Volume 5, Chapter 55 – Mobilization

While Bai Xiang was busy, Bai Zhuqing had not been idle either.

Bai Xiang was responsible for thinking, and she was responsible for carrying things out. In the course of a single afternoon, she had basically issued all the political directives the two sisters had discussed at length, including the specific measures Bai Xiang had mentioned for how the Tao family was to be dealt with.

“Elder Sister’s sword needs to be restored… So the reason she issued a search order for that kind of treasure is to nurture its sword embryo anew?”

After finishing her official business, Bai Zhuqing stood up and looked out the window, thinking about how Bai Xiang intended to use the Heavenly Stem Precious Jade once she found it.

Under the new order of the Path of Qi, people were no longer so attached to weapons.

The old mindset of binding oneself completely to a certain weapon, insisting on using a sword or insisting on using a blade, was instead something those qi cultivators who had grown up in the new age found hard to understand.

Cultivators cultivated life, and that life meant oneself.

If, in a moment of mortal danger, abandoning a weapon was the only way to survive, they would do so without the slightest hesitation. How could there possibly be someone who would rather die than die together with their life-bound weapon?

They could not understand it, but that was simply an inherent trait of cultivators from the old era.

Unlike new cultivators, who treated all weapons as “treasured artifacts,” old cultivators, especially those who had switched over from the Sword Dao, regarded their natal Dao swords as the equivalent of another self.

Even after successfully changing over to the Path of Qi, a natal sword was still a natal sword. Some even went further, gathering void crystals of the highest purity solely so that, every so often, they could briefly send the sword into their own Qi Sea and refine it again through qi, blood, and soul, turning it into what was known as a sword embryo.

Once a sword embryo had been completed, that sword truly became no different from another body.

Ordinarily, it could be stored inside the Qi Sea. In battle, it could be released in an instant, and without even needing to be wielded by hand, the blade would move wherever the will directed it.

Like the flying swords of immortals in myth, it was extraordinarily formidable.

In recent years, qi cultivators of this kind had gradually come to be called something else as well. More and more people had started referring to them as sword cultivators.

“Elder Sister has read the materials on this. She wouldn’t be only half-informed.”

“There are plenty of high-grade void crystals in the national treasury, not to mention the black crystal ore produced by Senior Black Crystal… We’ve never lacked for such things.”

“But she didn’t mention any of them. Is that because she thinks they’d be no help in nurturing her sword embryo, or because she thinks that even if she did nurture this kind of sword embryo, it still wouldn’t be useful?”

After thinking it over, Bai Zhuqing felt it was probably the latter.

That meant her battle intensity was a little terrifying…

Bai Zhuqing could not help curling her lips into a gentle smile.

As expected of Elder Sister. She could break through conventional understanding with ease.

When it came to plans for repairing Feixiang Heaven, she was actually the one who had thought about it the most. Over the years, she had not only issued search orders for every kind of qi-and-blood tonic, she had also secretly instructed her own sword attendants to search the entire world for the Zhenyuan sword blank.

And yet no good news had come back. Even after she planted scouts in New Yujing City, the only message they sent back was that “the name Zhenyuan has never been heard again.”

Bai Zhuqing knew that Bai Xiang’s Dao sword had been forged from the Zhenyuan sword blank.

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If even after all that it still could not be found, could it have been lost by the Yao family…

There were indeed stories saying that the Yao family’s ship had capsized in a Void Tribulation storm.

A capsizing in the literal sense. The void-faring vessel had nearly been destroyed, part of the hull had been torn away and scraped off, and with it the people and treasures inside had also been lost.

If that was the case, then the Zhenyuan sword blank must have ended up scattered somewhere across the great wildernesses. It was even possible that, by pure chance, it had fallen into the hands of a hostile force and had been refined by them as a treasure.

One step at a time.

Smoothing her hair, Bai Zhuqing turned and walked to the mirror, lightly touching her lips as she faced her reflection.

A crimson phoenix robe, a golden phoenix hairpin, glossy black hair partly coiled up and partly cascading down.

