Radiant Blade of the Wilderness

Chapter 267: The Lí Surname

Ding Songyan put away Frostshade and said to Ge Heng, ”Go ahead and speak.”

Only then did Ge Heng explain in detail, ”A Ghost Yu Way ’clerk’ picked up a piece of information about Jiang Lanting a couple of days ago. Tonight he’ll go to the Sang family theater in Liangyuan Wazi to see the variety play The Legend of Madam White Snake. The ’supervisor’ above him took it seriously and ordered more reports.”

Even though Ding Songyan had hardly left the nearby streets lately, he had heard a bit from wine shop customers about the Sang troupe staging a new play, The Legend of Madam White Snake.

It was one of the Flame Capital’s four great troupes.

Ding Songyan nodded and signaled Ge Heng to continue.

Ge Heng said in a flat tone, ”I found that ’supervisor’ and questioned him for a while. He was tight-lipped and gave away nothing. I didn’t hold back and ended up killing him.

”Young Hero Ding, do you know anyone who can spirit channel? If we can get from the ’supervisor’s’ ghost whether the demand for details on Jiang Lanting’s whereabouts tonight came from the new ’bookkeeper,’ we can preliminarily confirm whether the Ghost Yu Way will use this chance for a second assassination.”

Sure enough, spirit channeling works everywhere. It sets the floor for any torture. Just don’t torment them until the soul is obliterated... Ding Songyan nodded lightly.

”I happen to have yin eyes by birth.”

Ge Heng glanced at him, a flicker of surprise in his eyes, though his expression did not change.

Ding Songyan, who had already attempted venturing out of these streets, was fairly bold. He gave Twelfth Madam a heads up and followed Ge Heng out of the wine shop toward the northeast.

Ge Heng did not accommodate his modest stealth skills and merged with the dimness as before, only showing himself from time to time so he wouldn’t lose him.

After nearly two incense sticks’ time, they reached a street near the Kitchen King Order’s headquarters and went up to the third floor of a roadside building.

As soon as he pushed open the door, Ding Songyan smelled a faint odor of blood.

At a glance he saw large swaths of dark red blood splashed across the floor and walls, all in shadowed places, the smell bound there and leaking out only slightly.

It was a secret art recorded in the Dimmed Heaven and Earth Chapter. It could also keep large amounts of blood in deep shadow, neither seeping down nor flowing out, until it clotted, and only someone who cultivated the Dimmed Heaven and Earth Chapter could use it.

Then Ding Songyan saw the corpse.

Its legs and arms had been severed, the cuts ragged, the nails on all ten fingers and toes torn off. Beside it lay the nose, lips, and other pieces, along with a little human skin that had been ripped off while the person was still alive.

Worse than Master Yan... Ding Songyan thought of an old acquaintance.

Ge Heng explained simply, ”He was tight-lipped.”

He did not find it cruel at all and showed no emotional ripple.

Ding Songyan, on the contrary, felt quite uncomfortable.

He felt that compared with a Ghost Yu Way assassin, he was a rookie in this respect.

Even in the arts of deception he excelled at, he wasn’t as bottomless as a Sage-Severing Way disciple.

After steadying himself, Ding Songyan entered the spirit-channeling state.

He looked at the shadow that had a face twisted in pain and asked coldly, ”Was the decision to investigate Jiang Lanting’s trip to the Sang theater in detail yours, or the ’bookkeeper’s’ demand?”

”The ’bookkeeper’s’ demand,” the ghost answered timidly.

”Did you report the relevant information up?” Ding Songyan pressed.

The ghost dared not refuse to answer.

”I did.”

Hearing this, Ge Heng said calmly, ”Unless the Ghost Yu Way discovers this ’supervisor’ is dead before tonight, the chance they use the Sang theater to assassinate Jiang Lanting is very high.”

Ding Songyan nodded slightly and for the moment did not ask what exactly had been reported, instead saying to the ghost, ”Who is the ’bookkeeper’ you follow?”

