Chapter 83: The Golden Cage Traps the White Phoenix (6)
If he had known earlier, he should have asked Bo Yan not to send him to the Cold Cavern.
This stone chamber had only one door. Inside was a table, on which sat a shabby little oil lamp. In the corner stood a bed that looked every bit as cold and unwelcoming. Everything in the Water Abyss Realm seemed cold.
But thinking about it, this place was still far better than the Cold Cavern.
Bai Chunsheng regretted it deeply. He squatted in the corner of the chamber, found a blanket, wrapped it around himself, and shifted back into his true form. He thought that before being sent away, he should at least get a good sleep.
He didn’t extinguish the oil lamp. Wrapped in the blanket, he lay down in the little nest he had just arranged. That day alone, he had gone through great joy and deep sorrow, his emotions fluctuating wildly. Though he had dozed a little in the cage earlier, it wasn’t a sound sleep, and later he had been frightened by Bo Yan. Now, as soon as he shut his eyes, he drifted into a heavy slumber.
Bai Chunsheng didn’t know how long he had slept when he faintly heard thunder rolling above the lake.
He woke up startled from his dream, flustered for a while, then closed his eyes again in a daze and fell back asleep.
Not far away, the Yaoyue Pavilion was very quiet. After finishing her tasks, Shen Yuying hurried toward the Water Abyss Realm.
From a distance, she saw dark clouds swirling over the Soul Abyss, and her heart sank with unease.
She quickened her steps toward the Yaoyue Pavilion. The doors were wide open, and howling cold wind rushed through along with the sound of thunder. On the table lay brush, ink, paper, and inkstone, and faintly on the paper was the outline of a peach tree that had not yet been painted in color.
The ink was still wet, as if it had just been drawn moments ago.
Bo Yan sat on a soft chair nearby, his head slightly tilted back as he gazed through the open skylight. No one knew what he was thinking. Hearing Shen Yuying approach, he lowered his gaze and looked at her.
Shen Yuying shivered and bowed her head. “Reporting to Your Majesty, on my way back I encountered cultivators from the Tianqing Sect. I feared they would discover my trail, so I spent some effort concealing it, which is why I was delayed.”
Bo Yan asked her, who had arrived late, “What is your relationship with Bai Chunsheng?”
Shen Yuying lowered her head. “In name, we are fellow disciples under Bai Jianghan. But in truth, we were not close—just a few meetings, enough to know each other’s names.”
“Oh?” Bo Yan said. “I heard that before Bai Jianghan’s death, she entrusted Bai Chunsheng to you.”
Shen Yuying realized Bo Yan was asking about the matter of the marriage engagement, but she wasn’t suspicious. She had actually asked Bo Yan about it once before, back when he had left the last time, and he had only said they would discuss it in the future.
It seemed that today was that “future.”
She calmed herself with a few quiet reassurances, took a deep breath, and slowly explained: “Bai Jianghan’s life was nearing its end. She knew that Bai Chunsheng wasn’t very bright, and his manner was arrogant and careless, which had already earned him many enemies. She feared that after her death, Bai Chunsheng would not live well…”
Those were the days when Bai Chunsheng had just escaped the Lutai Secret Realm with Yan Jingqiu.
Because Bai Chunsheng had been unconscious when Yan Jingqiu delivered him back to the Ten Thousand Demon Sect, when he woke up, all he remembered was Bai Jianghan’s sharp ridicule. Naturally, he added this to the long list of grudges he held against Yan Jingqiu.
Shen Yuying, however, was born of the renowned Water Abyss Realm dragon clan, and Bai Jianghan’s calculations were shrewd. She mentioned she wanted to meet Bo Yan once, saying she had information related to the Yan family that could help him succeed in passing his tribulation.
But at that time, Bo Yan happened to be in seclusion beneath the Soul Abyss and never met her.
So Bai Jianghan settled for second best and went to Shen Yuying instead, hoping to secure Bai Chunsheng a protector through a marriage engagement.
Shen Yuying didn’t dare approach Bo Yan directly. After discussing with her parents and aunts, she decided to “stall.” She agreed to Bai Jianghan’s request but set the marriage one hundred and fifty years in the future, intending to wait until Bo Yan left seclusion before making a final decision.
Bo Yan emerged far earlier than anyone expected. At that time, Shen Yuying hadn’t yet advanced to the Dao stage, and all she could do was stand outside the Soul Abyss and glimpse him from afar. His cultivation had advanced immensely. That single glance was enough to shake her very soul.
Shen Yuying thought that her matter with Bai Chunsheng must surely be nothing but a trivial concern to someone like Bo Yan, the master of the Water Abyss Realm.
Sure enough, when Bo Yan came out, his attendant relayed only a single word back to her: “Fine.”
After that, the matter was never brought up again.
Shen Yuying assumed she had correctly guessed Bo Yan’s thoughts.
