Volume 5, Chapter 88 – Medicinal Bath (2-in-1)

For Bai Xiang, successfully achieving even a single instance of future sight was already no easy feat, so naturally she could not see very far ahead. At most, it was only about one second beyond the present.

And so, in the brief moment while she was still dazed, the washroom door was already knocked on, and Bai Zhuqing’s voice came from outside as she asked, “Sister? Uh… I came to ask about those clothes of yours…”

Hm? She actually asked directly?

Bai Xiang was surprised, because judging by the habits the little girl had shown in the past, the most likely thing she would have done here was secretly stash away the clothes and socks she had taken off. She might even have considered soaking her socks in water and drinking it. Her tastes really were anything but light.

Right. Qing’er had already broken free of the Illusory God’s control. Her thoughts were now much more her own. Maybe that would make her seem more like an ordinary person…

Then what exactly am I thinking here? Don’t I want her to be more normal?

After a pause, Bai Xiang replied directly, “Handle them however you like. Washing them is fine too.”

At the sisters’ current realm in qi cultivation, so-called “washing clothes” really just meant using the Vibration Art to sweep away the deeper grime stuck to them. If one used the technique skillfully enough, there was no need to touch water at all, and even if they did get wet, a simple shake would forcibly vibrate them dry.

It was not difficult at all, just something done casually.

Ever since Bai Xiang returned, the fresh clothes she changed into were either damaged or discarded. She felt it was time to set a standard for how to deal with them. Since her younger sister was no longer quite so abnormal, it would not be impossible to hand these household odds and ends over to her.

“Sis…” That was what she was thinking, yet Bai Zhuqing’s voice came again from outside the door. “Don’t you think… it’s kind of wasteful to just wash these things?”

What on earth is she even talking about…?

What does she mean, wasteful to just wash them? If not wash them, then what? Just what exactly is she thinking about in that head of hers…?

Too lazy to dwell on it, Bai Xiang sat in the bathing pool and moved her thoughts. At once, the scorching steam in the washroom came under her control, and a pull dragged the door inward.

“Eh?” Bai Zhuqing was still wearing a red dress outside, though this one was much more revealing. It was almost just a short red gauze dress attached to a dudou. In her hands she was holding a black object that looked like a snake’s shed skin. It was none other than the pair of black silk pantyhose from the future-sight vision.

“Come here.” Bai Xiang’s command came through the steam. “Tell me directly what you mean.”

That same tone again, full of authority, leaving no room for refusal… Bai Zhuqing instinctively began to feel a little afraid. But she still clearly had not realized the seriousness of the situation. As she walked inward, she said softly, “I just thought… ah!”

Her foot slipped. Bai Xiang had moved a bar of soap beneath her bare foot, making her step onto it, slide backward and forward, and with a splash she and the pantyhose both crashed into the pool.

This pool had been expanded compared to before. It had more than enough room for two people to bathe together, and it was hard to say it had not been someone’s deliberate scheme.

Thinking of that, Bai Xiang’s gaze grew deeper. She controlled the water flow to push the fallen younger sister toward her. Through the steam, what appeared first was Bai Zhuqing’s somewhat flustered face, though on closer inspection her eyes still held confusion. As she lifted herself up in the water, that crimson gauze dress clung tightly to her body, bringing out some very enticing, and very dangerous, rounded curves.

“Cough, cough… Sis?”

Bai Zhuqing quickly planted her feet on the pool floor. Her left hand was still holding the pantyhose. Most of it floated on the water, truly like the shed skin of some snake demon. With her right hand, she brushed aside her wet hair, fully revealing that pretty face with its carefully painted governing makeup. To outsiders, it carried both authority and seduction. Yet she still looked at Bai Xiang with a bewildered expression.

Still pretending to be innocent.

Bai Xiang narrowed her eyes, grabbed her arm, and tugged her into her embrace. She herself remained seated in the bath, while one hand slid up along that slender waist and locked tightly around it, firmly pinning her younger sister in her arms.

From this angle, Bai Zhuqing’s loosened black hair, the fair and rosy cheeks framed by it, and those eyes and brows that were narrower than before, tinged with charm yet still retaining a pitiful softness, were all fully exposed, as though she were a little doe caught in Bai Xiang’s grasp.

“I’m asking you,” Bai Xiang said, looking down with those golden pupils. “You said it would be wasteful to wash those clothes. So you had some other plan for dealing with them?”

Big Sister is so beautiful…

The moment Bai Xiang applied force, Bai Zhuqing’s will began to give way a little.

