Volume 4, Chapter 143 – A Public Declaration (2-in-1)

Since Tongyun Circuit had already been designated one of the competition divisions, there was naturally no such thing as a no-fly rule here.

On the way over, Zhu Qingluo often saw groups of cultivators streaking through the sky, or, like Li Qianhe’s party earlier, descending onto the reception platforms of high-rise hotels.

So she had assumed that when Bai Xiang said they were heading to the Sword Dao Association, they would simply fly there together. Never in her wildest expectations had she imagined that Bai Xiang would hail a taxi and then snatch the front passenger seat for herself.

The driver was both excited and nervous about the fare. On one hand, the two women were both striking in appearance. On the other, judging from their ancient-style robes, their old-fashioned swords, and the fact that they had specifically said they were going to the Sword Dao Association, they were obviously competitors.

“Shenming Sword Dao?”

In the course of chatting, he learned that Bai Xiang was actually from Maozhou in the southwest, and that she was the Dao Lord representative of a newly elevated mountains-and-rivers-ranked dojo. His eyes nearly popped out of his head.

After all, Bai Xiang did have a certain amount of fame on the Nine Provinces internet.

Granted, it was not especially good fame. He had seen far too many attacks on her, all insisting that the new law she created was nothing but a scam.

This…

The driver began desperately trying to remember whether he had posted anything along those lines back then.

It was often like this. No matter what kind of malice you harbored toward someone online, once the matter was brought into real life, and especially once that person stood in front of you, very few people could maintain that ungrounded hostility. Most would rein it in.

Besides, the driver felt no ill will toward Bai Xiang.

He was not a cultivator anyway. He only drove an independent taxi to support his family. The reason he had paid attention to the matter in the first place was because someone had boasted that the Shenming Qi-Refining Art could let ordinary people with no Sword Dao background wield the supernatural. Otherwise, he would never have cared about that sort of thing at all.

Later, when he heard it did not work, he had only felt disappointed and had not said anything extra.

And it was precisely because he had that sort of confidence that he was able to keep talking to Bai Xiang. During the latter half of the ride, he repeatedly complained to the two women about how rude and overbearing the Illusory Realm demon people were, and also expressed some of his worries about the current state of affairs.

“Good luck, Dao Lord Bai!”

When they got out, the driver even specially waived the fare for them. “You’ve got to beat the hell out of those mongrel beasts!”

“…He’s taking a pretty broad interest in things,” Zhu Qingluo said, watching the car drive off, one brow lifting slightly.

He was clearly just an ordinary sentient being who did not cultivate, yet at a time like this he still had that level of awareness.

Then she looked at Bai Xiang beside her.

The man had not charged them, and Bai Xiang really had not paid.

At their level of cultivation, people were very particular about severing worldly ties and cutting away karmic entanglements, because even in Dao-Void Methods, later progress still involved cultivating the heart.

And yet Bai Xiang had accepted an ordinary mortal’s wish for no particular reason at all. It looked like nothing more than something done in passing, but why go out of her way for it?

What exactly was her purpose?

Was she gradually consolidating “resolve” this way? Consolidating “momentum”?

Bai Xiang ignored Zhu Qingluo’s wild speculation. She looked toward the large building behind them, something resembling a stadium, and strode toward it.

Her attire and appearance were still far too distinctive. The gate staff took one look at her and let her through immediately. Plainly, word had already been passed internally that Shenming Sword Dao had arrived in Tongyun.

“Dao Lord Bai.”

Just as they were about to reach the building’s main hall, a young man in a black suit came hurrying out from a side path through the greenery, wiping sweat from his face and smiling apologetically. “I didn’t expect you to come this early… Please allow me to guide you for the moment.”

He was the Association specialist the group had met at the airport. It seemed he had been assigned specifically to Shenming Sword Dao and was responsible for matters on this side.

“Let me introduce myself again. My name is Dong Sheng.” Seeing that Bai Xiang showed no dislike, he continued along the same line, stretching out a hand to pull open the glass doors for them and leading them into the lobby.

“You two have arrived rather early. It’s actually not even dark yet… So we’ll probably need to wait in the reception room for a while.”

“And during that process, you’ll definitely run into representatives from other Dao lines. So… I ask Dao Lord Bai to please consider the common people and refrain from casually taking lives.”

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This man had an interesting way of speaking.

Zhu Qingluo gave him an extra look.

Compared with the specialist who had guided Li Qianhe earlier, Dong Sheng spoke far more smoothly.

Especially that last sentence. The implication was that if something unpleasant happened, action was allowed, just so long as the damage did not become too great.

