Yang Su along with Fang Chen and Fei Yin gave quizzical looks towards Bai Xiaofung.
What did he mean by he didn’t remember?
Xi Shen was the only one who was narrowing his eyes in suspicion.
Bai Xiaofung continued to say, “After I left, I was heading to my father to have him speak with Bai Zhou’s side branch family to return brother Fei Yin’s family’s coffins, but while I was heading their I-I… I don’t know what happened after that. I just can’t remember anything from that period of time. This is strange, I don’t know what’s happening.”
Bai Xiaofung became extremely nervous because this situation wasn’t normal, how can he not have any memory from a couple of minutes to an hour ago? Every time he tried to recollect that memory his mind would go blank as if the memories weren’t there to recollect.
Seeing Bai Xiaofung getting increasingly more confused and nervous, Xi Shen placed a hand on his shoulder and said, “Don’t worry brother Xiao, this can be easily explained. You can’t remember because someone…”
Xi Shen’s words were finished by Bai Luo who suddenly appeared a few feet away from the group.
“Erased your memories son.”
Bai Lou's expression was extremely gloomy when he thought about the implications of what that entailed.
Someone who has no good intentions toward the Bai Clan was hiding inside their clan. And worst of all, they had managed to do something like erased the memories of someone like Bai Xiaofung without anyone knowing.
With a serious look on his face, Bai Luo looked at his son and said, “Listen brat, it’s not safe to stay within the clan, for now, go back to the Celestial Academy until I figure out what’s going on.”
Bai Luo then turned to Xi Shen and cupped his fist while he bowed slightly, after which he said, “Second prince, I wish to express that my Bai Clan had no intentions of harming you. It looks like someone in the dark is trying to cause problems for our Bai Clan.”
Xi Shen looked at this person who was the Patriarch of one of the Seven Major Clans on the Maple Continent.
He had only seen him from afar before, but now that he was this close to him he realize that Bai Luo gave off a suffocating pressure.
It wasn’t something intentional, it’s just that his cultivation was just too high when compared to his own. Even Yang Su and the others were feeling like they couldn’t breathe in the presence of Bai Luo.
And one other thing that was frightening about Bai Luo was the fact that he was huge!
He was easily over two meters tall and coupled with his muscular frame, he was a mountain of a man.
Xi Shen, as well as Yang Su and the others, had to crane their necks upwards to look at his face.
Even if Bai Luo didn’t have his current cultivation, just his physical appearance only would scare a normal person and put pressure on their minds. His cupped fist even seemed as if they could wrap around a bear's neck and effortlessly strangle it to death.
‘Now I really what to see this Invincible Vajra Body Art. It could be considered a Fleshly Body Cultivation method and was able to be cultivated independently of Spiritual Qi. I can tell that Bai Luo is purely a body cultivator since there were no Qi Fluctuations from him. But then again my senses haven’t reached a level where I could see through someone with his cultivation level.'
People like Bai Luo were hard to fathom. If it weren’t for Xi Shen's position as the second prince, he wouldn’t have seen people like Bai Luo who were revered as Gods by mortal people, and lower-level cultivators. Unless it was during a time like the Celestial Academy's Freshmen Disciple Competition, or Ceremony. It was more common to see cultivators in the Four Physical Realms or at the highest, the Core Formation Realm, roaming around the Continent. Any higher than that and you'll get the senior generation in the Nascent Soul Realm cooped up in year-long cultivation sessions, unwilling to waste their time getting distracted by the mundane world.
As these random thoughts went through Xi Shen’s mind, he cupped his fist respectfully towards Bai Luo and said, “Patriarch Bai Luo, I might be the second prince but I am still a member of the younger generation, so there is no need to be so overly polite. I know it wasn’t the intention of the Bai Clan to harm me. Brother Xiao and I are fellow disciples of the Celestial Academy, and we can be considered good friends. So if the Bai Clan needs help in the future, just have brother Xiao ask and I’ll do what’s in my ability to help.”
Xi Shen lifted his head and released a smile as he said those words.
Bai Luo had a stunned expression on his face when he heard Xi Shen’s words. He had never expected that the trashy second prince would be so modest. And he was even offering to help their Bai Clan.
Thinking about the prospects of allying themselves with the Lin Clan, and if that didn't work out well enough he'll have the second prince for backup support, Bai Lou’s heart started to pound uncontrollably.
This was extremely beneficial for their Bai Clan!
After his initial surprise, Bai Luo suddenly burst out in a hearty laugh which caused the ground beneath him to tremble a bit.
