Because your father is also a remarkable person...

 

“Crap!” In that moment, this word consumed all of Bai Ke’s thoughts. He had no idea what kind of powerful figure he might have been in his past life, someone who could command the winds and summon soldiers with a wave of his hand, nor did he know if his past self could simply make such things disappear with a flick of his wrist when faced with situations like this.

All he knew was that he was just an ordinary person, the most ordinary kind at that. Even though he had learned some skills during his time in the secret realm, in the face of these terrifying things, he was still like an ant that could be crushed underfoot. He couldn't even think of any spells that might allow him to resist for a moment; he merely instinctively closed his eyes and furrowed his brow. Then, a name he had always relied on suddenly sprang to his mind—

Huo Junxiao!

All the blood rushed to his head, and his limbs felt icy. Just as Bai Ke thought he was almost numb all over, something slid across his left wrist. It didn’t feel particularly smooth, but it was the only thing he could sense that still had warmth. His nearly frozen right hand instinctively covered his left wrist.

Small, round wooden beads were tightly pressed into his palm.

It was the wooden bead bracelet that Huo Junxiao had given him!

They say the ten fingers are connected to the heart. As Bai Ke's fingertips and palm tightly grasped the string of wooden beads, fine black and silver threads seemed to seep from the beads he held. He felt heat radiating from his palm, quickly winding its way up his arm and wrapping around him, while something was desperately drilling into his mind, making his temples throb painfully as if they were about to explode.

Even with his eyes closed, Bai Ke could see that the spiritual entity was enveloping him completely.

Logically speaking, this thing was supposed to be silent and odorless. However, Bai Ke seemed to smell a thick, almost nauseating, metallic scent of blood. As his temples throbbed and pulsed, countless seemingly real yet illusory screams surged toward him from all directions, creating a cacophony that grew louder and sharper, as if something were scraping against his eardrums.

He felt all the blood in his body boiling, surging through his veins, while the sound of wind howled ceaselessly in his ears. Pain like a million ants gnawing at his heart overwhelmed him. A vague voice broke through the chaos and echoed in his mind—

The soul as the guide, the spirit as the eye,
The Seven Stars will align, the blood bond is forged,
The mountains and rivers as witness, the heavens and earth as mediator,
With my soul, spirit, bones, and blood,
Banish this most evil and foul thing into the myriad wild souls—

“Master!”

“Ling Chen!”

It seemed like someone was calling out to someone, the voices in his head almost merging with the sounds in his ears, making it hard to tell what was real and what was a dream.

Just then, he felt his arm moved violently, and he collided into a warm yet somewhat firm embrace.

A finger pressed on his brow, and a continuous stream of warmth flowed in from the point of contact. From head to toe, it coursed through every nerve and every vein, surging through him.

All the noise and pain, whether real or within his consciousness, suddenly ceased with this warm flow.

Bai Ke felt like a traveler who had walked a long, arduous journey finally found a place to rest, allowing his weary legs to stop. He sighed softly, and his body went limp, completely losing consciousness.

*

When he woke up again, Bai Ke found himself back in Junxiao's secret realm. His gradually clearing vision revealed the worried faces of Junxiao and Yu Xian, the dangling heads of Uncle Zongzi, Uncle Tieshan, and Lin Jie, the peculiar swaying leaves of his Auntie Pang, and the outline of his unreliable father, Bai Zixu.

“Dad? Why do you look so—” Bai Ke didn't know how long he had been asleep, but his throat felt so dry that speaking was somewhat difficult.

The moment he opened his mouth, he felt his hand being squeezed. Then he realized his hand had been held in someone else's palm the whole time. He didn’t need to look to know whose hand it was...

Perhaps not expecting that his first words upon waking would be this, Junxiao tightened his grip on Bai Ke’s hand and then froze. The others gathered around the bed were also caught off guard.

“Xiao Bai, are you talking in your sleep? What do you mean with no beginning and no end?” Lin Jie scratched his head.

Bai Ke opened his mouth, but his throat felt like it was on fire, making even the effort of saying a single word seem exhausting. He was about to gesture for water in a hoarse voice when he felt the hand gripping his right hand move again. He turned to look at Junxiao, who was sitting by the bed, and saw him flick his other hand. The teapot on the table levitated and poured water into a cup, quickly filling it to the brim. With another flick of his hand, the cup made its way to Junxiao, not a single drop spilled.

Bai Zixu reached out to help Bai Ke sit up.

“Drink some water.” Junxiao's long, slender fingers held the cup and brought it to Bai Ke's lips.

