Chapter 2: Chapter Two

2. Chapter Two

Back again?

This time, it wasn't just Lady Bai who jumped up.

Having dealt with the Beihai Sword Sect for fifteen years, the Bai Fu was already very familiar with the behavioral patterns of these reclusive experts; they did not easily interfere in worldly affairs and usually left once they confirmed a family was safe, so this sort of returning after leaving was a first.

As the saying goes, when something is abnormal, there must be a demon; it was truly hard not to overthink it.

However, there was no time left for them to ponder. Shortly after the servant announced the visitor, a youth of seventeen or eighteen strode in. He was wearing a moon-white robe with a long sword symbol embroidered in blue silk at the hem, and a thick, heavy sword nearly as tall as a person was strapped to his back. His long hair, tied up with a ribbon, swayed with his steps, the tips brushing against the sword hilt.

The standard attire of a Beihai Sword Sect disciple.

The person who arrived was, of course, not Bai Xinli. Although the person before them had thick brows and large eyes and could be considered a handsome youth, if Bai Xinli looked like this now, Atian could only assume he had grown up poorly.

Sure enough, as soon as the youth spoke, he confirmed her guess, "Which one is Bai Tian of the Bai family?"

Atian did not move, but Lady Bai stepped forward, "May I ask, Immortal Elder, what business you have with Atian?"

"You are Bai Tian?" The youth looked shocked, as if struck by lightning, and he involuntarily took a step back, "She's too old..."

Perhaps his reaction was too blunt, for Master Bai couldn't hold it in and let out a "pfft" of laughter.

Lady Bai glared at him and replied irritably, "I am Atian's mother."

Whatever awe for the Immortal Elder or fear of the anomaly vanished along with the youth's dim-witted display.

"Oh, oh, oh!" The visitor touched his chest, "That's good, that's good, you scared me to death."

Atian felt that Lady Bai probably wanted to tear him apart right about now.

Perhaps aware of his own lack of common sense, the youth touched his head in embarrassment after realizing his mistake. He then straightened his expression and introduced himself, "I am Zhao Kuo of the Beihai Sword Sect. By order of my sect, I have come to take Bai Tian of the Bai family to attend the Ascension Ceremony."

Atian's first reaction upon hearing this was that the other party had found the wrong person. She subconsciously looked at Master Bai and Lady Bai, only to see them looking equally suspicious and uncertain.

In the end, it was Master Bai who stepped forward.

"This Immortal Elder Zhao," he bowed, "My daughter is indeed named Atian, but she has never had any connection with the Xiuxianmen. Could it be... a mistake?"

"That's not right," Zhao Kuo asked in return, "The Bai family's silk shop south of the city in Guangkai Town, Qixia Kingdom—isn't that your home?"

So, it was not a mistake.

"Fifteen years ago, you took a young girl from the North Sea and named her Tian," Zhao Kuo continued, "My master observed the stars at night and calculated that a piece of unpolished jade had drifted into the mortal world and had a connection with our Xiuxianmen. He specifically ordered me to bring her back during the Ascension Ceremony; it is indeed your daughter."

Setting aside the fact that Atian's true identity was a child bride rather than a daughter, his statement was entirely accurate to the facts, leaving no room for doubt.

But in reality, Zhao Kuo's palms were sweating, and his heart was pounding. Only he knew that the above was mostly nonsense—the Beihai Sword Sect was full of sword-wielders from top to bottom who got dizzy just looking at an Eight Trigrams diagram, let alone observing the stars at night!

As a Sword Cultivator known for his uprightness, he rarely lied, but sometimes, for the sake of the sect's reputation, he had to compromise.

"Of course, I understand that empty words are not proof. To verify my identity, Senior Brother Bai Xinli specially wrote a letter." Zhao Kuo took out an envelope from his chest. Without using his hands, he gave it a light tap, and the letter flew out of the envelope and stopped in front of Master Bai.

This was indeed the method of an immortal.

Master Bai tremblingly took the letter. Bai Xinli had been five years old when he left home and had already undergone Enlightenment. Although the handwriting on the letter was unfamiliar, one could vaguely see traces of his childhood. It even mentioned one or two small things that only the Bai couple knew, causing Master Bai to nearly shed tears of an old man.

Furthermore, the fact that Bai Xinli was a disciple of the Beihai Sword Sect had never been publicized; even old neighbors barely remembered that the Bai family once had a son. Except for the few remaining servants and the Beihai Sword Sect, outsiders knew nothing of this.

Since Zhao Kuo's identity was proven, the Bai family naturally had no more doubts about his claims.

However, there was one thing Zhao Kuo hadn't lied about: his appearance here was entirely due to a sect order. It wasn't because of any "divination," but because Bai Xinli, the Senior Brother of the Beihai Sword Sect and the one hailed as "the person closest to the Heavenly Dao in the younger generation," had submitted a request for home leave.

The content of the request was simple: first, he stated he had been away from home for fifteen years and missed his parents dearly; then, he mentioned he still had a child bride, and if he didn't go back to check on her, the "cooked duck" might fly away.

The entire request was reasonable and logical, with no flaws to be found. It was not much different from others' reasons for home leave and should have been readily approved, but the problem was that the applicant was Bai Xinli.