”The second owner of Datong Carriage and Horse Shop, Lí Yao,” the ghost answered truthfully.

”Lí?” Ding Songyan frowned slightly.

It was a rare surname.

In his memory, only two kinds of people bore it, both of other races. One was the Gan Kingdom’s royalty house, the Lí of the Giants, one of the ten great surnames under heaven. The other was the Miao people, also one of the Hundred Species, who claimed descent from Emperor Zhuanxu, had two wings on the body, and mostly served the Gan Kingdom.

The Gan royalty’s Lí wouldn’t run a carriage shop in the Flame Capital. I must say I covet their martial arts, Zhulong, the Torch Dragon’s legacy, the Torch Heaven Book. It’s peerless in both saber and sword... So the Miao people? Ding Songyan quickly guessed.

The ghost did not ignore Ding Songyan’s question.

”His father was Miao, his mother was Dingling, so he has both wings and hooves.”

”He can fly and run?” Ding Songyan made no effort to hide his curiosity.

Hybrid advantage?

Perfect for the carriage and horse business!

If worse comes to worst, the second owner can pull a carriage himself...

”Yes. Very few can combine the strengths of both peoples like him,” the ghost said, growing dimmer and thinner.

Ding Songyan thought for a moment and asked on Ge Heng’s behalf, ”Whose legacy does Lí Yao cultivate?”

”He’s from the military’s Yanwei School. He should be cultivating the True Explication of the Art of War and a Dharma Realm Grandmaster. I don’t know the rest,” the ghost said tremblingly.

One of the military’s legacies? Twelfth Madam wanted to see that... Is he the strongest of the Ghost Yu Way’s several ”bookkeepers” in the Flame Capital? Ding Songyan asked the same question.

”I don’t know.” The ghost thinned further.

It only has contact with its own ”bookkeeper”... Ding Songyan naturally recalled the deity Yanwei.

According to the Secret Classic of Mountains and Seas: ”Yanwei, the deity of the Miao Kingdom, has a human head and snake body, as long as a shaft, with a head on each side, wearing purple clothes and a felt crown. When he is fed, he practices the way of hegemony, oversees military affairs, governs shields and spears, and dominates the world.”

This is the learning of kings and hegemons, yet the Miao people are subordinate to the Giants, the Exemplars, and the Zhourao, and only handle some military affairs for the Gan Kingdom... Ding Songyan sighed and asked in detail what information the Ghost Yu Way ”clerks” had gathered about Young Master Jiang.

It included Jiang Lanting going to compete in the ring the day before yesterday and dining with Xie Fengchao and other friends yesterday...

Young Master Brightstream went out every day, no different from before the assassination, as if he had forgotten there would be a second attack.

Fishing, are we? Be careful you don’t hook a Kunpeng... A Ghost Yu Way assassin wouldn’t think of taking you alive... Ding Songyan grumbled inwardly.

Before long, the ghost screamed and dissipated.

”My spirit channeling harms ghosts,” Ding Songyan said, turning to Ge Heng.

Ge Heng replied flatly, ”No need to bury him at Shilin Temple, then.”

He turned to Ding Songyan.

”Young Hero Ding, please don’t move against Lí Yao these next few days. I want to watch him for a while.

”After discovering this ’supervisor’ is dead, the Ghost Yu Way may replace the ’bookkeeper’ so no one can follow the trail back to him. Before that happens, I’d like to track Lí Yao’s movements and find out more about a few of the ’clerks.’”

”All right.” Ding Songyan did not object.

Ge Heng now served him, more or less, and whatever more he learned about the Ghost Yu Way he, too, would know. At a critical moment after the New Year, he might use it to guard against some force hiring the Ghost Yu Way to muddy the waters.

Ding Songyan was about to take out banknotes to pay when Ge Heng said, ”Just pay the remaining five taels. If the Ghost Yu Way really does assassinate Jiang Lanting tonight, then the other fifty.”

