Volume 1, Chapter 43 – Invitation

Stung by Bai Xiang poking his embarrassing past, Bai Shengju flew into a rage, barking that “this is not for you juniors to worry about,” and tried to bully Bai Xiang out of the courtyard.

Yet despite his foul attitude at the end, as he left he still had Bai Xiang take the herbs drying on the ground back with her, carefully instructing her to sort them, teaching the place of origin and effects of each herb, and how to prepare them into that black medicinal paste.

“Grandpa, I have a question.” Bai Xiang waited for his mood to settle before asking, “when Chai Jingyuan and Chai Xuan moved in, did any big commotion come from the guest rooms?”

“Big commotion?”

Bai Shengju was thumping his chest; at her words he frowned.

“What counts as a big commotion?”

“Drums and gongs,” Bai Xiang said, “or loud talking. In short, any noise that should not have been there.”

“Why are you asking this?” Bai Shengju was baffled, but he still rubbed his chin and hissed through his teeth.

“Though now that you mention it… there was definitely no such noise, but if you mean a sound that did not belong… would flute music count?”

“It would.”

Bai Xiang nodded. “Chai Xuan?”

“Chai Jingyuan said she was good at that instrument.” Bai Shengju nodded too. “I took a stroll past at midnight that day and heard flute music from the room. I asked the next day; he said his daughter could not sleep, so she got up to play the flute to the moon, to ease her homesickness.”

So there was indeed a “sound.”

Bai Xiang had a good idea now.

Bai Shengju pressed her on what she wanted to do. She deflected with his black history, which made him stomp into the house and refuse to come back out.

Bai Xiang did not rush; she began gathering the herbs on the ground.

Although she had a suspicion, she did not plan to discuss it with Bai Shengju right away.

The greater the hope, the greater the disappointment; it was only a guess, and it would be better not to agitate an old man of his years.

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Back in her room, Bai Xiang found Bai Zhuqing gone.

She checked her messages and learned that Bai Zhuqing could not withstand Bai Leying’s crying and fussing, and had gone back to comfort her little sister.

Just as well.

Bai Xiang perked up, thinking she might actually get some peace today.

Imitating Bai Shengju, she set the herbs out by the door to dry. She sat in the room to cultivate for a while, then felt that at the present pace it was still too slow.

Anyone who knew what she was thinking would be furious. Spirit-sight into the inner landscape is already much faster than ordinary cultivation; on top of that, she had a new method established, an inner circulation that warmed her body at every moment, even in sleep it did not stop. Even so, she still thought it was slow?

Bai Xiang, however, was thinking ahead to the Sword Dao Martial Meet in a week.

Her heart-aspect was still metamorphosing; even if she cultivated twenty-four hours a day without pause, completion was a distant prospect.

Medicinal paste could greatly speed the process, yet even the fastest would be measured in months, which would not meet her needs.

I need more, and better medicine.

Bai Xiang fixed her first priority.

Cultivation was no longer the most important thing. With inner circulation, whether walking, cleaning, or sleeping, the progress kept ticking.

Rather, whether she could find in the short term enough, and mild, supplements would decide whether her progress could soar.

“Di di di.”

Her phone buzzed.

She picked up and answered. A hoarse, icy male voice came from the other end. “Leave the dojo now, take a taxi to the entrance of the Jobs Directorate, wait for me.”

Bai Xiang frowned. “Who are you?”

“On September thirteenth, you refused an invitation.” The voice stayed cold. “That is all I will say.”

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“Beep.”

He hung up on the spot.

Bai Xiang lowered the phone and stared at it, thoughtful.

September thirteenth was the day she crossed over. That night she cut down the demonist Yang Xing.

Zhang Daoming and others knew of this; it had probably spread through a few circles.

Yet those people could not know she refused Tao Shuohua, and Tao Shuohua certainly would not speak of such things outside.

So the other side should be from Tao Shuohua’s people, or Governor Fang, Fang Xiaochun’s side.

It does not take long from Qiyun Circuit to Chilong Circuit; that doting father, Governor Fang, should already have arrived.

