Volume 5, Chapter 97 – Xuantian

Meanwhile, Bai Xiang was on a call with home.

She had just finished today’s cultivation. On the photon screen before her appeared Bai Shengju’s face. A closer look showed that the old man looked noticeably younger.

That was because, before leaving, Bai Xiang had helped him regulate and restore his body once more. If his foundation had not been so poor, if his earlier years had not left him too old and burdened with too many chronic ailments for a sudden breakthrough to be safely endured, Bai Xiang would have long since forcibly pushed him into the Golden Core Realm.

“You handled these matters very well.”

Bai Shengju nodded at Bai Xiang and smiled. “Honestly, I didn’t expect you to still keep up this habit even now.”

He meant her habit of discussing and explaining every major matter to him after it was done.

From Bai Shengju’s perspective, this naturally pleased him greatly, because it fully reflected her respect for him, making him instinctively feel, if only for a moment, that he was still the head of the family.

But at times he also worried for Bai Xiang.

For example, right now he spoke to her in a broad, gentle tone. “You don’t need to go to this much trouble in the future.”

“You’re an emperor now. On your shoulders, you carry not just the family, but the realm under heaven.”

“If you keep doing this, then once others find out, they might think I’m the one manipulating things behind the scenes.”

“Only with a firm heart and resilient will can one bear great weight,” Bai Xiang replied. “To shut out the noise and interference of the outside world is itself a kind of cultivation.”

“Good.” Bai Shengju looked at her deeply and nodded hard. “Then I’ll try to cultivate properly too. I’ll do my best to live a few hundred years longer, so I can witness all of you reaching the summit and opening up an even broader future!”

“Is that all?” Bai Xiang asked.

Hm?

Bai Shengju was taken aback. What did she mean, is that all?

Other than that, what else did she want him to do?

“Before I left, I heard that Second Aunt is pregnant again,” Bai Xiang said faintly. “Grandfather doesn’t have much to do these days. Instead of staying home tending potted greenery and medicinal fields, you may as well go out and do some work. Go help Dao Lord Chen for a while.”

Good heavens!

Bai Shengju’s eyes widened.

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How could he not understand what she meant?

His obedient granddaughter was actually suggesting that he go rekindle old affections, and then perhaps give Guanshan and Lianzhou another younger brother or sister?

Well… all right. It did not really count as rekindling things with a stranger.

After all, he and Chen Yuchan had known each other for a long time and had once shared a romance.

He certainly had no thoughts of adding younger siblings to the family, but if it was only a matter of meeting and talking… that did indeed sound better than how things were now.

“In an age where everyone lives eight hundred years, many old notions and standards are bound to change,” Bai Xiang said, a trace of laughter in her eyes. “Grandfather should prepare himself mentally. This is only the beginning.”

After hanging up, Bai Xiang got up and went to the washroom to bathe.

Over the next few days, the focus of her work would be the Shenming Sword.

By using the Shenming Sword to imbue others with her insights and realm, she would cultivate a new group of martial generals and powerful ministers to replace the officials and eunuchs who had previously been purged, filling the vacancies they had left behind.

Once such a system was established, every future promotion among Great Xia’s officials and eunuchs could be tested through qi methods, ensuring at the root that every line of power remained under the control of the central authority. The result would be that, in her hands, there would arise an unprecedented monster: a completely unified immortal cultivation dynasty.

Bai Xiang had no interest in glorious achievements for their own sake. But she was very interested in what kinds of changes and challenges such a world would produce if it continued developing in this way.

As one piece of clothing after another fell away, a fair and graceful body was revealed, leaving upon the screen a slender, hazy silhouette.

Halfway through her bath, Bai Zhuqing, having finished dealing with state affairs, quietly slipped into the washroom. As she walked, she removed her clothes as well, carrying a set of tinkling bells and golden rings as she made her way inside.

Not long afterward, Bai Zhuqing’s startled cry came from within.

“Huh? I already sealed my qi flow. You could still sense me even like that?”

“W-wait! I won’t dare do it again next time!”

“Ow! You can’t fasten it there…”

“We’re going back to Zhennan in a few days. I can’t leave marks… ah! Auntie, you’re so mean!”

Soft, ambiguous sounds lingered and curled like steam, veiling the springtime scene behind them, leaving only sweet voices drifting in the air.

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Meanwhile, in Zhennan.

Bai Shengju put down the phone, feeling far more at ease than before.

He had contacted Chen Yuchan, and learned that she was currently in Liangzhou running schools and even serving as a principal. At once, his heart grew restless.

“It has been a long time since I contacted her side, yet Xiaochan did not blame me much.”

“But if even Xiang’er could see it, then have I been too stubborn? Have I wasted too much time for nothing?”

Thinking of this, Bai Shengju became uncertain again.