An honest man... only too ruthless in his methods, treating others as non-persons, and himself too... Ding Songyan paid the balance, left the room, and left Ge Heng to handle the aftermath.

...

As the evening lamps were first lit, inside Liangyuan Wazi on the north side of the Hengbo River.

In a pure white long robe and a simple head wrap, Jiang Lanting sat at the table nearest the stage, waiting with interest for the show to begin.

With red lips, white teeth, painted-picture brows and eyes, bright lively eyes, and a smile often at the corner of his mouth, and colorful patterns on much of his skin, he drew gaze after gaze, some furtive and evasive, some bold and open.

Young Master Jiang was long used to it and turned his gaze to the wine, fruit plates, snacks, and so on laid out on the table.

He picked up a winter jujube, popped it into his rosy mouth, and took a light bite.

Almost at once, he heard someone nearby gulp.

Sigh... Miss Jiang sighed.

After a moment, a familiar figure entered his eyes, making his gaze freeze slightly.

It was Ding Songyan in a thick-cotton straight robe and a square-fixed headscarf.

”Young Master Jiang, long time no see.” Ding Songyan sat calmly at one side of the table and greeted him with a smile.

Jiang Lanting’s eyes turned, and he said with a soft laugh, ”Right now it’s Miss Jiang.”

”Is it?” Ding Songyan felt no embarrassment.

Jiang Lanting scoffed.

”If you call me Miss Jiang, then I’ll be Young Master Jiang. A few days apart and you’re this distant already?”

”Fine, fine, fine. Fourth Jiang, you seem quite leisurely.” Ding Songyan yielded gracefully.

Jiang Lanting glanced left and right and asked curiously, ”What brings you here?

”Don’t tell me you’re here to see the new play too?”

That coincidence was unlikely.

”I received a tip.” Ding Songyan leaned boldly to Jiang Lanting’s ear, keeping some distance and binding his voice with true qi. ”The Ghost Yu Way will very likely assassinate you tonight.”

Jiang Lanting’s brows and eyes stirred slightly, and he nodded almost imperceptibly.

”Thank you for coming specially to tell me, Brother Ding.”

He touched the sheathed longsword on the table, said no more about the assassination, and introduced tonight’s new play to Ding Songyan with his usual air.

Ding Songyan did not stand on ceremony by digging into the fruit plate and snacks.

”Where’s your seat?” Jiang Lanting remembered to ask.

”I slipped in,” Ding Songyan said frankly.

”Fine. This table was set for three anyway.” Jiang Lanting suddenly lowered his voice and said with a stifled laugh, ”How’s the effect?”

He meant the Tiger-Leopard Dragon-Concealing Pill.

Is Miss Jiang the curious one, or Young Master Jiang? Ding Songyan coughed lightly and said, a little embarrassed, ”Better than I expected.”

”Is that so?” Jiang Lanting’s gaze dropped, glancing at Ding Songyan’s crotch, truly the epitome of a disreputable companion.

Seeing Ding Songyan a bit awkward, he waved a hand and said with a smile, ”Hey, hey, hey, you’re making me sad. Who do you look down on, taking me for a monster?

”Don’t worry. As Miss Jiang, I think you’re not bad, but as Young Master Jiang, I only see you as a brother.

”If I don’t reproduce on my own, the mate I look for must be someone both Young Master Jiang and Miss Jiang like. I won’t look for them separately. Young Master Jiang and Miss Jiang are one, and things only depend on my mood. Er, right now I can only find Li Linquan suitable. Miss Jiang has no objection, and Young Master Jiang finds him pitiable too.”

”By not treating Young Master Jiang and Miss Jiang as opposites but as one whole, and embracing the contradiction that arises from it, the Dharma Realm is within your reach, Fourth Jiang,” Ding Songyan praised sincerely.

Jiang Lanting chuckled and was about to say more when he suddenly heard the gong that opened the play.