But Bai Xiang’s reaction was different.

She suddenly turned and fixed Dong Sheng with an extremely sharp look, putting immense pressure on him. He froze in place at once, dense beads of sweat appearing on his forehead.

But she soon withdrew her force.

Dong Sheng escaped from those two golden star-vortices. By the time he came back to himself, every layer of cloth on his body was soaked through, and Bai Xiang and her companion had already gone ahead.

This Dao Lord Bai… truly does have as bad a temper as the rumors say!

He cried inwardly at his bitter fate and could only jog after them. He no longer dared offer any personal advice directed at Bai Xiang, and instead simply introduced the Association’s arrangements in a proper manner.

“The venue Dao Lord Bai is seeing now is called Yongming Hall. This is the Association’s headquarters in Tongyun Circuit. It also contains professional competition grounds and can host all kinds of ball games and sword-bout events, while holding nearly forty thousand spectators.”

“This is meant for the juniors’ sword competitions, yes?” Zhu Qingluo asked. “You should have many halls like this. But battles of the Venerable ranks aren’t something a tiny place like this could contain. How are you planning to arrange those?”

The Venerable ranks?

What was that supposed to mean…?

Dong Sheng looked a little blank, but he reacted quickly and guessed it should refer to that class of super-experts. He promptly replied, “Most of the higher-level grounds are in the outskirts. They’re much larger, several times the size of this place.”

“And how will you arrange the spectators?”

“The spectators will watch through holographic glasses. That way, even if they’re affected, there won’t be any casualties. Please rest assured.”

Holographic glasses?

Zhu Qingluo could infer what such a thing was from the description, but she did not actually know much. She had no desire to be taken for a country bumpkin by an ordinary mortal, so she immediately dropped the subject and began asking about the details of the tournament format instead.

“The format is exactly as announced. It is divided into two groups, ‘Aspiring to the Clouds’ and ‘Seeking the Peak of the Dao.’”

Dong Sheng answered.

In Zhu Qingluo’s understanding, ‘Aspiring to the Clouds’ was the juniors’ division.

‘Seeking the Peak of the Dao’ was the old veterans’ division.

Once a team registered, it could each submit ten people for the second registration stage into those two groups respectively. The two groups would compete separately, but the results would be converted into points and counted together under the team’s name.

For example, if a team registered ten people in the juniors’ division and ten people in the veterans’ division, then in one round the juniors’ division would fight other juniors’ teams, while the veterans’ division would fight other veterans’ teams. After the results were scored, the two records would be converted into points and added together, and that would be the team’s total score.

A points system?

Zhu Qingluo narrowed her eyes and asked again, “Isn’t the number of participants expanded too much?”

She looked down on the juniors’ division entirely. Talking about the future and such… The Void Tribulation was already pressing close to the main world, and this round of tribulation struggle had already begun. Where was the time left for juniors to grow?

If they could not even enter the veterans’ division, then the juniors no longer had value. Yet a tournament like this still allotted ten slots. She felt that was deeply unfair to some smaller dojos with more concentrated talent.

Take Shenming Sword Dao, for example.

Shenming Sword Dao had only recently become a mountains-and-rivers-ranked dojo. After multiple mergers of Dao lineages, it now had over ten thousand disciples if one counted even the miscellaneous workers, which made it a major dojo within the Nine Provinces.

But such things always depended on what one compared them against. It was a major dojo in the Nine Provinces, yes. But if one took it to the Upper Realm and compared it to powers that used entire small worlds as dojo grounds and even controlled whole immortal dynasties, then it naturally was not enough to measure up.

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Those kinds of powers could easily produce ten people to register for the veterans’ division. At the same time, they could also produce ten more, only a fraction weaker, to register in the juniors’ division. In terms of accumulation and foundation, the present Shenming Sword Dao still could not match that.

Under this format, Shenming Sword Dao would be at a disadvantage.

“There’s nothing that can really be done about it.” Dong Sheng also looked helpless. “A lot of Dao Lords protested that ten slots were too few. There will always be disputes over a matter like this. The current format is already the optimal solution that came out after repeated rounds of consultation and discussion.”

“Really? Looks to me like some people are just tailoring the rules for private interests…”

“I… I really can’t let that kind of statement pass casually.” Dong Sheng immediately broke out in sweat again, thinking to himself that anyone who followed Bai Zhixing really was no good either. She had absolutely no filter when she spoke.

He explained, “In truth, there’s no need to worry… For dojos that focus their resources on training a very small number of elite disciples, they can absolutely have those few disciples defeat the other side’s ten one by one. In that case, they definitely won’t be at a disadvantage.”

