Volume 4, Chapter 107 – Family Questions (Two-in-One)

After listening carefully to Bai Qingmin’s account of what had happened, Bai Xiang frowned slightly as well.

After returning, the first thing she had done was ask Bai Shengju and the others about everything that had happened during this period, and she had already learned that the plane transporting Bai Qingmin’s family had clashed with local forces when it stopped in Qiyun Circuit.

Because so little time had passed, because that place belonged to another province, and because Fang Xiaochun had for some reason already become unreachable, the report had not specified exactly who those people were.

But if one thought about it, the only people who could commit that kind of act in Qiyun Circuit were those Void Realm people who had no regard for rites or law.

Bai Xiang had originally assumed it was about that matter. She thought Bai Qingmin’s wife and child must have been among the group of people forcibly abducted by those Void Realm intruders, and that the reason he was giving her such a great kneeling salute was because he wanted her to rescue them.

But very quickly she remembered that Bai Qingmin’s wording had been wrong.

He had not said “rescue.”

He had said “avenge.”

This debt still had to be counted against Blood Soul Heaven.

“Those monsters had been targeting our family from very early on,” Bai Qingmin said in a trembling voice. Even as he spoke, he did not forget to cast tearful looks at Bai Shengju, trying to make him too softhearted to stop him.

“They were always there. At our side. Even my wife!”

“And Senyu too! I never knew that the people I lived with day and night had all been replaced!”

So they were dead.

And they had died long ago.

Hearing this, Bai Xiang also felt some regret.

Although Bai Qingmin himself had returned, during these years of doing business in Liangzhou, despite his usual fondness for drink, he had in fact kept his family in mind. He and his wife had had two sons. The elder was Bai Senyu, and the younger was Bai Chenyu.

Bai Xiang had heard Bai Senyu’s name before. When people introduced Third Uncle’s family, they had always mentioned this name. He was much older than Bai Chenyu, already eighteen and fully grown, shrewd, sensible, modest, and capable. Bai Qingmin had long since chosen him as his successor and planned to hand all his business over to him in the future.

But something like the Divine Vein Demon… unless it was a special case like Bai Chenyu, that is, they had specifically wanted to research whether there was something unusual in the bai family bloodline and had therefore made a cloned shell on purpose, then no matter who it was, the moment a Divine Vein Demon lodged itself inside a person’s body, that person could be declared dead on the spot.

Even if that body continued moving afterward, continued smiling at you in accordance with old memories, it was nothing more than a demon controlling a shell of flesh.

Explained plainly, it was horrifying. The reason the Divine Vein Demon had done this was obviously to keep Bai Qingmin’s family under close surveillance, and that was why even while speaking, Bai Qingmin could not hide the terror on his face, his body under the suit trembling the whole time.

Is it really good to talk about this in front of the child?

At the same time, Bai Xiang observed Bai Chenyu’s expression and found that the boy did not look afraid at all.

As Bai Qingmin spoke in a rush, Bai Chenyu remained beside him, maintaining the kneeling salute toward Bai Xiang, staring blankly with no expression on his face.

His eyes were dull, his body stiff.

He had been replaced and removed from the family very early on, then ended up in that private hospital where Blood Soul Heaven’s forces drew his blood and marrow. So he did not really understand Bai Qingmin’s horror. He had long since gone numb within a deeper and darker horror of his own.

Wounds like these could not be easily healed even though Red Dust Dao had later found and rescued them. In the accompanying letter, Chen Yuchan had also written that the two should return to the main family as soon as possible, so they could slowly recover through the bonds of kinship.

Bai Xiang said nothing. She only glanced at Bai Shengju and saw that his face was full of awkwardness and sorrow.

Bai Senyu had been that age, which meant he had already been born in the year Bai Xiang was adopted. To an old man, the death of a grandchild he remembered and the death of one he did not remember really were two completely different things.

And Bai Shengju understood even more clearly that this tragedy had happened because of his own actions. It was his decision to adopt Bai Xiang back then that had caused Bai Qingmin to storm off in anger, so he felt he had no standing to say anything about the matter.

That was also why the atmosphere in the room was so strange.

Strict as Bai Shengju was, he had chosen to let Bai Qingmin’s behavior pass.

