Young Master Bai — Chapter 51

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Chapter 51: Remember to Return to the Spring When You’re Low on HP

When a disciple of the Hidden Wisdom Sect dies and no kin come to claim the body, their effects and ashes are left on the first level of the Taiyin Hall, watched over by the Grand Elder. A thousand years have passed; the ash urns and ever-burning lamps in that hall are beyond counting. Chenzui took only a single jade pendant from among them, yet even after stepping back into the sunlight he still felt a chill all over. He could not imagine how a woman like Bu Lingyun had managed to live in such a place for several hundred years.

Even after he handed Lu Wen’s pendant to Bai Chen, the six-tailed red fox who feared anything connected to the dead was still muttering, scalp prickling: Bu Tiange was a bastard, and his mother an even more terrifying freak. Pity the poor girl who had the bad luck to marry into that family…

The sect’s heads through the generations were all either cut-sleeves or remained unmarried to the end of their days. Given Bu Tiange’s temperament, Bai Chen truly could not picture what sort of Dao companion he would ever find. But that was the Hidden Wisdom Sect’s private business. He, a Nine-tailed White Fox already mired in trouble, had best not pry.

Outside, the rumors about Bu Tiange and the Nine-tailed White Fox were growing more and more lurid. Bai Chen had scarcely been resurrected, with no chance yet to establish a career, before his romantic exploits were already being updated. The mere thought gave him a headache. Yet the yao clans had no say in the human world right now; he could only bide his time, build up strength, and leave public opinion for later. For the moment, he took out a handkerchief and compared it with Lu Wen’s personal jade pendant.

A Hidden Wisdom Sect disciple’s pendant could sense its owner’s blood. In Elderly Village, Bai Chen had used this very handkerchief to wipe the yao blood from Bu Tiange’s sword. When pendant and cloth touched, the pendant glowed faintly in response.

Bai Chen had been half in doubt about any connection between Lu Wen and the yao. This simple test yielded proof. He sighed to Li Wuming. “You’re the clever one — you even thought of this.”

“Those in the game are blind, the onlooker is clear. If not for the old favor weighing on your heart, making you loath to think too far, you would have discovered the flaw yourself.”

A Dao companion’s sincere admiration is the very source of a man’s joy. Li Wuming’s lips curved in quiet satisfaction. “So you’re really leaving? You won’t dig into Lu Wen’s past any further?”

There was nothing more the sect could find. Bai Chen’s mind was already on his deal with the Unknown Truth Sect; he truly had no intention of lingering.

“Five-hundred-year-old dirt won’t help us much. Better to settle down and develop the Great Snow Mountain. As long as we grow strong, that descendant of the Yao King won’t be able to sit still. I don’t believe we won’t catch the fox tail he leaves this time.”

Since he had decided, Li Wuming would not object. Chenzui was even more eager to get far away from Bu Tiange. They packed their bags and took their leave of the Hidden Wisdom Sect. Bu Tiange was not a hospitable man; he merely sent a reply through his disciples — “Go. I won’t see you out.”

Bai Chen had never expected the icy headmaster of the Hidden Wisdom Sect to bid them a warm farewell. He simply hadn’t expected to run into Feng Shiqi — likewise swept out the gates — at the mountain entrance.

Bu Tiange had said earlier he would go to Lin’an with Feng Shiqi, yet in less than an hour he’d changed his mind. Curious, Bai Chen greeted him first. “Sect Master Feng, what brings you out here as well?”

When Bu Tiange drove people out, he never left a shred of face. Even the roadside buildings still bore the marks of his sword. Though Feng Shiqi, with his cultivation, had no need to fear this junior, being asked that question still stung. He huffed, disgruntled: “I only mentioned arranging a marriage for him, and that little brat kicked me out. Serves him right to die lonely and single!”

His tone was indignant, but the disciples of the Unknown Truth Sect kept their eyes on their noses, noses on their mouths, mouths on their hearts — and said nothing. Only one honest fellow couldn’t help whispering a reminder: “Sect Master, the list you showed Headmaster Bu was all male disciples.”

Feng Shiqi firmly believed that taking a Dao companion would weaken any cultivator. If all the others wasted time on romance, then a man like him who focused solely on cultivation would naturally be number one under Heaven forever. Under that pretext he had introduced matches for many big names in the Heaven’s Way Alliance these past years. Bu Tiange, pestered half to death, wanted to shut the gates and loose the dogs whenever he saw the alliance leader.

