Volume 4, Chapter 138 – Hidden Interference

After soothing her genuine little tagalong Bai Zhuqing and watching her younger sister fall sound asleep, Bai Xiang rose and used the Vibration Art to cleanse away all the grime and dust clinging to her body.

After that, she put her dress back on, fastened her waist sash, and could not even be bothered to put on socks again. Dragging her two swords with her, she stepped into the corridor, planning to go up to the viewing deck and take in the scenery.

It was not as if the room had no window, but it was only a round little opening, with several layers of glass in between. Looking out through it was frankly unsatisfying.

It was deep into the night by now, and most of the passengers had already gone to rest. The very few who were still awake were quick-witted types like Xiang Xian. All of them had noticed how absurdly high their cultivation efficiency had been these past days, so they did not dare waste time on sleep at all, and each one was staying up late to cultivate hard.

They simply had no way of detecting Bai Xiang’s movements. She walked openly onto the deck just like that and stood in the night wind, looking down over the scenery below.

Through the Sword Dao Association, the Court had published the detailed schedule for the initial stage of the tournament on the official site. On this trip, they would fly across the Nine Provinces to Jingzhou and hold the preliminaries in the other three circuits besides Yujing.

Silver-Shuttle Vessels had originally been created to sail through the void. Once they descended into the atmospheric layers governed by the primary order, they were somewhat constrained, but their speed was still far from slow.

Bai Xiang fixed her golden eyes on the darkness below, gathering qi into her eyes, and could clearly make out countless thickets and woods, along with scattered stretches of abandoned farmland.

Whoosh~

A faint sound of wind came from behind her.

Bai Xiang did not turn around. She merely let the corners of her mouth lift slightly.

Her number-two tagalong had come over.

“You knew I’d come?” Zhu Qingluo studied her back for a moment, then stepped forward to stand beside her, likewise looking down at the landscape below.

“I wasn’t sure,” Bai Xiang said without looking at her either. “But I knew you’ve been holding in a lot of questions for a long time.”

That was true.

And not just for a short while, either.

Zhu Qingluo narrowed her eyes and looked at Bai Xiang again, then suddenly said in surprise, “You got stronger again…?”

She was not certain, but she had an instinctive sense of danger all the same.

If, before today, Bai Xiang had given her the feeling of, “I could fight her, but I’m not sure I could win, so it’s too risky,” then now that feeling had become, “Absolutely do not fight her. Nothing good will come of it if I do.”

Just how in the world did she cultivate?

Zhu Qingluo truly could not make sense of it.

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An eighteen-year-old little girl could already be this formidable, while countless others were hundreds or even thousands of years old. Had all those years been wasted on dogs?

After thinking it over, Zhu Qingluo wisely chose not to ask Bai Xiang anything of that sort.

Cultivation concerned the root secret of each person’s path to attainment. She also knew that Bai Xiang was someone who had created a new method. Even if, in her view, that method was destined never to spread, talent and brilliance like that still earned her deep admiration.

So she asked instead about the matter she cared about most. “About that jade… what would it take for you to lend it to me?”

She had been staying by Bai Xiang’s side for quite some time now, and Zhu Qingluo felt she had “performed well.”

She had not merely refrained from causing trouble. Whenever she had nothing to do, she would even impersonate one of the Dao’s instructors, walking around here and there, giving pointers, and genuinely showing off a bit of her “wandering arts” by helping many older teachers and professors treat long-standing hidden ailments.

Even if I haven’t earned merit, I’ve at least put in the work, haven’t I?

You’re the Dao Lord. Shouldn’t you show a little appreciation?

Without even looking at her, Bai Xiang replied with two words: “Not enough.”

Zhu Qingluo nearly had her nose bent out of shape.

That still wasn’t enough?

I even gave you so much intelligence!

Little junior, don’t push people too far!

“What I mean is, for the great thing you want to do, that is not enough,” Bai Xiang said, finally turning her head. “You don’t seriously think that giving you the jade would be enough to overturn the Demon Court, do you?”

