Radiant Blade of the Wilderness

Chapter 198: The ”Envoy”

Under Liu Cheng’s startled, suspicious gaze, Accountant Ma gave a detailed account of everything that had happened.

According to him, the people the Sea-Treading Gang targeted with rigged games, usurious loans, threats, and inducements were servants, runners, retainers, clerks, and the like, all with little martial ability. Without their positions in the princely estates, the yamen, the Martial Prohibition Bureau, or the households of leading court officials, they would struggle to retain the public’s respect or earn much silver. To preserve their reputations and livelihoods, they were willing to submit to the gang, passing on information and greasing the wheels when needed.

The Sea-Treading Gang had no ambition to extend its influence over the entire Flame Capital or control court affairs. It was quite content with this arrangement.

A little over five months ago, however, someone had kidnapped Accountant Ma’s child and used the boy to force him into their service.

The boy was his only child, born late in his life. Ma doted on him and could hardly bear the thought of him coming to any harm. He soon gave in and agreed to the kidnapper’s demands.

The kidnapper then returned the boy home, but only after feeding him a strange poison that took effect every seven days. Without the proper pills, he would die in agony. So long as Accountant Ma obeyed, the antidote would be left at his house two hours before the next attack.

After gaining that person’s trust, Accountant Ma had secretly taken his son to several renowned physicians in the capital. None had found any sign of poison. They had merely prescribed gentle tonics to restore the boy’s health.

Ma’s task was to identify martial artists with some strength who were over forty, had left the jianghu at least five years earlier, and had lost their youthful recklessness. Such people held positions as directors and stewards in the princely estates, the yamen, and the Martial Prohibition Bureau. They had some authority and could do considerably more.

”How many have you drawn into this?” Ding Songyan asked, his eyes half closed.

Accountant Ma answered honestly, ”Thirty or so. Three from Prince Kang’s estate. No, four. I can’t remember all the others. I’d have to consult the ledger.”

His thoughts match his words... Ding Songyan nodded slightly.

”What have they done for you?”

”So far, they’ve only been asked to do a few trivial things,” Accountant Ma said, thinking back. ”The only exception was a director from the Martial Prohibition Bureau. When he investigated the gambling house, he deliberately focused his questions on people Elder Qi might have offended. He only glanced through the ledgers and debt notes. But then, the bureau doesn’t usually audit accounts anyway.”

That’s true. The Martial Prohibition Bureau handles jianghu affairs. Most of its cases don’t call for a financial audit. If the Ministry of Justice’s master investigators had come, they would have turned the gambling house’s books inside out by now... Whoever is directing Accountant Ma is methodical. Start with small favors well within these people’s power, get them used to cooperating and obeying, and gather evidence to have a hold over them. When the critical moment comes, they won’t be able to refuse more outrageous demands... Ding Songyan was about to ask another question when Liu Cheng spoke coldly beside him.

”Was Elder Qi killed because he discovered something?”

Qi Lingyi had previously been in charge of the Silver Hook Gambling House. It was one of the gang’s dirtier assignments.

”Young Boss, I have no way of knowing. But around ten days ago, Elder Qi did grow suspicious of some entries in the accounts, and I reported the matter to that person,” Accountant Ma said bitterly.

Ding Songyan still appeared to be resting with his eyes closed.

”Have you met this person?”

”Every time we meet, she covers her face, wears a gauze hat, and disguises herself. All I know is that she’s a woman, and not a young one,” Accountant Ma said, trembling. ”I don’t even know her name. I just call her ’Envoy.’”

Ding Songyan kept his eyes closed.

”Where are the real ledger and the debt notes from those thirty-odd people?”

”The Envoy took the debt notes bearing their handprints. Whenever she wants someone to do something, she gives me that person’s note,” Accountant Ma said frankly. ”The ledger is in my study at home, hidden among the books.”

She’s still using Accountant Ma to give them orders. It seems the Envoy doesn’t yet have them fully under control. She’s afraid that revealing her heretical affiliation would provoke resistance, and some might choose to go down fighting... Ding Songyan asked Liu Cheng to bring over the writing materials in the room.

Liu Cheng saw nothing amiss with the request. He fetched a brush, ink, paper, and inkstone and set them on the tea table.

Only then did Ding Songyan say to Accountant Ma, ”Start with everyone you can remember. Write down their names, where they work, and what they’re responsible for.”

It was a precaution against anything going wrong in the meantime: the ledger being destroyed or Accountant Ma being killed to silence him.

Clutching the brush, Accountant Ma worked up his courage.

”Guard Ding, can you save my child?”

”I’ll do my best.” Ding Songyan made no promise.

He did not want to damage the Brightnight Sect’s reputation for keeping its word.

If he ever needed to break a promise, he would do it under a false identity.

In fact, if it really was an unusual poison, his Presence-Absence Myriad Forms Qi would be ideal for the task. His concern was that the problem might lie elsewhere.

Accountant Ma stared blankly for a moment, seeming to age ten years on the spot.

With a sigh, he lowered his brush and wrote out eighteen or nineteen names.

Ding Songyan opened his eyes. His double pupils glowed like candleflames in their dark depths.

He took the paper and read it. Since Prince Kang’s estate was nearby, Accountant Ma remembered its people fairly well: two stewards overseeing general servants, one kitchen steward, and a guard captain.

Before long, Fan Chunlin arrived with four estate accountants and four formidable guards. A middle-aged man accompanied them, standing at 2.1 meters tall, his features resembling a rooster’s.

The man wore military attire. His name was Wang Yue, and he was one of the estate’s Grandmasters. He cultivated the Accumulating Waters Divine Art and was responsible for drilling the estate’s guards and soldiers.

Guest advisers, honored retainers, and outsiders who had entered the estate’s service did not fall under his command.

