Volume 4, Chapter 104 – Traces of Turmoil Reappear

As she walked along on her way to find Bai Shengju, Bai Xiang was still turning matters of cultivation over in her mind.

“So it seems that only by going through that whole process, only after crossing that ‘threshold,’ can my soul-abilities briefly flow into Qing’er’s body.”

“And that state seems to grow more unstable the more often it occurs, lasting for a shorter and shorter time.”

“Is that because we entered it too frequently within a fixed span of time, or because as Qing’er grows stronger, she is gradually developing a resistance to this kind of control?”

There were still a whole series of ideas she had not yet verified, and most of them would require time and observation before she could be sure. Bai Xiang was not especially anxious about it. On the contrary, her mood was extremely light.

Certainly not because she and her younger sister had both tasted certain things.

Rather, because this meant the problem at the root of Bai Zhuqing’s inner demon, namely the issue of the progress she longed for, could now be solved at its source.

Take a simple example… Suppose there were now a Path of Qi cultivator who had cultivated all the way to the same Origin Realm as Bai Xiang. Would that person’s combat power really be enough to compare with Bai Xiang’s?

Of course not. A great deal of Bai Xiang’s current strength had been built around her soul-abilities as the core. Those sword formulas, divine abilities, and movement arts, without soul-abilities coordinating them at the center, would simply get another person killed if they tried to train as she did.

People were just different. The same move, the same tool, the same knowledge, would produce completely different results in different hands. Sometimes that gap could even be greater than the gap between a person and an animal, to the point where one could hardly understand how such a principle could exist in the world.

Not everyone can cultivate as I do. That is true.

Even if soul-abilities can comb through and set Qing’er’s body in order, her upper limit and her realm still have to be cultivated by herself. That too is true.

But I am not demanding that much. Even under the worst possible outcome, even if as Qing’er’s soul grows stronger, her body increasingly rejects this connection until one day I can no longer control her at all, at the very least, in the earlier realms she will still be able to advance by leaps and bounds.

With this connection as her safeguard, Qing’er can also be a little bolder in cultivation.

Rеаⅾ oո ΚαtRеαⅾіոɡСafe

Because no matter what kind of hidden injuries she leaves behind, they can all be corrected with soul-abilities once the connection is established.

Even those common bits of Void Realm knowledge and reasoning, such as the idea that the Hidden Field Orifice and the Hidden Heart Orifice are best manifestly refined at the same time, or else one of them will sink into obscurity and become difficult to locate in the future, no longer apply to Qing’er.

Once this connection exists, the path ahead of her is effectively free of bottlenecks.

As long as she can keep visualizing me, learn all the routes of my circulation, and then use those resonances to manifestly refine the corresponding acupoints and meridians, then so long as her physique and mental state permit it, she could even use the Great Medicine of the Human Body she excavates to leap straight beyond the Golden Core in an instant.

The reason I only opened the Hidden Field Orifice for her this time, and not more, is partly because Qing’er was already able to sense the Hidden Field Orifice vaguely on her own, so it suits her best at her current stage, and partly because her body’s current strength is still insufficient.

Her cultivation has advanced too far beyond the normal sequence.

Those heaven-pride cultivators usually only start worrying about hidden acupoints after their Dao-Void Methods have reached the thunder-tribulation stage, that is, at around the same level as a Sword Lord. Before today, Bai Zhuqing was only at the eighth layer of Qi Refining, which was merely equivalent to a Sword Dao cultivator who had just entered the Divine Fetus stage and begun the core tribulation. Even if her body-tempering progress was ahead of that, Bai Xiang had no intention of taking too much of a risk.

This sort of thing cannot be rushed.

It just so happens that I’ve now learned the Empty Calamity Soul-Guarding Chapter from the Xuandi Scripture. From here on, I can pass on more of the key points of soul-vision of the Body-scape to her.

Only a strong divine soul can command an exceptionally powerful body. If she wants to accompany me all the way and follow me to the far shore’s end, then there is absolutely no sense in abandoning any one of the Three Flowers and Origin Orifices. All of them must be brought to perfection.

Bai Xiang walked all the way through the dojo, her mind occupied the whole time. Occasionally she passed disciples or instructors. They would freeze for a moment before realizing who she was, then bow to her in alarm and respect. With Jade Spirit assisting her, she would nod in return, so as not to be discourteous.

Thus she made her way into the inner court of the dojo, and the first thing Bai Xiang saw was a row of very familiar blue stone paving.

Ahead lay the new courtyard that belonged to Bai Shengju, but the layout of this path…

Rеaⅾ oո КαtRеaⅾіոɡСαfе

It was almost exactly the same as in the old dojo, the very path that led up the steps and toward the dojo’s main hall.

