Clarifying Past Connections

"Daoist Priest."

Inside the hall, Bai Suzhen and Xu Xian stood a full ten feet apart, like students caught dating too young, and bowed to Ling Qing.

Xiaoqing, however, did not find anything strange about it. After serving him a cup of tea, she asked, "What brings you here, Daoist Priest?"

Looking at Bai Suzhen and Xu Xian, Ling Qing said, "This humble Daoist has come to lay bare the tribulation awaiting you two."

"A tribulation?" Xu Xian was utterly baffled.

Bai Suzhen, meanwhile, felt a hundred flavors mingling in her heart—despondency, fear, hesitation, and... a faint thread of hope.

"Yes. A tribulation—a tribulation aimed at the two of you." Ling Qing nodded.

"What is this about? I'm just an ordinary man. Why would anyone target me?" Xu Xian asked in confusion.

"If you were truly an ordinary man, then why would this humble Daoist have led you onto the path of cultivation?" Ling Qing countered.

"This..." Xu Xian was momentarily speechless. Still, he understood that there must be something extraordinary about him that even he himself did not know.

"Seventeen hundred years ago, you saved a White Snake from the hands of a herb gatherer.

"Now, seventeen hundred years have passed. You have passed through the reincarnation of countless lives to arrive in this age.

"That herb gatherer and the White Snake, however, have cultivated through the passage of years. Each has now attained success and must undergo tribulation to prove their Dao.

"And you—one owes you the grace of enlightenment, while the other owes you the grace of saving her life.

"Before the two can attain the Dao, both must repay this karma." Ling Qing roughly explained the cause and effect to Xu Xian.

Several times, Bai Suzhen had wanted to interrupt, especially when he mentioned the White