Of course, Feng Shiqi himself felt perfectly justified. He replied, unabashed, “He says he’s not into women. I catered to his tastes and let him appreciate the beauty of men.”

With him so brazen about it, the lone honest man did not dare say more. He joined the rest in staring silently at the sky, admiring those far more reliable floating clouds than their own sect master.

This alliance leader did nothing by any fixed pattern. Last night he had discussed the state of the world with Bai Chen as calmly as you please; today he’d angered the headmaster of the Hidden Wisdom Sect and been shown the door. Bai Chen prided himself on reading people, yet he could not make heads or tails of Feng Shiqi. Compared with Bu Tiange, whose principles were sharp-edged, this Unknown Truth Sect master who seemed to have no bottom line at all was even more disquieting.

Fortunately, they were not enemies at present. Bai Chen pretended not to hear the nonsense and asked mildly, “I heard Sect Master Feng knows something about those yao who possess shapeshifting anomalies?”

The Unknown Truth Sect took an interest in every unexplained mystery; even more so their sect master. At the question, Feng Shiqi looked their way. “Your Great Snow Mountain annals record only the primordial yao. But a thousand years ago the Yao King forced intermarriage among the clans. One or two mutants appearing from hybridization is hardly surprising.”

Bai Chen knew that mixed-blood yao of different races could develop altered divine abilities. But he had never heard that the Yao King once ordered the clans to interbreed. Startled, he raised his eyes. “There was such a thing?”

“The Yao King is nothing like you — he acts entirely on beast instinct. To his eyes, the other races were nothing but pets. Having them breed together to produce suitable ‘weapons’ was only natural. From what I know, none under him maintained a fixed partner. Even his own concubines, after bearing children, were thrown to other generals to continue producing offspring. If not for the fact that spirits have no flesh and blood and cannot reproduce without remolding their bodies, even that old codger Mountain God Luo might not have escaped.”

Among the yao, hierarchy mattered. High-born races seldom stooped to form pair bonds with those beneath them; the purer the blood, the more carefully they chose even their servants. To be touched by a lesser being was an insult. Yet before the Yao King, all of it was broken. To swell his reserves, Bai Wei enforced marriages among all his generals’ races; those who resisted were turned into puppets by a mind-controlling curse. He himself sired children with female yao of many tribes, thereby engendering a great number of new races that had never been recorded.

In truth, in the eyes of high-born yao, humans were a low bloodline. Most of the half-yao in this world were born in that era, from captive humans.

Such a practice — treating all yao under Heaven as breeding tools — was madness. With the Fox Immortal’s temperament, he would never have told something like that to a young Bai Chen. Even now, hearing Feng Shiqi’s account, Bai Chen was appalled. Though he believed it, he still could not help questioning:

“Fox Immortal Grandfather never recorded any of this, and even the Great Snow Mountain had no knowledge. How do you know it so clearly?”

The yao seldom interacted with humans; by rights, human cultivators could not possibly know the Yao King’s secrets. But Feng Shiqi only smiled mysteriously. “A spirit is the consciousness born of mountains and spiritual veins. Nothing that happens on this land escapes a spirit’s eyes. As it happens, my sworn elder brother is a Heavenly-sovereign–class spirit who’s lived five thousand years.”

Feng Shiqi’s sworn elder brother was the previous headmaster of the Hidden Wisdom Sect. There had long been rumors in the cultivation world that this man was a spirit. From Feng Shiqi’s tone, that peerless master — said to have sacrificed himself — might still be alive. If so, the sect’s strength would have to be recalculated.

Bai Chen quietly took note. He lowered his voice to ask Feng Shiqi, “Do you have any confidence in tracing the origins of these new yao races?”

A newborn power’s first act upon emerging is to seize territory. The Heaven’s Way Alliance, which held the most land under Heaven, would naturally be their first target. Feng Shiqi’s research into ancient yao came out of his vigilance toward that mysterious force. In answer to Bai Chen, he only smiled. “I’m investigating. I’ve gained something. As for whether I’ll tell you the results — that depends on your abilities.”

Only the strong have leverage to negotiate. The Unknown Truth Sect was willing to give the Great Snow Mountain a chance to become a worthy rival, but that did not mean Feng Shiqi intended to support the yao. If Bai Chen wanted anything from him, he would have to trade of equal value.

Bai Chen knew there was no such thing as a free lunch. He did not press. “I believe the Great Snow Mountain will give the Unknown Truth Sect a pleasant surprise when next we meet.”