The woman in the mirror was just as devastatingly beautiful.

Ten minutes later, Bai Guanshan received word to come to Listening-to-Rain Tower.

He arrived in excellent spirits, thinking that his daughter was finally going to confess certain things to him.

Yes, “certain things.”

For example, the matter between her and Bai Xiang.

Bai Guanshan already knew that his eldest daughter harbored special feelings for Bai Xiang.

His daughter had remained unmarried for ten years. He was not stupid. After noticing that Bai Zhuqing had shown no interest at all in any of the young men recommended to her, he had guessed that she must already have someone in her heart.

Later, perhaps because he had been arranging those “meetings” too frequently, Bai Shengju finally lost patience, dragged him into the back courtyard, and talked to him alone for half the day. Or, to put it another way, thoroughly berated him.

When he came out, Bai Guanshan had been dazed and unable to make sense of it. What did it mean, “The family can never repay Xiang’er’s kindness, and yet you can’t even bear to part with a daughter”?

No, what was going on here?

He stayed bewildered for a long while. Only after mulling it over for some time and recalling the past did Bai Guanshan finally begin to see the clues.

He was not angry.

In this world… how many people had been separated from life and death because of demonic disasters? Over the years he himself had also been in danger, and had even personally used a gun to kill demonic beasts. He had seen enough big scenes that, when faced with something like this, he did not panic at all.

Not only did he not panic, he was actually rather pleased to see it happen.

There was a somewhat selfish but simple reason for this: the Bai family was not a true imperial clan in the end.

The Bai family’s position had been won through Bai Xiang, but as the deeds of the High Emperor spread far and wide, everyone knew that she had merely been adopted by the Bai family.

Some people sighed over the Bai family’s good fortune, but others spoke cutting words behind their backs.

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Bai Guanshan did not have any schemes in mind. What he felt toward Bai Xiang was only gratitude.

But if certain things could be made solid through a marriage within the family… If it was something good for everyone, why should he oppose it?

After Bai Xiang returned, he had even paid special attention to her movements.

From the moment he discovered that she and his eldest daughter had gone into the depths of the Ancestral Ground, the corners of Bai Guanshan’s mouth had kept turning upward all the way back. The silent Bai Lianzhou kept glancing at him, and after they got back, even Zhu Ying’s eyes had gone wide in alarm. At one point she had even suspected he had been possessed.

Ignorant fools. You simply don’t understand!

Bai Guanshan kept his excitement bottled up inside.

He was already imagining the scene when the truth came out. Everyone else would surely wear expressions of shock, while only he and Father would remain unchanged, displaying the steady, seasoned dignity of men who had known all along.

He arrived downstairs full of delight, but after waiting and waiting, he did not even catch sight of his daughter.

Instead, he received a strange order: he was to keep it from Third Uncle Bai Qingmin and go invite his son, Bai Chenyu, over.

Bai Guanshan immediately realized something had happened.

Although he was usually busy and did not pay much attention to his two daughters, Bai Zhuqing and Bai Leying, when it came to understanding them, there really were not many people who knew them better than he did.

There was no use counting on Leying. She would not practice the sword properly and spent all day at the university messing around with those girls’ bands. The moment he said anything, she would argue sophistry with him, saying things like, “Music resounding is still resounding,” and “If I compose vocal music, how does that not count as part of the Shenming lineage?” Every day it was nothing but crooked logic.

What reassured him was his eldest daughter, Bai Zhuqing. She was steady and meticulous, experienced in handling affairs, and the position of Regent of the Imperial Court had remained in firm hands right up until Bai Xiang’s return. Her competence left him thoroughly at ease.

If Qing’er won’t see me, then she thinks this matter requires father and daughter to avoid suspicion.

Any matter that required father and daughter to avoid suspicion could not be a small one. It had to involve the family internally, while at the same time being tied to the outside world and connected to some kind of trouble.

Then it ought to be a matter of marriage.

Bai Guanshan sank into thought.