By the time Ding Songyan finished summarizing Accountant Ma’s confession, Wang Yue’s expression had changed.

Fan Chunlin stared at Ding Songyan in outright astonishment.

So Brother Ding refused to give an inch before a Grandmaster because he really had sensed something deeply wrong here!

Intelligence, knowledge, courage, confidence... He excels in every way. In another three to five years, he might become a Grandmaster and rank near the top of the Orchid Fresh List!

Wang Yue asked Accountant Ma with a grave expression, ”Where do you live?

”This many accountants coming to the gambling house won’t go unnoticed. The Envoy will hear of it soon. She’ll very likely go to retrieve the ledger and slaughter your entire household.”

Terrified, Accountant Ma hurriedly gave his address and begged Wang Yue to save his elderly wife and young son.

”General Wang, I have some knowledge of medicine. I could examine Accountant Ma’s child,” Ding Songyan volunteered.

Officially, Wang Yue held a general’s title outside the regular hierarchy and commanded the estate’s troops.

Wang Yue nodded slightly. He ordered one of the guards who had accompanied him to report back to the estate at once, then strode out, Ding Songyan close behind.

Liu Cheng saw them to the door and lowered his voice, curious but doubtful.

”Guard Ding, do you really have the gift of spirit channeling?”

Ding Songyan laughed.

”Would a Brightnight Sect disciple make such an idle claim?”

Liu Cheng watched him go, lost in thought for a moment.

Back in the room, he found the estate’s accountants already at work. No longer inclined to interfere, he took a chair.

He glanced at Fan Chunlin nearby, put on his amiable smile, and asked softly, ”Guard Fan, what is Guard Ding’s background?”

”A personal disciple of the Brightnight Sect’s former sect master. Only twenty-two, and already at the perfected Great Proliferation Realm. One of Ning Province’s foremost martial prodigies...” Fan Chunlin sang Ding Songyan’s praises, hoping to discourage the Sea-Treading Gang’s Young Boss from making trouble for Brother Ding later.

Liu Cheng froze. Several breaths passed before he muttered, ”The perfected Great Proliferation Realm...”

You call that the perfected Great Proliferation Realm?

If that’s truly all his cultivation amounts to, then his swordsmanship and martial talent must be the kind seen only once in a century...

......

In the southern part of the city, a house with two successive courtyards stood on Sweetwater Lane.

Wang Yue and Ding Songyan slipped into its study without alerting anyone and found the ledger.

”It’s genuine.” Ding Songyan leafed through the ledger, briefly checking its contents against his memory of Accountant Ma’s handwritten list.

Wang Yue breathed a sigh of relief, took the ledger, and put it away.

He looked out of the study and said quietly, ”Let’s hide and wait for her to come to us.

”If the Envoy dares come to retrieve the evidence and silence the witnesses, I can capture her with the watchtower’s support.”

He was still far from the perfected Dharma Realm, but with Fathomless Depths from the Accumulating Waters Divine Art, he was confident he could last several dozen exchanges even against a first-rank Spirit Resonated Grandmaster. That would give the watchtower time to notice the disturbance and lend support. Afterward, masters from the Chengtian Prefecture and the Martial Prohibition Bureau would arrive as well.

Ding Songyan thought it over and said, ”General Wang, I’d like to examine Accountant Ma’s child discreetly first and identify the poison. If the Envoy is driven to desperation, she might take him down with her.

”When a life is at stake, every moment counts.”

Wang Yue looked at Ding Songyan. After a moment’s silence, he said, ”Go, then. Make sure you aren’t seen.”

He shook his head and added with a quiet sigh, ”You Brightnight Sect people are always like this...”

It can be irritating, but who wouldn’t want a Brightnight Sect disciple at their side?

Ding Songyan immediately used the Waxing Moon Phantom Form movement technique and slipped toward the main house.

He suddenly paused, but his reaction was delight rather than alarm.

Reaching the main house, Ding Songyan looked inside and saw a boy of six or seven practicing calligraphy. He was thin and frail, his face pale, his blood vitality clearly deficient.

Just then, for no apparent reason, the boy began to tremble all over.

Ding Songyan had already activated the Candle-Star Pupils. He saw a black shadow curled into a ball inside the child’s body.

The shadow seemed to be in great pain. It struggled desperately to flee but could not escape the boy’s body.

So an evil entity was sealed inside him. No wonder the physicians found no sign of poisoning. This isn’t poison at all... Are those so-called pills a mixture of something to maintain the seal and blood sustenance? Ding Songyan nodded in dawning understanding.

The discovery strengthened his conviction that the Accumulated Evil Way was involved.

He pressed two fingers together like a sword and pointed at the child from twenty or thirty feet away.

A warm, yellowish candleflame flashed and vanished.

The boy seemed to see a light flare before his eyes. Warmth swiftly filled his body, and wisps of almost invisible black vapor steamed from him.

The black vapor tried to coalesce into a hideous infant with a twisted face, but it could not withstand the Candlelight Sword Intent and Banishing Demons and Warding Off Evil. Within two breaths, it had vanished completely.

Phew... The boy exhaled. Sweat drenched his body, but a little color had returned to his cheeks.

Ding Songyan withdrew and slipped back to the study to tell Wang Yue what had happened. He mentioned only Candlelight Sword Intent, leaving out Banishing Demons and Warding Off Evil.

The two kept watch until the sun sank in the west and the crimson clouds darkened, but the Envoy never came.

”Did the Envoy hear about the audit, realize her plans were ruined, and abandon all her preparations to save herself? Or did she come nearby and somehow detect our ambush?” Wang Yue murmured to himself.

Ding Songyan replied without looking up, ”There’s another possibility. Someone tipped her off.”