Oh… so arena carry-over is allowed?

Only then did Zhu Qingluo’s face improve.

That at least could barely be called fair.

Though it still was not especially favorable to Shenming Sword Dao.

To put it bluntly, in this shabby dojo, Zhu Qingluo only thought highly of Bai Xiang herself. Bai Xiang was obviously going to fight in the veterans’ division. Zhu Qingluo could not think of anyone else here who could earn points in the juniors’ division.

“There’s no need to worry.”

Bai Xiang did not turn back. Only her voice drifted from ahead.

“I intend to have Qing’er lead the Aspiring-to-the-Clouds division.”

Qing’er?

That younger sister who liked clinging to her?

Zhu Qingluo thought about it and realized she knew very little about Bai Zhuqing. She simply could not make any judgment.

That was normal. Ever since she had settled down at Bai Xiang’s side, she had poured almost no attention onto anyone besides Bai Xiang.

Bai Zhuqing?

If the girl had not appeared so often, Zhu Qingluo would not even have bothered remembering the name.

Since when did I start worrying about her prospects?

Halfway along, Zhu Qingluo suddenly came back to herself, her heart filling with thick astonishment.

I… I’m supposed to be trying to borrow the treasure jade from her. If she gets eliminated early, then she can lend it to me sooner. Shouldn’t I be hoping for her bad luck? Why am I speaking on her behalf here?

Looking at Bai Xiang walking in front, Zhu Qingluo’s thoughts suddenly became complicated.

She stopped bombarding Dong Sheng with questions, and Dong Sheng quietly let out a breath of relief.

But Zhu Qingluo was, after all, someone of the Venerable ranks. Her five senses were sharp and her mind was swift. As they passed through the corridors, they occasionally encountered competitors who looked as though they had just finished registering and were heading out, and she caught all of their conversations in full.

“The Tongyun division is dangerous…”

“Shenming Sword Dao, Qingping Sword Dao, Jingzhu Sword Dao, Red Dust Sword Dao… they dumped four mountains-and-rivers-ranked dojos in here all at once. How are small dojos like ours supposed to survive?”

“After Shenming Sword Dao’s recent rise, the Nine Prefectures have practically become Ten Prefectures. I heard that Jinlin Sword Dao, Shangqing Sword Dao, and Benling Sword Dao didn’t register, which means that in reality, the Nine Prefectures we’ll have to face have been reduced to six.”

“If the six were divided evenly, then the three major divisions ought to have gotten two prefectural forces each. Who would have thought this side would get four all at once?”

“This really is… sigh.”

The speakers were two swordsmen in old-style robes standing together at a branching corridor. Bai Xiang judged from their stance and breathing that they were both Core-Embracing cultivators.

In the countryside, or even in a remote circuit city like Chilong, that sort of cultivation would count as belonging to a major expert. Unfortunately, now it was nowhere near enough. Let alone the Illusory Realm powers with Venerables among them, even the Divine Fetus Immortals of the Nine Prefecture dojos were enough to crush them.

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And Bai Xiang’s appearance was far too striking. It was naturally impossible for people to ignore her.

Quite a few competitors gathered here lit up the moment they saw her. A flicker of amazement rose in their hearts. One by one, they unconsciously composed their expressions and tightened their bellies, refusing to resume talking until after she had passed.

“The one just now… was that Shenming Dao Lord?”

“With white hair and golden pupils, there’s no mistaking it.”

“She truly does have an inborn extraordinary appearance… She should also be here for the meeting.”

Those gathered in the outer corridors were mostly from minor sects and lesser schools, not much better than those few Sword Dao groups Bai Xiang had challenged one after another before.

“Shenming Sword Dao probably can’t beat the other three,” someone judged. “Shenming Dao Lord herself perhaps can. After all, there are rumors she defeated Qingping Sword Lord Qin Wuyang… But in the end she’s only one person, and Shenming’s foundation is still too shallow.”

“So in that case, Shenming should be the easiest of the four Tongyun prefectural forces to fight?”

“That’s probably right.”

“And losing under the skirts of a beauty like that doesn’t really count as a loss, does it?”

At those words, quite a few people chuckled under their breath, and the mood in the corridor relaxed noticeably.

“Hmph!”

Suddenly, someone let out a cold snort.

“A bunch of ignorant country bumpkins, and you still think the world revolves around the Nine Prefectures?”

“Have you forgotten how miserable Jingzhu Sword Dao looked when it was challenged?”

“Do you not know that Dao Lord Hantian was defeated and forced to hole up to recover from his injuries?”

