Radiant Blade of the Wilderness

Chapter 139: A Sudden Look Back

A cold wind swept through, loosening a little of the snow from the trees and rooftops.

Ding Songyan raised an eyebrow and said to Xie Fengchao with a smile, ”Leaving so soon?”

He had honestly seen this coming. Fifth Young Master Xie was not from Dingjiang Prefecture, after all.

Xie Fengchao stepped into the courtyard through the thick snow and chuckled.

”I’ve stayed in Dingjiang long enough. I only meant to stay a month, yet somehow it stretched to three. No banquet lasts forever; it’s time to go.”

”Where are you off to?” Ding Songyan asked.

Xie Fengchao gave a self-deprecating smile.

”Back to Flame Capital. Your Brightnight Sect has humbled me quite thoroughly and made me aware of my own shortcomings. This time I’m going home to go into seclusion properly, work on my aperture forging and viscera installation. If we meet again someday, I hope it’ll be on the Orchid Fresh List.”

He turned and gestured toward Pan Yunzhou and the others with a grin.

”Since it’s a farewell, let’s all gather one more time to enjoy the snow and the plum blossoms, and part when the mood has run its course!”

”And how could you leave me out?” came a light, pleasant voice from beyond the courtyard gate, warm with laughter.

Everyone looked over to see Zheng Zhuxi standing gracefully on the stone path, dressed in a padded jacket and thick skirt of white with green floral patterns.

She had heard that a whole crowd had come looking for her junior brother and made her way over.

”Then I’d ask Senior Sister to arrange for the dining hall to send some food over,” Ding Songyan said with a smile.

Zheng Zhuxi laughed at her ease.

”It is exactly what I wished for; I wouldn’t have dared ask.”

Shortly past mid-afternoon, with the sunlight already slanting, Ding Songyan and the others stayed outside rather than retreating indoors, seated around the stone table in the courtyard. Before them sat wine bowls, salted crispy peanuts, braised pig’s head, steamed duck tongues, and the like.

Zheng Zhuxi took up the snow-frothed plum blossom wine she had specially procured from the dining hall, poured a bowl for each person, and said with a smile, ”A snowy scene calls for this wine.”

As host of the courtyard, Ding Songyan lifted his bowl, looked around at everyone, and laughed heartily.

”In human life, accomplishment must bring total joy—bring in the wine, the cups must not stop!1”

Junior Brother is splicing lines again—both from the same poem, no less... Zheng Zhuxi found it inexplicably funny, but the mood had instantly turned lively, and everyone raised their bowls and called out with a laugh, ”In human life, accomplishment must bring total joy!”

Glug... Zheng Zhuxi drank from her own bowl of snow-frothed plum blossom wine. It was cool and crisp, full of floral fragrance, with a faint sweetness on the finish and a quiet warmth spreading beneath.

As it was a send-off, everyone found some excuse to toast Fifth Young Master Xie, and Xie Fengchao turned none of them away. When the snow-frothed plum blossom wine was gone, he moved on to the Fengquan Sweet Brew he had brought himself and the Guangning sorghum spirit Xing Chang provided.

Without anyone noticing, the setting sun cast its evening light across the silver-white earth, as though setting a vast fire of gold and crimson.

Xie Fengchao stared blankly at the swaths of snow blanketing the courtyard, then, buoyed by the wine, clenched his jaw and said to Zheng Zhuxi, ”Heroine Zheng, I’d like to spar with you.

”In a fight to the death, retreating when the odds are against you is perfectly reasonable. But if you don’t even dare spar, for fear of losing face, how do you ever improve?”

”That’s right, before you train your body, train your nerves!” Xing Chang slapped his thigh, his navel-eyes blinking open and shut.

Zheng Zhuxi had been waiting for Xie Fengchao to challenge her. She drew her sword with a smile, letting the pool of autumn water gleam in the cold light.

”Please.” She was only mildly tipsy at this point, a faint flush on her cheeks. She had only drunk one cup of the Fengquan Sweet Brew and one of the Guangning sorghum spirit, and the snow-frothed plum blossom wine was closer to rice brew—more a refreshing drink than a proper spirit.

They chose no separate sparring ground but fought right there in Ding Songyan’s courtyard, weaving around the pine tree and elm, circling the stone table and benches, shifting high and low, darting and pivoting. From time to time, a flash of swordlight deflected a caltrop; and at other times, a throwing knife appeared from nowhere and sailed over the wall toward the cliff beyond.

Ding Songyan and the others were entirely unperturbed, eating and drinking while watching the two of them fight back and forth right beside them.

”My peanuts.” Xing Chang snatched away the dish of salted crispy peanuts with remarkable speed, then called out.

An instant later, Xie Fengchao stepped precisely where the dish had been, used the surface to spring upward, and dodged Zheng Zhuxi’s Flying Star Piercing Dawn.

Ding Songyan raised his wine bowl and nimbly deflected a hidden weapon his senior sister had knocked his way.

