Radiant Blade of the Wilderness

Chapter 277: Name and Reality of Incense Offerings

Bleak wind and cold rain made the whole Flame Capital bitterly cold. The sky darkened early, and there seemed to be a thin mist.

Ding Songyan held the oversized umbrella with its hidden mechanism over Twelfth Madam and himself and walked slowly through several streets around Hidden River Lane.

Far fewer people were on the road, and stalls without rain canopies had been taken down, giving this ever-bustling city a touch of chill and quiet.

Twelfth Madam Luo, cradling the copper hand warmer in both hands, glanced at the shops along the street and said, ”Beyond this range, even if Tan Guanchan cultivates the Celestial Thearch’s arts, there’s no way he could lock onto the Liu residence on Hidden River Lane as the source of the chaos.”

She was judging others by herself.

She and Ding Songyan had walked every street and lane within range and found no household worth suspecting.

Twelfth Madam, do you think your realm is on par with Tan Guanchan’s? Strength is another matter. Tan Guanchan has lived two or three hundred years, not only mastered his own martial arts to perfection but kept innovating. He’s done amazing things with just a Demon Seed... Ding Songyan thought for a moment and said, ”We can’t rule out that Tan Guanchan has already entered the Spirit Platform.”

Twelfth Madam Luo did not refute this, nodded somewhat gravely, and said, ”Logically speaking, given the ideas and methods Tan Guanchan has shown with the Demon Seed, it would be strange if he hadn’t become a Sage.

”But his meddling in the consort selection must be to throw the world into chaos again, accumulating evil so he can reach the Spirit Platform Realm in one stroke.”

”Perhaps something went wrong for him and he’s stuck between the Spirit Platform and the Heaven-Man Realm, never finishing the job,” Ding Songyan said thoughtfully. ”That might be why no one has seen his second face in all these years...”

Twelfth Madam Luo thought for a moment.

”It’s not impossible.”

Her sect’s ancestors had produced more than one Sage, and left many records on the road to the Spirit Platform.

”Then let’s walk a few more streets outward.” Twelfth Madam Luo reached out to feel the cold fine rain the wind blew under the umbrella.

Even if Tan Guanchan has entered the Spirit Platform, Twelfth Madam is confident she could block a few of his moves and hold out until help arrives? And could several of the Flame Capital’s Supreme Masters working together take down a Sage? Ding Songyan inferred the gap between Sage and Heaven-Man from Twelfth Madam’s attitude and choices. This was something the Brightnight Sect had no records on at all, and the jianghu rumors were too exaggerated, so wildly mystical they read more like storybooks.

Phew... Ding Songyan slowly exhaled, calming the sudden surge of fear.

If Tan Guanchan is already a Sage, Twelfth Madam might hold out until rescue arrives, but I, an innocent bystander caught in the crossfire, might not survive. But sooner or later I have to face him. If I’m scared off now despite having Twelfth Madam come along, then even if I accomplish something in the future, I’ll surely be at a disadvantage in a clash of mind and spirit against him...

As his thoughts surfaced and sank, Ding Songyan answered Twelfth Madam in a low, even voice, ”Okay.”

Twelfth Madam Luo glanced at him, nodded with some approval, and said simply, ”This isn’t the time before heaven-earth severance, when every great being had vast powers and could move mountains and level seas, destroy cities and sever rivers, beyond the dreams of mortals.

”Even a Sage storming the Jianwu Emperor’s imperial palace would be taking a big risk, and if more than one Supreme Master presided over the palace, there’s a chance of retaining him. Mm, Sages differ from one another too. Each has his own strengths.”

Ding Songyan pondered her words as he held the oiled-paper umbrella and walked beside Twelfth Madam toward streets farther from Hidden River Lane.

Twelfth Madam Luo looked back at Hidden River Lane and gave a laugh.

”Back then I didn’t know it was your doing. I only figured it out later.”

”I have a dream-entering art and wanted to find out why Hu Chaohui reacted so strangely before...” Ding Songyan described the whole thing in full, including the Celestial Thearch’s gaze and the changes it brought.

In front of Twelfth Madam, none of this was a secret anymore.

Twelfth Madam Luo walked slowly on, listening carefully without interrupting. Only when Ding Songyan finished did she sigh.

”You have a Chaos legacy. Something like this will probably happen again, not frequently, but you can’t be careless.”

Before Ding Songyan could respond, the shopkeeper wore a reminiscing look.

”Four years ago I passed through Ditai. My Way of Name and Reality had come along well by then, so I made a special trip to thank Daoist Mingyu. I saw the statues of the Celestial Thearchs they’ve worshipped for thousands of years.

”The Celestial Thearchs’ ’name’ still lingers, lofty and majestic, and had even drawn a little ’reality’ onto the statues. That ’reality’ was terrifying, but a bit different from what I’d imagined the Celestial Thearchs’ ’reality’ to be.”

”How was it different?” Ding Songyan, walking on Twelfth Madam’s left, pressed.

Twelfth Madam Luo mused for a moment before saying slowly, ”A little, a little lifeless.”

”Lifeless?” Ding Songyan frowned unconsciously.

Twelfth Madam Luo nodded slightly.

”Mm. To be honest, I’m quite surprised you could draw the Celestial Thearch’s gaze.”

Ding Songyan recalled the Celestial Thearch’s gaze again and said as if narrating or talking to himself, ”That gaze was terrifying too, but it had no joy, no anger, no emotion at all, only cold indifference...”

Twelfth Madam Luo was silent, unable to speak. This topic exceeded both their knowledge and what the current Great Wilderness could bear.

Glancing at the puddles flowing into the gullies on both sides and the stone slabs washed clean, Ding Songyan changed the subject.

