Volume 2, Chapter 16 – Modification

“Truly barbaric…”

In a semi-open box on the other side, a man with black curls in a white lab coat couldn’t help but frown at the scene.

The glass could be rolled down here to soak in the live atmosphere. After Jiang Haojing’s head hit the floor, plenty of people gasped in horror, but roughly half burst into fierce cheers, their applause carrying over in hard, echoing waves.

Zhou Jing’an was seated here with Zhou Ji. Hearing the man in the white coat mutter, he casually tapped the armrest controls and raised the glass again.

“Don’t let it get to you, Dr. Huang,” he said mildly. “Life-and-death rings weren’t uncommon in earlier years. Both sides sign waivers, and broadcasts like these are usually geo-fenced, not spread nationwide.”

“I heard she killed Tao Xingxuan’s attendant in the street before she came in?” Dr. Huang stared at the big screen, looking at Bai Xiang with naked distaste. “That’s ‘killing in broad daylight’!”

“Forget a place like the Union—even in Luohou, that gets you arrested on the spot to await questioning. And you let her keep competing?”

How is that even a problem?

Zhou Ji snorted behind them, and even Zhou Jing’an frowned in private.

So a servant died. That’s all.

Swine and dogs who can’t read the situation—Tao Xingxuan used him as a pawn to take the blast. Never mind running into Bai Xiang—put any Sword Dao clan in that spot and he still wouldn’t have ended well.

A cornered beast will bite. Press too hard and something will snap.

“I’ve heard there are quite a lot of these ‘street killings’ here with you?”

Dr. Huang didn’t stop once he got going. “Demonic uprisings, rebellions—every so often the Inspectorate has to hit the streets and ‘clean the scene’?”

Zhou Jing’an nodded. “Great Yu’s demon troubles are the worst among the nations.”

“Which means you people did bad things!” Dr. Huang wagged a finger in midair. “Otherwise why don’t the monsters go to other countries? Why do they all fixate on Yu… huh!”

“And I’ve also heard… you generally don’t report this kind of thing?”

Onscreen, staff were already handling the corpse and cleaning the floor. Dr. Huang pointed at Bai Xiang standing in the arena. “For example, her killing someone in the street—aside from eyewitnesses and people like us with channels, isn’t it true most will never hear of it in their whole lives?”

Zhou Jing’an nodded again. “As it should be.”

“Well, that’s truly wrong!” Dr. Huang shook his head with a sigh.

“Ah! Feudal, feudal—feudal to the core!”

“Brother Zhou, you should do like me and go see the world outside—see the free world! I guarantee you won’t be able to stand staying here!”

Zhou Jing’an narrowed his eyes. “Is that so? I heard that after you took over R&D at ‘Qingyun Pharmaceuticals,’ you pushed some special policies—like reclassifying certain controlled drugs as ‘anti-inflammatories’ and ‘painkillers’ for sale.”

“Dao Lord Zhou, that’s not a fair way to put it,” Dr. Huang finally sobered, patting his chest. “We do this to relieve the people’s suffering.”

“At the very least, the drugs work, don’t they?”

“Even if, at the furthest stretch, there are some minor side effects, compared to terminal illness, that’s negligible.”

“And what they spend ultimately becomes research funding for us to develop other terminal-disease medications. In the end, the benefit still goes to those below, doesn’t it?”

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Dr. Huang looked resolute, delivering his case smoothly.

Zhou Jing’an kept smiling, unchanged; Zhou Ji, behind him, couldn’t help muttering “shameless.”

Minor side effects?

Addiction is a “minor” side effect?

These foreign pharmaceutical companies pull tricks like this because they can’t bear to let go of that skyrocketing revenue.

Not that it has anything to do with me.

Zhou Ji crossed his legs.

When Fang Xiaochun first arrived in Qizhou he wanted to clean up this mess, but how many years has this been going on?

At worst they go a bit overboard; with information controls they won’t even cause a stir. Why should I bother?

