Radiant Blade of the Wilderness

Chapter 31: No Such Person Found

Xiaoqing was dressed in striking red fitted attire tonight, adding a touch of dash to her charm.

She seemed to have recently been disguised as one of the sword-wielding heroines commonly seen in the streets and markets, covertly watching for anyone tailing Ding Songyan.

Hearing his question, she concentrated for a moment.

”Never heard of him.”

So it really is a fake name... Ding Songyan was not surprised in the slightest.

When you’re out swindling people, how could you use your real name?

He pondered briefly.

”In the past few years, or even the past decade or so, have any major figures suddenly vanished?”

”Major figures? Supreme Masters and Sages?” Xiaoqing asked back, then shook her head. ”Quite a few. Some Supreme Masters and Sages, even with life-extending measures, are simply ancient. They prefer to stay within their sect grounds. With no great wars or frequent disasters these days, it’s common for them to go a decade without appearing in the jianghu. Others retired early to the countryside and have rarely shown themselves in the martial world. And some cultivate in secret, with no one knowing they’ve already reached the Heaven-Man Realm or the Spirit Platform Realm.”

”There are people who cultivate in secret, unknown to the world?” Ding Songyan was mildly surprised.

Xiaoqing answered offhandedly, ”Of course. Like certain yao clans who don’t bother stirring up trouble in the human world. What level they’ve cultivated to—how would anyone know...”

As she spoke, she fell silent.

Ding Songyan fell silent too.

He genuinely feared Xiaoqing might fly into a rage out of humiliation and throw him into the river.

From this exchange, he had confirmed that the name ”Yan Changqing” alone, combined with the fact of being imprisoned for many years, would not be enough to uncover the ”distinguished guest’s” true identity anytime soon. Not unless he happened to ask someone who had once known the man.

After some thought, Ding Songyan probed, ”Miss Xiaoqing, did your group come to Dingjiang for a certain object or a certain person at the Zhen estate?”

Eh, I can actually ask about this...

Xiaoqing pressed her lips together and studied Ding Songyan with suspicion. She did not answer.

Not answering was an answer in itself.

Ding Songyan smiled and asked further, ”Something that should have been resolved quickly, yet the Zhen household keeps finding excuses to delay, even though both your group and the True Spirit Sect have been here for quite some time?”

Xiaoqing leaned slightly closer, tilting her head to look into his eyes.

”You heard about it from the Zhen household?

”Is that why they have people following you? Is that why Patriarch Zhen himself came out when you went to the county office?”

She had wanted to ask about this before, but because the environment and timing were not right, she had planned to ask at night.

”No.” Ding Songyan shook his head openly. ”If it were only about that, they could easily have stuffed me in a sack in a spot where the watchtowers can’t see, disguised me as cargo, and sunk me in the river. I merely noticed a few clues.”

I was just verifying my guesses...

Xiaoqing was amused.

”You sound like you’ve stuffed people into sacks and sunk them in rivers before. You seem very familiar with the process.”

”I’m a storyteller. Naturally I have a good imagination. Besides, plenty of tales have similar scenes.” Ding Songyan was someone who had watched true crime documentaries.

Xiaoqing’s eyes flickered.

”The Zhen household is hiding another secret? Or perhaps waiting for yet another party?”

Ding Songyan smiled without saying anything.

It was not that he did not want to answer. He had already forgotten what he was going to say.

Xiaoqing nodded very slightly, and her expression became a little more serious. She did not press further.

She had come to Dingjiang Prefecture for experience and fun. Something this complicated was better left to Second Uncle.

If Second Uncle had questions later, she could ask Ding Songyan then.

Having hinted at everything he could, Ding Songyan continued writing tonight’s installment of The Legend of the White Snake.

Xiaoqing sat on the edge of the bed, watching Ding Songyan’s back with a touch of emotion.

”I thought you were just a talented storyteller who could spin wonderful tales. But today you’ve become somewhat mysterious. No, it started the day before yesterday...”

She fell into deep thought.

Ding Songyan half-turned and steered the conversation back to The Legend of the White Snake.

