Radiant Blade of the Wilderness

Chapter 282: A Winter Afternoon

Twelfth Madam, you care about that too? Ding Songyan cleared his throat.

”You mean the opening move?”

”No.” Twelfth Madam Luo shook her head lightly. ”You can play anywhere. Times change, and when reality changes, names change, and when names change, rites change. Why stick to old rules? I meant that style.”

Twelfth Madam is using this chance to teach me about name and reality too... Ding Songyan smiled wryly.

”Many times I’ve faced something stronger while I was weak, and the only way to survive was to fight with everything I had and clutch at every straw. Over time that became my style, and it showed up in how I play Go.”

”It’s actually quite effective,” Twelfth Madam Luo said, her expression easing. ”But the lasting approach is to combine the conventional with the unconventional.”

With that, she gave a slight smile.

”When your soul has healed, I’ll play a few games with you.”

Twelfth Madam really is a master of the zither, Go, calligraphy, and painting... Ding Songyan returned her smile.

”Happy to oblige.”

Twelfth Madam Luo hesitated and said, with some self-mockery,

”My mother’s surname isn’t common. Using it as a fake surname might draw the attention of someone paying attention and raise suspicion.

”I thought you’d mention it.”

Ding Songyan understood her conflicted feelings and said softly with a laugh, ”That’s no big deal.

”What I’m best at is making others carry names they shouldn’t. When I left that letter, I spelled out why the Demon Sovereign had targeted Hu Chaohui and what words let Faxin realize Hu Chaohui might be the one the Demon Sovereign was looking for, precisely to steer the Martial Prohibition Bureau into questioning Hu Chaohui’s ghost again, which would help them find the ’truth.’

”Otherwise, wouldn’t it have been enough to say Faxin served the Accumulated Evil Way and the Demon Sovereign had targeted Hu Chaohui?”

The Bureau might get those details from Faxin’s ghost too, but without knowing about the Celestial Thearch’s gaze, they really could miss key details and overlook the true cause.

Seeing Ding Songyan’s carefree, natural manner, Twelfth Madam Luo suddenly felt that this matter and her own conflict were both smaller and less worth worrying about than she had thought. She smiled again.

”Hurry back and get some rest.”

Ding Songyan hummed, pulled open the back courtyard’s side door, and walked toward the estate’s side courtyard through the cold, damp night wind.

Feeling the chill sink into his bones, he rubbed his temple and casually mulled over the night’s events.

Other than the Demon Sovereign roughly guessing Twelfth Madam’s origins from her counterattack’s martial arts, the others will have more targets worth their suspicion...

Why did he move into Shilin Temple? Does the temple have secrets? Or is something hidden nearby?

Twelfth Madam knows the Flame Capital better than I do, and she had no clue on the way back either...

That area is in the north of the city but not yet where the high officials live. There’s the Yin-Yang Temple nearby, and a bit farther the Phoenix Terrace Study. The first is Daoist, the second a Confucian flagship, so Buddhism, Daoism, and Confucianism are all there...

Dangkang Temple’s headquarters, more for the lower classes, is in the east of the city, and the Kitchen King Order’s headquarters is in the west near Martial Star Ward. Both are quite far...

I hope the Martial Prohibition Bureau and Chengtian Prefecture, the Flame Capital’s two local powers, turn something up. I’m a lone wolf with no backing, and for now can only rely on Master Xiaozhang and his people for information...

Ge Heng was currently only in charge of the Ghost Yu Way matters.

...

The imperial palace, the Southern Study.

The Jianwu Emperor, Hong Jingchu, wore no imperial crown and no hanging beads, only a crimson everyday robe embroidered with Five Fires Returning to the Source. With his hands clasped behind him, he listened to Martial Prohibition Bureau Director Hong Zhengyang recount tonight’s events.

Martial Prohibition Bureau Minister Gao Wutong stood to one side, adding a line now and then.

Hong Jingchu’s deeply carved face showed no obvious change of expression, and his eyes kept their blazing, fire-like sharpness.

He listened carefully, thinking as he paced behind the imperial desk, then reached out and opened the file, his finger slowly brushing over the name ”Chi Yu.”

His gaze unconsciously softened a little.

Could it be her?

I’ve held the consort selection twice for all the world to see. She should understand I’ve given up and won’t pester her. Why doesn’t she show herself?

Has she reached the Heaven-Man Realm and chosen to help in secret?

Hong Jingchu’s gaze naturally moved down and saw the next words.

”Cai Youde... sharing one umbrella, intimate relationship...”

After staring for a moment, Hong Jingchu raised his head and sat down.

Only after Hong Zhengyang had finished and left the Southern Study did he look at Gao Wutong, who had been granted a seat, and ask in a low but gentle voice,

”Minister Gao, do you have any guesses about the true identities of Chi Yu and Cai Youde?”

Gao Wutong, who had sat down after the emperor, bowed.

”Your Majesty, this subject suspects it is Ji Hanyi of the Sage-Severing Way.”

”Hm?” The Jianwu Emperor’s expression shifted slightly. ”Why do you guess that?”

Gao Wutong said unhurriedly, ”Hu Chaohui dreamed of the Celestial Thearch at night, causing the shift in the Flame Capital’s qi and drawing Tan Guanchan’s attention.

”Before that, he had been ambushed by a man wearing a Jade Maiden mask. Hu Chaohui said that man could seize the heaven-and-earth qi for his own use, like the Celestial Thearch descending, and that he used what seemed to be the Returning Abyss Divine Art.

”The two incidents should be connected, and at times Bringing All Things Into Unity resembles the Returning Abyss Divine Art.”

”Ji Hanyi, who ate the Chaos remains?” The Jianwu Emperor roughly understood why Gao Wutong guessed Chi Yu was Ji Hanyi in disguise. ”But wasn’t that a male ’Jade Maiden’?”

