Chapter 48: Bai Ling

Walking toward us from the central pavilion was a young woman in her mid-twenties. She wore a set of fitted, dark-leather brigandine armor that hugged a remarkably athletic, shapely figure, with two silver-hilted short swords strapped across her lower back.

Her dark hair was pulled into a high, no-nonsense warrior’s braid, accentuating high, sculpted cheekbones and sharp, amber-colored eyes that radiated natural authority.

She walked past her men, stopping five paces before me.

She swept her sharp gaze over my relaxed posture, my unsoiled white boots, and the subtle, transcendent tranquility that set me apart from the dusty mortal world.

Without a word of accusation, she dropped to one knee on the damp gravel, clasping her hands together in a formal, respectful salute.

"Leader of the Iron Valley Resistance, Bai Ling, pays respects to the Immortal Senior," she said, her voice steady and clear. "My subordinate brothers are rough border men who have been hunted like wild beasts for too long. If their blunt manners caused offense to Senior, I beg for your forgiveness."

I raised an eyebrow, genuinely amused as I looked down at the kneeling commander.

"Oho?" I chuckled, folding my arms into my wide sleeves. "I have completely retracted my spiritual pressure, and I haven’t drawn a weapon since stepping into your cave. How did you know I was a cultivator?"

Bai Ling slowly rose to her feet, a faint, wry smile touching the corners of her lips.

"Senior’s robes are untainted by the road’s dust, your warhorses carry the breath of high-tier magical beasts, and your eyes look upon our blades as if they were children’s wooden toys," she replied calmly. "A mortal commander cannot fake such transcendent calm. Call it a woman’s intuition, Senior."

I let out an appreciative chuckle, nodding slightly. "A sharp intuition."

I was very pleased to hear it, as I had spent quite a long of time to get this transcendental presence in my habits. It oftened helped but it also satisfied my urge to roleplay as a old Cultivation master.

’Wait. But I’m already one so who am I bluffing? Myself? Fuck no!’

I didn’t press her any further. In the cultivation world, every person who managed to survive with a sword in their hand carried a few hidden secrets or inherited techniques, probing too deeply into a someone’s parlor tricks was beneath a Peak Master’s dignity.

Tie Shan, however, couldn’t care less about pleasantries. His face was drenched in cold sweat as he stepped between us, his voice shaking with pure panic.

"Leader Bai! The extraction team... the slaves from the imperial wagons, have they arrived?"

Bai Ling turned toward him, a warm, relieved smile breaking across her stern features. "Relax, Tie Shan. Your diversion worked flawlessly. The subterranean unit breached the shafts, pulled all twenty-four captives into the lower tunnels, and escorted them through the southern cave entrance safely. They arrived in the stronghold barely few minutes ago."

Slap.

Tie Shan smacked his own forehead with a brutal curse. "Dammit! Dammit all to hell!"

He spun around to face the bustling cavern, his eyes wild with terror as he shouted at the top of his lungs.

"Sound the emergency horns! Evacuate the stronghold! Tell every squad to pack only their weapons and dry rations! The stronghold’s coordinates have been leaked to the imperial court! Governor Yan’s extermination army is already marching on this valley!"

The warm atmosphere of the cavern shattered in an instant.

Bai Ling’s amber eyes widened in shock, her hand dropping instinctively to the hilt of her short sword. "Tie Shan, what did you just say?! A leak?!"

"It was a trap from the very beginning, Leader Bai!" Tie Shan cried out, gesturing frantically toward me and Qingxue. "The intelligence was poison, the wagons were bait, and the imperial slavers marked the captives to trace their trail back to our mountain! We have hours at most before their vanguard descends upon this gorge!"

Bai Ling’s jaw locked like iron, her sharp mind grasping the catastrophic reality of the situation within a single heartbeat.

She didn’t waste a second arguing or mourning. Turning on her heel, her voice rang out like a war horn across the entire cavern.

"Captains! Sound the iron gong three times! Order the elder pavilion and the nursery to assemble at the rear mountain tunnels! Abandon the heavy furniture, pack only rations, arrows, and medicine! Move!"