Bai Xinli's Sword Heart was very special. Influenced by it, his daily behavior was one of having no desires or cravings. Therefore, his request immediately put the entire upper echelon of the Beihai Sword Sect on high alert, fearing he had gone astray in his cultivation.

Yet, the person who caused the uproar appeared completely normal, making him unpredictable. In the end, the Sect Master made the final decision to satisfy the request first and observe him carefully, provided that everything happened under his own nose.

The Sect Master could not leave the sect, so naturally, he could only have the person brought over.

The Bai parents had always been under the protection of the sect, so meeting them wasn't difficult. The difficulty lay in Bai Xinli's request, which emphasized his worry about the "cooked duck flying away."

He, Bai Xinli, was already cultivating immortality, but the girl was still a mortal! Their Beihai Sword Sect couldn't stop her from marrying someone else! This really must be a deviation in his cultivation!

Whether Bai Xinli had gone astray, Zhao Kuo didn't know. He only knew that after the Sect Master personally talked with Senior Brother Bai, the bitter task of bringing Senior Brother's child bride to the sect fell to him.

Bringing the person wasn't bitter; the bitterness lay in having to lie. But if he told the truth, what would happen to the reputation of the Beihai Sword Sect? The miserable Zhao Kuo could only compromise his conscience according to the pre-arranged script.

It just so happened that this was his first time in Guangkai Town, and there was more than one family surnamed Bai in town, which led to this "returning spear" blunder.

The Bai family naturally didn't know the hidden story behind this and only thought that Atian had deep affinity with the immortals.

"When I picked you up by the North Sea all those years ago, I should have thought this day would come," Master Bai sighed to Atian, slapping his thigh. Beside him, Lady Bai cried and laughed at the same time—crying because she was losing a daughter, and laughing because Atian finally had the chance to embark on a completely different life. As for Atian herself, she was left dizzy by this pie falling from the sky.

After all, who wouldn't want to become an immortal?

Watching the family of three looking so joyous, Zhao Kuo suddenly felt he was guilty of a heinous crime. Before passing through the Sword Washing Pool, no one knew if this child bride of Senior Brother Bai had any aptitude for cultivation. He was currently painting a big picture for them, but it might not be enough to satisfy their hunger.

Although just entering the Beihai Sword Sect could prolong one's life even for a mortal, Zhao Kuo himself had come from being a mortal. He knew his own situation; once one entered the world of cultivation and saw its magnificence and vastness, no one could ever be content with a simple life again.

He could only hope that this Miss Bai Tian truly had an affinity for the immortals.

Zhao Kuo had also gone up the mountain as a child and didn't understand much about human affairs. As he thought this, it naturally showed on his face. Atian happened to look up, saw the flash of guilt, blinked, but said nothing.

Given that Zhao Kuo stated the Ascension Ceremony was imminent and they had to depart immediately, Lady Bai wiped away her tears and personally packed a few new sets of clothes and other personal items for Atian. She and Master Bai held hands as they sent their "daughter," whom they had raised for fifteen years, out of the house. Only when they saw Atian disappear following Zhao Kuo did she collapse in tears into Master Bai's arms.

Atian, whose fate had been changed in the time it took to eat a meal, walked along at a leisurely pace with Zhao Kuo. It was midday, and the town streets were bustling with people, yet everyone turned a blind eye to the two of them; presumably, Zhao Kuo had used other methods.

"Miss Bai, once you head to the North Sea, it will be hard to return in this lifetime. If there is anywhere else you want to go, feel free to tell me," Zhao Kuo said, looking back at Atian.

Atian gave him a shy smile, "Immortal Elder is joking. If I cannot pass the Ascension Ceremony, wouldn't I have to come back?"

Zhao Kuo thought to himself that this was a rigged operation—no matter who failed, she wouldn't—but he could only swallow the truth, feeling as if his Sword Heart was about to turn into a "Liar's Heart."

Seeing him silent, Atian gave another shy smile.

Zhao Kuo suddenly felt a chill down his back.

The two walked out of the town and arrived at the woods outside. Zhao Kuo could naturally fly on his sword, but a Sword Cultivator's Life-bound Sword was never to be touched by a second person. The solution for this was to use a specialized Carrier Artifact.

Zhao Kuo pulled a large vegetable basket from his sleeve and then pulled out a piece of hemp rope. He smiled embarrassedly under Atian's gaze, unstrapped the heavy sword from his back, and tied one end of the rope to the basket. Just as he was holding the other end to tie it to the sword tassel, he was kicked half a meter away by a sudden, unexpected kick.

I... I was kicked down by a mortal?

Lying on the ground, Zhao Kuo couldn't recover for a long time, until a cold, clear female voice rang out.

"Immortal Elder Zhao, is this your friend's arrow?"

Zhao Kuo was startled by these words and jumped up from the ground abruptly, then was so frightened by the scene before him that he nearly fell over; he saw that at the spot where he had originally been standing, a golden arrow was being gripped tightly by a slender hand, with magical power surging upon the arrow and emitting a crackling sound, yet it could not pierce through a layer of fair, crystalline skin.

Zhao Kuo recognized this arrow, and the magical power contained within it was enough to make his heart tighten, yet even more terrifying was the fact that this arrow had been caught by someone with their bare hand.

He looked instinctively at the young woman who had caught the arrow:

Atian was no longer smiling.