiang flicked the sheath with a finger, and only then did it wilt and fall still.

“Sleep.” Bai Xiang’s breath seemed to draw closer.

“You know as well that this sword… is like an incarnation of myself.”

Whether it was Bai Xiang’s reassurance that worked, or whether holding Feixiang Heaven truly gave Bai Zhuqing a sense of security, when she closed her eyes again this time, her mind finally settled and she fell soundly asleep. By the time she opened them again, the bed was empty.

“Aunt…!”

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She sat up at once, only to feel something slip from her arms halfway through.

Looking down, she saw that it was Feixiang Heaven.

The ancient Yu sword rested quietly within its wooden sheath, swaying once beneath her gaze.

Turning back to the time before she woke, Bai Xiang had already risen, bathed, and chosen her travel clothes with particular care.

The “void” in her memories was a space that looked somewhat like the cosmos, but was not the cosmos, and it held many strange dangers.

It was not that Bai Xiang distrusted Guo Rongzhi’s shipbuilding abilities. She simply wished to be cautious, so underneath everything she chose to wear Starwater Company’s newest S-03 “Starlight Battlesuit.”

That was, in deep-space black and void purple.

The suit’s defining trait was how thin it was, thin enough to resemble a skintight leotard or even stockings. Over that, Bai Xiang put on her black robe-skirt again, hung the Tianxuan Sword at her waist, composed her appearance, and headed for the summit of Yuming Peak.

There, Guo Rongzhi and Xiang Xian were already waiting for her.

“I went to ask Sun Yaoming again, and he provided some information,” Xiang Xian said. “He said that as the phenomenon of Loss of Order intensifies, all Illusory Realm fragments separated from the main world have, from the moment of separation, already begun moving toward the end of their lives.”

“In other words, they rapidly shatter and are destroyed beneath the power of Void Tribulation.”

“And only the will of an Immortal Venerable, only an existence like that, one capable of condensing a divine pool and establishing rules that belong solely to itself, can shelter a domain within the void of Loss of Order and temporarily halt that process of destruction.”

“Shenwu Heaven is an old Illusory Realm on the verge of falling into ruin,” Bai Xiang finished for her. “As long as Shenwu Heaven continues to exist, that Emperor Wu is probably still alive.”

Xiang Xian nodded. “And that likewise means that whatever force dares act against them is equally confident it can keep Emperor Wu in check.”

This was her way of showing concern for me.

Bai Xiang pressed her lips together.

“I will investigate the matter there quickly and resolve it.”

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“If nothing unexpected happens, I will be back within a week.”

After saying this, the two followed Guo Rongzhi into the workshop, where they caught sight of a flying vessel, bright silver all over and shaped like a long shuttle.

The thing was not large, at most equivalent to an assault boat. Bai Xiang could not even stand inside it and could only lie sideways according to the angle of the vessel.

That could not be helped. The construction schedule had been rushed, and even so, this was the result of Guo Rongzhi staying up late over the plans, on top of help from many experts and scholars from Starwater Company.

“The operating system works like this…”

Once Bai Xiang sat inside, Guo Rongzhi began explaining the operating system to her.

It was very simple.

For Bai Xiang, who possessed the Jade Spirit, it was beginner-level material.

“The formation diagram has already been inscribed. As long as you nod, you can leave at any time.”

“Just in time, you said some time ago that you were going into seclusion. The news that you have come out has not spread yet, so we can simply act as if you still have not emerged.”

Bai Xiang nodded. “I am ready.”

Guo Rongzhi had her lower the canopy. He himself stepped back a few paces, took a small bottle from his sleeve, poured some powder onto the ground, then sent a palm strike forward with circulating Qi.

Boom!

A cluster of silver flame burst up from the workshop floor.

The flames gathered into a twisted formation diagram. Its appearance tore open the void, and the silver flying vessel actually began to sink little by little, disappearing in the blink of an eye.