Radiant Blade of the Wilderness

Chapter 133: Last Words

Watching Chen Jindong die suddenly by the roadside, Zheng Zhuxi’s expression didn’t change.

To her, this was an outcome she had foreseen. The moment Chen Jindong triggered the Dream Tribulation in front of her junior brother, this had been inevitable.

She was simply working hard to keep the quiet satisfaction in her heart from showing on her face.

She had been managing well enough, until Ding Songyan’s words made her instinctively turn her face away, so He Yuanzhi wouldn’t catch the change in her expression.

Junior Brother, are you actually putting on a performance?

And you’re doing a convincing job of it too!

What do you mean, ”To think that Soul Displaced Sickness could be so terrifying”?

You of all people know exactly how Chen Jindong died!

If I were Chen Jindong, hearing those words would be enough to bring me back from the dead in sheer fury.

Well, he deserved it!

Everyone except Zheng Zhuxi took Ding Songyan’s remark at face value. Divine Physician Zeng gazed at Chen Jindong’s body with a look of considerable regret.

”Y...”

He had intended to call the dead man Young Hero Chen, but recalling the things Chen Jindong had confessed, he felt it wasn’t fitting.

After a brief pause, Divine Physician Zeng decided that since he had already started, he ought to say something.

”What is too rigid breaks easily. If Young Master Chen had not been so impulsive—if he had treated the Soul Displaced Sickness first before attempting to break through—this tragedy need not have happened.”

I finally encountered a patient with Soul Displaced Sickness, and now he is simply gone!

To He Yuanzhi, these words were hard to hear, and anger rose in him involuntarily.

The man is already dead. What good does any of this do?

He couldn’t help but direct his frustration at Marshal Zhong, Zheng Zhuxi, and the others, feeling that if they hadn’t intercepted him with their warnings, his disciple would never have swallowed the Fuyu Mountain Cinnabar Grass on the spot and triggered the Dream Tribulation.

However, He Yuanzhi’s character was strong enough. He managed to reconsider almost immediately and understood this was no one else’s fault.

Even without the marshal and the others’ intervention, even if his disciple had entered seclusion smoothly and cultivated the proper state of mind, the Soul Displaced Sickness would still have been there—leaving him to either lose himself in the Dream Tribulation, die as suddenly as he had now, or have his state of mind shattered, succumb to qi deviation, and become a broken wreck forever after.

”Sigh...” He Yuanzhi let out a long, involuntary sigh.

His disciple’s only real chance had been to heed Zheng Zhuxi and the others from the Brightnight Sect, recognize the dangers of Soul Displaced Sickness, and treat the illness before attempting to break through.

Ding Songyan had been about to add, ”Ah, I was too hasty. If I had first spoken with Senior He Yuanzhi in private, so as not to provoke Young Master Chen, and then found a better excuse to have him accept the examination, things might have turned out completely differently.” But then he remembered that Marshal Zhong was present as well as his senior sister, and he knew perfectly well that the whole reason he had given chase was to make Chen Jindong expose his own crimes. The problem of a lack of foresight didn’t exist.

Senior Sister knowing my true nature is one thing, but outsiders cannot find out... Ding Songyan glanced at Zhong Pinglan and reined in the urge to put on another performance.

Zhong Pinglan was in a difficult position. After Chen Jindong had exposed his own crimes and died on the spot, his duty as marshal called for him to say something upright and just, befitting the law’s authority. But he was also afraid of provoking He Yuanzhi, a second-rank Subtlety Attuned Grandmaster, and putting everyone present at risk.

While these thoughts swirled in his mind, he heard Ding Songyan say to He Yuanzhi, who stood rooted beside Chen Jindong’s body,

”Senior He Yuanzhi, Young Master Chen’s death just now was terribly sudden. He may have things he wishes to leave behind. I was born with yin eyes. I can conduct spirit channeling and commune with the departed. Would you like to hear what he has to say?”

On horseback, Zheng Zhuxi turned her face away again.

She was afraid she might laugh out loud.

Her junior brother clearly wanted to confirm certain details from Chen Jindong’s ghost and then obliterate his soul, leaving him no chance of becoming a vengeful spirit. Yet he framed it as helping Chen Jindong leave behind his final words. The audacity!

He Yuanzhi’s expression changed several times. When he finally spoke, it was clear he was exhausted.

