Radiant Blade of the Wilderness

Chapter 159: Rankings

Mid-March, in the rear of Kindling Hall.

Ding Songyan lay on a white-draped stretcher bed wearing only a short shirt and shorts.

After briefly informing his master of what had transpired in Yuejiang Prefecture and cautioning the sect to be wary of Ji Hanyi, Ding Songyan had returned to life on the mountain, heading down to Alpine Lake Town every few days with his senior sister to unwind.

Forging 15 to 18 alien apertures each month, he had completed all 94 just recently. Next came the viscera installation.

The Chaos Scripture’s viscera installation was divided into three rounds across six types. The first required installing the ”Limitless” alien viscera, which contained only one alien aperture. The second required installing both the ”Yin” and ”Yang” components that together formed the Taiji or ”Supreme Ultimate” alien viscera, totaling four alien apertures. The third was the ”Way-and-Virtue” alien viscera, comprising three types—”Heaven,” ”Earth,” and ”Human”—with nine alien apertures that all had to be installed at once. Doing otherwise risked an imbalance of qi and deviation into madness.

Because different arts followed vastly different sequences of aperture-forging and viscera-installation within the Great Proliferation Realm, the division into its four sub-stages—early, mid, late, and perfected—was quite inconsistent. ”Perfected” was at least clear: completing all aperture-forging, viscera-installation, and meridian condensation. The others each had their own standards. For the Brightnight Sect, everything before the first viscera installation counted as early-stage; the period spanning the first and second installations was mid-stage; and completing the third installation marked entry into late-stage.

By that measure, Ding Songyan’s personal cultivation progress currently placed him in the early stage of the Great Proliferation Realm. But that was clearly absurd as he had already forged all 94 alien apertures.

Ding Songyan demarcated the first 49 alien apertures as the early stage and the remaining 45 plus the ”Limitless” alien viscera constituting the mid-stage for the Chaos Scripture’s framework. Installing the ”Supreme Ultimate” viscera marked entry into the late stage.

”You truly don’t want the numbing powder?” In the brightly lit room, Hu Chengzong held a slender willow-leaf blade and asked with some concern. ”We can use a smaller dose. When I need you to circulate your true qi, I’ll rouse you.”

Ding Songyan smiled.

”No one walks the jianghu without injury. I’ll consider it as getting used to it early.”

In truth, if he waited another half year, Zheng Zhuxi should have completed the Human Realm section of the Lesser Limitless Art. She could then use her Lesser Limitless True Qi that shared the same origin as his own to help guide his Presence-Absence Myriad Forms Qi along the unique pathway through the alien viscera. But Ding Songyan felt he could not afford to slow his pace. The pressure Demoness Ji exerted was simply too great.

Hu Chengzong couldn’t help shaking his head.

This boy is really cut from the same cloth as the sect master and Zhuxi. Stubborn through and through.

You really can tell who belongs together.

The cultivation-teaching Elder brought the ”Limitless” viscera to Ding Songyan’s side. Crafted from precious materials including the dried bark of a ten-thousand-year luan tree, it resembled a yellow pouch, its mouth unsealed, serving as the aperture.

For Ding Songyan’s viscera installation, the Brightnight Sect had naturally chosen the finest materials. The dried bark of the ten-thousand-year luan tree alone had cost a full 10,000 taels. A similar but lower-quality substitute might have cost only 1,000.

The moment the willow-leaf blade sliced through his flesh, the pain nearly made Ding Songyan curl up and bolt upright. It nearly made him bite through his own tongue.

Fortunately, he had thought to put a folded cloth in his mouth beforehand.

Biting down hard on the cloth, Ding Songyan tracked the movement of Master Granduncle Hu’s blade while feeling as though the pain might purge his soul from his body, as though the top of his skull were about to split open.

His eyes widened, both hands clutching the iron grips on either side so hard that they left a set of deep, vivid fingerprints pressed into the metal.

After using his true qi to protect the heart meridian and other vital points, Ding Songyan opened the Chaos Realm to observe the details of Hu Chengzong’s work and see whether there was anything that could be improved.

The ”Limitless” alien viscera was set in place among the fabricated organs beside the stomach. Flesh and blood were drawn in to connect with it, envelop it, and anchor it, gradually binding this foreign object to Ding Songyan’s body.

