Volume 5, Chapter 68 – Progress

It should be enough to add more than ten thousand people.

That was Bai Xiang’s estimate.

The effects of the lecture would unfold in stages. Some people had already been on the verge of a breakthrough and only needed that final push. Others had finished digesting what they gained, but still needed some time.

So the current figures were still too conservative. She estimated that only after a week would the full impact of this lecture erupt across the board.

As for the lecture itself, that matter was now finished.

Further on was Tian Yaozhong’s interrogation report.

After being thrown off to be cleansed, the man had not been allowed to rest at all. Bai Zhuqing had people interrogate him through the entire night. They had dug up everything, even matters like wetting the bed at the age of three. By now he had completely submitted and was willing to serve at the Imperial Court’s beck and call before the throne.

Bai Zhuqing took out the joint letter and had him identify the names written on it.

Not just the names themselves, but the clans and networks connected to every single one of them. Tian Yaozhong complied with all of it, item by item.

The orders for investigation and arrest had already been signed and issued. There was no need for Bai Xiang to handle those matters herself. They had merely been laid out here for her review.

Turning the page again, what remained were a number of miscellaneous entries.

For example, the disaster situation across the entire country during the Shiqing Festival, where small demonic tides had struck, where larger tides had gathered, and which ancestral worship procession had been trapped by a demonic tide and needed rescue.

There was also the aftermath of Bai Xiang’s northern campaign against Yu, her popularity among the common people, even her popularity abroad, and then a long list of congratulatory messages from legislators.

The Star Sea Federation followed a very strange system. It had both a federal president and a federal executive consul. Beneath them was a senate divided into upper and lower chambers. Altogether, the total number of legislators came to more than ten thousand.

None of it contained anything worth reading.

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Bai Xiang pushed those reports aside, too lazy to spare that list of legislators even a second glance.

When she turned to the next page, her movement halted, and a completely different light suddenly flared in her eyes.

[Progress on the Search Order]

[According to the investigations carried out over the past few days, through channels such as government purchase, tribute, and the conversion of merit, a total of 1,216 “jade treasures” have been collected nationwide. Of these, 9 are suspected to be “Profound Treasures,” and are currently being rushed to Zhennan.]

Ever since fully mastering Taishang Response, and even becoming able to build 3D models in her Inner Body-scape through it, Bai Xiang had not felt this kind of surprise in quite a long time.

She could not help but sigh. Sitting in this position brought a great many troublesome affairs, but the convenience it offered was also truly enormous.

The Great Xia covered so much land that even with her current mastery of relocation methods, able to go wherever she wanted, investigating and finding so many suspected objects would still have required immense effort and wasted a tremendous amount of time.

But in this position, all she needed was a single thought, and naturally someone would get the matter done for her within a few days.

Not to mention… well… those so-called troublesome affairs could simply be thrown to her younger sister.

All she had to do herself was focus on cultivation.

It sounded like shameless behavior, but Bai Xiang enjoyed it with a perfectly clear conscience.

She understood this very well: power is responsible only to the source from which it comes.

In a world where transcendent might was allowed to exist, the source of power could only be strength. So no matter what else one did, nothing was more important than focusing on raising one’s own strength. Everything besides that was only a side path and a minor trick.

It was not that she lacked principles. On the contrary, she was being highly responsible.

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Thinking this, Bai Xiang raised a hand to her chest and drew Feixiang Heaven out from between her breasts.

The method she used was the same as Bai Zhuqing’s. Both were techniques of the sword cultivator’s path.

That meant selecting void crystals of the highest purity, using the energy released by crushing the crystal to pass through space, temporarily sending one’s life-bound sword into one’s own Qi Sea, then refining it through qi, blood, and soul until the “life-bound sword” was nurtured into a “life-bound sword embryo.”

It was roughly similar to a flying sword. There were branches within it as well, such as discarding the hilt’s adornments and keeping only the blade, or shrinking the blade into a compact mass and converting it toward a sword pellet. There were already many such branching paths.