With the two of them and Pan Yunzhou helping out, the entire spar ended without a drop of wine spilled or a single dish overturned.

A figure flashed, and Zheng Zhuxi was suddenly back at Ding Songyan’s side, sword returning smoothly to its sheath.

She smiled at Xie Fengchao, who stood frozen in the corner of the courtyard.

”Thank you for the match.”

Three months ago she had been fairly confident she could beat Xie Fengchao without his five signature hidden weapons. Now she had forged several more alien apertures, completed the Vermilion Bird viscera installation, and surpassed him in cultivation level, not to mention how rapidly her swordwork had advanced under her junior brother’s relentless pressure.

”I really had no chance,” Xie Fengchao said with a sigh.

He had gone in with a little hope, but the gap between them was even larger than he had imagined.

Of course, in a fight to the death, with his five signature hidden weapons in play, he thought he might still have a 30% chance. But that kind of fight would almost certainly end with one of them dead.

Zheng Zhuxi smiled lightly.

”If not for the confined space preventing you from fully using your movement technique, Fifth Young Master Xie, I might not have won.”

Given Xie Fengchao’s movement technique, with no spatial constraints she would have had to rely on outlasting him or feigning openings to draw him in close. The Waxing Moon Phantom Form was slower, but a sudden burst could still catch him, and once she brought Xie Fengchao within her sword’s reach, she would not give him another chance to pull away.

”Hearing that does make me feel considerably better.” Xie Fengchao smiled and walked back to his seat. ”Heroine Zheng, in this regard you’re far kinder than Ding Songyan.”

That fellow had never learned the meaning of holding his tongue.

Zheng Zhuxi answered earnestly, almost without thinking, ”It’s only because he truly considers you a friend that Junior Brother Ding acts that way. With people he doesn’t respect, he’s perfectly polite.”

”I know.” Xie Fengchao did not sit down again. He picked up the bowl of sorghum spirit in front of him and said with a carefree grin, ”I’ve had my spar and said my farewells. When this bowl is done, the mood has run its course!”

He tilted his head back and drank deeply from the bowl of spirits, letting a little trickle down his chin.

Ding Songyan, Xing Chang, and the others rose together, each draining a bowl.

”Excellent!” Xie Fengchao set down his bowl, turned around, and walked toward the courtyard gate. With his back to everyone, he gave a wave. ”No need to see me off. If you ever come to Flame Capital, look me up. Otherwise, see you on the Orchid Fresh List!”

And just like that, he strode out of the courtyard, heading toward the Brightnight Sect’s mountain gate through a fresh flurry of light snow.

The setting sun had sunk to the foot of the mountain. The sky was dark now, stained only with a faint dying glow.

Just then, Xing Chang strode after him.

”Didn’t I say no need to see me off?” Xie Fengchao’s voice carried back on the wind.

The pair of eyes on Xing Chang’s chest gave Xie Fengchao a puzzled look.

”I’m heading down the mountain too, back to the barracks.”

Xie Fengchao was struck speechless. He muttered a low curse under his breath.

Zheng Zhuxi and the others, who had come to see them off at the gate, were struggling to hold back their laughter.

Without meaning to, Brother Xing always managed to ruin the elegant exit Fifth Young Master Xie had so carefully arranged for himself.

A dozen breaths later, just as the two figures were about to disappear from Ding Songyan’s view, Xie Fengchao had recovered himself and burst into song with great feeling.

”Ten years spent polishing this sword, is there anyone bearing a grievance unresolved1?”

Zheng Zhuxi couldn’t help raising a hand to cover her face, which was already warm with wine.

This Fifth Young Master Xie has picked up Junior Brother’s habit of splicing lines together at random...

Ding Songyan snickered quietly, then called out in a loud clear voice, ”Fifth Xie, don’t you want the hidden weapons you threw all over the place?”

Xie Fengchao stumbled, as though the wine had suddenly gone to his head.

He quickly made his way down the mountain.

Yang Shiduo and Xu Chang’an exchanged a glance, then bade Ding Songyan farewell.

”Stay a few more days,” Ding Songyan said with a smile. ”I can guide your training while you’re here.”

To keep clear of the Demon Sovereign, he had been rushing through his trips to the prefecture city lately, and had chosen Jiangping County for his patrol assistance duties, so he had met with Xu Chang’an and Yang Shiduo no more than three times and given them less than two hours of guidance in total.

”Gladly.” Yang Shiduo made no effort to hide his delight.

Xu Chang’an felt the same. His aperture refinement was progressing quickly and his hand-to-hand combat had improved by leaps and bounds, which made him appreciate more and more just how valuable Second Brother Ding’s arts and offhand guidance truly were.

”Run through the palm techniques and footwork of the Blameless Profound Art for me,” Ding Songyan instructed Xu Chang’an.

”Right now?” Xu Chang’an was startled. They had only just finished drinking.

And it was getting dark!

Ding Songyan said with a smile, ”Work your body a bit, clear your head of the wine.

