Volume 5, Chapter 19 – Kinship

Another round of [unmentionable] later, Bai Xiang got out of bed and pulled the blanket up over the unconscious Bai Zhuqing. She instantly felt refreshed in both body and spirit.

Give her an inch and she takes a mile.

The dowry had already shown up.

So which one of us is marrying which, exactly?

This time, Bai Xiang did not follow the example of that descendant of the Kong clan and leave things at that sort of [unmentionable]. She launched straight into one wave of [unmentionable] after another, [unmentionable]-ing Bai Zhuqing until she [unmentionable], and her [unmentionable] little sister [unmentionable][unmentionable]—which of course referred to the [unmentionable] that happened when the two sisters were [unmentionable].

At last, that whole affair had come to an end. It was time to remember the grandfather and master she had left hanging for more than five hours.

After confirming that Bai Zhuqing was sleeping like a pig and would not possibly wake up anytime soon, Bai Xiang took a set of underclothes from the wardrobe beside the bed and put them on. Then she pulled out a bright red phoenix robe that her little sister usually wore and draped it over herself.

Sure enough, aside from being slightly tight across the chest, the girl’s clothes were now almost exactly her size.

Was this the effect of soul-vision of the Body-scape?

Bai Xiang fell into thought.

She had cultivated with her younger sister many times before, letting her use Bai Xiang’s own soul-image as a reference and visualize its spirit to speed up her progress. There seemed to be some “metaphysical” notion involved in the process as well.

If she remembered correctly, Qing’er had nearly lost control at the time. On instinct, she had wanted to knead and shape her soul into the same form as Bai Xiang’s.

That alone showed how terrifying the process truly was. No matter how firm a person’s will, it would be difficult to preserve their original heart.

Once that heart was lost, if one only continued visualizing and imitating the other person, the likely result would be direct transformation into another, identical version of them. By that point, the soul might cease to exist, form and intent might no longer be able to contain each other, and the end result would be soul-scattering death, with the fleshly body turning into another person’s avatar.

Luckily, the little girl revered Bai Xiang far too deeply. She felt that becoming identical to Bai Xiang would be a desecration of her, and so she halted the transformation at the very last moment.

Still, that transformation might have left some lingering influence on her. Perhaps that was why, over the last ten years, her figure had kept growing in Bai Xiang’s direction.

And there was another point of doubt that Bai Xiang had not explained to Bai Zhuqing.

Bai Zhuqing did not merely possess Bai Xiang’s gift inside her body. One must not forget that she had once been injected with an experimental drug by dead soldiers from the Southern King’s Manor, and that a fragment of Bai Nianchan’s soul remained within her.

With Bai Xiang’s care, it was enough to ensure that Bai Nianchan’s remnant soul would not infect her younger sister’s will. But because of that, Bai Zhuqing had also inherited part of Bai Nianchan’s “spiritual perception” talent. There was no telling whether that residual influence might also alter the trend of her bone structure.

They could discuss it after she woke up.

Having settled her thoughts, Bai Xiang placed a call to Zhennan.

She was using Bai Zhuqing’s phone.

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Bai Xiang had commissioned Qiao Wen to get her a new phone, but that device lacked sufficient permissions. It could not mobilize all the signal qi arrays along the route, so if she wanted to place a call all the way through to Zhennan Circuit, it would take some effort.

If there happened to be a demonic-aura tide interfering along the way, the call might not even go through after half an hour. It was better to use Bai Zhuqing’s phone directly.

This thing was not to be underestimated. In a sense, it was a symbol of the imperial court’s centralized authority.

Qi arrays. Qi talismans.

Yuming Workshop should still be the one handling research and development in this area, right?

If nothing had happened to Senior Brother Guo all these years, this kind of work was probably still his responsibility.

At the thought of Guo Rongzhi’s seemingly honest face, forever carrying hidden resentment underneath, Bai Xiang’s lips curved into a smile.

“Hello?”

Just then, the call connected, and an aged yet vigorous voice came through.

Bai Xiang said nothing.

Strangely, the other side also fell silent.

“…It’s Xiang’er, isn’t it?”

In Zhennan, at the Bai family dojo, Bai Shengju stood alone in the reception hall. He stared fixedly at the ancestral tablets while clutching the phone tightly in his hand, a fine sheen of sweat beading across his forehead.

Five hours had passed.

The Xia Capital had indeed sealed off news of the High Emperor’s return from the common people, but as one court official after another emerged from Zhengyuan Palace, all sorts of rumors had begun circulating in secret through high-level channels. There was no way Bai Shengju could remain unaware.

He was not stupid. He only had those few precious granddaughters. One had joined a band and turned into a fool, one had been trapped somewhere in the spacetime of the Sky Sea and vanished without a trace, and the only one left had taken up the burden of the family and was stationed in the Xia Capital. There was no way he would not secretly arrange for people to keep watch over her there.

In truth, the information he received was extremely vague—so vague that it could even be called bizarre.

Because most people did not dare speak.

Zhang Yu’s death had too great an impact. He had been one of the Three Dukes. Even without military authority, he could still be called the foremost figure among the civil cultivators.

And yet he had died just like that.

He had dropped dead right there in court, his head blown apart by a single blast of sword qi from the High Emperor. The bits of his corpse had even been swept out by court officials personally.

