Chapter Six: The Calamity of Annihilation (Part Two)

Tao Ming couldn’t help but laugh to herself when she saw the white tiger’s actions—this little creature was sulking. She reached out to continue stroking its head. “What’s the name of the clan chief you mentioned?”

The white tiger spoke as it enjoyed her touch, “That would be your grandmother. When she became the clan chief, she took the family name as her title. Now she’s called Qiluo.”

“What are the characters for that name?” Tao Ming was a bit confused.

The white tiger extended a claw and traced out the two characters for “Qiluo” on the tea table. Tao Ming nodded.

“So what was her name before she became clan chief?”

The white tiger looked at Tao Ming as if she were an idiot. “If she wasn’t the clan chief, she’d just be called by her own name, of course.”

“So what was her name before she became clan chief?” Tao Ming recalled her adoptive mother was called Tao Banxia, but couldn’t remember her biological mother’s name.

The white tiger thought for a moment. “I don’t know.”

Tao Ming gave the white tiger’s head a gentle, exasperated tap. “Isn’t that the same as saying nothing? You say she’s my grandmother, but I need to confirm that, don’t I? If you don’t even know her name, how am I supposed to verify it?”

The white tiger opened its mouth but had nothing to say. In its heart, it thought: The clan chief has been in power for more than two thousand years—who would dare call her by her given name?

The white tiger angrily shook off Tao Ming’s hand, eyes wide. “Are you going to listen to the story of the clan’s destruction or not?”

Seeing the white tiger was angry, Tao Ming quickly tried to placate it. “I’m listening, I’m listening.”

The white tiger gathered its thoughts and said, “To be brief, there was never supposed to be a Saintess in the Qiluo clan. Although every family built a sanctuary, they were just for show—no sacred beasts ever appeared. Since the founding of the Weishui kingdom, only the royal family and the Qin and Su families’ sanctuaries have ever had sacred beasts. But a divine beast like me had never appeared before.”

When Tao Ming heard “the Qin and Su families,” her heart skipped a beat. Her daughter’s formal name was Su Ruan, and her nickname, Ruanruan, sounded just like “Ruan.” Back then, she’d argued endlessly with her ex-husband over this name. Tao Ming thought the character “Ruan” was rare and complicated, making it inconvenient for her daughter in the future. But her ex-husband was adamant, and Tao Ming finally gave in.

Though a storm was raging in her heart, Tao Ming kept her face expressionless, afraid the white tiger might notice something. The tiger might be as young as her daughter, but it was clever!

The white tiger went on, “To ensure sacred beasts appeared only in the royal family’s and the Qin and Su sanctuaries, these three families always intermarried and never married outsiders. The last sacred beast to appear was in the Qin family’s sanctuary—a male eagle. The Saint was a great-grandson of the Qin family head. I’m not sure which branch, since it was so long ago.”

“Saint?” Tao Ming asked.

“Yes, where there is a Saintess, there is also a Saint. The sacred beast always matches its master’s gender.” The white tiger blinked.

“The last sacred beast was a male eagle? That sounds impressive,” Tao Ming remarked with curiosity.

“Not as impressive as me,” the white tiger said proudly.

Tao Ming thought for a moment and asked, “So your appearance in the Qiluo clan’s sanctuary this time is the reason for the catastrophe?”

The white tiger sighed. “Yes. The last Saint fell ill with a strange disease, and after marrying the Ninth Princess, died within a few years, leaving only one son. For over a thousand years since, the royal, Qin, and Su families produced countless descendants through intermarriage, but for some reason, the newborns always died young, and no more sacred beasts appeared.”

Tao Ming thought to herself: Isn’t that to be expected? With so much inbreeding, it’s a miracle the children didn’t have more problems!

The white tiger continued, “Every time a sacred beast appears, the royal sanctuary senses it. So when I appeared in the Qiluo sanctuary, the royal family sent people to investigate. There were many women giving birth in the clan at the time, and more than twenty girls were born, so your grandmother assumed the Saintess was among them. She set up a contract array, but none of the girls could bond with me. That’s when she thought of your mother. Actually, in Weishui, everyone calls their mother ‘Niang.’”

Tao Ming’s feelings were mixed. It seemed her own mother wasn’t well regarded in the clan.

“All right, then I’ll call her ‘Niang’ from now on, and my adoptive mother here will stay ‘Mom.’ Whatever the case, my adoptive parents raised me. Maybe I wasn’t pampered, but they never mistreated me. I owe them that much.”

