As soon as the three were seated, Bai Ruihua suddenly grabbed Li Lin’s small hand. Li Lin’s body jolted as a piercing chill swept through him, a coldness that seemed to seep from the very depths of his soul.
Li Xue and Ji Rufeng instinctively moved to summon their dharma treasures, but under Bai Ruihua’s sweeping gaze, they found themselves rendered completely immobile.
"Aha! Not bad, not bad at all—a Single Fire Spiritual Root!" Bai Ruihua nodded with satisfaction, his eyes fixed on Li Lin with a sudden heat. "Little one, how about taking me as your master? As long as you are my disciple, no one in the Bai Family of East Beast Mountain will dare disobey you, save for me!" He spoke with such certainty, it was as if Li Lin had already agreed.
By the time Bai Ruihua released Li Lin, Li Xue and Ji Rufeng regained their mobility. However, the pressure they had just endured left them deeply unsettled. Then, they heard Bai Ruihua’s outrageous proposition. The Bai Family of East Beast Mountain was a renowned Great Clan within the Beast Spirit Mountains. To claim that his disciple could command such a clan was a staggering statement.
Wait. Li Xue felt a jolt of realization. Unless... unless the man before them was an Ancestor-level figure of the Bai Family. That would mean he was likely a Nascent Soul cultivator. She recalled the introductory cultivation books they had purchased at the Tang Family Market; any cultivation family with a Nascent Soul cultivator was considered a Great Clan, capable of rivaling small-to-mid-sized sects.
Li Xue swallowed hard and spoke with some difficulty. "Se... Senior, my son already has a sect." It took a great effort to finish the sentence, and her heart wouldn't stop pounding. Fortunately, Bai Ruihua had not released his full aura; otherwise, she wouldn't have been able to open her mouth at all.
"Oh? He has a sect?" Bai Ruihua arched an eyebrow. "And which sect might that be?"
"That... well..." Li Xue stammered. Facing a cultivator who was likely at the Nascent Soul stage terrified her, but she knew she had to speak. "The Yunjin Sect." She let out a long breath after the words finally left her lips.
Bai Ruihua’s lip twitched slightly, and he frowned. "The Yunjin Sect?" He shook his head. "Why would the Yunjin Sect allow a disciple with a Heavenly Spiritual Root to wander around aimlessly?"
The three of them complained inwardly. *It’s not like we wanted to wander; we just haven't found the sect yet!*
Bai Ruihua continued, "No, that’s not right. Let me guess!" He seemed to have a penchant for guessing; perhaps after centuries of cultivation, he had to find his own amusement. "Logically, no sect would let a child at the third level of Qi Condensation roam free. Could it be...?" His expression turned peculiar. "Could it be that he is the blood descendant of some inner court disciple?"
Li Xue was dumbfounded. He had actually guessed it. He truly was a master!
Seeing their expressions, Bai Ruihua laughed heartily. "Come, come, tell this old man which fellow’s descendant you are." Inwardly, he thought that if the boy didn't belong to one of those formidable old monsters he knew, he would simply snatch this disciple for himself.
Li Xue hesitated. She worried that if the man before her was indeed a Nascent Soul senior, he wouldn't have heard of a mere Foundation Establishment cultivator’s descendant. But if he *did* know Li Ran, then Li Ran’s status in the Yunjin Sect must be extraordinary. If this senior harbored ill intentions—like kidnapping—the three of them would be doomed.
Seeing Li Xue’s conflicted expression, Bai Ruihua found it quite amusing. "Little girl, what are you worried about? This old man is very familiar with the Yunjin Sect. Just speak plainly. Do you think I would stoop to bullying a junior like you?"
Li Xue felt a sense of resignation. If he truly wanted to deal with them, he wouldn't even need to lift a finger.
Thus, she spoke. "My husband is named Li Ran. He left before the child was born and we have had no news of him since. However, he left instructions that if the child possessed a spiritual root, I was to take him to the Yunjin Sect." Li Xue provided only a general overview, as she didn't know the specifics herself. As for whether Li Ran had perished, that was a matter of great importance that she could not confirm.
"Li Ran... Li Ran..." Bai Ruihua murmured the name twice, his expression turning solemn. Suddenly, he asked, "Do you have his identity token?"
Li Xue felt another jolt of fear. She was afraid Li Ran’s token might be confiscated, leaving them with no way to reach the Yunjin Sect. But the man was far too powerful, and things had already come to this; she had no choice but to produce it.
Bai Ruihua summoned the token through the air. As he examined it, his expression became complex. He knew exactly what this specific type of Yunjin Sect token represented. It was a special Core Inner Disciple token, issued only to the blood descendants of high-level cultivators or those who had made monumental contributions to the sect. It was a symbol of status that granted special protection; any cultivator with a modicum of experience would be wary of the holder, fearing they might accidentally provoke a high-level elder from the sect and face a relentless pursuit.
But Bai Ruihua’s wariness did not stem solely from the token’s status. It was because Li Ran’s great-great-grandfather, Yuhong Daoist, happened to be one of his few friends within the Yunjin Sect. He remembered that eight years ago, Yuhong Daoist had issued a Sect Search Order to find his descendant, Li Ran, who was also his final, "closed-door" disciple. The search had yielded nothing. Who would have thought that the brat would father a son with a Heavenly Spiritual Root, and that they would appear in the Bai Family’s territory eight years later?