“You’re still talking about the Nine Prefectures… The ‘Nine-Prefecture Sword Meet’ was stripped of its name. Can’t you see what that means by now?”

Quarreling, shouting.

The commotion was so great that even after Bai Xiang’s group had gone quite far, they could still hear most of it.

Dong Sheng said nothing. He only walked ahead and opened a door, revealing a vast and spacious reception hall.

There were already more than a dozen people seated inside. More than half still retained demonic traits on their faces or heads. Some wore Daoist robes or monk’s garb, while others, trying to follow fashion, had changed into more fitted modern clothing. They too had been gathered together chatting.

“The Tongyun division… with Qianyuan Sect and Zhengtian Dao both on this side, looks like we’re all here just to accompany the run…”

“There’s still a chance. The three major divisions will decide sixteen slots. Tongyun should be able to spare at least five. It’s not that there’s no hope at all.”

“But even setting aside Qianyuan’s Yang Chen and Zhengtian’s Chang Hongyuan, this side also has Qinglan Immortal Sect’s Shen Chongyang and Silver Sea Merchant Guild’s Meng Qiaosheng. Those are all figures ranked near the top of the Heaven’s Pride List.”

“But wasn’t it said that Meng Qiaosheng has never faced a truly serious test? Sure, lots of people challenged him, but his ranking wasn’t high to begin with, so those fights weren’t of much quality.”

“Speaking of rankings, there’s also one who parachuted straight into the top twenty…”

The moment Dong Sheng opened the door, the noise from inside rushed straight at them.

The people in the room heard the movement and all fell silent, turning together to look over. The moment they saw the white-haired female cultivator outside the door, they all froze. Their eyes began flickering, and their expressions took on a faintly amused cast.

“So Dao Lord Bai has arrived.”

One Daoist with fish gills spoke in a cold, sinister tone.

“Dao Lord Bai truly is worthy of being one of the outstanding figures who dropped straight into the upper ranks of the Heaven’s Pride List. You’ve kept us waiting a long time.”

This was meant to knock her down a peg.

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That thought passed through the others’ minds, and their expressions carried a bit of schadenfreude.

And indeed, the controversy surrounding this Dao Lord Bai, Bai Zhixing, had been raging furiously for quite some time now. Every Venerable present had personally experienced it.

Now that they had finally met the person in question, they naturally wanted to test her and see whether she really deserved to sit in that position.

“Dao Lord Bai…”

Knowing Bai Xiang’s temper all too well, Dong Sheng hurried to say something soothing.

As Zhu Qingluo understood it, since Bai Xiang was the sort of person who cared about the common people and took into account that ordinary sentient beings should not suffer disasters they did not deserve, then she would most likely leave all conflicts to be settled on the arena.

But this time, Bai Xiang’s action went far beyond her expectations.

Without the slightest warning, the fish-gilled Daoist was smashed flying by a colossal force. While his body was still rotating in midair, a sword-print from a sideways slap appeared on the right side of his face. First his head spun around once in the air and exploded off, then the rest of his body flew after it with the same inertia, the two pieces separately smashing two holes into the rear wall.

Boom, boom…!

Screech.

Only after the whole scene had played out did the others hear the crashing sound and the sword’s cry.

Quite a few people first sat in stunned silence, then erupted in anger, leaping to their feet and pressing their hands to their weapons as they stared at Bai Xiang in utter disbelief.

How dare she?

How could she dare???

“And just now, were you again trying to urge me to consider the common people?”

Bai Xiang did not even look at them. She turned instead and directly questioned Dong Sheng.

Huh?

Dong Sheng looked blank. He had no idea what she meant.

Bai Xiang continued, “When it comes to someone like me, who looks bad-tempered but in truth acts by principle, you all use the common people to pressure me.”

Then she pointed at the group inside the hall who were staring at her as though facing a great enemy.

“But with them, you wear an entirely different face. You bow and scrape to please them and indulge them… As though people who are inherently more rude should receive extra preferential treatment, and the rules of courtesy you always use somehow do not apply to them.”

“All responsibility gets piled onto the person who cares more. Do you think that kind of behavior is noble?”

This…

Dong Sheng was speechless for a moment.

Of course he knew it was unreasonable… but… but hadn’t it always been this way?

For the sake of the bigger picture…

“Something having always been this way does not mean it has always been right.”

Bai Xiang narrowed her eyes at him, the corner of her lips lifting in a mocking arc.

“Are you wondering why I came so early today?”

“I came specifically to tell every single one of you.”

“This rule”

“is going to change.”