Reversing the Milky Way

Soon, it was morning.

Bai Cheng didn't cultivate that night and slept quite comfortably.

As dawn broke, Bai Cheng returned to the lakeside where he had been the previous night to investigate, only to discover a hidden bloodstain that stretched from the middle of the road all the way to the dam.

'This is human blood! Could it be that last night's attack was effective?'

However, just as he was pondering this, he discovered a hairpin left on a grassy area near the water's edge by the dam.

'This is from that girl last night, could it be...'

Upon realizing this, Bai Cheng understood that the bloodstains must have been left by the girl from last night, not by his attack, and it seemed that the girl had already been harmed.

"Alas, it's such a pity that a beautiful young girl was violated and cruelly harmed by a second-generation immortal, without even having the chance to seek justice."

After saying this, Bai Cheng silently put away the hairpin and then returned to his room along the way.

Early in the morning, Chen Ping arrived at the entrance of the dormitory, gathered Bai Cheng and the others together, and then went to a courtyard next to the main hall in the front courtyard of the Bai residence.

"This is where you will be working today, and it is also the kitchen of the Bai family mansion."

After saying that, Chen Ping led Bai Cheng and the others into the kitchen.

The kitchen is very large, capable of accommodating a hundred people cooking at the same time. It has all kinds of stoves, and the cutting board with various ingredients is even larger than the big bed where Bai Cheng sleeps.

The kitchen was filled with the sounds of chopping vegetables, and busy figures filled the air. Since Bai Cheng and his companions had never worked in a restaurant before, they could only stay at the cutting board to help process some retail meat and some picked spiritual vegetables. This scene reminded Bai Cheng of his time working part-time at a restaurant during his university years.

As Bai Cheng began working diligently, all sorts of spiritual plants, both familiar and unfamiliar to him, appeared before his eyes. Although he already had a thorough understanding of herbs, he was still only scratching the surface when it came to the variety of these spiritual plants.

Just then, a young man suddenly rushed into the kitchen. He looked anxious and went up to everyone present to ask questions.

"Excuse me, brother, have you ever seen my wife?"

"Go away, who has seen your wife? Don't disturb my work."

Immediately afterwards, the man asked his way to Bai Cheng's side.

"Young man, have you seen my wife before?"

After Bai Cheng stopped what he was doing, he also asked questions.

"Your wife? Can you describe what she looks like?"

“My wife is about your age, with shoulder-length hair and wearing a light red dress. She is knowledgeable about some herbs. When she came to the Bai residence for work, she went to join the collection team. After the collection was completed yesterday, I met with her, but I couldn’t find her this morning.”

Upon hearing this, Bai Cheng inexplicably thought of the woman from last night. Under the moonlight, he vaguely saw that the color of the woman's torn clothes matched what the man in front of him had described, including her long hair and other distinctive features. He was basically certain that the woman from last night was the person this man was looking for. Thinking of this, he looked at the anxious face of the man in front of him and was momentarily at a loss for words.

As far as he knew, the woman was likely in grave danger, but if he told this to the man in front of him, he didn't know what he would do. Besides, according to Bai Cheng's observation, the man in front of him was only at the mid-stage of the Body Refinement Realm.

Bai Cheng looked around, pondered for a while, and then shook his head.

"Sorry, brother, I've never met your wife before."

The man looked disappointed after hearing Bai Cheng's answer, but he immediately turned to the person next to him for more information. Bai Cheng, seizing the opportunity, secretly slipped the hairpin he had found the previous night into the man's pocket.

Afterwards, Bai Cheng watched the man's retreating figure and sighed inwardly.

"Sigh, it's not that I don't want to tell you, but even if I did, there would be nothing you could do. I'm returning the hairpin to you, so you can keep it as a keepsake."

After thinking about this, Bai Cheng shook his head again and continued to work.

As noon approached, everyone gradually began to rest and left the kitchen.

Just then, shouts came from the surrounding crowd.

"Look, everyone! My God, it's a spirit boat!"

As the man's voice rang out, Bai Cheng followed the crowd's gaze and looked up at the sky.

A huge spirit boat was seen sailing towards the Bai family's direction, with a flag hanging on its mast bearing a large character 'Bai'.

