Chapter 126: 126. Chapter 126

126. Chapter 126

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Lady Bai did not notice her husband's small movements; her entire attention was now focused on the servant who had come to report, "Why haven't you invited the Immortal Elder in yet!"

Upon hearing this, the servant's face turned bitter, "Replying to Furen, the Immortal Elder only stayed at the entrance for a moment, saying he still had matters regarding the Ascension Ceremony to attend to, and then he left!"

"Ah!"

Unable to tell if it was disappointment or relief, Lady Bai sat back down in her chair upon hearing this, her brows knitting together.

Having finished the chicken leg in her bowl in a leisurely manner, Atian thought for a moment, but still did not reach out with her chopsticks to take a second one; now was definitely not a good time to attract Lady Bai's attention.

"Why did he just leave like that?" Lady Bai muttered, "I was still planning to ask properly about Xin Li's situation."

"Forget it, it's clear that he doesn't want to have any entanglements with us," Master Bai, who had finally caught his breath, was quite open-minded about it, "Once he entered the gates of the Beihai Sword Sect, that brat has nothing to do with us anymore. It's useless to keep dwelling on it, and besides, don't we still have Atian?"

Hearing the two words "Atian," the previously displeased Lady Bai instantly became joyful. She turned her head to look at the quiet girl, reached out to hold the young girl's hand, and said in a sorrowful tone: "Atian, Mother only has you left."

Upon hearing this, Atian felt a jolt of spirit, knowing that whether she could eat another chicken leg depended on this moment. Thus, her eye sockets were immediately filled with spreading tears, and she called out "Mother" in a tone that turned a hundred times.

Master Bai rubbed the goosebumps on his arms.

Lady Bai, however, was very satisfied and placed another chicken leg in her bowl, feeling that this child bride could not be any more thoughtful.

Yes, a child bride.

Master Bai and Lady Bai were not Atian's parents, and the only reason the three of them could sit together happily eating a meal was that Atian was the daughter-in-law of the Bai family—in name, at least.

To explain this issue clearly, one must mention the Beihai Sword Sect and the "brat" Bai Xinli, who had caused Lady Bai's emotional fluctuations.

As an ordinary merchant family in the Qixia Kingdom, even if they knew there was a group of people in this world who pursued immortality and possessed heaven-reaching and earth-shattering abilities, the Bai couple had never thought such a heaven-sent opportunity could fall upon their own heads.

Becoming an immortal is a story found only in books.

An Immortal Elder is an unreachable master of the world beyond.

That said, the Beihai Sword Sect—a top-tier immortal sect that is among the best in the entire Yuanguang Continent—is actually located within the Qixia Kingdom. Every fifteen years, they open their mountain gates wide to harvest a crop of leeks, so even the Bai family, living in such a remote town, could hear news of the Ascension Ceremony.

And the Bai family's only son, Bai Xinli, happened to encounter the opening of the Ascension Ceremony when he was five years old.

Master Bai, who was single-mindedly cultivating his son for the path of imperial examinations, originally did not intend to join in the fun. People with cultivation aptitude in this world are one in ten thousand, and his own ancestors had all been ordinary people; he had no intention of daydreaming. However, he couldn't stop his relatives and friends from being extremely eager for that so-called Ascension Ceremony, going so far as to exhaust their family fortunes just to send their children to try their luck.

Master Bai pondered for a moment; in such a fanatical atmosphere, his own family's idea of focusing on cultivating a scholar was simply too unconventional. What if rumors spread that he despised the Immortal Elders? That would be disastrous. Besides, Bai Xinli had been unsociable since he was young; if his peers gathered in the future to reminisce about their past experiences with the Ascension Ceremony and he was the only one who couldn't say a word, wouldn't that make him even more of an outcast?

Don't doubt it; bragging to each other about which stage of the Ascension Ceremony they reached back in the day is a perennial topic of small talk in the Qixia Kingdom.

Having imagined the tragic scene of his son being ostracized by his colleagues and crying secretly at home, Master Bai, after consulting with his wife, decided to take his son to participate in the Ascension Ceremony once. After all, his family wasn't short on money, and he was determined not to leave any regrets in the child's childhood.

Thus, Master Bai set off on a journey with his five-year-old son. When he returned, not only was he sent back by cultivators from the Beihai Sword Sect, but the son he held by the hand had also turned into a little girl even younger than him.

Bai Xinli was accepted into the Beihai Sword Sect and officially stepped onto the path of Xiuxian, while the little girl Master Bai brought back was Atian.

According to Master Bai, Atian was an orphan girl the father and son had picked up around the Beihai Sword Sect.

"That brat of ours, he wouldn't even turn his eyes away when he saw that little girl," Master Bai complained to his wife while drinking, "I thought if he liked her, it wouldn't be bad to bring her back as a child bride, but who knew! He actually got selected!"