”Miss Xiaoqing, I don’t plan to let Xu Shilin practice martial arts step by step. That would probably take another ten years before he could rescue Lady Bai. I want to give him a stroke of fortune such as consuming a divine beast or something else. That way, the family can reunite by the time Lady Bai has been imprisoned beneath Leifeng Pagoda for twenty years.

”Are there any particular rules about consuming divine beasts?”

This was purely using Xu Shilin as a pretext to satisfy Ding Songyan’s own curiosity. After flipping through the Secret Classic daily, seeing so many entries about ”consuming it,” how could he not want to ask?

As for why she had to be rescued in twenty years, of course, it was to make up a round number and be symbolically meaningful.

”What are you... getting at?” Xiaoqing pursed her lips unconsciously.

Ding Songyan had plenty of questions ready.

”When consuming a divine beast, do you have to eat the entire thing, or just a portion, or just the essence?”

Something like a Kunpeng was so enormous that it would not fit in a single pot. It could not be eaten in a single meal, and a month probably would not be enough either.

Of course, the Secret Classic contained no entry for Kunpeng. It was merely mentioned in an annotation: ”Xuanming is the Kunpeng. In the sea it is the water god; in the sky it is the wind god. Xuanming is Yuqiang1.”

And Yuqiang, a northern deity, minister to Emperor Zhuanxu: swallows the northern deep, bears the blue sky, carries the five plagues, guards the netherworld and shelters the dead, and serves the Black Emperor.

Xiaoqing was a little amused.

”You couldn’t eat one whole anyway. A portion of the essence is enough. More than that is useless. Some excess can even bring danger—making you suffer a deviation, causing your body to explode, flooding your mind with murderous intent, or letting the creature’s will seize your body. Though eating just slightly more than necessary is fine.”

”What if the portion is too small?” Ding Songyan always liked to analyze things in defined quantities.

Xiaoqing had an expression of ”why do you have so many questions.”

”Depends on how much you’ve eaten. Roughly, it grants you anywhere from around a year to over a decade of Grandmaster-level strength, at the perfected Dharma Realm.

”If during that time, you can use your temporary level to clearly sense the transformed apertures, your body’s condition, the flow of heaven-and-earth qi, and the subtleties of the void, and from those sensations develop a cultivation method and identify the rare materials needed, and then quickly complete your cultivation—then when the time limit arrives, neither your level nor your strength will regress. It all becomes truly yours.

”If not, once the time runs out, your level drops continuously and your strength wanes day by day, until only a trace of the extraordinary remains.”

So the aperture-forging and aperture-refining methods were all created by those who ate first, using their temporary elevated state to observe their bodies and figure things out through experimentation... Ding Songyan now had a basic understanding of the mysteries behind ”consuming.”

Xiaoqing continued on her own, ”As things stand today, consuming a divine beast can at most bring you to the perfected Dharma Realm. To go further still requires your own effort. Without truly understanding the corresponding martial path, without sufficient spiritual and mental development, without deep comprehension and mastery of heaven and earth, stepping into the Heaven-Man Realm is impossible.

”This realm, even before the severing of heaven and earth, was the first great divide between human and divine.

”The Orchid Rankings don’t include Grandmasters. They don’t assign ranks to them. Not because Grandmasters are too few, but because the rankings aren’t worthy.”

”Martial cultivation also involves spiritual and mental development?” Though Ding Songyan had heard the jianghu rumor that the female heretic, Ji Hanyi, of the Sage-Severing Dao had a spiritual weakness preventing her from achieving the Heaven-Man Realm, he had assumed that was mainly a problem with her specific art.

”Of course. Without spiritual mastery and mental harmony, constantly implanting foreign substances and forging alien apertures would only drive you mad or transform you into a savage beast.” Xiaoqing clicked her tongue with a laugh.

Ding Songyan’s investigative nature persisted.

”Then why don’t those who consume divine beasts and become Dharma Realm Grandmasters worry about these issues?”

”When cultivating an art, spirit and body grow at different rates at each sub-level. But when consuming a divine beast, spirit and body transform and strengthen together. So naturally there’s no problem. Though you will still be somewhat influenced by the residual intent of the corresponding creature, and will need to temper your mind eventually,” Xiaoqing explained. ”If you consume too much, like I just said, similar problems can occur.”