He could not help recalling Bai Xiang’s last words: “In an age where everyone lives eight hundred years, many old notions and standards are bound to change.”

The first thing to be overturned by that would probably be the old rules of kinship and generational order.

In the past, one generation was one generation. No matter how big the age difference within it, it could never be too extreme.

But now, all the people had obtained methods of longevity. As the timeline stretched, so long as each generation staggered the timing of marriage and childbirth just a little, then after three or four generations, members of the same generation might already differ in age by twenty years or more. The farther it went, the greater the gap would become.

In the end, it might even happen that a newborn infant would outrank an in-law’s elderly relative by generation. That truly would overturn ordinary common sense.

“I really feel like Xiang’er was hinting at something beneath her words…”

Bai Shengju stared at the black screen of his phone.

“Was she using this as an excuse to gloss over the matter between her and Qing’er, or was she warning me in advance not to meddle too much in her Holy Mother affair?”

Bai Xiang’s temperament was simply too mature, and her conduct far too seasoned, for him not to think that way.

“The Xuanxia delegation passed Longchuan today.”

“In three more days at most, they should arrive in Zhennan. By then, she will most likely bring Qing’er back with her.”

It was not that he was meddling too much. It was just that the title “Xuantian Holy Mother” sounded strange the moment one heard it.

Bai Shengju had originally intended to intervene a little, so that Bai Xiang would not be caught between ritual propriety and human feeling. But from the look of things, Bai Xiang clearly had her own plans.

“Driving me away… does she not want me to see something?”

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At that thought, Bai Shengju’s eyes widened, and suddenly enlightenment dawned on him.

“Only, if that’s the case, then her reputation…”

“Forget it.”

“In the end, it is Xiang’er’s own family matter.”

Having made up his mind, Bai Shengju sprang to his feet and immediately returned to his room to pack.

He too was going to embark on a trip at a moment’s notice.

This trip would last at least half a month.

No one was going to come running to him with complaints and push the burden of family head back onto him again.

…

Meanwhile, in Longchuan, a traditional horse-drawn caravan was crossing the mountain ridges.

It numbered more than three hundred people in total. More than half were sturdy soldiers who, despite the sweltering weather, still wore heavy armor and curved sabers. Beside them were servants dressed in ancient-style robes, carrying bright fans, lanterns, and banners, fully displaying the grandeur of a royal procession.

There were familiar faces among the group.

Song Qiaoshu turned his head and caught sight of a woman in a green dress walking in the shade, dabbing sweat from her brow with a handkerchief as she went.

“Chongniang.” He drew close and said in a low voice, “At this rate, we’ll arrive in another two or three days.”

The woman in green glanced at him but said nothing.

“Chongniang…”

Song Qiaoshu grew anxious.

“At a time like this, the Imperial Daughter is still working in Xia Capital and has shown no sign at all of setting out.”

“And now the public mood has been suppressed again by the Demon-Expulsion Edict… What if she doesn’t come?”

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“Sigh…” The woman in green let out a sigh. “I call you foolish, and you still refuse to believe it.”

“Hm?” Song Qiaoshu glared. “How am I foolish?”

“The Imperial Daughter went to a great deal of effort to play down the Holy Mother affair. Let me ask you this: would she really allow us to remain in Zhennan indefinitely?”

It seemed like an unrelated question, but Song Qiaoshu’s mind turned, and he immediately understood what Chongniang meant.

It was very simple. As long as the Imperial Daughter did not come to acknowledge the Empress, then the Empress’s entourage would remain in Zhennan indefinitely.

And as time passed, more and more people would learn of the matter and pay attention to it. At that point, public discussion on this issue would flare up again, which was certainly not something the Imperial Daughter wanted to see.

“So the Imperial Daughter is definitely going to come and acknowledge the Empress.”

At last, Song Qiaoshu let out a sigh of relief.

He turned and glanced behind him. Amid the bright fans and lanterns swaying through the sky, he spotted an exquisite palanquin.

All of it followed ancient rites.

And all of it was modeled after the rituals of the former Great Xuan.

Seated within that palanquin was the symbolic figure of the Xuanxia Kingdom of today, the “Xuantian Holy Mother.”

…the same “Lady Xuanjiu” whom the Feathering Sect had once never thought much of.

Did the Imperial Daughter still retain memories of what had happened back then?

The reason the Empress had abandoned the Imperial Daughter in the first place had been to preserve their lives. After all, a newborn child simply could not conceal its own aura. Had she not done so, the Yu people would soon have caught up and surrounded them.

Song Qiaoshu had served the Feathering Sect for decades. He had always been utterly loyal, and he sincerely hoped that the two sides could be reunited.

But what he failed to notice was the pity in Chongniang’s eyes when she looked at him.

Sigh…

After another quiet sigh, Chongniang too turned to look at the palanquin. A trace of reluctance showed on her face before she lowered her head again and continued walking forward.