Volume 4, Chapter 113 – Arrangements

Coming out of the inner hall on the first floor of Listening-to-Rain Tower, Li Sheng and Wang Ran could not help exchanging another glance. Each could see the other’s amazement and emotion.

“Shenming Bai Xiang.” Those four words were already fairly famous in the other lands of the Nine Provinces, but people from outside mostly knew only her age and her looks. They had heard of her talent and brilliance, yes, but their understanding of it was not especially deep.

Take the earlier rumor that she had defeated the publicly prominent Qingping Dao Master Qin Wuyang. That news had spread too, yet very few believed it. Among ordinary people, there was almost no one who did.

Only the people of the Qi lands, and some in Zezhou, because they had witnessed that splendor up close, could truly understand what those four words meant, and what kind of miracle they represented.

“It hasn’t even been a year since she entered the Dao, has it?” Wang Ran said with a laugh. “The first time I saw Peak Master Xiang bring her over, I already had a feeling. But even so, I never imagined it would be this fast, this outrageous.”

The Nine Prefectures Sword Meet, or rather, what should now be called the Dao-Void Martial Tournament. A matter as important as the Dao-Void Martial Tournament ought to be the hottest topic of discussion in every corner of the Nine Provinces, and even across the entire world.

Yet Bai Xiang had said it was not important, and had even told them not to forget to cultivate after they came back.

Both of them were advanced in years and possessed the experience that came with that age. Naturally, they could see that Bai Xiang had not said this because she did not value the Dao-Void Martial Tournament.

This competition concerned the division of territory across the whole Nine Provinces. It concerned the future of countless people. It even included the future fate of Shenming Sword Dao. How could it possibly be unimportant?

So that was not it.

The reason she had said that was because she understood perfectly well that there was no need to discuss this sort of topic.

No matter how much they deliberated, the difficulties would still remain right where they were.

No matter how much they discussed it, no matter how anxious they became, could so-called strategy and advice really overturn the course of events or the final result?

Rеaԁ οո KatReаԁіnɡCаfе

Impossible.

Far better to cultivate. To cultivate steadily and honestly, and seize every minute and every second to consolidate one’s strength.

How could the two of them not feel astonished and moved?

Even they themselves could not attain such a calm and seasoned state of mind.

When Bai Zhuqing had read out the news of the Dao-Void Martial Tournament word by word, both of them too had felt a stretch of inner unrest. The unease in their hearts had instinctively driven them to look for someone, someone who could serve as a pillar to lean on while discussing how they ought to respond.

But Bai Xiang actually…

This sort of state of mind usually appeared only in old people standing at death’s door. No matter how they tried, the two of them simply could not understand why an eighteen-year-old youth would possess it too.

She already possessed the kind of talent and brilliance one only heard about in legends, and now she also had the mindset to control and direct it. There was not the slightest trace on her of the restlessness that should belong to someone her age.

That meant not even the tiniest fraction of that terrifying talent would be wasted. Its owner understood completely how to make the best use of it. Her talk of seizing every moment to cultivate was no empty phrase. She truly was growing stronger every second.

Both of them felt immense pressure.

This was the sort of feeling that no one could understand unless they had truly stood before Bai Xiang and spent time around her.

If they absolutely had to make an analogy, it was like an ordinary student in the academic track meeting a monster of absurd intelligence, someone who could look at any science problem once and immediately give the right answer.

And on top of that, this person was hardworking to a horrifying degree. Studying in class, studying while walking, even studying while eating and sleeping.

Rеаԁ οn ΚаtRеаԁiոgСafе

Who wouldn’t feel pressure upon seeing someone like that?

The pressure was enough to make one explode.

What kind of absurd luck did Bai Shengju have, to actually net a monster like this?

Looking at the broad terrace where Listening-to-Rain Tower sat, and then at this enormous mountain gate dojo, and then thinking of his own experiences in Qiyun Circuit, Wang Ran could not help envying Bai Shengju almost beyond endurance.

“That is what it means for fortune to turn and destiny to descend upon someone,” Li Sheng replied flatly.

“Fortunately, we haven’t come too late.”

“There is still a chance to remedy all this.”

After a brief exchange, the two set out at once, flying through the air in the flesh straight toward Qiyun to prepare for moving over most of the teachers and students from Qizhou University, and at the same time, in accordance with Bai Xiang’s request, rescue Fang Xiaochun. At the very least, they had to bring his whole family to Maozhou.