“Then the royal family gave an ultimatum: produce the Saintess within a year, or the entire clan would be exterminated. Using the royal sanctuary’s secret arts, your grandmother learned that your mother had given birth to you, and that you’d given birth to a daughter in turn. That’s why she tried to track your mother down. Eventually, they discovered she’d left Weishui and gone to another world. The royal family tried all sorts of ways, but couldn’t send anyone over—so they sent me.”

“But Ruanruan was born and raised on Earth. I bet Weishui’s gravity, air composition, and everything are different from here. If Ruanruan went there, wouldn’t she be courting death?” Tao Ming was deeply unsettled. Her precious daughter had somehow become a Saintess, and her future looked bleak.

The white tiger was puzzled. “What’s gravity?”

“Didn’t you just say you’d finished third grade?” Tao Ming frowned. There should be science classes in third grade.

“I, I, I…” The white tiger looked guilty and lowered its head. “Your grandmother said, after the contract is formed, both parties’ abilities will be enhanced, so it’ll be fine.”

Tao Ming was noncommittal. “From what you’re saying, they’re still in a feudal society over there, right? And they practice cultivation, so technology probably hasn’t developed much?”

The white tiger nodded. “Weishui values cultivation—it’s a society where everyone strives to ascend to the immortal realm. No one has time to develop science and technology. As for feudalism, it’s not entirely accurate. The foundations of life in the two worlds are so different, the social structures aren’t the same.”

Tao Ming asked, “Do they have toilets? What about lighting? Do they have refrigerators? Surely no TVs, phones, or computers—how do they entertain themselves?”

The white tiger was stumped. “They use fluorite for lighting, chamber pots for toilets, and ice cellars instead of refrigerators. There really aren’t TVs, phones, or computers. As for entertainment, best not to think about it.”

“Then why send Ruanruan back there?”

The white tiger grew agitated at Tao Ming’s reluctance. “If Ruanruan doesn’t return, the entire Qiluo clan will be wiped out!”

Tao Ming blinked. “What’s that got to do with me? From what you just said, my mother wasn’t liked by the clan. If Ruanruan goes back, she’ll be unpopular too, won’t she?”

The white tiger said urgently, “There’s something else important. I was born as the Saintess’s guardian, but if we don’t form a contract within a year, I’ll dissipate. And if the Saintess doesn’t undergo the investiture ceremony in the royal sanctuary within a year, she’ll fall seriously ill—her life could even be in danger.”

Hearing her precious daughter could be at risk, Tao Ming immediately panicked. “But Ruanruan is already three and a half years old!”

She calmed herself, eyeing the white tiger suspiciously. “She’s already three and a half, and you haven’t disappeared. Are you lying to me?”

The white tiger hastily shook its paw. “I’m not lying! Let me explain!”

“Go on, I’m listening.” Since her daughter’s safety was at stake, Tao Ming forced herself to remain calm.

Suddenly, a thought struck her. “Wait, does time flow at the same rate over there as it does here?”

“That’s exactly what I was about to say! There are a lot of differences, but strangely, some things are the same. Let me compare.” The white tiger motioned for Tao Ming to bring the tablet closer, tapped for a while, and said, “Look at this.”

Tao Ming leaned in. The white tiger pointed at the characters on the screen. “This writing is the standard script in Weishui. You call it ‘Small Seal Script.’”

Then it switched to another page. “And these time units—hours, days, months, years—are also similar. But you only have one sun here, with twenty-four hours in a day.”

“Weishui, however, has two suns. The Astronomer Royal uses a special calendar. Every year, on a set day, the timing starts when both suns rise together, and ends when they rise together again—this is one day, divided into thirty ‘hours.’ One sun sets first, after about ten ‘hours,’ then both set, after about twenty. Night lasts another ten ‘hours.’”

Tao Ming’s head spun. That was an awfully long day.

The white tiger went on, “Weishui calls the sun ‘Ri.’ At night, three moons appear in turn. The interval between two occurrences of all three moons in the sky is considered a month, which is divided into upper, middle, and lower ‘thirds,’ each of twenty days—so sixty days to a month. Four seasons make a year, with twelve months in a year.”

“I see. So one day is thirty hours, a month is sixty days, and a year is twelve months. So how long is one of your hours compared to Earth time?” Tao Ming did the math in her head and came up with an answer.

The white tiger thought for a moment. “Roughly two hours, I think. Actually, your ancient hours were about two hours each. I suspect Weishui’s calendar is somehow related to yours!”