Young Master Bai — Chapter 28
Chapter 28: The Son of an Old Friend
Between Dao companions, fights at the head of the bed end with reconciliation at the foot. Li Wuming slept on a fox tail all night and woke up refreshed, calling for breakfast. With three good meals each day, plus extra treats at night, it was fortunate Bai Chen was a fox yao who didn’t gain weight easily; otherwise, Li Wuming would have fattened him into a ball.
The one-day agreement was over. Yesterday, Bai Chen had already sent Chenzui to gather information. After getting a preliminary understanding, he headed to the Demon Sect’s rest station, deciding to start with this third-party force that neither the Heaven’s Way Alliance nor the court was fond of.
Li Wuming merely shook his head at this. Some fox yao snuggled in a man’s arms at night but turned into a proper Ancestor by morning.
Bai Chen indeed had no mood for romance now. Giving Li Wuming a day was indulgence enough. He had thought the Heaven’s Way Alliance would seek him out too, but unexpectedly, they made no move — he underestimated their patience.
Demon Sect disciples entering important cities of the Heaven’s Way Alliance had to register and stay at designated inns. Though righteous sect disciples monitored them, the accommodations were luxurious and far better than the random inn Chenzui had found.
When Bai Chen arrived, Lu Ren Yi was meditating in his room, and only the Ghost Tactician was calmly drinking tea in the hall, as if expecting him. The Nine-tailed White Fox glanced at the young disciples of others and then at his own fox cub, immediately dissatisfied. “Lu Ren Yi entered the city and buried himself in cultivation at the inn, while you came down the mountain and indulged in food and play without a care, not even bothering to train.”
This scolding left Chenzui a bit baffled. “I’m not some half-baked half-yao like him. Even if I sleep all day and live to three hundred, I’ll still be a Wandering Immortal. What difference does it make if I train or not?”
“If being a Wandering Immortal is all you seek, why would Heaven let you ascend to True Immortal?”
Yao were naturally strong, so neglecting cultivation was common. Though Bai Chen’s lesson was reasonable, Chenzui felt ascension was centuries away and could wait. He only replied respectfully, “The Ancestor’s teaching is correct.”
Young people being lazy and disobedient was always a headache, but Li Wuming, who could tame even the most unruly soldiers, spoke up, pointing at Chenzui and smiling at the Ghost Tactician. “I hear the Demon Sect has quite an interest in fox yao. If your men can catch this fox cub fair and square, he’s yours to deal with — we won’t interfere.”
“Truly?”
Which cultivator wasn’t interested in the tail fox clan? The Ghost Tactician’s eyes lit up.
Chenzui knew well that cultivators coveted his body. Seeing the two serious, he hurried to Bai Chen to plead, “Ancestor, son-in-law — ”
In the past, Bai Chen might have shielded him, but Li Wuming’s serious words yesterday had awakened him. The Nine-tailed White Fox decided not to carry everything alone anymore and calmly said, “To the victor go the spoils. You need some tempering. I have no objection.”
Chenzui hadn’t expected even his Ancestor to agree to such nonsense. His happy days ended then and there as he fled back to the inn. “I’ll go cultivate now!”
The boy was young — only pressure would make him focus. Still, Bai Chen remained wary of the Demon Sect. After Chenzui ran off, he looked at the Ghost Tactician. “You know your limits, I presume?”
A man who dared call himself a tactician could read the look. He sent an order to Lu Ren Yi’s room and gave a satisfactory reply. “They’re young — let them play and train.”
The Demon Sect needed the Great Snow Mountain to pin down the Heaven’s Way Alliance while attacking Jiangdu. The Ghost Tactician was happy to oblige, seating them and getting straight to the point. “How much do you know about the Jiangdu situation?”
“The court wants the Divine Wordless Book, the Unknown Truth Sect wants it too. The Hidden Wisdom Sect is caught in the middle and has stayed put, waiting for one side to win before moving to escort.”
Bai Chen sought him for information and now shared what he knew, his gaze sweeping toward the amiable yet inscrutable Ghost Tactician. “But what role does the Demon Sect play in all this?”
He had investigated the Ghost Tactician but found nothing — not even a real name. The man claimed to have died a century ago, once cultivated under Ghost God Fusang at the Ten Thousand Ghosts Academy, and had only recently been released after learning to control his violent tendencies.
The benefit of the dead was that worldly things no longer mattered — they didn’t need to compete for territory. In the righteous-demonic struggle, they were relatively neutral.
Though belonging to the Demon Sect, the Ghost Tactician operated by the Ghost Realm’s rules: he served whoever offered sacrifices. Since he wished to ally with the yao, he generously revealed the Demon Sect’s stance. “The Demon Sect certainly doesn’t want the Heaven’s Way Alliance to grow stronger. But if the court tries to take our taxes, that’s even more intolerable.”