Ding Songyan endured the sensation of his body rejecting the ”Limitless” viscera. Only after Master Granduncle Hu completed the installation did he push through the pain and let his Presence-Absence Myriad Forms Qi surge into the ”Limitless” along the qi channels the Chaos force had already flushed open. From there it flowed slowly along the ridges and hollows of the yellow pouch, circling upward, until at last it formed a dark vortex at the unsealed mouth.

Phew... With that done, Ding Songyan finally let out a breath.

He didn’t dare spit out the cloth as the pain of the abdominal closure came rolling in, layer by layer.

Only after the salve had been applied did Hu Chengzong offer his approval.

”Truly extraordinary willpower. You will certainly accomplish great things.”

No need for that. Accomplishing great things is exhausting... Focusing on cultivation and exploring the Spirit Platform, that’s my goal... Ding Songyan’s tense mind relaxed.

Since there was no need to wait for the numbing powder to wear off, he had barely pulled the silk blanket over himself when Hu Chengzong summoned attendants to carry him out.

Zheng Zhuxi, wearing a white short jacket patterned with green flowers and a pale green gauze skirt, had been waiting outside. She hurried over and asked softly, ”How did it go?”

”Like I just fought an intense battle and was stabbed 108 times with a sword.” The physical changes that came with the pain had left Ding Songyan’s spirits surprisingly high.

Seeing that her junior brother could still joke, Zheng Zhuxi set her worries aside. She kept up a flow of casual talk the whole way as she accompanied him back to his courtyard and settled him into bed herself.

She then produced a glass hourglass and set it at the head of the bed to remind her junior brother to circulate his qi at the right times.

The two attendants, seeing that they were not needed for now, withdrew to the outer room without a second thought to await further instructions.

In their eyes, it was perfectly natural for Miss Zheng to look after Young Hero Ding. Not long ago, after Miss Zheng had the White Tiger viscera installed, the sect master happened to be away on urgent matters for a few days, and hadn’t Young Hero Ding and Miss Xue taken turns keeping her company. He even read stories to her.

Since last August, these two had been inseparable every single day. Anyone who claimed there was nothing to it would get nothing but disbelief.

It had left no shortage of those who secretly had a crush on Miss Zheng nursing a sorrowful heartache.

Zheng Zhuxi pulled up a chair and sat at the bedside, then produced two thick volumes from her robes.

She smiled at Ding Songyan.

”One is the History of Wei. The other is this year’s freshly published Orchid Rankings. I only picked up the Dingjiang Prefecture volume. Which would you like to hear first?”

At the start of March, after Zheng Zhuxi had the White Tiger viscera installed, Ding Songyan’s bedside readings for her had shifted to an adaptation of Flowers in the Mirror. He wove in the traits of the Two-Faced, the Exemplars, and other peoples of the Hundred Species, discarded the original’s second half, and told it purely as a travel narrative.

Through Tang Jiu’s travels in the country of the Exemplars and others, Ding Songyan had also subtly worked in the principles of ”too much is as bad as too little” and ”hold steadfastly to the middle way,” for fear that his senior sister’s extreme unyielding nature might one day break her.

”First I want to hear what rank Senior Sister has just been assigned.” Compared to the unbearable pain during the viscera installation, Ding Songyan was already able to speak with a smile.

Zheng Zhuxi’s eyes shifted, and she gave him a sideways look, sighing.

”Fourth-rank Mortal Surpassed.”

Goodness, at this time last year she had only been hoping for one rank a year.

”That’s low,” Ding Songyan said objectively.

With the White Tiger viscera installed and her sword qi growing sharper by the day, his senior sister’s rapidly advancing swordsmanship was already enough to match a third-rank Form Transfigured practitioner blow for blow.

I know it’s low. And who exactly drove me to work this hard? Zheng Zhuxi shot him a glare, then suddenly burst out laughing, her dimples appearing.

”Senior Brother Pan was ranked third-rank Form Transfigured, though.”

”Poor Senior Brother Pan,” Ding Songyan remarked in a tone of complete detachment.

Fourth-rank Mortal Surpassed would have suited Senior Brother Pan more accurately. But then, who told him to have actual battle achievements?

Zheng Zhuxi, both amused and exasperated, took up the cause on Senior Brother Pan’s behalf.

”You really do put on quite the innocent act.”

Even when scolding someone, her voice was clear and gentle, entirely without harsh words.

Ding Songyan laughed and changed the subject.

