Chapter 9

9. Chapter Nine

Atian's impression of Bai Xinli remained fixed on that evening fifteen years ago, when Shengxian Town had also welcomed the Ascension Ceremony—held once every fifteen years—amidst a sky full of glowing clouds, ushering in a bustling scene of clamoring crowds and endless streams of carriages and horses.

As an abandoned orphan, life in Shengxian Town for Atian was neither good nor bad; although she could only wear filthy, tattered clothes and run around in straw sandals that were already half-rotted, the people here were still willing to spare her a bite to eat and provide her with a bed that was passably warm on cold nights.

Even Master Bai did not know that, in truth, Atian and Bai Xinli had never spoken a word to each other; their only intersection was a single exchange of glances at the mouth of an alley—Bai Xinli, led by the hand by Master Bai, had turned his head by chance and happened to collide with Atian's curious gaze.

One was a young master dressed in silks and fed on delicacies, the other a little beggar sitting at the corner of the street; their gazes met at a single point due to an accident, and then slid away from each other.

This was merely an ordinary exchange of glances, just like the thousands of other such exchanges in life: a calm beginning, a calm end, unable to stir up the slightest ripple.

The real turning point occurred that night; after watching the excitement all day, Atian stood up and was counting on her fingers where she should go to scrounge for food and drink that evening, when she was stopped by a man who looked utterly dejected.

The man's expression was very strange, as if he were crying yet also smiling; he squatted in front of Atian, his clean hem stained with mud, muttering incoherently about things like "my son is gone" or "the old Bai family has brought honor to their ancestors." If not for his upright features and neat attire, he would have been the spitting image of a poor wretch who had lost his mind.

The man repeated these words over and over, and in the end, he simply buried his head and wept.

Atian stared blankly as he vented his emotions, and even now, she could not figure out whether she had felt more fear or bewilderment at the time.

She also did not know exactly how much time had passed before the man stopped sobbing; she only knew that the surroundings had turned pitch black, and by this time, she would usually have already hidden inside some shop, drinking a bowl of steaming porridge.

"My surname is Bai, my given name is Tao, and my home is in Guangkai Town, Qixia Kingdom," the man's voice was hoarse from his recent crying. "I have a wife at home who is pure and kind. I see that you have no father or mother and are wandering and begging in this town; would you be willing to come home with me and be my daughter?"

This man who called himself "Bai Tao" was naturally Master Bai. He had traveled thousands of miles to bring his beloved son to see the world, only to have his beloved son chosen by an Immortal Elder and led into the Xiuxian path. He was not an ignorant fool; he naturally understood the cruelty behind this "pie falling from the sky"—he would lose his eldest son forever.

As a father who loved his son deeply, he knew he should be overjoyed at his son's good fortune, but deep in his heart, there was the agony of a living separation that felt like having his heart carved out and his bones scraped; this was why the scene of him squatting on the ground and weeping bitterly had occurred.

Wiping away his tears, Master Bai, whose mood had gradually calmed, knew very well that if he, a grown man, felt this way, his wife—who had always treated their son as her very life—would only be more conflicted and pained. Therefore, as he stumbled onto this street, he thought of Atian.

He had noticed the little street beggar entirely because of his beloved son, Bai Xinli. He remembered that in the evening, he had been holding his son's hand as they walked past this corner, and he had stopped to ask someone for information. After the conversation ended, he saw his son exchanging glances with a disheveled young girl. Because this action was very rare for Bai Xinli, he had inadvertently remembered the child.

In all fairness, Master Bai seeking out Atian was absolutely not for the sake of that one glance from his son; he actually just wanted to find a substitute for his wife to transfer her affections onto.

To outsiders, Lady Bai was shrewd, capable, and sharp-tongued; only he, as her husband, knew that she was actually a woman who was soft-hearted despite her harsh words and somewhat fragile. Since Bai Xinli had already entered the Xiuxianmen, he would have no more ties to their home, and he was not sure if she could handle this blow.

Seeking out Atian was Master Bai's first step in taking precautions.

Atian had been intentionally abandoned in Shengxian Town. To her, fifteen years later, this act might well have been intended to have her picked up by the Beihai Sword Sect, only the person who abandoned her could not have foreseen that a Master Bai would appear halfway and offer the young Atian a proposal full of temptation.