Yang Su and Fang Chen along with Fei Yin had their ears ring due to Bai Luo's sudden ear-deafening laugh. Their expressions were one of nervousness since Bai Lou's laugh was like the sound of thunder, it was really scary that someone could produce such a loud and booming sound from simply laughing
After laughing, Bai Luo feeling excited said, “Second prince, I must admit my initial thought of you were like everyone else’s but seeing you for myself now, I can definitely say that your dragon among men.”
Hearing his father’s words Bai Xiaofung's expression turned strange.
'Why is he complementing brother Xi Shen all of a sudden. He never compliments anyone.'
As Bai Xiaofung was thinking that, his father then went on to ask, “Second prince, how about we hold a banquette to welcome you as a guest?”
Bai Luo said excitedly, but Xi Shen shook his head and refuse, “There is no need, we will be leaving to return to the Celestial Academy.”
‘Wait, why am I suggesting a banquette when I wanted him gone before?’
Bai Luo suddenly remembered his initial plan to get his useless son and prince out of his clan. But thankfully Xi Shen rejected his offer.
Bai Luo then said, “If that’s the case, then I hope the second prince will visit our Bai Clan a second time under better circumstances.”
Bai Luo didn't really want Xi Shen to return ever, but he still needed to put on a show. Xi Shen was his path to getting some benefits from the Li Royal Family without actually joining their side in this hidden conflict.
Xi Shen nodded his head and was ready to say something but he suddenly heard an excited shout in his mind.
“Master we found it!! It’s within a hidden chamber under a small mountain.”
Little Snow and Tai had discovered the pill furnace.
Xi Shen’s eye’s narrowed hearing that.
‘Are you able to retrieve it?’
‘No Master, the entire mountain is surrounded by powerful formations, and since it’s more concentrated than the Grand Formation surrounding the Bai Clan it would be difficult for us to enter.’
Upon hearing that, Xi Shen thought to himself, ‘Formations? I should be able to bypass them and enter, but how should I go about this?’
Xi Shen said goodbye to Bai Luo before he turn to Bai Xiaofung and said, “Brother Xiao, let’s head back to the Celestial Academy.”
Bai Xiaofung nodded his head at Xi Shen’s words, and they went to leave the guest Pavilions.
However, Xi Shen’s mind was racing at lightning speed to come up with a plan.
It was then that Xi Shen saw the coffin with metal spikes that Bai Luo had thrown down. Xi Shen’s eyes lit up and he casually turned around to see that Bai Luo had long disappeared.
While passing the coffin, Xi Shen secretly sent out his Divine Will and carved a small barely noticeable rune inscription onto the coffin. After which, he left a piece of his consciousness inside the rune.
This was different from the Divine Imprint he had left in the wooden slip to Yang Su. Separating a part of your consciousness was something only people with Divine Wills could do, and unlike a Divine Imprint, it didn’t have any cultivation power, but the best thing about it is that it could act independently as if it was a clone of its original self.
‘Tai, Little Snow, I want you both to disguise the rune and hide any trace of my consciousness imprint.’
Said Xi Shen to Tai and Little Snow who had already returned to his side.
Afterwards, the rune with Xi Shen’s consciousness imprint inside was coated in a layer of illusion that completely erased its presence.
Xi Shen then turned his head to see four servants carrying away the coffin.
‘Tai and Little Snow, I want you to stay inside the Bai Clan and follow that coffin. Make sure no one finds that rune.’
‘Yes’
‘Fine’
Both Little Snow and Tai answered at the same time.
After the group left the guest Pavilions, Bi Xiaofung took out his Spirit Artifact and got headed for the Celestial Academy. But first, they were going to make a quick stop on their way there to visit Yang Su’s village.
Inside the Bai Clan, one of the servants who was carrying the coffin said, “Where should we put this? Do you guys have any idea?”
Another one of the servants responded, “Let’s just hand it over to the Blacksmith workshop. It looks like the materials used to make this thing is very valuable.”
“Hey, are we just going to hand this over to them for free?”
Servant number three asked skeptically.
“Of course not you fool! We’ll have someone appraise it's worth first then we’ll double that and sell it to them.”
Said servant number four rather greedily.
“Hey that’s not a bad idea, we could really make a small fortune from this!”
“Shush! What if someone hears you, what would you do then?”
Servant number three said scoldingly to servant number one.
Servant one apologized and then they headed off to sell the coffin.
*******
Word Count: 1788
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