Now she knew that she had been influenced by the Illusory God. That knowledge was different from before, when she merely knew that it was so without understanding why. But even so, she still had to say it… With Bai Xiang questioning her using that face and that posture, how could anyone possibly hold out against it…

Her snow-white hair was pinned up behind her head, with only a few strands hanging down. That meant there was practically nothing left to shield her face. That exquisite, flawless beauty, no matter how many times one saw it, was immediately in full force, releasing intense charm from every angle with no blind spots.

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And so Bai Zhuqing subconsciously blurted out the true thought in her heart. “I was thinking about whether I should soak it in water and drink it…”

She really is that perverted?

Bai Xiang was stunned.

Given her current state of mind, there were very few things left that could truly shock her. But in that moment, she really did feel that long-absent emotion of astonishment once again. So a person could actually be shameless to this extent?

“I… wait!”

“That’s not what I meant!”

Bai Zhuqing did have cultivation now, and on top of that she had once nourished Feixiang Heaven as a sword, so she had developed a certain resistance. She quickly came to her senses, and her delicate face flushed completely red.

“That’s not what you meant?” Bai Xiang’s gaze turned even more dangerous. She tightened her arm around her sister’s narrow waist, forcing her to press closer still, while her other hand rose and pinched that soft cheek. “Then explain it to me. What else could you possibly have meant?”

“I… I just didn’t want to waste anything…!”

After ten years of growing up, Bai Zhuqing’s face had lengthened slightly downward. Though her chin had sharpened and grown more delicate, giving outsiders more of the authority and allure expected of one who oversaw the Imperial Court, the essential shape of her face was still softer and rounder than a truly long face. When Bai Xiang pinched it like that, it became plump at once, and even her words came out muddled.

“I’m dealing with your affairs, Sister!”

“I mean… the matter of the northwestern desert! Bai Tingyun and the others! And Xu Shu and the others!”

“And most importantly… that demon god corpse!”

“Bai Tingyun told me that thing was a strategic resource! Not a single scrap of it could be wasted! He even submitted a request to collect the demon blood it splashed everywhere… They even want to dig up the mushrooms that rooted and grew out of the ground where the blood fell!”

“And then?” Bai Xiang narrowed her eyes. What does that have to do with wanting to soak my socks in water and drink it?

“And then I…” Bai Zhuqing looked a little awkward as she got to this point. “I was thinking… even a demon god’s corpse is full of treasure… and now that you’re a Saint, Sister… you’re even more formidable than a demon god… so… your body must obviously be full of treasure too… and then all I could think about was how to make use of it…”

That logic…

That logic actually didn’t seem wrong.

Bai Xiang paused, then, after understanding her train of thought, felt somewhat speechless.

Theoretically, it was true. Even a demon god’s corpse had that much value and counted as a strategic resource. So her own body, this body whose qi cultivation had reached the Divine Palace Realm, whose body refinement had reached Great Perfection, whose soul cultivation had lit the Hidden Spirit Orifice among the three Origin Orifices, and which possessed soul-abilities, truly was worth far more than the former.

She no longer needed ordinary food or drink. Everything within her body remained flawlessly pure. Then the blood she shed and the sweat that seeped from her would naturally be like precious medicine, possessing wondrous effects beyond the imagination of ordinary people.

So Qing’er’s focus wasn’t really on the socks, but on the water they’d been soaked in…

Though it still sounded a little strange, Bai Xiang knew this time it had been her own prejudice. She had misunderstood her younger sister.

“Can Sister let go of me now?”

Bai Zhuqing had also realized by now that she had probably been misunderstood. She had originally lain timidly in Bai Xiang’s arms, but now she started getting restless too, narrowing her eyes as she examined Bai Xiang.

“You actually suspected I’d fantasize about something that rude… Is my image in your heart really that bad?”

“It really was that bad in the past.” Bai Xiang did not avoid admitting it. “Now that you’re wholeheartedly devoted to the public good, I’m actually a little unaccustomed to it.”

That cut straight to the heart. Bai Zhuqing flushed in embarrassment and annoyance and swung a hand against Bai Xiang’s shoulder.

It did not hurt at all.

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It was no different from acting spoiled.

“I know your body still hasn’t recovered,” Bai Xiang added. “You definitely weren’t thinking about anything romantic. But in that case, with such a precious medicine right in front of you, why have you never asked me for it?”

What is Sister even saying?

This time, it was Bai Zhuqing’s turn to be dumbfounded.

Her mind stalled for a moment, and it took her quite a while to sort it out. What Bai Xiang seemed to mean, probably, possibly… was that she did not need to sneak around recycling things in secret. She could simply ask her directly for medicine.

Is the medicine I’d be asking for even proper medicine?