Meanwhile, inside Listening-to-Rain Tower, Bai Zhuqing gathered up the sheets of notes, tucked them carefully into a folder for safekeeping, and then asked Bai Xiang, “Taking in so many people at one stroke… Auntie, aren’t you afraid you’ll end up making a wedding dress for someone else in the future?”

It wasn’t that she distrusted Li Sheng and Wang Ran. Setting aside how completely convinced of her sister they appeared, neither of them seemed like faithless people to begin with. Bai Zhuqing was not worried about them.

But what about their descendants?

And their descendants’ descendants?

Rеαԁ оո ΚаtRеаⅾіոɡCαfе

And what about the many disciples of Shangqing Dao and Benling Dao? Would any of them feel that merging their lineages now was only a temporary refuge, and that when they got the chance in the future they ought to split off again?

She had actually started worrying about something so far away…

Bai Xiang glanced at her and thought that Bai Zhuqing really had spent quite a lot of time consolidating those “ordinary affairs” recently. This was clearly the habitual mode of thought that came from coordinating and arranging things for too long.

“They won’t,” Bai Xiang reassured her.

“And even if they do, it won’t matter.”

“Because by then, I’ll still be alive.”

That guarantee was so forceful that if anyone else had said it, it would have made no sense at all, perhaps even sounded like sheer sophistry. But as soon as Bai Zhuqing heard it, her worry vanished.

“Mhm!” The girl nodded hard, and the blind adoration in the way she looked at Bai Xiang began overflowing again.

“My phone broke. Get me a new one,” Bai Xiang said, already ordering her younger sister about. “Also, immediately contact Daoist Fengxu of Taixu Monastery in my name. Inform them that the two Peak Masters are going to Qiyun to handle business. If Taixu Monastery has people over there, ask them to cooperate.”

“Doesn’t First Master need to go along as well?” Bai Zhuqing blinked.

She had the distinct feeling that after breaking into the Golden Core stage, First Master’s hands were itching a little, as if she would dearly love to go out and fight someone.

“No need.” Bai Xiang shook her head.

Because she had already given secret instructions to Zhu Canghai and He Xian. Two full Immortal Venerables from the Void Realms would be following in secret. Zhu Canghai in particular followed a body-tempering route. He was thick-skinned, full-blooded, and hard to kill. On top of that, because he had once known Shen Quan, he was on guard against soul arts.

Rеaԁ οո KαtRеadіnɡСafе

And besides, this was an age of chaos now. Cities everywhere were launching major construction works to build walls against the ever more frenzied spread of vegetation and the surging beast tides. The movement of supplies on the scale of thousands or tens of thousands of people was not especially conspicuous in times like these. It should not attract anyone’s attention.

Once everything had been arranged, Bai Xiang naturally seized Bai Zhuqing and began cultivating again.

Back on the flying vessel, when she had been cultivating alone, she simply had no conditions for anything else. Now that she had returned to the dojo, she did. There was no possible way Bai Zhuqing could escape. She had to cultivate together with her.

Only, because they had already experimented earlier that day, Bai Xiang did not again carry out that so-called “improper affair” with her younger sister. The two of them simply dual-cultivated, each feeding qi to the other and passing qi back and forth to enlarge their Qi Seas.

There was also a Tian Stem Jade among the gains from this trip.

Sitting there fully exposed, Bai Xiang watched her younger sister keep her eyes tightly shut, her eyelashes trembling like little fans as she tried hard to endure the strange sensations. It amused her, but at the same time, she was making calculations in her heart.

Her trip to Shenwu Heaven had yielded plenty. Not only had she gained new body-tempering routes, she had also won the loyalty of Zhuye, Zhu Canghai, and He Xian.

But the most precious gain, without question, was still the little yellow jade.

This thing was known as a Guarding-Order treasure, but beyond learning to open one’s body and mind completely to fuse with it the way Wu Emperor had, Bai Xiang had not yet really researched what other uses it might have.

I’ll hand this over to Master later.

In her mind, Xiang Xian’s image surfaced.

The hidden threat of the Augu gods had been temporarily resolved. There probably weren’t any major projects underway in the back mountain laboratory lately. So she might as well hand this over to the lab for study and see whether it brought any more surprises.