Bai Qingmin too, though the family head, his father, was right there, had chosen to kneel to Bai Xiang instead. Clearly, there was still resentment in his heart toward Bai Shengju.

“That’s enough.” Bai Xiang interrupted Bai Qingmin’s trembling account and told him and Bai Chenyu to get up together.

“I won’t!” Bai Qingmin said harshly, his eyes blood-red as he looked at Bai Xiang.

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“Dao Master Bai… your fame is great now. Even in Liangzhou I have heard your name!”

“I know this much! Your abilities are enough to rival a Sword Lord. Even the Court can do nothing to Maozhou. This place has all but become the bai family’s autonomous domain!”

“So of course you must avenge my wife and child! This concerns your own honor and disgrace, the honor and disgrace of the entire bai family, even the honor and disgrace of Shenming Sword Dao itself!”

“Shut up!” Bai Shengju could no longer restrain himself and roared in rage to stop him.

“You left in anger back then, and you still have the face to say such things now?”

Has the bai family’s meteoric rise over the past year had anything to do with you, Bai Qingmin? And yet you have the nerve to come crawling back, using blood ties as leverage to ask the Dao for help?

“Why I left, isn’t Father the one who knows best?” Bai Qingmin was not afraid of Bai Shengju at all. Even when being shouted at, he still sounded self-righteous. “Failing to reconcile the family’s internal relations and forcing your own blood kin out of the house, that is precisely the fault Father committed!”

This man is a pedantic piece of work.

In her heart, Bai Xiang gave this third uncle of hers his final assessment.

Among the bai family’s second generation, Bai Guanshan was arrogant outside and warm inside, Bai Lianzhou was cold outside and warm inside. In the end, they were both warm at heart. Deep down, they were not arrogant people.

But Bai Qingmin was different.

There was something about him that seemed to have been dragged straight out of some historical painting, the particular arrogance possessed by ancient literati. Not only did he like speaking according to old rites, he also liked putting forward all manner of arguments and debating his elders, insisting that right and wrong be fully distinguished.

And looking at the suit on him…

No wonder.

Only a temperament like this would have let him decisively walk out back then.

Except…

Zheng!

Feixiang Heaven slid half an inch from its sheath. A fierce aura swept across the hall, making Bai Qingmin’s lips move soundlessly for a while, yet no words at all emerged.

“I have a question to ask you.”

Bai Xiang stared at Bai Qingmin and spoke in a heavy voice.

“When you left in anger all those years ago…”

“Was I among those you hated?”

That…

Even someone with Bai Qingmin’s temperament looked awkward and restrained when he heard this question.

Naturally, he had hated her.

He had hated Father for finding a replacement so soon after Little Chan had just died, and hated even more this inexplicable infant who had barged into their lives.

Why did she have to be delivered before the temple at that exact time?

She should just have died!

Bai Qingmin had indeed harbored such thoughts.

But in his view, Bai Xiang was still very young. At only eighteen, she had already reached her current position, enough to call her heaven-blessed and astonishingly gifted. So she could not possibly also have the kind of rich life experience to see through all the subtleties. If he fawned on her while continuing to stay angry at his father, then surely she would not notice the underlying logic or get tangled up in old matters.

But he had not expected Bai Xiang to see through it!

She had seen through it immediately!

The moment she arrived, she pierced straight through the greatest flaw in the logic of his words and actions, and all at once some of what he had done seemed unable to stand up anymore.

Bai Qingmin moved his lips, still wanting to excuse and defend himself. “I was only…”

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“You seem like someone well read in the classical canons. You should understand that all debts of grace return to one’s parents.”

But Bai Xiang gave him no chance. Looking him straight in the eyes with her golden pupils, she said to him, one word at a time, “The sages said, ‘The body, skin, and hair are all received from one’s parents.’”

“That is the grace of birth and nurture, a prior grace.”

“Grandfather is your father. He raised you, provided you with food, clothing, and money, and taught you how to conduct yourself in the world.”

“That is the grace of education, a later grace.”

“With such grace upon you, even if he did something that offended you, what standing or qualification did you have to strike back at him with the grave disrespect of leaving home?”

“I…” Bai Qingmin opened his mouth, instantly left speechless.

If one insisted on arguing by principle, then his behavior truly had been grave disrespect.