At that, Zhu Qingluo’s gaze flickered. “You don’t know my full plan, so you’re not qualified to judge that.”

“Then tell me your full plan.” Bai Xiang had no intention of indulging her. “Otherwise, there’s nothing to discuss.”

Whatever Zhu Qingluo’s motives were, if she wanted to deal with the Demon Court, that could only benefit Bai Xiang.

But Bai Xiang had no interest in investing in an unknown prospect. If Zhu Qingluo wanted to persuade her, then she would have to show much more sincerity.

“I’ll think about it.”

That was the only answer Zhu Qingluo was willing to give.

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Bai Xiang turned her head, and only the night wind remained beside her.

Did she guess?

Guess that I’m already starting to suspect she may be hiding other Guarding-Order treasures in her possession as well…

Her brows drew together slightly, then soon relaxed again.

In any case, Little Yellow now belonged wholly to her.

With the bait already in hand, she was not afraid of Zhu Qingluo being slippery enough to wriggle off the hook.

The night passed. The next morning, everyone got up on time and went to the dining hall to collect food according to the prescribed discipline.

Not everyone had reached the Three Flowers realm of the Path of Qi, where one could forgo the five grains without feeling hunger.

And judging by how heartily the old beggar and Zhu Qingluo were eating, it was clear that even Venerables still enjoyed the pleasures of food.

After spending more time around them, everyone could also tell that these two had no ordinary status. They were neither instructors within the Dao nor listed on the rolls, so they were most likely some sort of honored expert guests. Because of that, a ring of empty space had formed around them, and nobody sat at the tables and chairs nearby.

After collecting food, Bai Xiang brought Bai Zhuqing straight over to this side.

Along the way, disciples and instructors kept bowing to her in greeting, and she returned every greeting with a nod before setting her tray down opposite Zhu Qingluo.

“Brought you some food.”

Bai Xiang looked at Zhu Qingluo’s face.

“Or are you saying you don’t want another helping?”

Zhu Qingluo did not stand on ceremony with her. She immediately reached over, grabbed a thick, juicy cut of meat straight off Bai Xiang’s tray, and tore into it, swallowing it down in just a few bites.

“Go on.”

She began chewing slowly on the remaining wheat cakes from Bai Xiang’s tray, squinting at her sidelong. “What do you need from this old woman?”

Was she really that old?

Bai Zhuqing widened her eyes and gave Zhu Qingluo a careful look. No matter how she looked at her, she seemed at most twenty-five or twenty-six.

And Zhu Qingluo often did childish things too. Bai Zhuqing felt she was actually less mature than Bai Xiang.

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“We’re going to compete on this trip,” Bai Xiang said openly. “So we need some detailed material on common knowledge from the Upper Realm.”

“Material?” Zhu Qingluo was taken aback. “Can’t you just look it up on the Venerable Net?”

What kind of information couldn’t be found on the Venerable Net?

That thing had been created precisely to control all living beings and absorb new pool methods. Every specialized term was underlined, and with a click you could jump straight to an explanation. A little task like that needed to trouble an elder like me?

Bai Xiang had her excuse ready. “The Venerable Net locked my permissions. I can’t view term explanations anymore.”

“Hm?” Zhu Qingluo looked even more surprised and began sizing Bai Xiang up with an amused gaze.

That one in the Immortal Engineering Hall wasn’t that petty.

What exactly had she done to force that person to lock her permissions?

Only Bai Xiang knew the reason. Naturally, it was because every time she logged out of the Venerable Net, she never forgot to fleece the pool method behind it for a little extra gain.

The rules of that pool method were fixed. When a new user logged in and then logged out, a thread of soul power would come back attached to them. The person behind it likely used that thread of soul to monitor the user’s general condition, and perhaps even their precise location.

For everyone else, that kind of attachment only happened once. The next time they logged in, the Venerable Net could automatically recognize the soul thread already on them, so it would take no further action.