”Sometimes I feel the ranking system isn’t granular enough. From my own experience, third-rank Form Transfigured alone could be split into at least three tiers: those who climbed there through seniority and cultivation level, those who are genuinely skilled in combat, and those prodigies who make the Orchid Fresh List. The gaps between them may be larger than the gap between third and fourth rank.”

”Even setting aside those who became Grandmasters before thirty, there are worlds of difference between the prodigies on the Orchid Fresh List,” Zheng Zhuxi corrected her junior brother.

With a major realm ahead, the gulf between third-rank Form Transfigured and second-rank Subtlety Attuned was immeasurable, which meant third-rank Form Transfigured was packed with warriors whose actual strength varied enormously.

”By this time next year, Senior Sister, you should be on the Orchid Fresh List,” Ding Songyan said with a smile.

Zheng Zhuxi said in a teasing tone, ”That depends on whether you slay any unorthodox prodigies.”

”What rank was I assigned?” Ding Songyan asked out of curiosity.

”According to a letter from my father, you weren’t going to be ranked at all. But during the New Year period you killed Jiang Cheng, and the report to the imperial court listed him as wounded and fled, and that happened to reach them before the Orchid Rankings went to print. Since Jiang Cheng was a Grandmaster, they ranked you fifth-rank Profound Discerned.” Zheng Zhuxi chuckled. ”Once more of your fellow disciples hear about this, you can be sure some of them will start imitating you like Senior Brother Pan and Senior Brother Zhang—staring at ants, staring at the lake, staring at the sky, staring at the mountain forests.”

”Senior Brother Pan got results from it, didn’t he? Shot straight up to third-rank Form Transfigured...” Ding Songyan trailed off, unable to suppress his laughter.

”That’s exactly what’ll make everyone believe it even more.” Zheng Zhuxi wrinkled her nose. ”When outside visitors come to the mountain, won’t they start thinking something is off about our sect?”

After some laughter, the girl mentioned other familiar names.

Senior Brother Wan had been ranked third-rank Form Transfigured. Xing Chang, Xie Fengchao, and Senior Sister Xue had all been ranked fourth-rank Mortal Surpassed. Yang Shiduo had yet to make a name for himself, receiving only sixth-rank Anomaly Manifested, and Xu Chang’an had not been listed at all.

Listening to the girl’s clear and melodious voice and breathing in her familiar scent, Ding Songyan thought that the occasional stint in a sickbed was not so bad after all.

In the blink of an eye, March was drawing to a close.

Zheng Zhuxi walked into the bedroom carrying a volume of myths and strange tales, only to find Ding Songyan already up and seated at the desk by the window, writing something.

”Writing a letter?” the girl glanced over and asked.

Ding Songyan made a sound of acknowledgment and thought for a moment.

”Writing to Miss Su Qingli of the Celestial Maiden School, to ask about the Imperial Daughter Sect and the Mystical Pass True-Nature Preservation Art. The Su family’s lineage stretches back a long way without interruption, so they may know some things kept from wider knowledge.

”Lying in bed these past days, I’ve noticed something that doesn’t quite fit. When Jingwei founded the Imperial Daughter Sect, the divine spirits and strange beasts of the netherworld were certainly still alive, and the cycle of reincarnation was still in motion. Why, then, would She forbid disciples who practiced the Mystical Pass True-Nature Preservation Art from entering reincarnation? Even without cultivating this art, one can still reincarnate. At most you just can’t recover memories of past lives.

”Is there some hidden problem with the Mystical Pass True-Nature Preservation Art itself, or is there a secret about what reincarnation was like in those times?

”Even though neither of us will be cultivating the latter half, knowing more about it never hurts.”

Zheng Zhuxi paused, pressed her lips together.

”I see...”

Her gaze swept across the desk and caught on a small bundle of bright yellow winter jasmine, already dried out from last month.

”What’s this?” Zheng Zhuxi asked hesitantly.

Ding Songyan smiled openly.

”You can’t ask favors without courtesy. ’The south has nothing to offer; aside from a brief gift of spring’s sprig.’”

Zheng Zhuxi looked at her junior brother for a moment, then broke into a smile.

”Why not add something else? Miss Su is quite young, so she might prefer food or something amusing.”

”We can think about that another time. This letter is fine as is.” Ding Songyan set down his brush and waited for the ink to dry, then turned to Zheng Zhuxi with a smile. ”Winter is over, and the viscera installation is done. We can head to the prefectural city to find Second Brother Xing and see if we can get our hands on the Accumulating Waters Scripture.”