Feng Shiqi had been ready to open his leonine mouth and name a price. Who knew that with bait so tempting right before him, this fox could hold himself back? His plan fell through. Yet he was not displeased. He eyed the Nine-tailed White Fox — who had just upended his understanding of the yao several times — with growing interest. “The divine beast Diting once prophesied that the Nine-tailed White Fox would be the savior of the yao. I didn’t believe it. Seems it wasn’t entirely talking nonsense.”

The yao did have such a saying, but the prophecy’s origin had never been definitively sourced. That Feng Shiqi could name Diting in a single breath showed that he knew far more than Bai Chen had imagined.

Bai Chen’s wariness deepened. Outwardly calm, he asked, “Why do you say that, Sect Master Feng?”

“Foxes are one of the sharper heads among the yao. Pity that in the past you only schemed for petty, immediate gains. You squeezed your subordinate races for every last advantage and gave as little as possible yourselves. No one likes a boss like that. Why is it that, among the whole yao race, only the Great Bear clan is loyal to your Bai family? Because you did nothing but give them benefits.”

Feng Shiqi rather appreciated Bai Chen, and his words had turned to an instructive tone. As he spoke, a hint of regret welled up.

“The old Fox Immortal’s cultivation was profound, but he was no administrator. He took in so many outsiders and then let them breed freely. Your Bai bloodline was thin to begin with — of course, the guests would one day drive out the host. As for the Yao King, there’s even less to say. He made enemies of humans and yao alike. A thousand years ago you could pick any race at random and they’d be his foe. The Fox Immortal left you internal troubles; the Yao King piled on external ones. For all that you’re a born statesman, in this lifetime you’ll be doing nothing but filling in your forebears’ pits.”

Every word struck at the heart of the yao’s predicament; Bai Chen could not refute them. Yet as the head of a race, he could not simply bow and take instruction. He only breathed out softly. “The Unknown Truth Sect has lifted the living standards of all humankind — that’s why Sect Master Feng’s status is unshakable. Even if you throw tantrums at the alliance council, no one dares complain. The number-one rogue under Heaven cannot be one without capital.”

“I’ve never argued with fools. Those idiots who squawk over petty profits are only fit to eat my shoes.”

Feng Shiqi was not deaf to the irony in Bai Chen’s words; he wore only pride on his face, and even offered a free and easy smile. “But you can’t be me. I, Feng Shiqi, have no ties — a lifelong bachelor seeking nothing but my own pleasure. You have too many attachments. If you can’t cut loose, you can’t go wild.”

It was an accurate assessment. Bai Chen knew well that all his bonds meant he could never be free and unfettered. In this life he would indulge himself only with Li Wuming. Yet he did not see that as misfortune. His gaze was calm. “One person like Sect Master Feng is enough in this world. Too many, and there’d be chaos.”

For a hundred years Feng Shiqi had acknowledged no one. In this moment, he seemed to taste the fun of having a worthy opponent. He did not argue, only laughed without restraint, then led his disciples away in high spirits. Before turning, he left Bai Chen a single piece of advice. “There is no reform without blood. When it’s time to go wild, go wild.”

Feng Shiqi might look unreliable, but he did not chatter with just anyone. As he himself had said, he never bothered to explain things to fools. The fact that he had paused to talk today showed he held Bai Chen in some regard.

Watching the man swagger off, Li Wuming raised an eyebrow at Bai Chen. “You do attract people. A little conversation and you’ve already made that mad monkey look at you differently.”

There was a sour note to that. But Bai Chen had learned to think on the bright side: Li Wuming only soured when he cared. With anyone else, this emotionless Sword Immortal would not only refuse to be jealous — he’d be cracking seeds on the sidelines and cheering. With that thought, Bai Chen actually felt happy. He stretched out his hand toward his only human-shaped mount. “Time to go home. Aren’t you going to hold me tight?”

Since losing his yao core, Bai Chen relied entirely on Li Wuming to carry him through the air. That embrace felt like his den — close and safe. He was always well-behaved when held, small hands quietly gripping Li Wuming’s lapel, his head tucked into the man’s chest, not moving at all. Li Wuming saw that look every day and still could not get enough. His eyes softened despite himself. Planting his foot on the Supreme Emperor Sword, he rode the wind into the clouds. “Come,” he said gently. “Let’s bring your first war trophy home and plant it.”

~ Chapter End ~

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