Volume 4, Chapter 99 – Thoughts

Bai Xiang did not return to the great ship as a guest again. Instead, she stayed aboard this medium-sized flying vessel the whole time, following the fleet as it tore through the void until they came back into contact with the air of the main world.

Just by looking out through the window at the scenery, she could tell this was clearly not Great Yu territory. All around them stretched a vast sea, and there was no telling which body of water the exit had ended up skewing toward.

Senior Brother Guo seemed to have told me before that many passages are unstable. The entrance might be at this spot today, but when you come back out tomorrow, it may have shifted somewhere else. That is all because of the effects of Loss of Order, which makes spatiotemporal displacement random.

The void crystals used in building flying vessels, however, could reduce the degree of that random interference. Even if a displacement occurred, it would not cause any real loss, and certainly not the kind of disaster where your upper body ends up in the west while your lower body gets shifted off to the east.

Still, for those in the Venerable ranks, this level of Loss of Order was hardly anything. She took He Xian, Zhu Canghai, and Monk Zhuye with her to find Meng Qiaosheng for a final farewell, and to thank him in passing for all his arrangements along the way.

“Master Bai…”

At the moment of parting, Meng Qiaosheng looked as though he wanted to say something but was holding back.

Bai Xiang had already turned to leave, but seeing this, she paused and said frankly, “If Young Master Meng has something on his mind, you may as well speak plainly.”

“I have heard some rumors saying that Master Bai has not only founded her own Dao lineage, but also inherited Emperor Feng’s ideals,” Meng Qiaosheng said. “I wonder how much truth there is to those rumors.”

Oh?

Bai Xiang gave him a half-smiling look and said, “If I intended to answer truthfully, would Young Master Meng have the courage to know?”

At that instant, Meng Qiaosheng’s expression changed abruptly. He felt as though a sharp burst of golden light had suddenly exploded from those lovely golden pupils of Bai Xiang’s, as if countless sword-lights were interweaving together, very nearly dragging him into an illusion.

He managed to steady himself, but he could not help showing a slight loss of composure, and inwardly he was even more astonished by her strength. This title of “Master” had certainly not been given to her for nothing.

“I only spoke because I have observed that Young Master Meng is humble and courteous, and I wished in good faith to remind you,” Bai Xiang said, inclining her head slightly to him. “If I offended you even a little, I hope you will not take it to heart.”

Steward Li standing nearby looked somewhat displeased, but Meng Qiaosheng remembered his mother’s words and knew Bai Xiang was probably being sincere.

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There are things that become a crime simply by knowing them…

If she is such a sensitive figure, then why did Mother still dare to have me come into contact with her?

At that thought, Meng Qiaosheng paused for a moment, then immediately put a smile back on his face and cupped his hands to Bai Xiang. “How could I possibly blame you? Master Bai is virtuous, benevolent, and mindful of propriety, with something of the old bearing of middle antiquity. Still, I would like to offer one reminder: some old ways may not necessarily be good in the present age.”

He then turned at once to Steward Li. “Please see our honored guests off, Mister Li.”

Then he turned back to Bai Xiang. “Master Bai, please. I will not see you off any farther.”

There really was no need. Setting aside the fact that Bai Xiang and the others were all in the Venerable ranks and could return to Great Yu by physically fleeing through the void in no great amount of time, even the medium-sized flying vessel they possessed was efficient enough to fly them back on its own.

“According to the main world map, we are currently in the southeastern waters, in the Storm Ocean,” He Xian said from the control cabin, constantly comparing regional features as he looked down from high above at the islands and landforms below. “We can return to the Exalted One’s territory within three hours.”

Standing behind him, Bai Xiang nodded and left without saying anything more.

Monk Zhuye thought for a moment, then followed after her as well. It was obvious the two of them had something they wanted to discuss in private.

At that moment, He Xian shot Zhu Canghai a look, only to receive a baffled glare in return.

“Old He, why do you keep looking at me?”

Because I’m annoyed that you don’t understand how to flatter people, so that bald monk seized all the initiative first!

He Xian looked just short of beating his chest and stamping his feet. He could not understand how he had gone mad in the first place and ended up sworn brothers with Shen Quan and Zhu Canghai.

Of the two, Shen Quan had been far too sly, while Zhu Canghai was far too stiff. True, it had been convenient that whenever He Xian wanted to do something bad, the man never objected. But now that I can’t get away, shouldn’t you know better than to help the two of us seek out a brighter future?

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“Oh…” Seeing his expression, Zhu Canghai narrowed his eyes. “So you resent me for being sparing with words along the way, and for refusing to grovel before Master Bai.”