Watching Bai Ling issue orders with cold, military efficiency, I couldn’t help but admire her leadership. There wasn’t a single Qi Condensation cultivator in this entire subterranean hideout, yet this young woman in her twenties had managed to carve out an organized sanctuary, feed thousands of displaced refugees, and wage a guerrilla war against a corrupt provincial governor.

Her mind was sharp, decisive, and entirely devoid of panic.

Curiosity getting the better of me, I narrowed my eyes and activated the system’s appraisal function directly on her.

A semi-translucent screen rippled into existence before my vision:

[Target: Bai Ling]

[Cultivation: Peak Body Strengthening Realm]

[Spiritual Roots: High-Mortal Grade (Wind/ Metal Dual Roots)]

[Innate Destiny Trait: Eyes of Providence (Dormant / S-Rank Protagonist Template)]

[Status: Unawakened. Currently perceiving subtle karmic trajectories and innate fortunes purely through unconscious intuition. Upon true awakening, the user can peer through grand illusions, track heavenly opportunities, and read the flow of fate.]

[Affection / Trust: 35/100 (Wary Respect)]

Eyes of Providence? I rubbed my chin, thoroughly impressed.

For an ordinary mortal, her raw attributes were already exceptionally solid, but that dormant ocular trait was a genuine treasure. Because she was only in the Body Strengthening Realm, the divine eyes operated entirely on an instinctual level, which explained why she had deduced my immortal standing in a single glance and carried such terrifying spatial awareness.

Once she gathered true qi, unlocked her upper apertures, and fully awakened those eyes, she would be an absolute force on the battlefield.

A slow, satisfied smirk curved my lips. Standing right in front of me was another perfect candidate for Lonely Cloud Peak.

Still, I wasn’t going to scare her off by shouting "Become my disciple!" in the middle of an emergency. A seasoned hunter always let the fish swim around the bait first.

"Leader Bai," I called out, my voice carrying a relaxed warmth that effortlessly cut through the shouting militia. "Why such a frantic rush to pack up your pots and pans? I already told Tie Shan I came here specifically to lend a hand."

Bai Ling halted mid-stride, turning back to face me with a faint frown between her high, sculpted brows. She looked at my pristine scholar robes, her amber eyes searching my face with cautious scrutiny.

"Senior... are you truly willing to stand between our ragtag rebellion and the Governor’s armies?" she asked, before lowering her eyes and offering a respectful, apologetic salute. "Forgive my bluntness. I do not doubt Senior’s goodwill, but I have no way of knowing the depth of your cultivation. You are still an unfamiliar stranger to us. As the leader of these people, I cannot gamble two thousand innocent lives on an unknown variable."

I waved my wide sleeve dismissively, completely unbothered by her suspicion.

"A leader who blindly trusts a passing stranger isn’t a leader, she’s a fool. Your caution is entirely justified," I said with a smile, leaning casually against the horn of my saddle. "By all means, have your people pack their carts and stay ready to move at a moment’s notice. But holding your ground for a little longer before abandoning this mountain would be far wiser. Think about it, uprooting two thousand sick, malnourished refugees and marching them into the wilderness will cost you half your elderly to starvation and exhaustion within three days. Not to mention, out in the open valleys, you are vulnerable not just to Governor Yan’s cavalry, but to roving packs of wild magical beasts."

Bai Ling fell silent, her sharp mind rapidly calculating the brutal logistics. Every word I spoke hit the mark. Fleeing into the deep crags was essentially a slow death sentence for the weak.

She took a slow, measured breath and nodded firmly. "Senior speaks the truth. We will prepare the wagons and keep the retreat tunnels open, but we will hold our ground until the scouts confirm the enemy’s vanguard."

Standing quietly beside her black warhorse, Shen Qingxue suddenly stepped forward, her dark obsidian eyes flashing with sharp, military logic.

"Husband," Qingxue said, her voice clear beneath her sheer veil. "Before we assume the worst, shouldn’t we inspect the rescued captives first? If the Governor’s men didn’t place a tracking mark on them, there won’t be any need to abandon the stronghold at all. It is entirely possible we are overestimating their foresight. Perhaps that dead spearman was their only safeguard, and with his head removed, their trap has already fallen apart."

I looked at my first disciple and nodded approvingly. "Sensible deduction. Let’s go verify the cargo."

She really was growing faster this way. That was why staying holed up didn’t work for a Cultivator so they often had to wander the world.