Upon seeing this, someone in the crowd immediately began to shout.

"Could it be that the Bai family's patriarch has returned from the capital?"

As soon as he said this, the crowd started to jeer.

Bai Cheng turned his gaze to the huge spirit ship. He could vaguely sense a powerful spiritual energy fluctuation spreading outwards from the ship. He could also vaguely sense an energy spying on the entire Bai family.

'Could this be the aura emanating from a powerhouse at the Tonghai Realm? It's said that a Tonghai Realm expert's divine sense can cover a radius of fifty miles. Such a vast range of divine sense could easily cover the entire Bai Manor. If that's true, wouldn't everyone's movements be perfectly clear?!'

As the huge shadow in the sky slowly swept past the crowd and drifted towards the backyard of the Bai family mansion, Bai Cheng slowly withdrew his gaze. However, he then saw several more cultivators flying over from the distant sky. Without exception, they were all flying through the air, and judging from their cultivation level, their realms had all surpassed the Opening Meridian Realm. These people followed the huge spirit boat that had been there earlier and landed in the backyard of the Bai family mansion.

Amidst the whispers of the crowd, Bai Cheng learned that these people were all prominent cultivators in Baifeng City. Although the Tonghai Banquet wouldn't officially begin until tomorrow, their arrival a day early was largely driven by personal motives. Bai Muxuan was the former city lord of Baifeng City, and although the current city lord was Bai Zhentian, his words carried unparalleled weight within the city. Furthermore, with his breakthrough to the Tonghai Realm, various powerful families were now flocking to curry favor with him.

Throughout the afternoon, Bai Cheng noticed a steady stream of cultivators entering the Bai residence, while most of the Bai residence guards who were supposed to be watching over them had been transferred to the backyard, leaving only one guard behind.

As evening fell, the kitchen work gradually came to a halt. All the ingredients and side dishes had been prepared and were ready to be cooked when the banquet officially began the next day.

When it was time to sleep, Bai Cheng sat down and continued cultivating a hundred meters away from his room. This time, the Bai family's guards seemed not to cause him any trouble.

Soon, the next day arrived. At dawn, an explosion woke Bai Cheng, who was cultivating.

After hurriedly getting up, he realized that the explosions he had just heard were actually coming from a formation in the sky. He then saw that with each explosion, the sky was filled with what looked like fireworks. Next, various fantastical figures condensed from spiritual energy began to slowly emerge from the fireworks, drifting in the sky, with one figure standing in the center, seemingly suspended in mid-air.

Upon seeing this, Bai Cheng quickly returned to the entrance of his dormitory. He found that the entrance was already crowded with people watching the performance in the sky.

"What's going on? Is this the opening ceremony of the banquet?"

As Bai Cheng finished speaking, the person next to him said, "That's right, this should be the opening of the Tonghai Banquet. Do you see that person in the sky? That's Gu Xinglan, the famous talisman-carving master in Baifeng City, and also the head of the Xingyun Pavilion branch in Baifeng City. I heard that his talisman carving skills are extremely high."

Upon hearing this, Bai Cheng looked at the person in the air with a blank expression.

"So what is he doing?"

"Hey, you don't understand! He's trying to use his spiritual power to carve in the air."

"Description?!"

“That’s right. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen a moving painting. Those paintings are made by carving talismans, which inscribe the artist’s spiritual power into the painting. This way, the painting can move on its own as the spiritual power moves within it. However, this requires special pigments that react with spiritual power. But it’s different when you carve in the air. You can make the painting move on its own by manipulating spiritual power, but it will only last for a short time.”

Hearing this, Bai Cheng finally understood his doubts. It turned out that the moving pattern he had seen before was actually what it was.

Then he saw the man in the sky suddenly wield a long brush and forcefully swing it through the air in an arc. Immediately afterward, a wave of spiritual energy shot out from the brush, fluttering in the air like a ribbon. Then, many rare and exotic beasts he had never seen before suddenly emerged from the ribbon, chasing each other playfully in the air.

