Volume 1, Chapter 67 – Reincarnation

“They’re impostors.”

Bai Xiang didn’t hesitate at all; she even took the lead and asked the cicada demon, “Were they a man and a woman, one older and one younger? The man called Bai Jingyuan, the woman Bai Xuan?”

“Eh?” The cicada demon was even more surprised; it buzzed up and down in a flutter, then said, “The man didn’t give a name! But the woman indeed called herself Bai Xuan!”

“Then that fits.” Bai Xiang lowered her lids slightly. “The pair were just making things up. In truth, they infiltrated my Shenming Dojo, stole the route map to this place, and pretended to be Bai clan descendants to fool you.”

“There’s such a thing!” The cicada demon flared with an odd anger, then quickly calmed. Its two bulging eyes seemed to fix on Bai Xiang. “…And how am I to know you aren’t lying?”

“I can wield the Shenming Sword—doesn’t that suffice?” Bai Xiang gave her wooden sword a little shake to show it off. “They certainly couldn’t pull that off at first sight.”

“Mm…” The cicada demon still seemed uneasy. It flew up to perch atop the Buddha statue for a while, waited over a minute, then came back down and landed right before Bai Xiang.

Bai Xiang obligingly held out her hand and let it settle in her palm.

“I am the Startling‑Spirit Cicada!”

The cicada demon tilted its little head back, human words continuing to issue from its belly.

“What you see now is merely my avatar! My true body is many times larger than what you see! You are even inside my cicada pupa as we speak! You need my leave to get out!”

A pupa?

Bai Xiang immediately thought of the two scouts from the Demon‑Immortal Dao—how they’d said the main force of the Demon‑Immortal Dao was guarding deep in the Illusory Realm, a massive “Egg Case” buried far underground.

So that “Egg Case” was, nine times out of ten, this Startling‑Spirit Cicada’s true body.

The tunnels of this underground labyrinth actually lead all the way here?

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Was it that Chai Xuan had groped her way here with her father back then and then tricked this insect demon?

Inwardly weighing it, this did match her earlier conjecture—there was indeed an “old thing,” and it was this “old thing” that had helped the father and daughter of the Chai clan seize their opportunity.

The little Startling‑Spirit Cicada seemed somewhat naive; its replies all radiated a guileless air. Bai Xiang went along with it, coaxing for information; with no twists at all, she got the whole story straight.

“Those two said they were Bai clan descendants, and since I wanted to leave the Illusory Realm as well, we decided to cooperate.”

“Why didn’t I leave on my own? Because I can’t get out on my own, of course!”

The cicada demon flicked its legs and cocked its head.

“My pupa bears a soul‑seal inscribed by your honored ancestor! Unless it acknowledges a Shenming Sword successor as master again, none of you are getting out!”

Bai Xiang narrowed her eyes. “And how were you planning to cooperate?”

“Why, help that ‘Bai Xuan’ forge her sword first,” the cicada demon said. “Her foundation is excellent—she could actually accommodate a three‑hundred‑year Demon Pool into the sword. After the ‘Cicada Molt,’ she should be able to take in another Demon Pool of around four hundred and fifty years. In one go that’s nearly a thousand years!”

“Cicada Molt?”

“You don’t know?” The cicada demon was surprised, then caught itself. “Oh! Considering you people even lost track of this place, not knowing is only natural…”

Then it began to explain in detail to Bai Xiang—from the “Shenming Sword” to the “Cicada Molt Method,” and on to the origin of this lineage.

“The Shenming Sword isn’t especially powerful as a Sword Dao in itself,” the insect said, nodding and swaying in her palm. “There are plenty of Sword Daos in this world stronger than Shenming. Its real hallmark is the ‘Cicada Molt’!”

“For example, Heart‑Aspect, Heart Flow, heart meridians… you know about these, yes?”

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“These are your special faculties—but they’re normally hard to cultivate. Heart Flow and the heart meridians are changing at every moment; most of the terminal branchings can’t be sensed, so naturally you can’t cultivate to the extreme.”

