Bai Zixi, on the other hand, was headed to Kun State.
Bai Zixi bid farewell to the Taixu Sect Master. In the end, she took one last look at Taixu Mountain, at the Disciple’s Residence of Taixu Mountain, at the grand Taoist Field, the Tao Cultivation chambers... and only then set off with a complicated mood.
The journey from Qian State to Kun State was long and required passing through many large and small state boundaries.
Below a Fourth-grade state boundary, flight by escape light was forbidden, and the Nine Heavens Gilded Carriage could not be used. They could only travel by Cloud Ferry.
The Bai Family had their own Cloud Ferry.
It was a large ship, white jade for its frame, luan feathers for its sails, not only exquisitely beautiful but also extremely fast.
Bai Zixi boarded the Cloud Ferry.
After a brief rest, the Bai Family’s Cloud Ferry tore through the sky, like a dragon of cloud weaving through the cloud veins, speeding straight ahead.
...
At this moment, within the cloud veins tens of thousands of li ahead.
An old, somewhat worn Cloud Ferry was drifting along at an unhurried pace.
Mo Hua lay on the deck and let out a sigh, muttering under his breath, "Why am I putting myself through this?"
The food was bad, the beds were bad, and the ship was slow.
To kill time, he’d even used up all the Formation Paper he normally used for Drawing Formation.
And along the way, there hadn’t been anything unusual.
Aside from the long, drawn-out boredom, the tedium, and the noise of the Cloud Ferry riding the wind, there was virtually no danger at all.
"Sometimes karma lies to you too..."
Mo Hua thought silently.
For the next ten days or so, Mo Hua lived like this.
Until the twelfth day—when they were about to reach the point where the cloud veins split and the Cloud Ferry had to change course—Mo Hua’s heart suddenly began pounding wildly for no reason, as if something he cared about deeply was about to happen.
Mo Hua didn’t quite understand why.
But the restlessness inside him only grew stronger; even seated meditation could not calm it.
Mo Hua frowned.
He pinched his fingers to calculate, his heart suddenly giving a hard thump. A thoughtful look crossed his face; then he stepped onto the deck and gazed toward the distant cloud veins.
He watched for a long, long time. Other than vast swaths of clouds, there was nothing.
Yet Mo Hua still stood there, unmoving.
Until noon, when the sun shone bright.
From afar came a sound like a dragon’s roar from a cloud flute, mixed with the howl of something cleaving the air. As the sea of clouds churned, an exquisite Cloud Ferry of white jade burst out of the clouds, its form revealed.
This Cloud Ferry was of extremely high Grade and astonishing speed, normally hard to see clearly.
But because ahead lay the node where the cloud veins split and courses were changed, even this Cloud Ferry, no matter how fast, had to pause here.
In that instant, Mo Hua clearly saw the Cloud Ferry’s appearance, and his pupils shook violently.
Then his Divine Sense swept out, his gaze falling on the top of the Cloud Ferry. On its deck stood a white-clad, hazy, almost illusory feminine figure.
And that figure saw Mo Hua as well.
Caught off guard by the sudden shock, their gazes met.
One pair of eyes clear and deep, the other like glass—illusory and beautiful—each reflecting the other’s figure.
A face like a painting, eyes like stars.
That was the Junior Brother who had grown up.
A beauty ethereal and peerless, beyond all measure.
That was the Senior Sister who had grown up.
The two of them, separated by the sea of clouds, looked at each other this once, and only this once.
Within the vast, uncertain Heavenly secret, there was only this brief instant where their karma intersected.
Then the sea of clouds surged, the cloud veins split, and the Cloud Ferries each set off again, carrying them toward their respective destinies.
The two of them, within the sea of clouds, drifted farther and farther apart.
Leaving only, in each other’s eyes, a silhouette that would be hard to forget...
(End of Qianxue Scroll)