That sentence popped into her head almost entirely on instinct.

But it was true… Sister’s body now really was no less than a sentient immortal herb. Even the fragrance on her body and the breath from her lips felt beneficial just from being inhaled into the lungs. So if it did not have to go through socks soaked in water, then drinking her sweat directly?… Or even other bodily fluids, like blood?

Pah!

Her heart had only just begun to stir when, the moment she imagined Bai Xiang bleeding, Bai Zhuqing was instantly jolted awake.

“I’m fine like this.” She held Bai Xiang more tightly, somewhat nervous, and obediently pressed her head against Bai Xiang’s chest.

“Her sweat is enough. More than enough.”

“Qing’er neither wants nor wishes for Sister to be hurt and bleed for me.”

Little girl.

Bai Xiang took in her entire reaction.

Now that she had broken free from the Illusory God’s control, this slightly awkward little temperament of hers was actually rather alluring.

“I never said anything about bleeding…”

Her voice grew even lower as she held Bai Zhuqing and slowly slid down into the pool water bit by bit. At the same time, she said, “Why would you need to soak any clothes or stockings… isn’t this whole pool of water enough for you to drink?”

Twenty minutes later, the two sisters emerged from the washroom. It was Bai Xiang carrying Bai Zhuqing out in her arms, the latter limp all over, and that red dress with the dudou had been changed for a loose bath robe.

It was not as though they had done anything “major.” After all, Bai Zhuqing’s body had not yet recovered. Even if she had been willing, Bai Xiang would never have given her the chance.

Bai Xiang had merely seized upon the point that “her bodily fluids were precious medicine” and “replenished her a little.” The redness on Bai Zhuqing’s face was purely from the steam.

After walking a few steps outside, Bai Xiang felt that Bai Zhuqing ought to have recovered enough, so she tossed her lightly up into the air.

Bai Zhuqing drifted backward through the air and landed lightly on the ground, shooting her a somewhat resentful look.

But very quickly she no longer resented anything, because right before her eyes, after changing into a black dress for lounging at home, Bai Xiang took out the wooden box Bai Zhuqing had given her and put on the full set of golden jewelry piece by piece.

The pair of golden cicada earrings, one on each ear.

And a pair of golden bracelets, along with a pair of golden anklets, each passing over her hands and feet and settling into their proper places.

After putting them on, Bai Xiang half turned her body, tilted her head slightly, and looked at her younger sister. “What do you think?”

“…”

Bai Zhuqing gave a thumbs-up, and a thin stream of blood ran from one nostril.

That can’t be necessary.

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Oh… this was probably because she had soaked in too much of the “medicinal bath” just now. Her body had gotten a bit over-supplemented.

“I really like the gift you gave me.” Bai Xiang’s brows curved slightly, and her eyes held a faint smile. “Later, I’ll prepare something in return for you as well.”

This… could matters of this kind really be spoken of so plainly?

Bai Zhuqing hurriedly wiped away the nosebleed and lowered her head, not daring to look at Bai Xiang.

“How about telling me what you like?” Bai Xiang kept asking.

But how could Bai Zhuqing dare make any detailed requests? “Just… something the same as what Sister gave me is fine.”

The same bracelets and anklets, with matching earrings?

Bai Xiang froze.

After thinking for a moment, her gaze fell on her younger sister’s slender hands twisting at the hem of her clothes, and on the toes pressed together, currently curling against the floor in embarrassment.

A somewhat wanton thought suddenly arose in her mind. The return gift had to be stylistically distinct from her own set. In her current shy state, Qing’er looked like a doe-rabbit or a little deer, and seemed well suited to more lively ornaments, such as bells.

In that case, it did not necessarily have to be metal jewelry.

She seemed to like red quite a lot now. Later, Bai Xiang could gather some special materials, red cords and red threads, and make her some bell pendants. She would likely be happy with that.

Having settled on an idea, Bai Xiang stored the matter away in her heart and then simply raised a foot and headed upstairs.

“You come too.”

“Describe the general situation outside to me.”

…

“That’s basically how it is.”

Some time later, inside the training room, the two sisters sat kneeling across from one another while Bai Zhuqing finished reporting all the governmental matters she had dealt with.

Naturally, the first and most important item was the chaos in the northwest. There was not much to say there. Bai Xiang had already dealt with the greatest troubles, so what remained were only cleanup and aftermath.

With Bai Tingyun handling that side, everything from counting the dead and wounded, cleaning up the remnants, guarding the demon god’s corpse, and tallying battle merits and prisoners was done in perfect order. Bai Zhuqing could simply take the contents of his report and relay them directly to Bai Xiang.

