Book 15: Chapter 7
Unreadable and Unrestrained is the Path to Legendary
Bai Ju was a notorious weirdo in Beijiang by the time he was in his teens. The loner liked to be out in the wild and enjoyed hunting. Despite his exceptional skill on horseback and with a bow that propelled him to the top of his clan, he didn’t think anything of it. His clan leader praised him for having hawk eyes, meaning that his eyes weren’t focused on the earth below but the sky higher and further above.
Following the pa.s.sing of his parents, the sixteen-year-old Bai Ju took his late father’s horsewhip and left the clan on his own. He was a free soul who didn’t like being told what to do or restricted. Wandering on his own wasn’t exactly fantastic, especially since he was considered a foreigner. It was during the beatings he suffered that he learnt more about fighting and refining his skills. Every time he went somewhere new, he upgraded his skillset again. When his shoes were unable to support him any longer, he fought for money. When he was tired and sleepy, he slept wherever he could. When it was cold, he warmed himself up with alcohol because, as everyone knew, it was possible to use a horsewhip to brew alcohol. He had been to half of Nanjiang and the Central Plain before he was thirty, but he returned to the Western Regions since he felt lonely.
Ten years ago, when Bai Ju just turned thirty-six, he fought He Kanyu in the capital to a draw. He liked He Kanyu for being different to other Confucian proponents despite being a student of the system. As for He Kanyu, he liked the fact that Bai Ju was unorthodox in his approach to martial arts, constantly innovating and coming up with surprises. Though their disciplines weren’t remotely connected, they had no qualms sharing anything, which facilitated their significant growth.
Bai Ju’s training method was as unadorned as his personality. He was supposed to have perished in his third war, though it barely counted as a war since he had thousands of soldiers, while he only had two foes. However, that battle was his first time seeing h.e.l.l in the flesh. The only reason he survived was thanks to the man wearing a fanged-demon mask saving him – or maybe sparing him. The man hoisted him up as if he was a chicken and, in Mandarin, suggested, “You’re pretty good at fighting. Want to join me? I’m recruiting.” Being as stubborn and unwilling to bend the knee unless he felt genuine respect for someone, Bai Ju only accepted the offer because he was told, “We can negotiate the terms. You don’t have to worry about fighting, though; you’ll have your fill. If you’re not keen, then so be it.” Because he didn’t have to deal with convoluted terms and conditions, Bai Ju joined.
For the next few years, Bai Ju served in the capacity as a member of San Shen Faction – envoys of G.o.d and punishers of the Western Regions. During that time, he and his whip earned the moniker “Disaster”. He was first given the moniker when he had to fight his way to the crumbled back lines to save his brethren. As they were in the desert and severely outnumbered, Bai Ju whipped up a tornado to overcome the urgency, destroying the enemy reinforcements with his lightning-blue tornado. Survivors went on to describe the tornado as a monstrosity worse than a natural disaster. His three other brothers also went on to gain nicknames that described them as freaks of nature. Of course, they were no match for the two at the very top.
Bai Ju’s two seniors led Bai Ju and his three brothers on so many expeditions that they had no time to care about the border. The six of them obliterated states. Bai Ju didn’t think too much about it; he merely followed the duo because he saw them as people worthy of his time. It didn’t even occur to him that he unlocked Divine Realm until after the fact.
Zero told Bai Ju that he hadn’t consolidated his progress into Divine Realm as he had physically arrived there but not mentally. He had might, but he lacked the immense might, defence and recovery capabilities that Divine Realm granted. Thus, he was warned that he wouldn’t have had much of a chance if he was matched up against a Divine Realm adept, but he didn’t care. He had achieved half of his dream of travelling the world, and he had made close friends, so he didn’t see any problem.
Years after Ximen Chuideng’s fall, Bai Ju returned to the Central Plan. San Shen Faction differed to other factions. Bai Ju’s goal wasn’t to protect the cult’s prosperity but to fulfil Lord San Shen’s orders. Under Lord San Shen’s orders, he looked into the truth behind Ximen Chuideng’s demise. He was under the impression that his three other brothers were a.s.signed the same task, and Zero infiltrated the imperial court to do the same.
Bai Ju couldn’t find any breakthroughs in spite of spending months on the investigation. Every survivor of the Lawless Cliff battle gave similar recounts, most of which was likely hearsay and own imaginations. The unverifiable information only made it tougher to fish out the truth. Investigating the people who would’ve actually been part of the fight, such as Ye Yun, was impossible to look into. At the time, the Qilin Guards were swiftly hunting down remnants of Divine Moon Cult, resulting in him getting stuck. If it weren’t for fearing Baima’s return, he would’ve killed dozens of Qilin Guards already.
At the end of the day, having a vast range of knowledge and being adept at investigation were two separate matters, the latter of which Bai Ju wasn’t an expert in. Having said that, he was bold, detailed and innovative. Since he couldn’t gain anything from orthodox factions, he reasoned he could gain information from unorthodox factions. Lord San Shen ordered an investigation as he suspected foul play. Orthodox factions wouldn’t play dirty, or Ximen Chuideng would’ve perished long before the battle at Lawless Cliff. In other words, unorthodox factions had to have had been on it. For Bai Ju, being a part of an unorthodox faction was akin to fish to water.