”Very well. Just don’t ask about our Huangliang Sect’s internal affairs.”

Ding Songyan dismounted at once and walked to stand before Chen Jindong’s body. Zheng Zhuxi followed close behind.

When he saw Chen Jindong’s ghost shaking uncontrollably and unable to even raise its head, Ding Songyan shifted the hazy ”seed” to his throat.

If he only opened his yin eyes, only he would be able to hear what the ghost was saying. Zheng Zhuxi and He Yuanzhi would not.

That wasn’t an absolute rule, of course. If a ghost’s obsession was deep and its soul strong, or if they were in a place where yin energy gathered, even ordinary people could faintly make out what a ghost was wailing.

Once his yin eyes were open, Ding Songyan could use the hazy seed’s stimulation to communicate with the ghost directly, essentially strengthening its connection to the living world, so that everyone present could hear what the ghost said.

”Young Master Chen, why were you unwilling to let Divine Physician Zeng examine you?” Ding Songyan asked in a cold, otherworldly voice.

Chen Jindong kept his head bowed and answered in a trembling voice, ”I genuinely had Soul Displaced Sickness!

”The diagnosis itself wouldn’t have been a problem. But during treatment, all the wrongs I had committed would very likely have been exposed!”

A guilty conscience... The same thought surfaced simultaneously in He Yuanzhi, Divine Physician Zeng, and both constables.

Zheng Zhuxi and Marshal Zhong had already arrived at this conclusion after watching Chen Jindong’s reaction earlier.

Ding Songyan kept the smile off his face and continued with the same expression of compassion, ”Was it you who secretly attempted the seizure of the Fuyu Mountain Cinnabar Grass from the Chen merchant convoy? You wanted to stop your other self from entering the Dharma Realm?”

”Yes,” Chen Jindong’s ghost answered quickly, gripped with fear.

”Having Soul Displaced Sickness actually allows you to enter two people’s dreams at once?” Ding Songyan confirmed the details that interested him.

”Yes. Whoever was dominant could make use of the other self,” Chen Jindong’s ghost answered truthfully.

”If you had obtained the Fuyu Mountain Cinnabar Grass, how would you have reclaimed dominance and prevented your other self from breaking through?” Ding Songyan’s face was all sincerity, not curiosity.

Chen Jindong, now his original self, answered, ”I only had four hours each night. I would have had one of my followers hide the Fuyu Mountain Cinnabar Grass and told him that it was never to be handed over unless I came for it myself in the dead of night, not any other time. To that end, I also planned to give him a portion of Yan Peng’s assets so he could go into hiding and hire a third-rank Form Transfigured powerhouse to protect him for a few days.”

Ding Songyan took the opportunity to ask who Chen Jindong’s followers were. Once Marshal Zhong had committed the names to memory, he turned to another question.

”I heard from Escort Leader Yu that the person who secretly seized the Fuyu Mountain Cinnabar Grass was wearing a Meng Po mask. Why did you choose to wear a mask, and why Meng Po?”

Chen Jindong’s ghost shook like a leaf.

”I couldn’t let anyone see my face. If I wore a cloth over my face, my eyes would still show, and there is something unusual about them, making me easily recognizable.

”I chose Meng Po because I wanted to erase the past and be reborn.”

Good... Ding Songyan turned to Zheng Zhuxi, He Yuanzhi, Zhong Pinglan, and the others.

”It seems there is no mysterious organization using the names of the Underworld’s deities as cover identities. Perhaps it exists, but Young Master Chen doesn’t appear to be part of it.”

He was ruling out the possibility that someone powerful was behind Chen Jindong.

Young Hero Ding really thinks things through... One Meng Po mask, and he was making such connections... Zhong Pinglan hadn’t considered that angle at all.

Ding Songyan asked the ghost again, ”When you first began committing wrongs, did you have any contact with people from the Accumulated Evil Way? What about when you splintered off your other self?”

Hearing this, He Yuanzhi felt an unexpected, inexplicable pang.

This young hero of the Brightnight Sect is actually trying to find some explanation for my disciple’s crimes. He’s trying to show that he hadn’t been born wicked or fallen on his own, but had been led astray step by step by the Accumulated Evil Way.

What a decent person!

”No.” Chen Jindong’s ghost answered with blunt finality.