One hundred and fifty years later, Bai Jianghan’s life would end, and the White Phoenix bloodline, already thin, would be left with only Bai Chunsheng alone. So what if they broke the agreement then? The dead could not return to life. Shen Yuying had never intended to honor the engagement in the first place.
After Bai Jianghan’s death, she planned to kill Bai Chunsheng, seize power in the Ten Thousand Demon Sect, and offer it up to Bo Yan—to win his favor.
Shen Yuying smiled warmly. “A few months ago, before Your Majesty left, this servant even dared to ask how Your Majesty wished to deal with Bai Chunsheng.”
—Would Bai Chunsheng be directly pressed into the Cold Cavern, locked away forever without seeing the light of day; or would they continue to honor the promise once made to Bai Jianghan and allow her to marry Bai Chunsheng?
Shen Yuying also had her own selfish motives. After Bai Jianghan’s death, the White Phoenix bloodline had become unique and rare.
To be able to form a marriage alliance with the White Phoenix clan meant that among the dragon race, who valued bloodline inheritance above all, her branch of the Water Dragon clan would rise to a whole new status. Especially since Bai Chunsheng had no one behind him, everything could be decided by Shen Yuying’s powerful maternal family. She would even be able to stay in the Water Abyss Realm, far better than her sisters who had been married off to distant places.
Bo Yan did not respond to Shen Yuying’s words. His voice sounded distant and icy, as though drifting in from some faraway place. He asked, “That day, how did I react?”
It was a very strange question. Shen Yuying felt puzzled, but she dared not ask. She only said, “At that time, this servant was only a Nascent Soul cultivator and was not qualified to meet Your Majesty.”
She hesitated before continuing, “I only heard from my aunt that Your Majesty said a single word—‘Good.’”
“Indeed, good.” What else could he have said, apart from “good”?
Bo Yan smiled faintly, but his voice carried a chilling edge. “That was Bai Jianghan’s wish. And what about Bai Chunsheng?”
Shen Yuying replied, “He probably didn’t know. He never liked Bai Jianghan arranging such things for him. He even once ran away from home because of it, and was brought back by the Yan family’s Sword Sovereign.”
Naturally, Bai Chunsheng disliked Bai Jianghan making such arrangements, because the one he liked was the Sword Sovereign of the Yan family.
Bo Yan gave a muted laugh. “And how did the Yan family react?”
These events had happened so long ago that Shen Yuying could barely recall them. She had to search her memory for a while. In those days, not only did Bai Jianghan come to her about a marriage alliance with the dragon clan, but turmoil had also broken out in the Yan family.
At that time, Bo Yan had vanished without a trace. Shen Yuying had stood in for the Water Dragon clan and agreed to Bai Jianghan’s request.
By the time Yan Jingqiu had finished handling the Yan family’s affairs, the marriage contract between Shen Yuying and Bai Chunsheng had already been drawn up.
Bai Jianghan had then sent copies of the contract to the three great sects. And since the marriage was set one hundred and fifty years in the future, only a few of the great clans and sects knew of it.
Shen Yuying hesitated, then answered Bo Yan’s question: “The Yan family… was the same as always. They had no particular reaction.”
She didn’t even understand why Bo Yan asked what reaction the Yan family had. Could it be that the Lord worried Bai Chunsheng had ties with the Yan family, and that the Yan clan of Taixu Sect might interfere? But given Bai Jianghan and Yan Jianhang’s relationship, which was like fire and water, at most they would have kicked him while he was down.
Still, it made sense. Sometimes no reason was needed. As long as there was an excuse, the Yan family could seize the opportunity to meddle.
Thinking this way, Shen Yuying recalled something else: “The Yan family sent someone ahead of time with a congratulatory gift.”
That day she had stood at Bai Jianghan’s side, so she remembered a few fragments: the mocking curve of Bai Jianghan’s lips, and the half-smile as she said, “As expected of the little Sword Sovereign, truly bold—daring to come bearing gifts.”
Bo Yan, “What did Yan Jingqiu send?”
Inside the brocade box that had been presented high above, there lay: “A sword tassel.”
Shen Yuying added, “And also a letter, which should have been meant as wedding congratulations… perhaps there were other things, but those two were all I saw that day.”
Later, after Bai Jianghan’s death, all her belongings had been sealed within her cave-dwelling. Shen Yuying remembered that sword tassel sent by the Sword Sovereign.
To prevent spirit demons in the sect who were adept at bypassing restrictions from sneaking into her cave to steal things, when the disciples of the Ten Thousand Demon Sect’s Treasury registered Bai Jianghan’s possessions one by one, they had summoned Shen Yuying to inspect them.
Shen Yuying did not find the sword tassel listed anywhere.
Perhaps Bai Jianghan had thrown it away.
After all, the entire cultivation world knew that the ones she loathed most were sword cultivators of the Yan family.
Huge shoutout to @_nyanmaru_ on Discord for commissioning this! The chapter will be posted regularly, show your support for Ciacia at Kofi.