The only difference was that while others had to painstakingly refine their swords, Bai Xiang did not even need void crystals to achieve this.

She was already a saint. That little boundary of the void was like a sheet of paper to her. One light poke was enough to tear it open.

Her connection with Feixiang Heaven was also far deeper than that between an ordinary sword cultivator and a life-bound sword. It could practically count as part of her. Taking it into her body would not produce any rejection either. Everything ordinary sword cultivators worried about simply was not a problem for her.

The only awkward part was that Feixiang Heaven still could not help her for the moment.

Compared with refinement, this was more like nurturing.

Bai Xiang found it too troublesome to keep a hand on the sword hilt every day, so she simply drew it into her body instead.

That way, it was being nurtured at every moment, and for now there was no need to fit Feixiang Heaven with a scabbard anymore either.

“Don’t be impatient.”

Taking out the Dao sword and gently stroking its surface, Bai Xiang soothed it in a soft voice.

“I know you crave blood.”

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“But now is not the time.”

She looked again at that progress report on the search order and sincerely hoped there was something genuine among the items.

As long as it was genuine, even if it was only a fragment that had broken off from the real thing, I would be confident of reorganizing my cultivation system, fully bringing Feixiang Heaven into it, and making it truly become my power.

There was no rush.

If it was sent by air, the result would be clear within a few days.

Good.

Everything had been handled beautifully.

The more reports Bai Xiang read through, the more satisfied she felt.

She looked at the pair of legs pressed together beneath her skirt and thought instinctively… it seemed that when Bai Zhuqing saw me bare-legged and barefoot for the first time after I returned from Northern Yu, the light that burst from her eyes had been even brighter than before.

A suitable reward could be given.

In the future, when I wander around the house like this, should I wear black stockings, or keep going bare-legged and barefoot? I’ll ask Bai Zhuqing after she wakes up.

The corners of her lips curled upward.

A seductive glimmer flowed through the Empress’s eyes.

…

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Two days passed. Chen Jing had her mechanical arm reattached, Liu Yong had also undergone reinforced modification of his new prosthetic body over at Bai Maoxu’s place, and Xu Shu had more or less finalized the team roster.

There were not many people. As expected, the list included the names Zhang Donglai and Zhu Sheng.

These two had once been Liu Yong’s friends and brothers. It was only because the unit structure had been broken up and they were forcibly sent to conduct patrols and serve within the Dao that they had not remained behind to look after him. This was the perfect chance to call them back.

One, like Junior Brother Liu Yong, came from a poor background. The other was a scion of a great clan from out of town. This kind of mixed arrangement probably counted as “good variety.”

That was likely what Xu Shu was thinking. He had already had Liu Yong take his written order to go fetch them.

Besides those two, there was also a girl named Chang Ling. She was a rising genius within the Dao in recent times and had long since broken through to the False Core Realm. After listening to the lecture, her aura had become even deeper and more sustained. She was probably not far from the Golden Core by now.

Xu Shu had personally brought this person into the fold as her senior brother, so he knew her background inside and out, and naturally brought her along as well.

Apart from Chang Ling, there were four others. Three of them, like her, were gifted disciples of humble origin. The last one, however, bore the surname Bai. He was an elite selected from a collateral branch of the Bai family, named Bai Changze.

Twenty-four years old, not exactly young anymore. It was said he had entered the Dao rather late, had a steady temperament, and possessed lucid mastery of the sword. Xu Shu had met him during a previous sword bout, and after some consideration, he chose to include him as well.

With all preparations complete, this vanguard squad gathered at Starwater Company, in Bai Maoxu’s laboratory, listening to his final explanation of the various pieces of equipment and the precautions they should observe.

“You’d best not go too deep.”

Bai Maoxu wore a white lab coat, his glasses reflecting a chilling gleam.

“With your level of cultivation, if you run into multiple Demon Kings, you’ll need to start thinking about escaping.”

“So don’t go thinking equipment is all-powerful.”