He had also inquired into the matter of Chenyu taking a fancy to the Tao family’s daughter.

Tao Sicheng was female, had no inheritance rights, and had been born with blocked meridians, unable to cultivate. The danger had already been reduced to the absolute minimum.

Chenyu was not even demanding that she be married on equal footing. Bai Guanshan had felt the matter did not involve all that much.

Even if the Tao family was to be wiped out, it would not matter if a female dependent were spared.

But Qing’er’s attitude was like this.

Could there be some problem hidden in all this?

After thinking about it, Bai Guanshan suppressed the urge to call his daughter and ask. Instead, he turned and went to summon the person she wanted.

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It was nearly two more hours before Bai Chenyu was finally brought over by him.

He was a young man who looked to be around twenty-five or twenty-six, wearing a black robe patterned with golden lines. His drifting gait and the dark circles under his eyes obscured what was otherwise a decent appearance, making anyone who saw him first suspect that he indulged himself to excess on a regular basis.

“Got it, got it…”

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll be careful.”

After brushing Bai Guanshan off, Bai Chenyu went upstairs.

The brat didn’t hear a word of what I was trying to hint at.

Bai Guanshan was furious.

He still thinks he’s been called here for some good news?

What an idiot!

Bai Chenyu genuinely did think something good was in the offing.

In his view, he had told Father that he had set his sights on Tao Sicheng, Father had relayed it to the family, and then the family had made arrangements for him. That chain of events made perfect sense.

Now that he had been summoned, this was probably just the final confirmation, wasn’t it?

He had nothing at all to worry about. He only needed to say, “This is the one I want,” and that would be enough.

Holding that thought, Bai Chenyu sauntered upstairs carelessly.

When he reached the second floor, he froze.

The second floor, as the reception room Listening-to-Rain Tower used for receiving relatives, was functionally separate from the first-floor hall. He had assumed he would see Bai Zhuqing here.

But there was no one.

Not a single person.

No lamps were lit here either, and now that night had fallen, the empty hall looked full of shadows.

“Elder Sister?”

Bai Chenyu called out tentatively.

No one answered.

His voice echoed over and over through the empty space, the reverberations rebounding layer after layer.

A chill crept over Bai Chenyu’s heart, and he could not help recalling the nightmares of the past.

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Bai Qingmin had been frightened by Spirit-Vein Demons, and so had he.

In fact, his fright had run even deeper, because he really had been abducted and imprisoned by those demons. They had tormented him and terrorized him every day, and had even used his body for all kinds of experiments.

Very few people had known that for years he had also carried a private affliction: he was afraid of the dark.

If someone was with him, it was manageable.

But if he was left alone, fear would spread upward and make him hallucinate the horrors he had once experienced.

Bai Chenyu backed away, wanting to return to the stairwell and go back down, only to discover that the door below had somehow been locked.

He tried going upward instead.

But the stairwell door on the upper level was locked as well.

He was terrified. After wandering in the center of the hall for a while, he curled himself up and hid in a corner, already beginning to slip into a hysterical state, with demons and monsters dancing before his eyes.

And at that very moment, a figure truly appeared in reality.

“Don’t kill me!”

Bai Chenyu immediately let out a scream.

“I’ll do anything!”

“Don’t kill me! Don’t kill me!”

“Pathetic.”

The newcomer was naturally Bai Zhuqing. Seeing Bai Chenyu in this state, a trace of contempt flashed across her face.

Given what he had suffered back then, she ought to have sympathized with him.

But after having gone through something like that, he still dared to entertain improper thoughts toward a rebel’s daughter so casually?

Had he learned nothing at all?

Was he not afraid that another demon of that sort might infiltrate the family again?

“Get up!”

Using qi, Bai Zhuqing hauled Bai Chenyu to his feet. Sitting off to one side, she displayed the authority she had accumulated as Regent of the Imperial Court.

“Call her right now,” she said coldly.

“I don’t care what method you use. You must trick her into coming to Zhennan and bring her before me for a meeting!”