Good. I was worried the Demon Sovereign had come up with something new, something even the Candlelight Star Pupils couldn’t detect... Ding Songyan exhaled quietly with relief.

He moved on to another question.

”How did you deceive the imperial court’s inspector before the new year?”

Chen Jindong’s ghost kept his head bowed, though he answered with a hint of smugness, ”I slipped into his dream the night before, without him noticing, and let him dream that he was judging my character. He concluded there was some minor good in me and no real evil. Then I guided him to bury that dream deep in his sea of consciousness, somewhere he’d never think to look under normal circumstances.

”The next day, when it came time for my inspection, I secretly used Embodying Nightmares to trigger that buried dream and let it play out while he was wide awake. So he ended up living through a very convincing ’daydream,’ fully believing he’d already confirmed my good and evil.”

How audacious... Marshal Zhong and the others really hadn’t imagined Chen Jindong would dare pull off something like that.

One misstep, and he’d have been caught red-handed.

Ding Songyan couldn’t help marveling. After his personality had fractured, Chen Jindong really did seem to fear neither law nor danger. But more than that, he genuinely admired the man’s talent for the Great Dream of Three Thousand Years, whatever his true nature might be. The guy had no shortage of wild, ingenious ideas and somehow, he always found a way to realize them.

He asked a few more questions about the details and received satisfactory answers to all of them.

Then he turned to He Yuanzhi.

”Senior He Yuanzhi, is there anything you’d like to ask?”

He Yuanzhi considered for a moment.

”Ask this wretched disciple if he has any last words.”

”Do you have any last words?” Ding Songyan asked Chen Jindong’s remnant soul, dutifully.

A moment ago he had still been a ghost. Now he was only a remnant soul.

Chen Jindong’s remnant soul jerked his head up.

”I’m dead?

”When did I die? How could I have died?”

He hadn’t registered yet, and he seemed unable to accept it.

”Take a look at yourself,” Ding Songyan said, working to keep the corner of his mouth from rising.

Chen Jindong’s remnant soul lowered his head and examined himself for the first time.

”No, no!” he began to wail.

”No” what? Where was your ”no” when you were harming those innocent people? Zheng Zhuxi lowered her eyes and cursed him silently.

Thinking of the Shao girl who had died carrying a child, of the Lü siblings who had now lost both parents, she wanted nothing more than to drive her sword into Chen Jindong’s body a few more times and illuminate this evil man’s lingering soul with her Candlelight Sword Intent.

After a moment, Chen Jindong’s remnant soul answered Ding Songyan’s question with a face full of loss and despair, ”Last words?

”Heh. My last words are: you old fool, why couldn’t you have died before me!”

Aimed right at the heart... Ding Songyan suppressed the urge to glance over at He Yuanzhi.

He found a few more things to ask about until Chen Jindong’s remnant soul fell apart, crying out in agony as it dissolved.

Only then did Ding Songyan turn to He Yuanzhi, whose face had gone ashen.

”The two displaced souls clashed and destroyed each other.”

He Yuanzhi no longer cared about his wretched disciple’s fate. He let out a slow breath and turned to Zhong Pinglan.

”Marshal Zhong, Chen Jindong was still a direct disciple of our Huangliang Sect. I must take his body back. His belongings you may take and use to compensate those he harmed.”

Seeing He Yuanzhi being so reasonable, Zhong Pinglan exhaled quietly with relief.

”Elder He, you may take the body back to the Huangliang Sect. But this matter must be reported to the court. The Huangliang Sect should prepare to be inspected again.

”I will also request that the prefecture post notices in all counties of Qisong Prefecture, advising people that if they dream the same or similar dreams repeatedly, they must report it to the authorities for investigation.”

He had wanted to do the latter for some time, but the Huangliang Sect was a distinguished and reputable sect. Openly telling the public to be wary of them would be a serious loss of face. Now he finally had a proper reason.

”Understood.” He Yuanzhi looked as though he had aged ten years in an instant.

As He Yuanzhi rode off with Chen Jindong’s body toward the Huangliang Sect’s gate, Zheng Zhuxi and Ding Songyan walked back to their horses. She asked him softly, ”Did you get what you needed?”

With his back to Marshal Zhong, Ding Songyan let his smile show fully.

”Quite a lot, actually.”