Qingya even holds shares in Qingyun Pharmaceuticals—their profits are in this, too.

“Dao Lord Zhou, watch closely,” Dr. Huang was already all smiles. “Once our product lands this time, your headaches will be easily solved. Easily solved—I’m not selling you big talk, all right?”

“Excellent,” Zhou Jing’an nodded with a squint, said no more, and they all turned to the screen together.

After winning the first bout, an employee went onstage and, in front of everyone, asked Bai Xiang what she wanted to do next.

Two options appeared on the big screen: continue the challenge on the left, step down and exit on the right.

Bai Xiang chose the left without a moment’s hesitation.

At once the option zoomed up on the screen, revealing a half-body shot of Liu Mengqing, apparently filmed live.

The mature woman first arched a brow, playing to the camera with a roving gaze as if surveying the entire arena.

Only then did her red lips slowly part, delivering a judgment in the tone of an elder.

[Commendable courage.]

[I will make sure to ‘instruct’ you properly.]

“Waaah!!!”

“Woo-woo-woo!!!”

After days of wall-to-wall promotion, her image was still lodged more deeply in people’s minds than Bai Xiang’s.

The first match ended too fast to be satisfying; the audience was eager for the next thrilling fight.

“How is no one talking about the gear?”

In the family section, Bai Leying ground her teeth as she looked around, itching to leap up and bite someone.

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That was obviously a high-tech battle suit, and hardly anyone had an issue with it?

“Because of the restrictions, probably.”

Bai Zhuqing guessed.

“There’s an information gap. They might think it’s just a regular protective suit… As long as the opponent accepts it, it’s fine; the discourse isn’t the same as with mechanical augments.”

Not to mention the last few days of promo worked like advertising; some flyers even had fine print saying certain products used by both sides would later be sold to the lower tiers.

“Not just that,” Bai Maoxu muttered while gaming on his phone. “The power gap between the two sides was pretty big, and public opinion habitually sides with the underdog. So a mere Enter-the-Dao Jiang Haojing gets more tailwind—using a bit of over-the-top gear will still get a pass.”

“Then what about fighting Liu Mengqing?” Bai Leying’s eyes went wide on the spot.

Liu Mengqing’s advertised tier isn’t Condensing the Aspect—it’s lower than Bai Xiang. Doesn’t that mean if she swaps to high-tech gear against Sis, as long as it’s not ridiculous—like slapping two extra mechanical arms on her shoulders—people won’t be too harsh on her?

“That’s how public opinion is…” The glow of the game reflected in Bai Maoxu’s pupils. “Plus Sis called people ‘trash’ earlier and tore down other dojos—more folks will hope she loses. How could they possibly speak up for her?”

What twisted logic is that?

Bai Leying nearly blew her top.

They were the ones bullying us first!

Awooo! When they push us around, you lot look the other way; the moment Sis hits back, you all come out running your mouths?

Outrageous! They don’t seem to feel a thing about Jiang Haojing’s death…

While the two bickered, Bai Zhuqing watched beside them with a sigh.

Traitor or not, Jiang Haojing, like Xu Shu, had lived at the dojo and spent years around the Bai family.

The dead are like a lamp snuffed out—call the grudges even.

I just hope Sister Xiang’s state of mind doesn’t take a hit…

There was a ten-minute intermission. Bai Xiang didn’t leave the platform; she simply stood at one side of the dueling dais, one hand on her sword, head half lowered, eyes shut to rest.

The big screen flipped between sponsor ads and wide-angle shots of the arena. Most of the time, though, it was camera angles of Bai Xiang from every direction.

Her outfit, her lines, the black stockings at her ankles… and especially tight facial close-ups.

Professional cameras capture with ruthless detail. Plenty of made-up celebrities can’t survive those right-in-your-face close-ups—but here, no matter how they shot, they couldn’t find a single flaw in that face.

Live footage as flawless as a skincare ad, every angle wallpaper-worthy.

