"I never imagined that in just over thirty years, these Spiritual Rhinoceros Scissors would find their suitable owner. New owner of the Spiritual Scissors, can you tell if he is dead?" The woman in the illusion stood tall and graceful, with shoulder-length hair, her voice hollow and ethereal as if coming from the high heavens.
The silhouette was very blurry, its facial features indistinct. Xiao Xian could only rely on intuition to determine that the person within the light was i Xiang, the creator of the Spiritual Rhinoceros Scissors.
"Mr. Bai has already passed away," Xiao Xian said sorrowfully. Mortality is inevitable for everyone, an experience i Xiang, as a Cultivator, should find hard to comprehend.
The silhouette flickered slightly, and after a few seconds, she continued with another question.
"Owner of the Spiritual Scissors, tell your na and how you ca to possess these scissors." i Xiang’s voice remained devoid of emotion, and Xiao Xian felt the weight of her gaze upon her.
Thus, Xiao Xian recounted the events of the past half-year, including the past four years with Bai Juyi, in general terms.
"So, it ans Bai Juyi gave you the Spiritual Scissors before he died? His judgnt wasn’t bad, finding a person of pure heart, unwavering in spirit. The drop of Blood Spirit Rhinoceros within you is quite beneficial," the phantom of i Xiang slowly walked up to Xiao Xian, eye to eye, nose to nose, scrutinizing her closely.
The Little White Jiao in the artificial lake almost choked on a snail upon hearing this; so their young master still had a pure spirit? That couple truly had an exceptionally poor judgnt.
Being scrutinized by i Xiang, Xiao Xian did not feel uncomfortable. In those eyes of i Xiang, which were half-filled with sorrow and half with emptiness, Xiao Xian saw contemplation, saw grief; i Xiang cared about Bai Juyi’s death.
"Do you want to know why I left him back then?" i Xiang rely asked the question and didn’t wait for Xiao Xian’s response before continuing on her own.
i Xiang ca from the i Family, an ancient Cultivation Family that could be traced back to ancient tis.
The i Family pursued a thod of cultivation called Natural Law, using the Spiritual Power of nature’s plants to strengthen their own Spiritual Power.
In terms of Cultivation Levels, they could generally be likened to Xiao Xian’s concepts of gold, silver, copper, and iron as the four major grades.
Within these four grades, they were further divided into first-level, middle-level, and high-level stages. When i Xiang t Bai Ju, her cultivation was roughly at the Gold Level Beginner stage.
i Xiang was the 319th descendant of the i family, where most Cultivators defy fate and heavens. Over a thousand years, apart from the few mbers who peeked past the limits of Natural Law and achieved an extended life through cultivation, most of them died young, often in their middle-age or even childhood due to blind cultivation practices.
During the ti of i Xiang’s generation, which was over a hundred years ago in the last years of the Qing Dynasty, i Xiang’s mother gave birth to twin siblings, naming them i Xiang and i Nian.
Because the i Family’s numbers were dwindling, the two sisters were brought up under their father’s protection and strict discipline, learning the fundantals of cultivation since childhood. Among them, i Nian’s talent and diligence made her the new leading figure of the i Family upon reaching adulthood.
"In 1945, while passing through Yunnan due to family affairs, I impulsively wished to learn horticultural skills, so I apprenticed myself with a well-known local gardener, becoming fellow apprentices with Bai Ju and Mao Dazhu, learning the craft together. Bai Ju was a man of gentle disposition. Despite my deliberate distance from the apprentices, he constantly took care of . For decades, no one had been as attentive to as he was. Later on, I left Yunnan with Bai Ju, traveling across the country. At that ti, the country was in the midst of a civil war, the situation very unstable, but fortunately, we went to desolate, harsh places, where I used the experiences from the journey to refine the Spiritual Rhinoceros Scissors. Because of Bai Ju’s elder sister, we eventually settled down in Beijing," i Xiang’s recollection took Xiao Xian back to the tumultuous tis of war more than fifty years ago.
In that era of chaos and war, this couple, with their passion for traditional Eastern horticulture and evading the pursuit of the i Family, found their footing in the ancient city of Beijing.
Their blissful married life lasted only five or six years. i Xiang had already peeked through the Natural Law; her aging of both appearance and body was slowed by dozens of tis compared to ordinary people, making it very difficult for her to conceive. Although Bai Ju never spoke of it, i Xiang knew he was withstanding pressure from his family elders.
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