If she had been a little older, hearing such words would certainly have made her more vigilant, but at the time, she was only a child of three or four. Even if she were precocious by nature, she was at an age of innocence, and her biggest worry every day was how to be fed and clothed; naturally, she was coaxed by the glib-tongued Master Bai and really went to be his daughter.

However, Master Bai could use lame excuses to coax a child, but he could not use the same method to deal with his wife. If Lady Bai knew that he had snatched a girl back with the intention of raising a substitute, the sky would truly collapse.

For this reason, Master Bai brought out his universal shield—Bai Xinli.

He pretended to be drunk and stubbornly pinned a label of "acting on a whim" on his son—whom he did not know if he would ever see again in this lifetime—in front of Lady Bai, making her associate Atian with their son in her heart and gradually accept the reality that their son had become a "daughter."

As one of the parties involved, Atian naturally knew what that "glance" between her and Bai Xinli was all about, but even cats and dogs know how to seek advantages and avoid harm, let alone a human?

Just like that, "be my daughter" turned into "be my daughter-in-law." Anyway, Bai Xinli had already been left at the Beihai Sword Sect and would never return in this lifetime, so she did not care much about it.

Lady Bai was indeed a person who was soft-hearted despite her harsh words. Once the initial discomfort faded, she began to treat Atian well from the bottom of her heart, hiring a tutor for her to learn to read and write, and sewing all kinds of clothes for her with her own hands, doing everything a mother should do.

Atian was not an ungrateful person. The kindness Lady Bai showed her far surpassed anyone she had encountered since her birth; the only thing she could do was to respond to Lady Bai's expectations.

Lady Bai's greatest wish was for her to grow into a refined young lady, and she vowed that she would definitely achieve it.

But today, fifteen years later, Atian's vow had fallen short, because she could only visit Lady Bai's beloved son—Bai Xinli—in a half-dead state.

How could this be something a refined young lady would do!

"Junior Nephew Xin Li is different from the others and does not live in the Dizi Yuanshe," Guo Huai said. "He lives year-round in the Stone Chamber at the Martial Arts Arena; it is a good place for closed-door cultivation."

"Doesn't that mean he is in closed-door cultivation all year round?" Putting her frustration aside for a moment, Atian blinked her eyes.

"You could say that, but Junior Nephew Xin Li is forced to do so; you will understand once you see him." The chubby cultivator scratched his face.

Filled with questions, Atian no longer fretted over whether her appearance was neat. Although she had run all over the island during her previous errand tasks, she could not get up to the Martial Arts Arena floating in mid-air; or rather, that place was not suitable for newcomers like them who had only one foot inside the Xiuxianmen.

In the end, it was Guo Huai who sent Atian up. Since the sect prohibited flying on a Sword, he used the Sleeve Universe he had learned from Tan Tianming to stuff the girl directly into his sleeve. By the time Atian was shaken out by him, she had already arrived outside the Stone Chamber where Bai Xinli was.

Guo Huai, who considered himself a kind Junior Uncle, had originally wanted to wait outside for Atian to come out and see her off. However, the moment he thought about the heavy relationship between this girl and Junior Nephew Xin Li inside—a relationship that he, an old bachelor Sword Cultivator, could not bear—he immediately felt his fragile heart pierced by another arrow. Thus, using the excuse that he still had to send Song Zhicheng over, he ran away while silently weeping in his heart.

Atian, who was completely unaware of Guo Huai's inner drama, stood in front of the Stone Chamber, took a deep breath, and walked in with a "break the pot to mend the pot" mindset.

From the outside, the Stone Chamber looked like just a small room, but once she walked inside, she discovered that it contained another world. The space inside was vast, and in terms of size, it was not inferior to the Martial Arts Arena outside, only it was empty and had a feeling of extreme loneliness.

In the center of the Stone Chamber stood a man. From Atian's position, she could only see his tied-up long hair, his tall and straight back, and a White Jade Sword sheathed at his waist.

Gritting her teeth, Atian bowed to the man, "New disciple of the Beihai Sword Sect, Bai Tian, greets Senior Brother."

This sentence echoed in the silent Stone Chamber. After a long while, the man slowly turned his head, and his gaze happened to meet Atian's head-on.