Chapter 3 - The Underground tunnel

One day has already passed since the birth of Long Xiang and Bai Lan carefully wrote down the day and time of her daughter's birth on a piece of parchment she found besides the statue of the deity and some burned incense sticks.

Long Xiang has long woken up unlike other babies who need weeks before they could see clearly and make sense of things around them, she was quite an intelligent child, her eyes were bright full of light and intelligence, she never cried or complained, just babbled and smiled at Bai Lan now and then, making her heart soften, she loved her cute and obedient daughter.

Especially her eyes with were huge and round and purple just like her father's, these huge purple eyes with specks of gold in them were just like her man.

Being with her little daughter she felt that she was close to him.

After carefully feeding Long Xiang, Bai Lan searched the room for an escape route however she could not find the lever again which might take them on the first floor, however soon she found a small tunnel like opening behind the statue if the deity.

Actually it was very small barely enough for her to go inside , however she can feel that air was coming from the space hence she thought of exploring the tunnel.

Anyway she was stuck here, although she can still live without food when she was a great sovereign however now when she has fallen down to foundation establishment and also with a kid she needed to find energy for sustenance.

It would be more better if she could find some spiritual herbs to improve vitality and nourishment, her daughter if she would have been born in upper realm she would be shrouded in gifts and blessings however now their condition was so desperate that they can hardly even barely fill their stomachs.

She carefully tore a meter of cloth from the hem of her skirt and tied her daughter around her bosom with the help of the cloth.

After fixing everything she carefully entered the small crevices initially there was not much space and she has to crouch low to move forward however slowly the tunnel became wide enough for her to move freely.

With the help of the lamp she looked around and found that the tunnel was made up of hard rock and some gold minerals were embedded in these rocks.

After moving like this for hours she could finally hear sound of flowing water and dampness increased in the air.

'This area might be near a water source, however the sound of water made it look like a water fall.'

As she started moving forward huge tree stems and veins started appearing all over the wall,'probably the exit might be a hollow tree.' Just as she thought she emerged in a hollowed out tree which was the exit of the tunnel after coming out of the tree she gasped in astonishment.

"Ohhhh, Xiang Xiang look, isn't this a paradise." exclaimed Bai Lan

Long Xiang who was already aware of her surroundings even before her mother could say anything agreed in her heart.

She could see everything, the place was flourishing, a distance from where they stood a small waterfall was flowing with clear fresh water, which was accumulating in a small pond, fresh water lilies were abundant in that pool.

Various spiritual herbs were growing in abundance near the pond, huge acacia and plum blossom trees were growing far and wide as the eyes could see, not to mention that the spiritual energy here was really rich and abundant, more so then the dark misty forest.

Although she was just an in fact, she could still clearly see and feel the spiritual energy of this world, the spiritual energy tickled her as if playing with her seeing the air full of fresh Qi Long Xiang tried to catch it in her hand, to Bai Lu it appeared as if her baby was happy and playing with herself and it amused her to no end.

"Look baby now mother won't have to worry about living in the underground room." spoke Bai Lan.

Long Xiang thought so too, in fact she wanted to hide here for the time being until those ghosts lingering after her and her mother's life are not gone, it was safe here for the time being.

'Once i grow up i can take my mother and even protect her.' though An Xiang with her eyes narrowed.

Looking at the cute little face of her daughter all scrunched up as if displeased with something, Bai Lan found it funny and laughed, "You little child just a day old and already so good at making faces." her laughter rang like clear sound of bells into the valley, beautiful and refreshing.

Long Xiang was dazzled by her mother's laugh and beauty,'Wow her mother is indeed a fairy mother, so beautiful.' she has never seen anybody so beautiful ever not even in her previous life.

'Her father was a rare lucky man,' but thinking of her father who has abandoned both his wife and an unborn child at the mercy of those villains, she felt displeased.

Seeing how happy her mother is, Long Xiang also started laughing in her childish voice, filling Bai Lan's heart with pleasure.

Bai Lan did not explore the entire paradise, she just searched about 100 meters of the area around it, she was not sure if their was any danger here or not although she can use her mental consciousness to explore the area she was afraid of being locked down by some powerful entity hence she didn't explore much.

After bathing in the pond she felt fresh and light after all she had not cleaned her body after giving birth so she was sticky all over and dirty.

After cleaning herself thoroughly she found some fruits, edible berries, peach and plums as well as some edible roots to fill her stomach.

Long Xiang Looked around, she was very sensitive to the smell of medicine and spiritual herb, as far as her eyes could see, their was a faint glow in spiritual herbs around her, they appeared bright and beautiful.

The poisonous ones had a dark aura around them while the higher the spiritual herb the higher they were glowing.

In Fact there was an ordinary looking red spring orchid growing in between two rocks, which at first glance looked quite ordinary but she was sure the spiritual herb was smart enough to mask its own presence.

Soon Bai Lan came back with some bamboo poles she has cut from the forest and started building a hut at below the acacia tree.

She was very deft at it, not to mention she was a trained cultivator, soon a beautiful cozy looked hut was made by her.

Long Xiang looked on in astonishment,'Her mother it looked liked was a resourceful beauty.' she really admired her to heart.

Bai Lan took Long Xiang inside the hut and fed her milk, after making sure that her daughter was fast asleep, she once again went out to explore the wild and to set traps to catch some animals for food.

--

After three years

The people who were sent to ambush Bai Lan has long since gone, for two years they searched the continent far and wide however it looked like Bai Lan disappeared from this world.

However it was a year ago that the team lead by Shen Jiayi found clothing which appeared to belong to Bai Lan and her space ring in a cave of a spiritual beast of rank four, when questioned he said that he had no idea who the women was he like her scent, pursued her and ate her, as per him she was giving a rich spiritual scent and she was also pregnant, he though by eating her he could increase a rank and become a fifth rank spiritual beast a king among his area, but to his dismay her just advanced a small half rank.

The team then killed the spirit beast which was a red forked tail crocodile and reported it to the higher ups.

This news came as a sudden blow in the upper realm, some people were aghast with sorrow while some were rejoicing in the mask of grief.

Heavenly immortal Hall

Holy Priestess Peak

"What did you say? Bai Lan died?" asked a women who was facing out the window watching the beautiful snowy peaks which were almost touching the white fluffy clouds towards the heaven.

"Yes my lady, not only her the child she was carrying is also dead with her." spoke her attendant.

"Really." with that she turned around, she has a beautiful round face, which looked very demure overall she gave the appearance of a beautiful frail flower which should be cherished at the palm of ones hand.

"Yes my lady, just now Young Master Shen Jiayi came for an audience, he is asking for your presence."

'HAHAHAHAHA, so Bai Lan finally you are dead.... Gone forever from brother Long Tian's life, now only i can be with brother Tian, lets see how you come from the underworld to compete with me.' Shen Miao was very pleased and her face broke into a beautiful smile.

"Lei shi, make arrangements this lady will meet Young master Jiayi now."

"Yes Holy Priestess."