“They came, just as expected.”
Bai Yao murmured inwardly, her expression impassive as she turned to look down the dark alley, until two figures in the standard disciple robes of the Xuan Yu Sect stepped beneath the lantern light.
“Senior brothers, my husband left last night and hasn’t returned. Would either of you happen to have any leads?”
Bai Yao had already prepared her reason and excuse long ago, so she spoke these words the moment they met.
The two stewards exchanged a glance.
They had been ordered to monitor Bai Yao, but they’d received no command restricting the personal freedom of the Xia Manor’s Young Madam.
Besides, this sect-registered Saintess in front of them had such shallow cultivation that even if she were let loose, she couldn’t possibly stir up any trouble.
“Since neither senior brother knows anything, Bai Yao won’t make things difficult for you.”
Seeing the two steward-senior brothers remain silent, Bai Yao quickly put on a look of urgent worry—her face anxious, her eyes even faintly reddening.
Her acting was so convincing, it was almost real.
“I simply wish to go check the Northern Military Camp. Old King is there; perhaps my husband is as well. Please forgive me, senior brothers.”
Bai Yao’s reasoning and attitude were both impeccable.
“The Saintess may go as she pleases.”
One of them stepped aside, though his gaze from within the shadows still clung to her back.
But she knew—these two were still watching her.
Her cultivation at the fourth level of the Ten Qi Realm wasn’t enough to pinpoint the source of the gaze, yet she could vaguely sense the discomfort of being monitored.
“Go ahead and watch all you want. You’ll make perfect witnesses to my trip to the Northern Military Camp to look for my husband.”
Bai Yao noted all of this in her mind but paid it no mind.
The Northern Military Camp’s stench of rust mixed with horse dung hit her full in the face.
The personal guard lifted the leather tent flap, and Xiao Yunshan sat behind the desk, the scar beneath his white-haired bangs looking especially fierce in the candlelight.
He looked up to see Bai Yao in her dark red cloak and a flicker of surprise passed through his eyes.
This nominal daughter-in-law actually dared to venture alone into the military camp in the dead of night.
But what surprised Xiao Yunshan even more was that Bai Yao skipped all pleasantries and spoke directly:
“Old King, Xiao Yi has been home for the past seven days, but he left last night and hasn’t returned. I find this highly unusual.”
Xiao Yunshan furrowed his brow slightly, quickly summoning his adjutant to verify.
The records showed no trace of Xiao Yi leaving the city.
“As long as he’s still in Chuyi City, he’s safe.”
Xiao Yunshan’s expression gradually relaxed, then he paused mid-sentence and began scrutinizing Bai Yao with piercing eyes from head to toe.
“Fourth level of the Ten Qi Realm… Bai Yao, have you cultivated Righteous Qi?”
Bai Yao met Xiao Yunshan’s gaze and didn’t hide anything: “To answer Old King, it was only a stroke of luck.”
Xiao Yunshan stared at her for a long moment, then suddenly burst into hearty laughter, the unbridled mirth reaching all the way to his eyes—genuine approval, plain and simple.
“A stroke of luck? Seven days, the fourth level of the Ten Qi Realm, and cultivating Righteous Qi on top of it… Counting even myself, the Xiao family has produced only three men with ordinary Righteous Qi across seven generations, and every single one of them was the backbone of our clan.”
He rose and walked before Bai Yao, lowering his voice as he continued,
“Moreover, your strand of Righteous Qi is an exceedingly rare, incomparably pure pale-golden essence. Since you are my Xiao family’s legitimate wife, you are a person of the Xiao family. Those blind old fools at the Xuan Yu Sect—they had no idea they were handing over a true treasure.”
Bai Yao lowered her gaze and said nothing.
She truly hadn’t expected this old fox to acknowledge her—an outsider from a sect—so openly and directly.
“Since it’s the same origin of vital energy, there should naturally be a resonance between you.”
Xiao Yunshan paced back and forth, pondering for a moment before continuing,
“You cultivate the [Violet Yang Grand Harmony Art] as well. Even if Yi’er hasn’t cultivated Righteous Qi, as long as the distance isn’t too great, using your righteousness as a guide should allow you to find him.”
Bai Yao’s heart stirred, and she took the opportunity to speak up: “Old King, Bai Yao would also like to know more about the [Cangjie Grotto-Heaven].”
Xiao Yunshan gave her a meaningful look, as if he had long anticipated that this was Bai Yao’s true purpose in visiting him.
He didn’t keep her in suspense.
