If Bai Hao wrote them.... then considering the level of his cultivation base, he had obviously achieved astonishing enlightenment of flame conjuring. In fact, his abilities far surpassed Bai Xiaochun’s.
“Wait a second, that can’t be right. If Bai Hao was really that good, he could just reveal his skills and achieve a monumental rise in the Bai Clan. Why would he allow himself to be treated the way he was?” Bai Xiaochun scratched his head in thought for a bit, but couldn’t come up with any explanations.
He stood up and began to pace back and forth in the room, and after a long moment passed, his eyes suddenly began to shine brightly.
“Whether or not Bai Hao wrote these notes doesn't matter. What’s important is that the complete set of notes contains the formula for fifteen-colored flame. In that case... whoever killed Bai Hao is likely also responsible for erasing the notes, or at least, is connected to the killer!
“Therefore, the killer is likely the one who possesses the complete set of notes....
“If I want to get those notes, I probably don’t have to do anything. The killer or killers will come looking for me to cause trouble. After all, my return has most likely sparked their killing intent. In fact, if I make a stir in the Bai Clan, it will probably make them accelerate their plans....
“In turn, that would give me more clues to follow to get those notes!” Bai Xiaochun’s eyes glittered as he made his decision. Looking down at the remnants of the notes on the floor, he sighed.
“Bai Hao really had things rough. I feel bad for him....” He shook his head. By this point, he was fairly certain that Bai Hao had been the one to write all of the notes.
“However, I still need some confirmation.” Pulling out a jade slip, he sent a message to Li Feng and asked him to secretly start making inquiries about Bai Hao.
Of course, Li Feng didn’t know that Bai Xiaochun was impersonating Bai Hao, and therefore, excitedly set about following orders. As far as he was concerned, this was a good opportunity to show off. Intentionally keeping Zhou Yixing in the dark, he started calling on his own network of friends and informants to try to get information.
A few days later, he told Bai Xiaochun all of the information he had been able to dig up on Bai Hao. When Bai Xiaochun saw it, his eyes flashed with anger.
Based on the information he had gleaned from Bai Hao’s bone slips, as well as Bai Xiaochun’s experiences in the clan already, he now had a good idea of what type of person Bai Hao had been.
His mother had been a servant girl with no position in the clan, whereas his father was the current clan chief. In a particularly violent and humiliating incident in which his mother had no control over her own body, Bai Hao was conceived, and became a bastard son of the Bai Clan.
He had a very low position from the moment he was born. Furthermore, it wasn’t long after he came into the world that his mother was killed. If Bai Hao had possessed sufficient latent talent, things might have turned out differently for him. However, he wasn’t talented when it came to cultivation, and no matter how hard he worked, was never able to excel.
His father’s first wife was none other than Madam Cai, who occupied a very high position in the clan. In fact, she came from the Cai Clan, another of the three great clans that were attached to Giant Ghost City.
There was another factor at play. Madam Cai’s son was Bai Hao’s older brother, Bai Qi. He was insufferably proud, and was famous throughout all of Giant Ghost City. He was already in the great circle of Core Formation, and had attracted the attention of the Bai Clan patriarch, who viewed him as the qilin son of the clan, the type which only came along once every few hundred years. In fact, Bai Qi was to represent the Bai Clan in their attempt to secure the legacy of the hell-emperor.
Family like that made Bai Hao’s life even more bitter than it might have been. His father treated him with cold aloofness that made it seem as if they weren’t related, and apparently didn’t even care whether Bai Hao lived or died.
His father’s first wife hated him, and his older brother was completely condescending, treating Bai Hao as if he were a servant. Eventually, Bai Hao came to be viewed as the lowest of the low within the clan.
Everyone was afraid of getting on Madam Cai and Bai Qi’s bad side, and therefore, not even the servants were willing to have much dealings with Bai Hao. Furthermore, from the time he was in Qi Condensation, his progress had always been indescribably slow.
Thankfully, Bai Hao was the type of person who could deal with all of that. He put on a front of looking weak and cowardly, and always just bowed his head and shivered when people berated him. Eventually, people stopped paying much attention to him. Few people even remembered that he had a hut of his own in the north district.
It had only been recently that he finally broke through into the Foundation Establishment stage. Shortly afterward, he went missing....
By the time Bai Xiaochun finished reading all the information in the jade slip Li Feng had sent to him, his anger was burning hot. He almost couldn’t reconcile the information within the slip with the young man he had seen out in the jungle.
“Who cares if he looked weak and cowardly? If I were in his position, that’s what I would have done to stay alive.... If he had shown any signs of being extraordinary, he would have been a threat, and would definitely have been killed!
“In fact, it was right after he made a cultivation base breakthrough that he died.... And yet, merely having a Foundation Establishment cultivation base doesn't seem like enough to make him a threat to anyone....” Then he looked down at the ground, and suddenly, came to a realization.
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Chapter
586: I Want Him Dead!
“Bai Hao must have accidentally revealed his shocking talents in flame conjuring to someone, and incited jealousy. That's what got him killed!
“I would bet money that the person responsible for his death is that Madam Cai.... However, there’s still something I can’t help but wonder about. Would Bai Hao’s father have treated him that way if he knew about his spectacular talents? After all, any necromancer clan would view a genius like that as a true qilin son!
“Bai Hao.... Did you tell your father about how talented you were? If not, then I guess it's a moot point. However, based on what's left of your notes, it seems you really looked forward to telling your father the truth. In fact, you seemed absolutely set on giving him the formula for fifteen-colored flame....
“If you did tell your father, and then got killed anyway, then this whole thing is a lot more complicated....” Bai Xiaochun wasn’t inclined to contemplate the matter, and yet was unable to do anything except that. As he pondered the situation, a feeling of profound sadness rose up in his heart. He couldn’t help but feel sorry for Bai Hao, who had simply dreamed of being noticed by his own father. Bai Xiaochun sighed.
“Bai Hao, I once promised you that if fate would have it, I would get revenge for you.... Well, at the moment, I really need your flame conjuring techniques, and I’m not the type of person who takes advantage of others. You might have perished already, and left for the underworld, but I still want to take you as my apprentice!
“I’ve never had any apprentices before, so you’ll be my first. I guess it’s just karma. The two of us are separated by life and death, but I'm still going to be your Master!” On the one hand, Bai Xiaochun felt sad about everything that had happened to Bai Hao. On the other hand, he was using Bai Hao’s identity and was trying to track down his research.
“Starting now, you’re my apprentice, and I'm going to find out exactly who it was that killed you!” As Bai Xiaochun contemplated this new state of affairs, his eyes flashed with anger, and his opinion of the Bai Clan fell even further than before.