“You can hardly call it groveling. That sounds far too ugly.” He Xian’s face turned awkward. “A fine bird chooses the right tree to roost in. You and I are both tired of a drifting life. Since we are going to be driven by someone either way, wouldn’t it be far better to find an enlightened master?”

“Provided,” Zhu Canghai said, his voice lowering to the faintest whisper, “that this enlightened master can stay alive for a bit longer.”

Hm?

He Xian froze.

“It’s not as though you and I have never seen powerful figures fall,” Zhu Canghai said, shaking his head. “To say nothing of distant cases, just look at old Shen Quan, and that Blood Soul Heaven warden who specialized in the soul path. Didn’t they both die in Shenwu Heaven? At best, old Shen Quan escaped with a few remnant soul fragments. Without a hundred years, he probably won’t recover.”

He Xian frowned and stared at Zhu Canghai as if meeting him for the first time. “What exactly are you trying to say?”

“The key to surviving in the Void Realm is not necessarily strength,” Zhu Canghai said frankly. “Master Bai is certainly strong, but she herself stands in the middle of the vortex.”

“You and I, of course, would never dare put up any resistance. But it’s best not to take on the sort of work that makes one stand out too much.”

On the other side, Monk Zhuye found Bai Xiang and bowed to her with his palms pressed together.

“Your Highness.”

“I already told you, there is no need to call me that.”

Bai Xiang decided to correct him one last time, then said, “Can you tell how dangerous my current situation is?”

Monk Zhuye bowed again. “Perfectly clearly.”

“True enough.” Bai Xiang nodded. “Other people’s attitudes and certain things they say are already right there in the open. Even those who wish to be on good terms with me act with extreme caution. There is no need to ask. There are differing opinions among them, and the great majority do not think I can survive the tribulation.”

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“Those two are well-behaved because I have taken in their true spirits. You alone came looking for me of your own accord back then.”

Looking down at the monk’s bald head, she frowned and asked, “What are you after?”

Is it really only for an ideal?

If this had been a member of the Spirit-Command Sect in the age of the Xuan Dynasty, she might have believed it. But the Spirit-Command Sect’s inheritance now had basically only Zhuye as a single surviving shoot. He had never even seen the Xuan Dynasty’s golden age, so on what grounds would he throw himself all in to assist her?

She had not even felt like asking before, but comparing Zhuye’s attitude now with the Silver Sea Merchant Guild’s only made the contrast more obvious, and she found herself unable to understand what exactly was going on in his head.

Monk Zhuye raised his head and said, “My master once told me that my mother gave birth to me at the very moment she was being eaten.”

Hm?

Bai Xiang was startled.

“That day, he only happened to be passing by. When he saw the scene, he could not help intervening. He saved me, still an infant, from the demon’s mouth, and that is how the Zhuye of today came to exist.”

Then he stood up and looked at Bai Xiang with a strange, glittering gaze. “You too have seen Shenwu Heaven, Exalted One. You have seen the fate of such a ruined little world. Do you still have any illusions about the order of the Upper Realm?”

What illusions could there possibly be?

Bai Xiang said nothing, but the expression in her furrowed brow was enough to explain everything.

They said the Demon Court suppressed contradictions, but all that really meant was preventing the human race from being openly slaughtered.

The Demon Court ignored all sorts of calamities and disasters. The trade in human organs flourished so openly it did not even need to be concealed. And people still wanted to speak of Upper Realm order? To put it bluntly, it was nothing more than a pack of monsters wearing human skins, amusing themselves from positions of power. It was nothing less than the collapse of all rites and order.

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Then again, I’m not exactly qualified to speak of monsters.

Looking out through the window at the ocean below, Bai Xiang shook her head inwardly as well.

If an age of demon rule is like this, how much better is an age of human rule?

The Yu Emperor Sacred Dynasty is an age of human rule, and yet it shows nothing but senility and incompetence.

True, that is somewhat better than an age of demon rule. But she, as someone who had seen modern civilized society, could hardly compare the two only by asking which was less rotten.

“But I have heard of it, a dynasty where the ancient rites still endured and the canons of music still survived!”

Monk Zhuye nodded hard.

“It was very brief, and even invited attacks from every direction, but no one can say it never appeared, or that it never succeeded!”

“This poor monk does not ask that Your Highness inherit Xuandi’s ambition. But based only on the words you said to the Wu Emperor, I am willing to believe it. In all this world, the only one with the ability to set chaos aright is Your Highness!”

So he’s really trying to speak from the depths of his heart to me now…

Bai Xiang narrowed her eyes at the bald monk and suddenly said, “But the Xuan Dynasty is already dead.”

Monk Zhuye froze in an instant.

Then he saw Bai Xiang’s lips curl slightly, and in that moment she revealed a kind of spirit and bearing that was difficult to put into words.

“Before I met you,” she said, “that is exactly what I thought.”