Bai Ju was famous, but he wasn’t a draw before he returned to the Western Regions. Because of his improvements since his departure and his accomplishments, however, the Western Regions had started spreading claims that he had the potential to compete against the two mightiest of the Western Regions. Why reject the reverence? Thanks to the fame he gained, he finally found a lead worth following.
While Bai Ju did nothing but drink and fight on the surface, he never stopped checking every suspect. In his investigation, he found out there was a group of unidentified people present at the battle of Lawless Cliff, but he couldn’t find out anything further until he met him, a man claiming to be a referrer for an “organisation”. In addition to proposing he join them, they also offered him a whip manual that had been lost for a long time. He took the risk of turning them down, believing they would risk approaching him a second time since there was a first time.
The second referrer sported a totally different appearance; however, they had a similar tone. Neither of them could fight, but they were both blind. Bai Ju spent two years to become an executioner for the organisation. In the last three years, he had completed a fair number of missions, yet he still had no clue how many others there were. n.o.body was as fast at collecting information as Ye Yun’s group. Over the three years, he was unable to find any meaningful clues or find out about other members. To the contrary, the number of things he was unable to do only increased. It was as if they had a system to protect information from the get-go, and anyone who knew something they shouldn’t have would’ve been silenced.
Bai Ju was mad about being dispatched as Gongsun Chu’s a.s.sistant this time. Putting aside the level of difficulty, he was supposed to take Prime Minister Li and, ideally, draw all attention onto himself. If The Ultimate Three returned, they’d lay him horizontal for sure.
Lord San Shen was in the capital, so Zero was most likely protecting him. Considering how vast Lord San Shen’s network was, there were a lot of people Bai Ju couldn’t harm. In order to remove suspicion from himself as someone a.s.sociated with Ming Feizhen, he targeted Su Xiao in the idol contest. He had to hold back against Tang Ye. Now, he had to fight Shen Yiren. Even if he didn’t have eyes, he could tell what was going on between Shen Yiren and Lord San Shen. He couldn’t hit her, scold her or touch her. The only thing she was good for to him was eye candy, but what use was that on a battleground besides being a distraction? Moreover, she wasn’t someone he could shake off easily. She wasn’t an amateur he could subdue in less than thirty exchanges, had awfully sharp eyes and a brain as shamelessly impressive as her mountains. How was he supposed to take Prime Minister Li hostage with her guarding him?
Seeing as there were no other options, Bai Ju went after Yi Ya. Howbeit, Yi Ya was also a handful. Notwithstanding how long they had been fighting, Bai Ju still couldn’t figure out the depth of Yi Ya’s abilities or determine how many exchanges it’d take to win. Contrary to Yi Ya’s straightlaced appearance, he was annoyingly flexible, and his “No Constate State” discipline made it seem as though Bai Ju’s last ten years of training were a waste of time.
Furious, Bai Ju summoned a tornado with his whip that was more dangerous than the one he sp.a.w.ned against Tang Ye and Bai Yumo. Yi Ya used his hands to try breaking the tornado, while Shen Yiren deflected any whips trying to stop Yi Ya while staying behind him. Once Bai Ju’s blue energy rose in the tornado, the weak spot and the strong spots constantly changed, tiring Shen Yiren out. Yi Ya had to stay close, or he wouldn’t have made it in time to escape with Prime Minister Li, so he had to just s.h.i.+eld them.
Without giving the two any time to think, Bai Ju whipped again, sealing the sole opening in the tornado. Given he just whipped virtually consecutively, he’d have expended a considerable volume of internal energy. Considering his strength, he’d have been able to hurt them badly even if he gave them more time before the second whip.
Crack! Bai Ju whipped a third time, s.h.i.+fting the tornado. At that point, the two inside realised that he was trying to move all them using the tornado. It would’ve taken them a considerable amount of time to break out since he had whipped three times. It was a manoeuvre that Bai Ju just came up with on the spot to deal with the problem. Alas, the toll it took on him left him ghastly pale as he swallowed a mouthful of blood. If he took too long, then escaping would be another challenge. Without even accounting for Ye Yun’s return, Yi Ya was probably going to be able to break out in a matter of time.
The elder who was reading had finished the teapot besides him and didn’t even realise he held an empty cup up to his mouth.
Bai Ju offered up a cupped-fist salute. “Elder, there is no bad blood between us. I merely have no choice. I promise to return you safe and sound once I am done with you.”
The elder heard Bai Ju loud and clear, but he continued reading as though the world was at peace.
Looking down on me, are you?
“I am a villain. Can’t you give me some respect? I’m not going to ever run out of lines otherwise.”
Being a man who respected his elders, Bai Ju decided he was just going to grab the elder who continued to give him the cold shoulder. In order to get deeper into the organisation, he had no choice. As soon as he advanced a step, though, he was told, “I suggest you don’t continue forward.”
Bai Ju stopped as if he crashed into an invisible wall. He couldn’t fathom why he had that feeling when it was just a sentence. He made sure to check there was n.o.body around, yet he heard the warning from every imaginable direction. He was unable to pinpoint the speaker’s location – or if they even existed, for that matter. He devoted as much focus to his eyes and ears as he could, trying to sense a presence, but the only person moving was the elder.
Bai Ju’s pores were wet. It was the first time he felt alarmed since he reached his current level. Clearly, the speaker didn’t want to be detected even before he moved in to finish his target. Perhaps not even Zero was able to incite the same feeling. On shaky legs, he stuttered, “Wh-who are you?”
“… An old toilet cleaner.”