What they were mainly talking about here was the other miscellaneous business.

“Yu Daoyong’s ‘Echo Tower’ is already under construction. The first pilot site is in Chilong Circuit. It was originally supposed to be Tianji Circuit, but because you nearly wiped out all the voidfiends in the northwest during this outing, that area doesn’t need this kind of warning method before more voidfiends gather and form a force.”

Bai Xiang nodded after hearing that.

After returning, she had looked over a map. If she remembered correctly, there were some extremely dense clusters of small Illusory Realm fragments near Chilong Circuit. Various kinds of voidfiends would emerge from those fragments from time to time, wave after wave without end. That really did make it suitable for building an Echo Tower.

If it could be managed well, Chilong Circuit might even become a leveling ground for university students from the surrounding regions. After all, the monsters that spawned there were not very high-level, and as long as they were cleaned out regularly, it would be difficult for troublesome great demons to arise.

“Sister, there’s a plan here I want to tell you about.”

Bai Zhuqing respectfully sought Bai Xiang’s approval.

“Go ahead.”

“It’s this.” Bai Zhuqing handed her phone over to Bai Xiang.

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Bai Xiang took it and looked at it, discovering that the screen showed a full map of Great Xia.

But it looked very different from the Great Xia map she had seen before, because this one actually had a number of dense networks added onto it.

She immediately understood what Bai Zhuqing meant and looked up to ask, “You want to establish ground routes?”

“Exactly.” Bai Zhuqing nodded.

“Ground routes and transport networks are one of the most important reasons why the Starsea Federation was able to overtake us and develop so quickly over the past ten years.”

“Their external defenses are too stable. Their baseline firepower isn’t something we can compare to. That lets them directly construct all kinds of routes on the ground, greatly improving transport efficiency.”

This was something Bai Zhuqing had wanted to do for a long time.

Ever since the former dynasty, this land had lacked a systematic ground logistics network. Though such routes did exist, they were not extensive, and the cost of using them was extremely high.

And after Zhengyuan, Great Xia lost even that kind of network. One base city after another had been forced into a strategy like clearing the fields and fortifying the walls, locking their gates tight and defending themselves with grim determination. Their only contact with each other was through air transport, and the inefficiency of that was beyond question.

That was why, before this, the Watchmen of Chilong Circuit had needed to cut their way through wildly overgrown forests on the road to Shenming Ancestral Ground. It was simply because so many years of neglect had passed. Outside the base cities, the wilderness was largely choked with vegetation, and many of the old road sections had been swallowed by green.

Before Bai Xiang’s return, that idea had not been realistic.

The nation’s strength had barely been enough to maintain even stable growth, and huge numbers of people still died every year. In order to maintain the population, even reproduction had become a metric for heroic contribution. Under such circumstances, an expansion plan like this could not even be discussed.

But things were different now.

After Bai Xiang returned, the internal turmoil had been suppressed, and a good deal of rotten flesh had been cut away. By her own strength alone, she had also settled the troubles in both the north and the northwest, freeing up vast quantities of resources and manpower that had been piled along the two front lines.

And with Yu Daoyong’s blasted tower added on top, Bai Zhuqing felt that the time was ripe.

It was time to rebuild the roads, to reconnect city to city, and to stop treating them as sealed-off base cities.

“That’s fine.”

Bai Xiang nodded, then asked her with concern, “Do we have enough money?”

You couldn’t develop a country without money.

She had already thought it through. The Blood Lord was probably dead anyway, so if they truly ran short of materials, she would simply make another trip west and seize resources from that side by force.

“There’s enough, there’s enough!” Bai Zhuqing was startled and hurriedly assured her. “We have plenty of materials… After the fighting in Yujing and Tianji came to a halt, a lot was left over. On top of that, there are all the various rare materials you left behind from clearing out the voidfiends, and the northwest can also be brought under control to mine its veins… It’ll be more than enough for a long time to come!”

As long as it was enough, that was good.

Bai Xiang nodded again, then realized that aside from cultivation, there did not seem to be anything else for her to do.

All the miscellaneous affairs had been handed over to Bai Zhuqing, and her younger sister had managed everything perfectly. Bai Xiang only needed to listen to reports and offer a few opinions. She did not need to think deeply about anything else at all.

Wasn’t that making her a little too idle?

“If Sister feels bad about that, you could try moving around more.”

It seemed Bai Zhuqing had seen through her thoughts, because she covered her mouth and began to laugh quietly.

“After all, your ‘popularity’ now is anything but ordinary.”

“Doing some inspections would do a great deal to lift morale.”