”An ordinary person couldn’t do this, but you’re a martial artist who has reached the Human Realm.”

Pan Yunzhou watched this and spoke up.

”Junior Brother Ding, may I stay and train alongside them?”

He wanted to see how Junior Brother Ding guided Xu Chang’an and Yang Shiduo.

”Of course.” Ding Songyan returned to the stone table, and Zheng Zhuxi sat down beside him.

In the falling snow, by the light of an oil lamp, the two of them would occasionally offer a word of guidance to Xu Chang’an and Yang Shiduo, correcting their techniques. The more Pan Yunzhou listened from the side, the more he felt he was gaining, and the more he appreciated how far beyond him Junior Sister Zheng and Junior Brother Ding truly were in martial understanding.

Shameless as it was, he began running through the Sun Moon Divine Saber himself and took the initiative to ask Ding Songyan for guidance.

Ding Songyan had already studied the Sun Moon Divine Saber thoroughly and spoke about it with perfect clarity. Every remark either struck Pan Yunzhou with sudden illumination or left him breaking into a cold sweat.

At a particularly satisfying moment in the conversation, Ding Songyan attempted reaching toward the remaining wine on the stone table to pour himself a bowl.

Drink when the mood strikes.

His hand gripped onto air. Zheng Zhuxi had already picked up the jar and poured a bowl for herself and one for him.

Seeing her junior brother glance at his bowl, she said, her cheeks flushed and eyes bright,

”I had my three cups over an hour ago. The wine has worn off—I can have three more.”

Since completing the Vermilion Bird viscera installation, her eyes had taken on a faint double-pupil quality.

”Your last ’cup’ was a full bowl of sorghum spirit?” Ding Songyan raised an eyebrow.

Zheng Zhuxi nodded earnestly, her voice soft.

”Yes, the farewell toast with Fifth Xie.”

Ding Songyan laughed and said nothing more to stop her.

He drank from the bowl his senior sister had poured for him, breathing in the faint citrus scent that drifted from her with the wine, watching Xu Chang’an, Yang Shiduo, and Pan Yunzhou practice and spar with each other, his gaze drifting across the deep snow in the courtyard and the jade-white flakes drifting through the dim air above. He suddenly felt that transmigrating here might not have been so bad after all.

At least half his dreams had come true.

...

A few days passed. The end of the month had arrived.

Xu Chang’an was going to his uncle’s to celebrate the New Year, and Yang Shiduo was staying up to see in the New Year with his master and fellow disciples. Both said their goodbyes and left.

Ding Songyan walked them all the way down to Alpine Lake Town and watched them ride away in the afternoon sun.

Alpine Lake Town was filled with lanterns and decorations. Sugar painting vendors, clay figurine sellers, and firecracker stalls were everywhere. Children in new clothes chased each other through the streets. The lanes were packed shoulder to shoulder, and people would cup their hands in greeting and exchange blessings as they passed.

Ding Songyan took in the lively scene for a while, then turned and headed back toward the mountain gate.

The path was nearly empty now, only the disciples on watch duty still at their posts.

He had barely reached the boundary marker when he spotted Wan Guhong with a pack on his back.

Ding Songyan called out with a smile.

”Senior Brother Wan, heading home already?”

Wan Guhong gave him a sideways look.

”It’s New Year’s Eve. If I don’t leave now I’ll miss the reunion dinner.”

His second senior brother had no patience for small talk. He stepped past Ding Songyan and hurried down the mountain.

Third Senior Sister has gone back to the prefecture city. Eldest Senior Brother and Fourth Senior Sister have each returned home long ago... Master’s husband has arrived, so Master and Senior Sister are probably already down in Alpine Lake Town... Ding Songyan thought as he made his way back to his courtyard, running into quite a few familiar fellow disciples along the way. Some were heading to Alpine Lake Town, others to the county seat or prefecture city. They said their farewells and promised to meet again after the New Year.

As he walked on, Ding Songyan noticed the mountain gate had grown unusually quiet. Even the snow seemed to have been left to its own devices.

The frozen lakeshore, too, was empty of the people who normally strolled or played there.

Ding Songyan stopped in front of his courtyard gate and found himself suddenly reluctant to push it open.

After a moment, just as he was about to go in, something stirred in his heart. He turned around.

Against the white expanse of snow, Zheng Zhuxi came walking toward him. She was dressed in a pale white padded jacket and thick skirt with green accents, with a snow-white fur greatcloak draped over her. Her feet were in white furry cotton boots and her black hair was loosely gathered with a silk kerchief. She moved like a willow swaying in the breeze, her features exquisite, her skin as flawless as jade and ice, like a fairy stepped out of another world.

Her eyes seemed to hold the reflection of starlight. She smiled, clear and warm.

”Junior Brother, my father has arrived. My mother would like you to spend the New Year with us.”

Spliced from Li Bai’s ”Bring in the Wine.”Spliced from Jia Dao’s ”The Swordsman.”