Running away from home was merely the pleasant way to put it. In ancient times, this would have counted as someone with full capacity refusing to fulfill their duty of support toward their elders. It was a clear violation of propriety, and in serious cases could be punishable by death.

Bai Xiang continued, “And if you want to say your elder brothers still remained to shoulder those obligations, then that is even more improper.”

“Your brothers did not respond to this matter in any drastic way, yet you acted as you did. If you truly claim you were in the right, then does that not throw your brothers into unrighteousness, as though they were cold-blooded and their feelings toward Little Aunt were not as deep as yours?”

“Shenming Sword Dao has now grown strong. No matter how the sun, moon, and heavens may shift in the future, it will certainly leave a mark in the history books.”

“When later generations see this stretch of history, what are they to think?”

“Do you intend for the whole world to despise your elder brothers?”

These words did not merely leave Bai Qingmin dumbstruck and Bai Shengju trembling all over. They also caused the other members of the bai family, who had hurried over after hearing the commotion and were now standing at the doorway, to look into the hall with extremely complicated expressions.

Things within the family really were like that.

Because blood ties served as the bond, a great many hurts had ended up covered over.

Just because no one had brought them up before did not mean they did not exist.

“Well said!”

A deep roar sounded, and Bai Guanshan pushed past the other family members and strode in, looking furious.

Bai Qingmin’s eyes instantly lit up, and he cried out mournfully, “Big Brother…”

Smack!

Bai Guanshan directly slapped him across the face, sending Bai Qingmin spinning half a turn in the air before he crashed crookedly to the floor.

Bai Qingmin was utterly stunned, unable to believe that Big Brother had actually struck him!

Wasn’t he always the one who doted on me most?

Aside from Little Chan, ours was the closest relationship back then!

“If you had only left back then, I could have understood it.” Bai Guanshan’s chest rose and fell violently. At the same time, he unconsciously glanced at Bai Shengju, his expression turning unnatural for a moment.

Because back then, he himself had very nearly done the same thing.

“But how many years has it been now!” He turned his rage back on Bai Qingmin. “Over all these years, have you ever once asked after the family’s fortunes and disasters!?”

That was what truly enraged him.

That was Bai Qingmin’s real offense.

Eighteen years ago, when Bai Qingmin had wrapped himself in the identity of an elder brother and, for the sake of a wrongfully dead younger sister, done some irrational things in anger, they still might have extended him a certain degree of understanding.

But with time, the nature of the matter changed.

Just as Bai Xiang had said, when later generations judged the right and wrong of this period, should they curse you, Bai Qingmin, or should they curse me and Lianzhou?

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If your actions can be forgiven, even treated as natural and proper, then what was our remaining behind?

Foolish filial obedience?

Heartlessness?

Damn it… what kind of logic is that!?

That was the matter on the level of greater righteousness. But in terms of private feeling, Bai Guanshan was even more deeply disappointed in Bai Qingmin.

You resent Father. You resent Xiang’er. But do you also resent me and Lianzhou?

What did we ever do to wrong you so badly that over all these years you never once asked after the family, not even making a single phone call?

Especially with the bai family having weathered so many storms over the past year, first Chai Jingyuan and Chai Xuan attempting to seize the ancestral land, then being dragged into two factions of court infighting, then becoming entangled in the Southern King’s rebellion, then the ravages of demonic disaster.

Where were you, Bai Qingmin, in all those moments of crisis?

Could all these years of rebellion and willfulness really not soothe your so-called emotional wound, such that you still have the face to speak like this now?

Bai Guanshan was too disappointed.

He felt Bai Qingmin had never truly grown up. Time seemed to have passed incredibly slowly over him. He was still the same rebellious and willful young man from more than ten years ago, still not understanding what responsibility meant.

Footsteps came from behind. It was Bai Xiang’s dark-faced second uncle, Bai Lianzhou, entering with Shen Xuelan and Bai Maoxu.

“Second Brother…” Bai Qingmin looked toward them as if seeing a savior.

“What face do you have to address me like that?” Bai Lianzhou narrowed his eyes and spoke coldly. “When the bai family had fallen and was about to die, you were nowhere to be seen. What are you doing here now?”

“You’ve seen Father. Now go back.”