Blue stone paving stretched ahead, with camphor trees and bamboo groves scattered on both sides.

Bai Xiang spread out Taishang Perception and even noticed that, in several familiar spots within the woods, the ornamental rockeries had been moved here too. Along the broken edges, just as before, low walls of stacked stone bricks had been built to about knee height, with a bottomless abyss beyond.

Grandfather truly is a nostalgic man.

Shaking her head inwardly, Bai Xiang continued forward, only to find with some helplessness that even the dojo’s main hall had been recreated. There were even some of the old disciples from Chilong Circuit she had once known, sparring and training there.

It really is exactly the same. Surely they didn’t actually move over every last brick and tile?

“Dao Master!”

“Dao Master…!”

Her arrival broke the calm. The sparring in the training ground came to an immediate halt, and a whole crowd of disciples hurried over to greet her. Some looked frightened and confused, but many more had excitement shining in their eyes.

“Dao Master! Now that we’re a Mountains-and-Rivers-ranked dojo too, does that mean we’ll definitely be invited to take part in that new Sword Meet, the Dao-Void Martial Tournament?”

“We’ve heard that Benling Dao and Shangqing Dao are arriving tonight. Are they coming to compete with us in advance? Is that competition going to be the selection for which disciples get taken to the tournament?”

They were all young people. Once the formalities were out of the way, they were not that restrained. And after the successive calamities, Bai Xiang’s standing in their hearts was already close to mythic. Every one of them looked at her with burning intensity, each of them hoping to be chosen and taken along.

That was only natural. Lately, internet access had been opened back up, and many disciples had the habit of going online. They had not suffered a little ridicule and mockery from netizens of other provinces.

In fact, to call it mockery and teasing was putting it too lightly. Some of the comments had gone well past that, into outright humiliation. How could they not burn with anger?

Rеαԁ оո КatRеаԁіոgСαfе

“It is true.”

At this point, Bai Xiang had no need to keep anything from them, so she acknowledged it openly. “After the internal competition, each Dao will select thirty disciples, who will accompany me to the tournament.”

The moment she said it, a burst of suppressed cheering rose around her.

In the end, her authority still pressed too hard on them, so none of the disciples dared shout loudly. They merely came forward one by one to make pledges before her, swearing that they would train diligently and that one of the slots would certainly be theirs.

Passing by them at last, Bai Xiang entered the hall.

The instant she stepped through the doors, she sensed the weight in the atmosphere.

Inside the hall, Bai Shengju sat alone in the seat of honor on the left. His left hand rested casually on the lid of the teacup on the wooden table, and his gaze was turned downward to the floor, clouded in a way it usually was not.

Seated below him were a handsome, short-haired middle-aged man and a frail-looking youth, both sitting there stiffly.

The middle-aged man’s features bore five or six parts resemblance to Bai Lianzhou. He only dared let the edge of his backside touch the chair. He wore a tailored suit, and his leather shoes were polished to a bright shine.

As for the youth, he was shockingly thin, far thinner than anyone Bai Xiang had ever seen before. With his hollow cheeks and protruding cheekbones, at first glance, Bai Xiang almost thought she was looking at someone half-starved to death.

These, presumably, were Third Uncle Bai Qingmin and that Bai Chenyu who had once been abducted by the Divine Vein Demon for research.

Bai Xiang did know Bai Chenyu, or rather, she knew his face.

The fact that the Divine Vein Demon had been able to move around in the guise of “Bai Chenyu” meant that it had most likely done so by studying the real body itself.

Rеаⅾ оn КatRеаԁiոɡСаfе

So he must have been imprisoned by those villains for quite some time, perhaps with blood and marrow repeatedly taken from him. That would explain why he was so weak now.

And while Bai Xiang was observing the two of them, Bai Qingmin was observing Bai Xiang in turn.

A white robe-skirt with gold patterns beneath, over which she wore a gauzy haori of a more splendid style than the inner disciples’ version. At her waist hung not one but two swords.

White hair, golden eyes.

Just as the rumors said. Stern and breathtakingly beautiful.

“This is…”

Bai Shengju looked up, realizing Bai Xiang had arrived, and had just begun to speak when the situation in the hall changed abruptly.

The elegant middle-aged man suddenly dropped to his knees with a thud before Bai Xiang. Not only did he kneel himself, he dragged Bai Chenyu down with him into the same deep obeisance.

“Qingmin!” Bai Shengju burst out in shock and anger. “What foolishness is this!?”

“Even if Father scolds me, I still have to say it!”

Bai Qingmin had clearly thrown caution to the winds. He raised his head, his eyes filled with determination and hatred. First he kowtowed heavily to Bai Xiang several times, then said directly to her:

“Dao Master Bai!”

“I beg you, please avenge my wife and child!”