Then she remembered they were discussing Xu Shilin’s fortunate encounter and said thoughtfully, ”The Divine Empyrean Sect follows the Thunder God lineage. Consuming a Kui Ox would be appropriate. There shouldn’t be any conflicts in terms of cultivation arts.”

”I understand. Thank you, Miss Xiaoqing.” Having broadened his knowledge considerably, Ding Songyan’s mood improved noticeably.

The corresponding entries from the Secret Classic naturally flashed through his mind:

Thunder God: embraces yin and yang, wields thunder and commands lightning, punishes on heaven’s behalf, destroys dark evil, holds down the three realms.

Kui Ox: shatters dark evil, radiates thunder-light, accompanied by wind and rain, its voice holds down the three realms. Note: gray-bodied, hornless, single-legged, ox-like.

With the ”setting” established, Ding Songyan began envisioning Xu Shilin’s fortunate encounter, then wondered whether to add a romantic subplot. After all, in the television drama, Xu Shilin and Hu Meiniang were a couple—though whether she was a rabbit spirit or a fox spirit, he had forgotten.

Of course, Ding Songyan’s goal was not faithful reproduction. He wanted to add plotlines to slow the storytelling’s pace, buying himself more days of narration to Yan Changqing.

Stalling for time was a strategy too.

”Miss Xiaoqing, what do you think—should Xu Shilin fall in love with a rabbit yao or a fox yao during his fortuitous encounter? His parents were a human-yao romance. He can’t fall behind in his generation,” Ding Songyan asked his ”benefactor.”

Xiaoqing was quiet for a moment. When she spoke, her tone was slightly odd.

”Neither. Try something else.”

So you’ll only identify with a snake-yao? Can’t add another one though. The snake-yao content is already too high. I can’t just pair Xiaoqing the Green Snake with Xu Shilin. That would violate human ethics... er, yao etiquette doesn’t actually forbid it. But it would look like I’m writing about Miss Xiaoqing herself... Ding Songyan thought for a moment.

”How about the Queen of the Kingdom of Women?”

Something that was not a yao but still had a touch of the supernatural.

”A kingdom of women?” Xiaoqing’s tone lightened. ”That works.”

Ding Songyan immediately had Xu Shilin and his fellow disciples stumble into the Kingdom of Women while pursuing a Kui Ox pearl. They soaked in the waters of the Child-Mother River, turning all of them pregnant. They were then forced to seek help from the Queen. Afterward, the Queen took a liking to Xu Shilin and wanted to keep him as her husband. But she was moved by his determination to save his mother, and voluntarily abdicated to follow him through the many trials ahead in pursuit of the Kui Ox pearl.

The reason the preview mentioned ”many trials” rather than ”eighty-one tribulations” was simply that Ding Songyan could not invent that many. He had also deliberately changed ”drinking” the river water to ”soaking” in it, stitching in the Spider Spirit bathing scene from the Silk Cave.

I can stretch this for a few more installments... Pity I’ve forgotten so much of Journey to the West. Otherwise I could narrate ”many trials” for eighty Chapters... Ding Songyan set down his brush and watched Xiaoqing take the pages.

As she read, Xiaoqing looked up and stared at Ding Songyan with puzzlement.

”How do you know the Kingdom of Women conceives through bathing in a yellow pool?”

”I made it up... What’s the yellow pool?” Ding Songyan looked confused and rather sincere.

Xiaoqing said thoughtfully, ”The Secret Classic of Mountains and Seas has an annotation: In the Kingdom of Women there is a yellow pool. When women bathe in it, they emerge with a child. If the child is male, it dies at three years of age1.

”Hm. You truly seem not to know. Inventing something that happens to match reality—perhaps this is simply the will of heaven.”

Hearing Xiaoqing’s answer, Ding Songyan nearly broke into a cold sweat.

Good thing I haven’t reached that section of the Secret Classic yet. Otherwise I truly could not have performed that look of innocent bewilderment just now.

Then again, if I had actually read that passage, I wouldn’t have changed ”drinking” to ”soaking” in the first place. I definitely would have been careful to avoid it.

Many scholars believe that the Kunpeng in Zhuangzi’s writings was inspired by Xuanming. Many characteristics align. I have adopted this interpretation.Cited from the annotations by Guo Pu of the Jin dynasty.