Immediately afterward, the man in the air gathered his brush again and swung it with great force, creating massive mountain images in the air that mirrored the previously drawn mythical beasts. Just then, beautiful music rose from the sky, and a dozen women in gorgeous dresses slowly floated into the air from the floating rocks. Some played the zither, some the flute, and some even the pipa. The various sounds blended together like a celestial melody, sometimes melodious and gentle, like a clear mountain spring flowing gently, washing away the dust of the soul.

Bai Cheng was speechless with astonishment. It was the first time he had ever witnessed such a stunning performance. Cultivators' supernatural powers could not only be used for offense but also to create such a magnificent spectacle. However, what caught his attention was that the women's musical instruments seemed to be integrated with their spiritual power. Each time they played music, it was accompanied by their spiritual power and traveled for miles, so that everyone on the street, in every household, could clearly hear the beautiful music.

As Bai Cheng was engrossed in the performance, a figure hurriedly came to the front of the crowd; it was Chen Ping.

"You all hurry up and get ready, go help out in the kitchen right away."

Upon hearing this, Bai Cheng and the others immediately set off. Just then, Chen Ping approached Bai Cheng and said, "Bai Cheng, you don't need to go. The city lord wants to see you."

These words immediately drew everyone's attention, and even the cultivators in the crowd looked at Bai Cheng with surprise.

"The city lord wants to see me? Is it the current city lord or...?"

Upon hearing Bai Cheng say this, Chen Ping immediately interrupted him.

"What are you thinking about? It's the current city lord, of course."

'Hmm? The current city lord? Isn't that Bai Zhentian? Why is he looking for me? Could it be because of Uncle Bai Chuanhai?'

Bai Cheng didn't think much of it, and Chen Ping flew with him on his sword to the backyard.

Along the way, Bai Cheng also saw the layout of the Bai family's backyard. He saw that in front of each villa-like house was a spiritual field, which was filled with countless spiritual herbs and plants. Some of the spiritual fields were even guarded by spiritual beasts.

As Chen Ping flew over these houses with Bai Cheng, he could even clearly smell the aroma emanating from these spiritual herbs. This scene reminded him of the scene in the mysterious cave, but it was still far inferior to what he saw in the cave.

The backyard contained numerous pavilions, artificial hills, and covered walkways, some even built atop fishponds imbued with spiritual energy. The scene was completely different from the front yard, resembling a paradise on earth. He had assumed the front yard's decorations already met his expectations of a cultivation residence, but upon arriving at the backyard, he realized his imagination was far from accurate.

The Bai residence also has a reception hall in the backyard, though it is not as grand as the one in the front yard. Chen Ping brought Bai Cheng here.

However, at the door, Bai Cheng saw two familiar figures: Bai Muwan and one of her bodyguards.

Bai Muwan was overjoyed to see Bai Cheng and immediately gestured for Chen Ping to leave. Chen Ping cupped his hands in greeting and then flew away on his sword.

"Bai Cheng! It really is you!

Bai Cheng smiled knowingly upon hearing this.

"Miss Bai, how have you been?"

Bai Muwan looked Bai Cheng up and down and nodded.

"I didn't expect that in just half a year, you would have already reached the Great Perfection of the Body Refinement Realm. By the way, why didn't you use the jade pendant I gave you when you came to White Maple City? Oh, right, you probably can't use it yet."

Upon hearing this, Bai Cheng gave an awkward smile, and then Bai Muwan began to look Bai Cheng up and down.

"However, you can't go directly to see Father dressed like that. I also heard that you came to the Bai residence to work? Are you short of money or something?"

Upon hearing this, Bai Cheng also told Bai Muwan about his troubles. There was nothing he could do; the speed at which Bai Fengcheng was spending money was far beyond his imagination. He was doing this just in case.

Bai Muwan smiled with relief after hearing what Bai Cheng said.

"Don't worry, you are somewhat related to our Bai family. Father probably called you here to discuss the matter of you joining the Bai family. Anyway, you also have the surname Bai, so you are not considered an outsider in our Bai family."

Upon hearing this, Bai Cheng's expression froze.

"What?! You want me to join the Bai family?!"

“That’s right, this is not a bad thing for you. With the protection of the family, your cultivation can proceed steadily.”