So long without contacting her, why reach out now?

Was it because he heard Chengfeng Sword Dao had come to make trouble, that he was coming to discuss countermeasures and use this to repay the favor he owed her?

Then why meet at the Jobs Directorate?

It is like a job market, there should be a lot of people at this hour.

She thought it over, checked her outfit, changed into non-slip trainers, picked up the cloud-pattern wooden sword and other odds and ends, and prepared to head out.

On her way out she glanced at the sun, then at the black baseball cap on the table, a gift from Bai Maoxu. She put it on, planning to hail a cab first, then message Bai Shengju and the others.

The date for the Sword Dao Martial Meet was set, so Chengfeng Sword Dao would keep their heads down for now.

Zhang Daoming had also promised police patrols in the area, so she had nothing to worry about.

After she left by taxi, on the second floor of a restaurant across the street at an angle, a man leaning by the display window, looking as if he were typing on a laptop, took out his phone and began dialing.

The message was passed along, layer by layer, and landed with Zhou Ji.

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This was a high-end business club. Zhou Ji hung up, leaned back on the sofa, looked across, and said with a smile, “Governor Fang probably cannot sit still.”

The view shifted. Liu Mengqing was sitting there. The lushly curved woman seemed calm for once; she said without concern, “The papers are stamped. Even Fang Xiaochun cannot stop it.”

“You are that confident?”

Zhou Ji frowned.

He had experience entrusting tasks to women that were botched in the end, so he habitually distrusted the other party.

“In terms of realm you are not even on par with the old man. You are only bullying his age and frailty.”

“What will you do if he still has one breath left? What will you do if he has one last flare before the end?”

Zhou Ji slapped the cushion in anger. “Answer me, what will you do?”

“He is eighty already.” Liu Mengqing said proudly, “even if I am at my worst, I can endure that stretch.”

“I want one hundred percent certainty.” Zhou Ji ground his teeth.

“We paid a heavy price, with paperwork fast-tracked, and the visualization chart and Forge-the-Sword method. All I want is Shenming Dojo gone without a trace. Dao Lord Liu, you should know how much markup is in this.”

Before Liu Mengqing spoke, he gave a look to the side.

Two men in black with sunglasses immediately carried up a square, sturdy case and set it on the coffee table.

Clack.

He gestured for them to open it, revealing a pair of metal arms gleaming silver.

“Xingta Group’s latest model.” Zhou Ji smiled. “There is only a week. Skeletal implants and biotechnic modification cannot be done in time. But prosthetic limbs are very simple.”

“The imperial house, in its benevolence, issued a new law last year. As long as you register, a disabled person’s possession of non-military cybernetic prosthetics is no longer prohibited.”

“Well? I can find the right strings to pull for you; the registration takes at most half a day. Then you can take them onto the platform legally and properly.”

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“That is one hundred percent certainty for you too, is it not?”

“Your father’s matter has weighed on you for a long time, has it not?”

Liu Mengqing stared at the mechanical prosthetics; her breathing quickened without her noticing.

Under Zhou Ji’s gaze, she suddenly closed her eyes and stood up, a mysterious smile on her lips.

“I am not putting those things on me.”

“Mm?”

Zhou Ji bulged his eyes, thinking he had misheard.

“Why do you think I waited like a stray dog for so many years, insisting all the pieces be in place before I challenged him.”

Her eyes snapped open; a cold light flashed in the woman’s gaze.

“Bai Shengju has the resolve to die. Do you think I do not?”

“A word of advice, Young Master Zhou. Do not try to sell such things to a swordsman who has embraced certain death.”

“Because aside from that sword heart, she no longer cares about anything.”

She smiled at Zhou Ji. He felt his scalp prickle under her look. Liu Mengqing picked up her handbag and left the private room.

After a while, Zhou Ji came back to himself, and his face flushed bright red.

I was threatened?

By a woman?

He let out a sharp yell, flipped the case on the table, then jumped onto it and stomped like a madman.