Walking straight to the sand table, he drew an arc with the tip of his halberd:
“[Cangjie Grotto-Heaven] was created tens of thousands of years ago by an extraordinary man named Cangjie in the mortal lands of the Xuan Kingdom. He belonged to no Confucian school, no Daoist sect, and no Buddhist order—his identity was utterly mysterious. Our royal Xiao family of the Xuan Kingdom serves as the guardians of this grotto-heaven. And the [Violet Yang Grand Harmony Art] has been passed down through generations as the key to entry. Upon entering the grotto-heaven, a mysterious grotto spirit verifies the identities of those who enter and their attendants.”
Xiao Yunshan paused, his halberd tip coming to rest at the center of the sand table.
“The grotto-heaven is divided into outer and inner layers. The outer layer, where deep spiritual veins and cosmic currents from the fourth dimension converge and clash, often gives birth to rare treasures and heavenly materials gathering into existence. Thus, prodigies from all the major immortal sects of the Southern Ridge Cloud Prefecture are frequently drawn to enter and seek treasures through royal connections. The Xuan Yu Sect is no exception.”
The next instant, he suddenly spun around and fixed Bai Yao with a blazing gaze:
“As for the inner layer… rumor has it that it’s connected to the ancient orthodox lineage of the Hehuan Sect. What lies within, I myself do not know. But Bai Yao—you, who bear pure and righteous energy, should have a chance to explore it for yourself. If nothing goes wrong, that inner layer of the grotto-heaven is where your path to survival lies.”
Bai Yao listened quietly, her fingertips tightening ever so slightly within her sleeves, thoughts racing through her mind:
‘The path to survival lies in the inner layer, huh… Xiao Yunshan is actually giving me directions. It seems this Righteous Qi I’ve cultivated is no simple thing.’
Xiao Yunshan suddenly raised his hand, and a barely perceptible golden stream of vital energy fell from the top of the tent.
From a corner of the command tent, a royal dark guard in black robes stepped out—appearing from nowhere.
After Xiao Yunshan quietly gave a few orders, the dark guard bowed in acknowledgment and departed from the tent.
“I’ve already notified the Imperial Observatory to temporarily block those two tails behind you. Since you want to, then look for Yi’er while you’re at it. I’m a father who failed his duty—I don’t have the face to see him.”
Half an hour later, the manor’s carriage departed the Northern Military Camp.
Midway through the journey, Bai Yao suddenly opened her eyes, because that faint sense of being watched outside the carriage had vanished.
“So Xiao Yunshan and the Xuan Kingdom’s Imperial Observatory really did make their move…”
Guided by a vague perception, Bai Yao had the driver loop into the filthiest, most chaotic tavern alley in Chuyi City, then disembarked to walk alone.
She closed her eyes, circulating that strand of Righteous Qi within her dantian, sensing an invisible string connecting souls that shared the same origin technique.
Then, between sewage ditches and rotting vegetable leaves, she found that figure.
Xiao Yi lay slumped against the base of a wall, clothes disheveled, reeking of alcohol—spilled liquor mixed with vomit pooled all over the ground.
Bai Yao crouched down and patted his face.
Still alive, but his meridians were like wood eaten hollow by worms—his vital energy scattered so thin it was almost undetectable.
His cultivation… seemed completely destroyed, and he’d been dosed with drugs and alcohol.
She sniffed the lingering warm plum fragrance on Xiao Yi’s lapels—a scent she certainly recognized.
Liu Linglin’s imperial couch was saturated with that same intoxicating aroma.
“I finally find someone I can actually hold a conversation with, and you, the manor’s young prince, go and destroy yourself like this?”
This wasn’t out of sympathy—she had no idea what had happened to Xiao Yi. She was just somewhat irritated.
Yet no matter how annoyed she was, she could only sigh and drape Xiao Yi’s arm over her shoulder, hauling him up.
This young prince of the Xia Manor was lighter than she’d imagined, so light he didn’t seem like a young lord who’d trained in martial arts for seven years.
The carriage waited at the mouth of the alley.
She shoved him inside, then sat beside him, watching his brows knit tightly with every jolt of the ride, without saying a word.
Inside the eastern chamber, Bai Yao dumped Xiao Yi onto her own bed.
She was about to turn and close the door when her wrist was suddenly seized by an ice-cold hand.
Xiao Yi kept his eyes shut, face flushed crimson, mumbling vaguely: “Mother… Mother!… Don’t go.”
Bai Yao froze in place.
The next instant, Xiao Yi added another line—words like a sleep-talker’s plea, carrying the sorrow of a child abandoned by his mother:
“Mommy…”
Bai Yao slowly withdrew her hand, tucking the corner of the blanket around Xiao Yi, a helpless wry smile on her face.
She never imagined that the joke-like “mommy” Xiao Yi had thrown out eight days ago would still be chasing her all the way to today.