Since the righteous and demonic sides divided the battlefield, whichever side occupied a town collected its taxes and paid its officials. The court was almost irrelevant. Bai Chen had thought the Demon Sect’s only goal was to oppose the Heaven’s Way Alliance, but this added layer showed they also didn’t want the Li dynasty to rise again.
There were only so many spiritual veins. Having one competitor was troublesome enough; the Demon Sect didn’t want another. Seeing their silence, the Ghost Tactician probed, “I hear Jiangdu’s prefect visited you yesterday. Looks like the court is trying to win over Sword Immortal Li.”
“He did come and even delivered a succession decree — very moving indeed.”
Bai Chen didn’t reveal his intentions easily and merely stated facts to test each other. When the Ghost Tactician heard “succession decree,” his eyes flickered but he quickly masked it and chuckled. “Young master, you haven’t left the Great Snow Mountain in a long time, so you may not know. The Heaven’s Way Alliance has promoted magical tools and supported agriculture, exempting ordinary farmers from taxes two hundred years ago and providing extra relief during disasters. They have won over the people so completely that even when we take cities, we follow their policies to avoid resentment. The court can’t tax cultivators, and now they can’t control the commoners either. Officials live on Heaven’s Way Alliance stipends — everyone knows who their real benefactor is.”
He laid out the situation clearly. Seeing Bai Chen frown slightly, he smiled again. “No need to spend a fortune building imperial palaces or feeding idle concubines. Officials now make more than before. Honest officials and commoners both live better. Those stirring trouble — well, young master, you know who they are.”
Though biased, his words rang true. Clearly, the Li dynasty was a hollow shell. Luckily they hadn’t hastily accepted that troublesome decree.
An emperor’s position sounded grand but was worthless — using it to gain a Sword Immortal was the court’s real plan.
Bai Chen sneered inwardly and silently struck the court from his list of allies. “Grains may mean nothing to cultivators, but for commoners they’re daily sustenance. Trading small profits for popular support — this generation of the Heaven’s Way Alliance is impressive. But I didn’t expect the Demon Sect to side with them.”
To this, the Ghost Tactician merely smiled. “Most Demon Sect disciples come from commoner families.”
Indeed, the human world was complex. On the surface, the Demon Sect and Heaven’s Way Alliance clashed monthly. Yet when it came to the court, they stood together to suppress it. In a racial war, they’d likely cooperate too. If the yao truly believed in the irreconcilable righteous-demonic divide, they’d stumble immediately.
Humans were full of schemes. Bai Chen didn’t reveal more and, after obtaining court information, asked, “What about the Hidden Wisdom Sect’s stance?”
At this, the Ghost Tactician’s expression grew subtle. He shook his fan and said with a theatrical look, “This generation’s headmaster of the Hidden Wisdom Sect, Bu Tiange, is Elder Lingyun’s son — a man of principle above all. He’s more inclined than the Unknown Truth Sect to honor ancestral rules and return things to their rightful place.”
The Hidden Wisdom Sect valued trust. They had once stopped the Heaven’s Way Alliance from attacking the Great Snow Mountain for a promise. Bai Chen wasn’t surprised by their choice. But upon hearing the headmaster’s lineage, he and Li Wuming both changed expressions. “His mother is Bu Lingyun — who is his father?”
Bu Lingyun had stood beside that little Daoist back then, looking quite close. Could it be that man wasn’t dead…
“He was a former elder of the Hidden Wisdom Sect’s Lihuo Palace, who died on a mission at sea, killed by a yao beast.”
This answer shattered Bai Chen’s speculation. Still, though not as bad as he feared, it wasn’t good news either. No wonder the Ghost Tactician looked so odd when they mentioned seeking the Hidden Wisdom Sect.
If the Great Snow Mountain fell out with the Hidden Wisdom Sect, the Demon Sect would become their only possible ally — and would raise their price accordingly. The Ghost Tactician clearly relished the idea of Bai Chen hitting a wall at Bu Tiange’s door. He continued, in an amused tone,
“Interestingly enough, I heard it was you, young master Bai, who abducted elder Lingyun five hundred years ago, leading to her most respected senior dying in the righteous-demonic war. Not to mention that back then, when the yao were coveted, it was the Hidden Wisdom Sect that kept the cultivators in check and signed the truce with the Great Snow Mountain. Yet when Bu Tiange inherited the sect and it declined, the Great Snow Mountain offered no real help. It’s easy to offer help when times are good; harder when times are bad. With so much resentment built up, that young headmaster likely doesn’t care much for the yao.”
~ Chapter End ~
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