Gao Wutong smiled.

”Ji Hanyi has the Sutra of Celestial Heart Wisdom and the Moth God Scripture. She could easily control a man to act on the surface. That ’moth-man’ carries a Celestial Heart imprint and could seize heaven-and-earth qi for his own use. If Ji Hanyi also had a way to lend him a thread of unifying true qi, she could fake the Returning Abyss Divine Art at a crucial moment.

”It’s a difficult method, not something every Supreme Master can do. But what if Ji Hanyi’s ’moth-man’ was himself a Grandmaster of the Returning Abyss Order?”

”The first ’Jade Maiden’ killed the Returning Abyss Order’s Altar-Cleansing Dragon King Huo Mingluo...” Hong Jingchu saw the pieces connect.

Gao Wutong nodded.

”Ji Hanyi’s target was always Hu Chaohui, who had entered Buting Huyu’s cave dwelling. She killed Huo Minglou first to mislead us into thinking the attacker of Hu Chaohui was a Returning Abyss Order Grandmaster, hinting that the one who killed Sun Feiyang and Huo Minglou was the Nine-Evils Demoness, so we would overlook Hu Chaohui himself.

”Her first ambush of Hu Chaohui was probably to confirm certain things. That’s the real reason Hu Chaohui wasn’t killed or captured on the spot, since that would have drawn the attention and investigation of interested parties and ruined her later plans.

”Once she had enough information, she acted on Hu Chaohui again, entering his dream at night to probe. Hu Chaohui did see the male ’Jade Maiden’ in the dream, and that ultimately triggered the Celestial Thearch’s gaze and shifted the Flame Capital’s qi as a whole.

”Roundabout and concealed, a thief crying ’stop thief,’ that is exactly the Sage-Severing Way’s style.”

The Jianwu Emperor nodded lightly, accepting this inference.

It explained every point of doubt.

In that case, Hu Chaohui’s killing at Shilin Temple would surely draw the Sage-Severing Way’s attention, and the Sage-Severing Way had never gotten along with the Accumulated Evil Way.

”It seems Ji Hanyi has reached the Heaven-Man Realm,” Hong Jingchu said with a touch of a sigh.

He had watched the battle between Feng Yining and Ji Hanyi many years ago. Now the ”Nine-Evils Demoness” had entered the Heaven-Man Realm, while the other had left no trace.

Gao Wutong echoed the sigh.

”Classic demoness, insisting on Chi as a fake surname.”

While dealing with the Demon Sovereign, she still took the time to needle her old rival over a detail.

The Jianwu Emperor looked again at the file on the imperial desk, let out a silent breath, and said, ”That Cai Youde must be a Sage-Severing Way disciple under an alias too, and not weak.”

The Sage-Severing Way had many perfected Dharma Realm Grandmasters, so there was no obvious suspect for now.

”Investigate both Tan Guanchan and Ji Hanyi further,” Hong Jingchu gave an oral edict. After some thought, he said to Gao Wutong, ”Minister Gao, is there anything else worth noting at or around Shilin Temple?”

Gao Wutong slowly shook his head.

”Your Majesty, this subject has no guess for now.”

...

Over the next few days, though Ding Songyan was listless and had a throbbing head, he forced himself to act as if nothing was wrong, guarding the corner gate as usual, going to the Cheap Wine Shop for guidance, and continuing in the side courtyard to break down all the martial arts he had mastered and encountered under his established framework, looking for hidden connections and principles.

As his next days off approached, he finally recovered, freed from the state of alternating dullness, dejection, and pain, and again felt the chill of winter and its singular beauty.

Ding Songyan, in a dark lined jacket, sat behind the stone table in the estate’s side courtyard, watching Li Baima practice sword and offering a pointer now and then. With the fragility of someone just recovering from a serious illness, he thought about something.

Logically speaking, Senior Sister’s reply should be arriving these few days. Why hasn’t Fifth Xie come by...

The Flame Capital was fairly close to Changhua, and a letter took only a dozen days round trip. But with Miss Xiao Qing, from sending a letter to receiving a reply took at least two months, so it would be another ten or twenty days before he heard anything.

I wonder which letter Senior Sister received, how she’ll react, and how she’ll reply... Ding Songyan exhaled, reined in his thoughts, and discussed martial arts with Li Baima, who had stopped his sword practice, but mostly answering questions.

The winter afternoon brought little warmth but cast plenty of brightness, driving off the gloomy dampness of the past few days.

As they talked, Ding Songyan suddenly felt something and turned toward the side courtyard’s entrance.

A figure soon appeared there, in a light white short jacket and a plain pleated skirt, carrying a longsword in a gold-and-red scabbard. She was tall, her brows carrying a touch of heroic spirit, and her almond eyes held double pupils that sparkled as if brimming with countless candles.

The girl had tied her raven-black hair with a hemp cord. Her skin was snow-like and milky, so delicate it seemed it could be broken by a puff, her face clean and lovely, beautiful as a brilliant star, too dazzling to look at directly, yet somehow making one’s heart suddenly feel bright.

Senior Sister... Ding Songyan was momentarily stunned.

How did Senior Sister appear in front of me?

Isn’t she in Changhua?

My soul hasn’t healed yet. Am I hallucinating?

I was only waiting for Senior Sister’s reply...

It’s like buying a painting and having the person in it step out...

Li Baima followed his gaze, was captivated by the girl’s beauty too, and nearly suspected he was still dreaming.

Which of the Peerless Beauties of the Jianghu is this one?

Seeing Ding Songyan’s stunned look, the girl found the corners of her mouth curling up unconsciously. With shallow dimples appearing, she asked, ”Don’t you recognize me?”