But Bai Xiang was different. Every time she logged out, she refined that soul thread away. So when she logged into the Venerable Net again, it treated her as a brand-new user and attached another soul thread to her.

Bai Xiang exploited that mechanism several times in a row. Just when she had started thinking she could abuse the bug indefinitely to nourish her soul, her permissions got locked by the other side.

Not only did no soul threads dare come over anymore, even her access to reference materials was restricted.

Zhu Qingluo asked Bai Xiang, “If I give you the materials, does that count toward my sincerity?”

Bai Xiang shook her head. “No.”

Anyone with a Black Venerable card could help her look things up. It was not as if she was in that much of a hurry. If worst came to worst, once they arrived she could just ask other Venerables in person.

The reason she had come to Zhu Qingluo this early was simply that she wanted Bai Zhuqing to broaden her horizons.

Her attitude was firm, and Zhu Qingluo had no choice but to accept it.

Because Zhu Qingluo also knew that this sort of information simply was not valuable enough. She had no way to monopolize it and raise the price.

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So after a round of discussion, the two sides finally reached an understanding.

“First question: lifespan,” Bai Xiang said. “Everyone knows that the Venerable ranks have an average lifespan of three hundred years, and that if body cultivators fight too often, that number falls to two hundred. But I’ve glimpsed references in some ancient texts to ancient demons living anywhere from five hundred to a thousand years. So why is it that after reaching Three Flowers, lifespan actually decreases?”

“Because of hybridization,” Zhu Qingluo answered without even thinking.

“Some demons may have been affected by the Void Tribulation, but they are still among the numinous wonders of heaven and earth. Their bloodlines are pure and their demonic aura is pure. Living a thousand years is nothing remarkable for them. There are even quite a few ancient demons and great demons that can survive through several Void Tribulations.”

“But hybrids…” Zhu Qingluo went on. “Before demonization, the average lifespan of humans and beasts was what, not even sixty? Then after demonization, they cultivate their way to the Three Flowers fruition and extend their lives to over three hundred years. Isn’t that already a gift?”

“But that’s a good question,” Zhu Qingluo muttered on without waiting for Bai Xiang’s response. “I’ll tell you one piece of information for free, something you could never find on the Venerable Net… before the last Void Tribulation, the maximum lifespan of the Venerable ranks was three hundred and sixty-eight years.”

Hm?

Bai Xiang’s first question had really only been something casual, meant to get Zhu Qingluo talking. She had not actually cared that much about it. But now it sounded as though there was hidden depth here.

What did she mean, before the last Void Tribulation it was three hundred and sixty-eight years?

Was she implying that every Void Tribulation lowered the upper lifespan limit of the Venerable ranks?

“Not just the Venerable ranks, either,” Zhu Qingluo said, licking sesame seeds off her fingers, her tone faintly seductive. “If even the Venerable ranks are affected, how could other living beings possibly escape it?”

“But don’t worry. The reduction happens at different rates. The Venerable ranks resist most fiercely, so naturally they are affected the most. It’s not as if every other creature loses nearly seventy years in one blow…”

Bai Xiang pressed, “Is there any pattern to the amount lost each time?”

“None,” Zhu Qingluo said, shaking her head. “The last epoch was 368. The one before that was 402. The recorded numbers may not be perfectly accurate, but the reductions have never followed any pattern. Whether more is cut or less is cut depends entirely on the mood of the Void Tribulation.”

Bai Xiang narrowed her eyes. “If a heaven-ordained lifespan from the previous epoch were preserved into this epoch, would it still be affected by that change?”

“If nothing is done, then absolutely,” Zhu Qingluo answered.

So that was why so many people had to find ways around it.

Bai Xiang frowned. She was wondering whether tribulation struggle and contending for the dragon-throne might also be related to preserving lifespan and extending it further.

“We’ll come back to that topic later.”

She glanced at the old beggar, whose eyes were wide and whose face was full of childlike curiosity, then moved straight on to the next subject and asked Zhu Qingluo whether pool methods had any detailed classifications.