“Go back to your Liangzhou and live your free life.”

Bai Lianzhou’s cold exterior and warm interior only came from his awkwardness with words. In truth, within the family he played the role of peacemaker and conciliator.

Bai Qingmin knew that very well. When he saw that even this second brother, who had always been the family’s good-hearted mediator, was unwilling to speak for him, he finally panicked, and could not help turning his gaze back toward Bai Shengju.

Seeing him act this way, Bai Shengju could only shake his head inwardly.

He had long since stopped blaming this youngest son.

Not only because he felt guilty, but because everything the bai family had experienced over the past year had opened his eyes enormously.

Just look at it… any one of those calamities could have wiped out the whole household, yet the bai family had stood firm to this day under Xiang’er’s support. What could he still not let go of?

The past ought to remain in the past.

Nothing was more important than a whole family and harmony among kin.

But Bai Qingmin’s series of actions after getting off the plane had indeed left him profoundly disappointed.

“It’s fine if you are dissatisfied with me.”

Looking at Bai Qingmin, Bai Shengju said in a hoarse voice.

“If you offend me, if you overstep the rites, I can forgive that too.”

“But the one thing you should not have done, should never have done, was speak to Xiang’er that way! Demand things of her in that tone!”

“Who do you think it is that you have someone to rely on now because of?”

“…Apologize to her this instant!”

Bai Qingmin was dumbfounded.

He suddenly realized he had drastically misread the situation.

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Hadn’t he been rescued because of Chen Yuchan… because of that special relationship between Dao Master Chen and his father from years ago?

He had assumed all of Bai Xiang’s actions were merely “adding flowers to embroidery,” that even without her, Chen Yuchan could have stepped in to serve the same role.

But that wasn’t it at all?

She is the most important figure in the bai family now!?

Then hadn’t he completely ruined everything?

If the family had simply joyfully reunited from the start, everything afterward could still have been discussed. But because he had pressed too hard, all the old wounds had been torn open and dragged into the light to be judged.

Bai Qingmin was filled with bitter regret. He first turned and bowed to Bai Shengju, then once more performed a great salute toward Bai Xiang, saying with utmost sincerity, “Qingmin greatly overstepped just now… I ask Dao Master Bai not to hold it against me!”

Bai Xiang accepted his bow in silence.

That alone left the bai family members, including Bai Shengju, all staring in surprise.

Xiang’er wasn’t… at home she had always been extremely modest. She had never once been willing to receive a bow from an elder. So why was she acting so abnormally today?

First Aunt Zhu Ying looked utterly bewildered, only feeling that there was now some unique quality about Bai Xiang, something impossible to quite describe.

But for Shen Xuelan, who came from a family with officials, what she felt was sudden fear.

Because Bai Xiang’s bearing, expression, and the air surrounding her were things she had only ever seen on people of extremely high authority.

It was not merely “official presence.” It was something more like responsibility.

At the very least, a person with such bearing must possess absolute confidence in what they had taken upon themselves.

Is Xiang’er planning to do something…?

Shen Xuelan stared at Bai Xiang in uncertainty.

Given the state of things, she did have her guesses.

But such a matter was too great. She could not say it.

She truly could not say.

What happened next was only natural. Shen Xuelan and the other female family members stepped in with the children and began mediating, slowly easing the atmosphere.

Although Bai Shengju was still displeased, and told Bai Guanshan to personally drag Bai Qingmin to the back courtyard and confine him there, it was still, in the end, a family matter, something to be handled behind closed doors and not spoken of outside.

“Sis.”

As she was going out, Bai Maoxu suddenly called to Bai Xiang.

Bai Xiang turned back, a questioning look in her golden eyes.

And then Bai Maoxu, with all the bluntness of a fearless child, threw out a sentence that made everyone else’s faces change drastically the moment they heard it.

“Are you planning to become emperor yourself?”

This—

Shen Xuelan was horrified and snapped, “Bai Maoxu!?”

“I’m just asking,” Bai Maoxu said, unconcerned.

“There are no outsiders here anyway.”

“And from what I can see, Elder Sister’s strength and virtue both meet the standard of a Sacred Emperor. She is fully worthy of sitting in that position.”

“And now that it’s a chaotic age, what’s wrong with that?”