”Can a statue draw a bit of ’reality’ through ’name’ too?”

”How else do you think incense deities are made?” Twelfth Madam Luo asked back with a smile. ”For a statue to produce a bit of ’reality’ on its own, it might take over a thousand years of continuous heavy incense smoke. Most incense deities today are living beings who cultivated corresponding arts. If one takes the path of ghost-deity, one can also draw on incense, but then one is bound by it.”

Brother Youyang’s possible paths include this one. In our recent letters, he doesn’t seem too keen on incense... Ding Songyan asked thoughtfully, ”Does the Dangkang statue worshipped at Dangkang Temple also have a bit of ’reality’?”

This was an order over a thousand years old, with a great many believers.

”That’s one of the trump cards the Dangkang Temple holds to guard its headquarters. They say it’s close to a Sage but heavily restricted. I haven’t seen it myself, so I can’t describe how,” Twelfth Madam Luo confirmed Ding Songyan’s guess and added, ”It’s not the Dangkang of old, only an incense Dangkang, but it too dies every eight hundred years and is later born again from the mass of incense. How long that interval is, is a secret of Dangkang Temple that outsiders can’t know.”

Ding Songyan and Twelfth Madam discussed such topics and gradually finished the streets farther from Hidden River Lane, still without a trace of any clue.

”I wonder if the Demon Sovereign hides too well or I guessed in the wrong direction,” Ding Songyan said with a wry laugh.

Before Twelfth Madam Luo could say anything, Ding Songyan saw, about 385 meters away, Liu Cheng in mourning clothes coming from the north along the shore of Golden Pool, holding no umbrella, the cold rain drifting around him.

With a bundle on his back, Liu Cheng also noticed Ding Songyan.

His sworn brother of another surname was strolling toward Golden Pool in the sparse winter rain, sharing one umbrella with that Twelfth Madam Luo.

One was in a black combat outfit with Frostshade in hand, the other in a crimson arrow-sleeved cross-collar short jacket and a deep crimson two-panel skirt, wrapped in a thick red cloak with white trim, relaxed and at ease.

Liu Cheng instantly felt awkward, unsure whether to dodge first and pretend they hadn’t met, or to walk over openly and greet them out of courtesy.

Before he could decide, his eyes met Ding Songyan’s.

Having no more room to hesitate, Liu Cheng went over briskly and said with a smile, ”What brings you to Golden Pool, Brother Ding?

”And this must be Shopkeeper Luo? I’ve heard a lot about you.”

Have you heard that Shopkeeper Luo once considered killing you? Ding Songyan grumbled inwardly, exchanged pleasantries, and asked, ”Where have you been, Gang Leader Liu? Why are there no gang members with you?”

”The trail went cold, and the Martial Prohibition Bureau had to close the case for now. They told me to bring home what my godfather left at Shilin Temple,” Liu Cheng explained simply.

He had worried that returning to where his godfather died and sorting through those things might make him unconsciously betray something, so he had not brought gang members and gone alone.

Hu Chaohui’s belongings, sealed up earlier... Shilin Temple... Ding Songyan asked Liu Cheng to open the bundle and examined the items one by one, quietly letting Twelfth Madam beside him glance through them too, as he asked thoughtfully, ”Gang Leader Liu, what excuse did your godfather give for going to Shilin Temple for quiet recuperation?”

”He said that after the earlier attack he kept having nightmares and feared a mental ailment, so he wanted to stay at their temple for a while to regulate body and mind and calm his spirit with Zen,” Liu Cheng said. He had accompanied his godfather on the visit to Shilin Temple back then.

The attack was earlier, but he went to recuperate at Shilin Temple soon after the chaos from the Celestial Thearch’s gaze, and with ”fear of a mental ailment” no less. That would draw suspicion from anyone paying attention, wouldn’t it? Dig a bit further and you’d find Hu Chaohui was in Hidden River Lane that night... Right, by Liu Cheng’s account, Cheng Yuping found the white cat Zhouxue two or three days after Hu Chaohui decided on recuperating at Shilin Temple... Ding Songyan’s eyes flickered, and he said to Liu Cheng with a smile, ”Who was present when that excuse was heard?”

Liu Cheng was startled and, from Brother Ding’s attitude and words, vaguely guessed something. He said gravely,

”Four people were there: my godfather, me, Shilin Temple’s supervising monk Faxin, and the guest-receiving monk Huineng.”

The supervising monk assisted the abbot and handled the monastery’s various worldly affairs.

Guest-receiving monk Huineng... the monk the Martial Prohibition Bureau interrogated? I looked at him with Candle-Star Pupils and the Celestial Heart too and saw nothing unusual... Monk Faxin isn’t among those who were examined. He probably hasn’t been seen since Hu Chaohui’s retreat was decided, and he’s a Dharma Realm Grandmaster of considerable strength, a pillar of the Body-and-Will Heterodox Sect... Ding Songyan nodded lightly and, after asking a few more details, said, ”Thank you for telling me, Gang Leader Liu.”

Seeing that Brother Ding did not explain why he asked and revealed nothing he had learned, Liu Cheng tactfully took his leave and headed back to Hidden River Lane.

The matter involved the Two-Faced, and was not something he as the head of a low-rung gang should meddle in.

Brother Ding’s silence about the details was a form of protection.

Watching Liu Cheng’s back, Twelfth Madam Luo commented in a low voice, ”A clear-headed one.”

The shopkeeper suddenly smiled sweetly and said to Ding Songyan, ”I hear Shilin Temple’s vegetarian meals are good. It’s nearly evening anyway. Let’s go try them.”

Ding Songyan, who knew Twelfth Madam Luo had begun to suspect Shilin Temple and that supervising monk Faxin too, nodded with a smile.

”Okay.”