He poured himself another cup, "I thought, since I made this trip and lost a son, I couldn't just walk away with nothing! So I brought the daughter-in-law back."

Lady Bai was shocked by her husband's strange logic and wanted to reach out and scratch his old face. Fortunately, she still had her reason and knew this matter had absolutely nothing to do with the little girl, so she did not vent her anger on the innocent Atian.

Once selected by an Xiuxianmen, a disciple must sever their worldly ties, which meant that the parents would completely exit Bai Xinli's life. For him, this was a heaven-defying immortal fate, but for the Bai couple, it was hard to call it a fortunate event.

Fortunately, just as Master Bai said, if they lost a son, they still had a daughter-in-law. The couple really did raise Atian as their own daughter, and they raised her for fifteen years. Since Lady Bai had not conceived again in all these years, they even considered the idea of finding a husband for Atian.

The daughter-in-law was on the verge of becoming a foster daughter, and the three of them lived quite happily.

However, this did not mean that Master Bai and Lady Bai had forgotten they still had a biological son. The Beihai Sword Sect would periodically send people to check on the situations of their disciples' relatives, and this was the only chance they had to get news of Bai Xinli.

This was also the reason why Lady Bai had been so excited just now.

"It's time for the Ascension Ceremony again," Lady Bai put down her chopsticks, "Fifteen years have passed in the blink of an eye."

She did not bring up the previous topic again, as if she were simply discussing this grand event that happened once every fifteen years.

In the Yuanguang Continent, cultivators are not ethereal legends. Setting aside the Beihai Sword Sect, even the common folk know there are three other immortal sects of equal fame. As for other scattered sects, they are countless, but their influence is quite lacking, and mostly only the locals know their names.

Being able to shake the entire continent just by opening their gates to accept disciples is a unique honor that only the Four Great Immortal Sects possess. Each sect has a different time for accepting disciples, but for the people of the Qixia Kingdom, the other three immortal sects are too far away, so the Beihai Sword Sect is naturally the first choice.

"Does Atian want to go participate in the Ascension Ceremony?" she asked with a smile, "This is a major event that one can only participate in once in a lifetime; once you pass twenty, there's no chance."

"Yes, yes," Master Bai chimed in, "Anyway, our family has money, just consider it going to see the world."

Thus, two pairs of eyes looked at the silent girl, waiting for her answer.

Not wanting to leave any regrets in a child's childhood—even with their son as a cautionary tale—the Bai couple still insisted on their parenting philosophy, even if, at Atian's age, it was hard to call it a "childhood" anymore.

Atian was in the prime of her youth; she was beautiful, with every smile and frown possessing a moving charm. Coupled with her tall figure and slender waist, almost every young man in town had done the foolish thing of peeking at her while lying on the Bai family's courtyard wall.

And then, they were beaten black and blue by the beauty they had been peeking at.

Bai Tian, eighteen years of age, beautiful as a flower, kicked the town's northern bailiff, punched the southern butcher, and swept the whole town invincible; even the town's number one playboy would take a detour when he saw this young lady.

Lady Bai had spent these years dedicated to teaching Atian to be a refined young lady. Although the results were debatable, she had long since cultivated a steady, general-like demeanor, and she explained the incredible combat power of her child bride with nonchalance, "It's probably inherited from her biological parents."

Once these words were spoken, Lady Bai became a spiritual idol that other ladies vied to imitate.

In all fairness, when Lady Bai said she wanted to take Atian to participate in the Ascension Ceremony, it really wasn't just idle talk. She truly believed from the bottom of her heart that her child bride might actually have a chance of being selected. If she could really ascend to the heavens in one step, it would fulfill their fifteen years of companionship; if she didn't succeed, she would just pretend she never had a son and treat Atian as her own daughter from then on.

As it happened, Master Bai thought the same.

The center of attention, Atian, lowered her head shyly under the expectant gazes of the two elders, looking every bit the refined lady, completely unrecognizable from the person who had just kicked and broken two of the neighbor Wang Laowu's ribs yesterday.

"Father, Mother, please don't tease your daughter," her voice was like a babbling brook, sounding indescribably pleasant, "The Ascension Ceremony is about to begin, and there is no way we can make it in time."

The couple looked at each other upon hearing this and were immediately deflated. Since the Beihai Sword Sect had the words "Beihai" (North Sea) in its name, the location was obvious; it was at the opposite end of the Qixia Kingdom from Guangkai Town where the Bai family lived. With the foot speed of ordinary people, it would take at least a month or two.

Lady Bai's sudden impulse was dispelled, and she felt a bit guilty toward Atian. When they sent Bai Xinli off, they had started planning half a year in advance. Even if Atian didn't know about this, it didn't stop her from feeling ashamed of her own favoritism.

Master Bai saw his wife's thoughts and opened his mouth to smooth things over, but before he could say the first word, he was interrupted by the servant who burst in.