Heaven knew what kind of psychological shadow that had cast over them. At once, everyone drew a lesson from Zhang Yu’s death: all the tricks that had worked before on the imperial authority were completely useless against the High Emperor.

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Oh, right… listen to their taboo-breaking mouths.

“High Emperor” was a posthumous title. Now they ought to be calling him His Majesty.

Not a single person able to serve in court was a fool. They all changed their attitude toward the imperial court with astonishing speed, each one becoming deeply evasive about what had happened.

That included Yu He. That included Huang Qian.

It was not as though Bai Shengju had failed to call their residences. But every last bastard had just laughed things off with him, saying things like, “The old master will naturally learn of it before long,” and, “May the old master enjoy a lifespan as vast as heaven and sea, with blessings filling his household.”

What was that even supposed to mean?

What kind of messy bullshit was that?

In the end, Bai Shengju still had to mobilize his own people—the dead soldiers trained by the dojo. Using them, he gathered a few bits of intelligence. Combined with the bizarre reports from before, he arrived at a frightening guess.

Zhang Yu was dead.

But how could Zhang Yu be dead?

Hadn’t Qing’er said before that although the man was wildly ambitious, he was still barely usable, and that removing him rashly would offend the three states north of the river?

And so, almost instinctively, Bai Xiang’s face and voice rose in his mind.

All at once, Bai Shengju felt that he understood.

Of course… Qing’er definitely could not have done something like this. It simply was not her style.

If she wanted to deal with Zhang Yu, at most she would have arrested him and thrown him in prison. She would never have had him die in court.

This was Xiang’er’s style.

The stifling atmosphere hanging over the Xia Capital.

The deep evasiveness of Yu He and the others.

And those inexplicable blessings that had been sent over.

It all matched… Bai Shengju felt that all of it matched!

That was why he had been waiting here for the last several hours.

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Given what he knew of Bai Xiang, once she had dealt with the urgent matters at hand, she would definitely call him at the first possible moment.

“It’s me.”

Bai Xiang’s emotions were stirred as well. She drew a breath and said to the other side, “I’m back, Grandfather.”

“Good… good…!”

Only now, after truly hearing her voice, did Bai Shengju finally let his heart settle.

He did not say anything unnecessary. He only said frankly, “Your uncles and aunts… they have all been thinking of you too.”

“And your master as well. She has been holding the main peak all these years, working day and night.”

“Your disciple Liu Yong, so that your prestige would not fall, plunged deep into the demon tide and was left crippled while saving people.”

“These things…”

“I know.” Bai Xiang cut off Bai Shengju’s unfinished words and made a solemn promise. “I will visit each of my uncles and aunts in turn, pay my respects to Master, and personally handle the affairs of our Dao lineage.”

“Good, good!” Bai Shengju grew happier still.

Because what he had just done, in fact, was test her.

After all, Xiang’er’s status was different now.

Ten years ago, she had been the adopted daughter taken in by the Bai family.

Ten years later, she was the Empress of the Great Xia Dynasty.

Bai Xiang was not, after all, of the Bai family’s bloodline. Although Bai Shengju trusted her and did not believe she would sever her ties to the Bai family, ruler and subject was an entirely new relationship. He had to take Bai Xiang’s feelings into account.

Now it seemed Bai Xiang truly had not disappointed him.

She was still as humble and courteous as ever.

Bai Xiang passed the news one by one to Bai Shengju, Bai Guanshan, Bai Lianzhou, and the others, immediately throwing Shenming Main Peak into utter chaos.

At Yuming Peak, a sharp sword cry burst from the back mountain. Hearing the news, many disciples came out and looked up. Above their heads, a cloud-and-mist qi array emerged, its many mysterious qi talismans arranged together to condense a thousand-meter sword qi that slashed the clouds apart with one savage stroke.

“Hah!”

After venting her feelings, a mature woman in a violet palace gown slowly rose to her feet. With a casual motion, she formed a new array at her side, small in scale but exquisitely precise, and spoke into it.

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“You little thing… so you’ve finally remembered to ask after me?”

“Forgive me, Master.”

Bai Xiang’s reply came from within the qi array.

“The matters at hand…”

“Cut that act.” Xiang Xian interrupted her, a trace of teasing amusement in her voice. “What you were settling wasn’t business, was it? More likely your pillow companion, no?”

“…”

Bai Xiang fell silent.

When one’s master understood too much, that was not entirely a good thing either.

“Enough. Letting me know is enough.” Instead, Xiang Xian was the one hurrying her along.

“We’re family. No need to speak like outsiders.”

“We’ll watch over home for you. You can focus on sorting out the problems in the Xia Capital.”

“Besides, I know the northwest hasn’t been very stable.”

After only a few exchanges, Xiang Xian forcibly ended the communication. Before hanging up, she told Bai Xiang to get in touch with Guo Rongzhi—her Senior Brother Guo was also in the Xia Capital, though because he liked peace and quiet, he had accepted no official title and was probably living alone on the outskirts of the city.

Lowering the phone, Bai Xiang felt emotions churning through her heart.

Ten years was short for a dynasty.

Ten years was long for a life.

Even though qi methods had become widespread and everyone’s lifespan had advanced, it was still an exceedingly long stretch of time.

So this was the best ending of all.

What one sought was longevity; what one proved was the self.

Let the heart move freely and give voice to one’s aspirations.

That, after all, was cultivation.