“But the Shenming Sword can!”

“By letting the ‘shenming’ resonate within the body and relaying the probed model back into the Heart‑Aspect in another form, you can grasp short‑term changes in the heart meridians—on that basis you break the realm and rebuild your foundation!”

So that’s how it is.

Bai Xiang finally grasped the essence of her lineage.

So the principle was basically sonic probing she controlled herself?

Probe with sound while monitoring her internals, and, enduring the pain, break the realm.

It was essentially minimally invasive surgery on the heart meridians—patching the oversights left in past cultivation to establish a more perfect and resilient Dao foundation.

Then I don’t need it.

She instinctively checked the progress of her Heart‑Aspect’s metamorphosis.

Likely from digesting the accumulated medicinal power, the progress had quietly edged past 30%.

“This is a big deal!” Seeing she wasn’t impressed, the cicada demon grew indignant and argued, “Say you picked a trash Demon Pool for your first forging—‘Cicada Molt’ lets you swap it out!”

Bai Xiang shook her head. “I don’t need it.”

Please—she hadn’t even used her first chance yet.

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“Then what about patching the leaks?” The cicada demon kicked her finger hard. “Even if you don’t want the leak‑patching on the heart meridians, you don’t want the extra years of cultivation?”

“Take that ‘Bai Xuan’—she had me infuse a three‑hundred‑year Demon Pool of dao‑cultivation to start. As long as she converts that portion before the ‘Cicada Molt,’ then after the molt, when she forges a second time, she can immediately take in another dose—and that second dose will exceed the previous capacity! At least fifty percent more! The two portions add together!”

“You human cultivators, after ‘Condensing the Aspect,’ need at least three thousand years of cultivation to condense the ‘Purple Core (zidan).’ That’s close to a third already—do you really not want it?”

Bai Xiang changed tune at once. “In that case, of course I want it.”

Only then did the little cicada puff up with pride.

But only for a moment—remembering it had given this fortune to the wrong person, it couldn’t help but zip about in a panic again.

“Oh no, oh no…”

“Gave it to the wrong person!”

“The ‘Cicada Molt Method,’ the relics (sarira), even the ‘sword embryo’—all given to the wrong person!”

“Don’t panic.”

Bai Xiang plucked it from midair and pinched it in her hand, leaving only its head sticking out.

“Since you’ve followed my Bai clan’s Patriarch since antiquity, now that I’ve run into you, I’ll find a way to get you out.”

“First tell me what the relics and the sword embryo are.”

“Eh?” Now it was the little cicada’s turn to be amazed.

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“Bai Muying… she didn’t tell you?”

Bai Xiang narrowed her eyes. “Tell us what.”

“Why, that she had a liaison with that bald donkey, Daokong!” The little cicada thrashed its wings in excitement.

“She created the Shenming Sword Dao with that bald donkey’s help!”

“That bald donkey, heaven knows what possessed him—he swore to work on some ‘Nine Lives, Nine Tribulations Method,’ said the ‘Cicada Molt Method’ hidden in the Shenming Sword Dao was one of them. He also said each life he lived he would create one method and forge one sword; when he finally ‘Ascended,’ the nine methods would merge, and that sword would break past the mortal realm with him!”

“Ascension…?” Bai Xiang frowned. “Did he succeed?”

“If he did, why are we still talking ‘sword embryos’?” The little cicada sneered. “Of course he didn’t… By his own account, he’d already ‘reincarnated’ several times by then and still couldn’t break past ‘Sword Lord.’ He was collecting every bullshit method he could find to study—completely deranged and demon‑obsessed!”

Bullshit methods…

Bai Xiang’s temples throbbed as she thought of the murals above.

She asked softly, “Back when he knew Bai Muying, what name was he going by?”

“That long ago, I can’t quite recall,” the little cicada said, shaking its head.

“But I think… the surname was Huang?”

“Was it Huang Hua or Huang Ye…? What a strange thing to fixate on.”