It was actually startling. At first only a few noticed, but as the close-ups came more often and lingered longer, most people were stunned: Bai Xiang’s looks seemed no less striking than her Sword Dao cultivation.

Maybe even more so.

Prettier than screen stars.

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And so, in the minutes that remained, chatter spread.

“A talent like her—why make her fight a life-and-death match?”

“I agree it feels wrong… and no, I’m not saying this because she’s pretty. But she’s a seventeen-year-old at Condensing the Aspect. Shouldn’t she be protected so she can grow properly?”

“…” Bai Leying wore a constipated expression.

“…” Bai Zhuqing looked much the same. She didn’t like the camera lingering on Bai Xiang’s face.

Only Bai Maoxu kept dribbling his sneakered feet and playing on his phone, having the time of his life.

At last, the wait was over.

Wearing the same-model a1 “White Ape” combat suit, Liu Mengqing first appeared at the edge and circled the floor once before gripping her sword and stepping onto the high platform.

Why wasn’t the cheer as loud as she’d imagined?

She knitted her brows and even heard some people accusing her of lacking martial virtue for wearing a protective suit.

Nonsense…

At a time like this, who cares about those niceties!

“Bitch!”

Zhou Ji ground his teeth the instant she appeared.

He wanted Liu Mengqing to win, but he would never forgive the way she’d played him back then!

Sword Dao heart, my ass!

She just didn’t want the truth of her modifications exposed!

The big screen flashed a two-minute countdown again.

This was their final prep time.

With a ringing clang, Liu Mengqing drew her blade, copied Bai Xiang in tossing the scabbard aside, and paced to a position directly opposite to study her.

“I admit it—I underestimated you before.”

She spoke softly to Bai Xiang.

“I poured all my mind into Bai Shengju alone. I didn’t expect that the abandoned infant he picked up back then would sprint up in so short a time to become the highest mountain before me.”

Bai Xiang opened her eyes, lifted her head slowly, faced her, and still said nothing.

“So arrogant,” Liu Mengqing narrowed her eyes. “But you have the right to be.”

“Unlike me.”

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“I could only sell my soul to a nightmare fiend…”

“Ha!”

With a breath-sunk shout, a blood-tinged, baleful demonic aura suddenly unfurled from her sword, expanding fast to shroud her. It not only spun a tightly wrought wind-swept phantom around her, but also set drifting within it strips of willow-leaf motes condensed from demonic power.

“Demon Pool ‘Willow-Blade Ant’?”

Backstage, Bai Shengju sprang to his feet.

This is Condensing the Aspect?

How is that possible?

“That’s correct.”

Elsewhere, in a box, Qi Wang nodded to the doubting looks around him.

“Dao Lord Liu has dwelled at the Divine Union realm for years. We merely provided a little timely assistance.”

“On that foundation, Dao Lord Liu also accepted the White Ape Type-III Gene-Enhancement Serum for augmentation, a process that lasted three years.”

The Black Collar Co. product analyst smiled faintly. “The first bout was incidental—mainly to collect data.”

“This one shouldn’t disappoint you, my lords…”

Screee—~~~~~!!

Before he finished, a shrill cry stabbed out from the speakers.

Sharp but not frantic—like summer cicadas turned up many times over, forcing their way into everyone’s ears to wash body and mind.

Back in the arena, Bai Xiang had loosed a wreath of pink sword Qi around herself, forming the hazy phantom of the Startling-Spirit Cicada; the gale whipped her hair wild.

For a moment the place boiled. People stared, rapt, at the two confronting phantoms to left and right, as if their blood were about to boil of its own accord.

“Chengfeng, Liu Mengqing.”

Liu Mengqing set her longsword upright and offered a swordsman’s salute to Bai Xiang.

Bai Xiang paused, then raised Feixiang Heaven in return.

“Shenming, Bai Xiang.”

The countdown hit zero; the light flipped green.

Liu Mengqing lowered her visor, gripped her sword, and charged at Bai Xiang.