A Quiet Storm and Unwitting Storyteller

While Wuzhou City was embroiled in turmoil, stirred by Hu Hai’s letter, Lingzhou City, the very eye of the storm, remained remarkably tranquil.

The bustling streets teemed with people coming and going, yet neither merchants nor common folk detected the slightest deviation from their usual days.

Within Tianhe Gate’s branch, an atmosphere of quiet serenity prevailed.

Everything was so still, as if nothing untoward had ever occurred.

Hu Hai stood in the courtyard before the main hall, gazing up at the sun overhead. After several days of relentless activity, the sudden lull left him feeling profoundly unaccustomed to the quiet.

Sun He and his disobedient subordinates had all been confined to the gaol, awaiting transport back to Wuzhou once the Disciplinary Hall’s men arrived.

Meanwhile, those who had diligently performed their duties continued in their posts. Indeed, to secure their positions, they worked even more assiduously, tackling even petty theft with newfound vigor.

The outcome?

He and the brothers of the Sharp Gold Guard found themselves with nothing to do.

As the madam had put it, maintaining public order no longer required their services, and investigating demonic sect infiltrators was simply beyond their capabilities.

Granting them leave felt equally inappropriate.

In essence, apart from taking turns to guard Sun He’s group, the rest could only stand idly by within Tianhe Gate, staring into space.

“Big Brother Hu.”

A clear, crisp voice drifted from nearby.

Hu Hai instinctively turned his head, discovering it was the sisters Yu Die and Yu E.

Just days prior, Bai Yuan had asked Hu Hai to find two tailors to fashion several new outfits for the girls. Through this, Hu Hai had become acquainted with the madam’s newly accepted disciples.

In the days that followed, aside from Bai Yuan herself, Hu Hai had the most interaction with the two young girls. He frequented Bai Yuan’s quarters, where Yu Die and Yu E often served tea and water.

Sometimes, if Bai Yuan needed to find Hu Hai, these two girls would run the errands. Moreover, Yu Die, being quite outgoing and leveraging her youth, frequently pestered the temporarily idle Hu Hai for stories, quickly forging a familiar bond.

Consequently, the address of “Big Brother Hu” no longer sounded as awkward as it once did. His own uncle was a generation senior to the Gate Master, placing Hu Hai in the same generation as the Gate Master.

This meant he was also of the same generation as Madam Bai, yet these two young girls called him ‘Big Brother’ daily, effectively lowering his standing by a generation. Several attempts to correct them had proven fruitless.

‘Forget it,’ he usually consoled himself, ‘in the martial world, everyone determines their own address.’

“Does the madam require something?”

Upon seeing the sisters, Hu Hai’s spirits lifted immediately.

“No, the madam is cultivating. She doesn’t need us, so we’ve come out for a bit.”

Yu Die’s large eyes fluttered innocently.

After several days, the two girls still hadn’t called Bai Yuan ‘Master.’ At most, under Bai Yuan’s repeated insistence, their address had shifted from ‘Miss’ to ‘Madam.’

Although Bai Yuan didn’t mind the former, she couldn’t guarantee that someone from Tianhe Gate wouldn’t find fault, so it was better to avoid trouble.

Hu Hai glanced at the older sister, his mouth twitching. ‘So, they’ve snuck out again,’ he thought.

“Have you finished your calligraphy?”

Hu Hai knew that in the past two days, the madam had begun teaching the girls to read and write. The madam was exceptionally well-read, conversant in all classical texts, and her elegant Wei-style regular script, evident when reviewing documents, was truly beautiful.

Naturally, she held the two girls to strict standards. Though the sisters were quite intelligent, having read some introductory books before—memorizing them after a few readings—their handwriting was dreadful, so messy that even Hu Hai shook his head at it. Thus, they were compelled to practice calligraphy diligently every day.

“We’re finished!”

Yu Die proclaimed with a righteous air. Hu Hai’s gaze swept to Yu E. The younger sister, being more introverted, lacked her sister’s thick skin; her eyes darted away, clearly betraying a guilty conscience.

Hu Hai shook his head with a sigh but ultimately said nothing. “Fine, what story do you want to hear today?”

Each time the two young girls sought him out, it was to hear his stories, specifically tales of Madam Bai’s awe-inspiring might in Longyou.

Hu Hai was not adept at lying, so he recounted the glorious exploits of Bai Yuan that he knew. Although he felt his storytelling was dull and failed to capture even a hundredth of the Bai family’s eldest daughter’s grandeur at the time, it was more than enough to captivate the two young girls, filling their hearts with longing.

“Hmm, we want to hear about how the madam utterly defeated Gate Master Yang outside Liangzhou City.”

Yu Die’s big eyes blinked expectantly.

Hu Hai’s facial muscles twitched. “That one… I wasn’t there for that battle, and I’m not entirely clear on the whole process.”

Hu Hai, who prided himself on his honesty, struggled to maintain his composure, determined not to reveal any cracks in front of the young girls.

‘Are you kidding?’ he thought. ‘During that battle, we were nearly ensnared like dumplings in a pot by the madam’s meticulously planned ambush. If Old Feng hadn’t had such a keen nose, I might still be relearning how to speak right now.’

‘Even so, we were almost pursued to the point of having nowhere to go, neither heaven nor earth. The Gate Master’s utter disarray at that time—was that something he could possibly recount?’

“Ah?”

Disappointment clouded Yu Die’s face.

Hu Hai felt a pang of reluctance. After a moment’s thought, he offered, “How about I tell you the story of how the eldest daughter of the Bai family bravely fought against a rising star of the Daoist sect, enduring three of the Grandmaster’s palms?”

“Alright… that works too.”

Yu Die pondered for a moment, exchanged a glance with her sister, and nodded.

“Very well. So, on that day, Daoist Lingfeng was traveling with his disciple, journeying through various lands towards Longyou, when he happened to encounter the eldest daughter of the Bai family…”