“……” Bai Ke wanted to say: I can do it myself. But with his right hand held by Junxiao and his left hand gripped by Bai Zixu, neither of whom showed any intention of letting go, and with his own body lacking strength and feeling lazy, he could only lean into Junxiao’s hand and sip from the cup little by little.

He didn’t know when this pot of tea had been brewed, or if it had been manipulated by Junxiao when it came into his possession, but the temperature was just right—neither too hot nor too cold. It was fragrant and soothing, sliding down his throat without any sharp pain, instantly relieving the parched, cracked feeling in Bai Ke’s throat.

After finishing one cup, Junxiao immediately summoned a second.

This time, Bai Ke only drank half before shaking his head. He coughed lightly, feeling that speaking was no longer an issue, and said to Junxiao, “Thank you.”

Junxiao glanced at him and replied, “When I was young and injured, you served me medicine just like this. Why are you thanking me?”

“Enough of that. This kid has been flattering his master since he was little. Why are you being so polite? He’s quite pleased with it. Not just him; the others have also slightly restrained themselves, but they’re essentially cut from the same cloth,” Yu Xian said, stroking his beard and scolding Bai Ke. “By the way, you just said something about your father?”

“Yeah, how old are you now, and you still wake up calling for your dad?” Bai Zixu chimed in.

Bai Ke: “……”

“I thought you were talking in your sleep. I was worried you’d lost consciousness for too long,” Lin Jie said, still feeling unsettled about what had happened before. “I was almost scared silly, thinking my life was about to end there. But for some reason, those three clusters of dark energy ignored me and Meng Xi and went straight for you. The talismans and spells I threw at them were almost ineffective; I couldn’t even stop them.”

Bai Ke twitched the corner of his mouth. His naturally pale skin looked even more so due to his lack of energy, and as he spoke, the faint blue veins under the skin on the side of his neck could be seen: “Stop what? It’s fortunate those spirits didn’t react. Otherwise, if they turned on you guys, would you have had time to run?”

Lin Jie shuddered slightly: “No, I wouldn’t have.”

“Then that’s it. Don’t be foolish next time; if you need to run, just run quickly. Or do you think that scene wasn’t scary?”

“No, no, no!” Lin Jie shook his head repeatedly. “Let’s skip this topic; it makes me feel… not too good.”

After all, they were disciples of the same sect. Even if they had little interaction, they had lived in the same space for so many years. Even if they were completely unrelated and strangers, witnessing someone instantly turn into blood before their eyes would be unbearable for anyone, let alone someone they knew.

The moment Lin Jie mentioned blood, his face drained of color, looking extremely pale.

Bai Ke, due to his eyesight, hadn’t seen the process of those Hengtian disciples turning into blood. All he saw was one Hengtian disciple after another being surrounded by spiritual entities, then disappearing entirely. However, he understood that those disciples had lost their lives.

And not just lost their lives; even their spiritually endowed souls had been completely devoured by those entities.

Thinking of the spiritual entities, Bai Ke recalled the unfinished words from when he woke up and turned to Bai Zixu, asking, “Why do you look so bright and clear?”

Bai Zixu: “……”

Aside from Aunt Pang, who had heard him describe the changes in his eyes, the others clearly couldn’t understand his way of describing it.

“What kind of strange description is that? Have I turned into a light-emitting entity? What do you mean by ‘bright’ and ‘clear’?” Bai Zixu paused for a moment, unable to help but mutter.

“In my eyes, you all were already light-emitting entities,” Bai Ke said with a hint of helplessness, then proceeded to describe to everyone how he saw them.

Even Aunt Pang and the others had only heard Bai Ke mention his eye condition many years ago. They didn’t expect that Bai Ke's eyes had reached such a level. No wonder his daily life was not much different from that of ordinary people; he faced almost no obstacles and could even read books.

“From what you’re saying, it seems that the clarity of what you see is closely related to a person's spiritual power and cultivation level,” Junxiao said after listening.

“I hadn’t noticed it before. After all, I thought most of the people I encountered were ordinary, so I never considered this mysterious aspect. But after meeting you all and coming to Hengtian Sect, seeing so many cultivators, I feel that it is indeed related to individual cultivation and spiritual power,” Bai Ke replied. “That’s why I’m puzzled about why my dad’s clarity is higher than that of ordinary people.”

Bai Zixu looked serious: “Because your father is also a remarkable person…”

Bai Ke: “……Stop joking.”

Bai Zixu pouted, clearly unhappy with Bai Ke's dismissive response.

“And before, he was only slightly better than ordinary people, but now his clarity is almost no lower than Aunt Pang's and the others’… What’s going on?! This is so strange!” Bai Ke said, looking at Bai Zixu with confusion, then turning to the others.

 

Translator : DarNan