Radiant Blade of the Wilderness

Chapter 119: Composure

The conjecture that had just flashed through his mind left Ding Songyan numb all over.

How is it that the further I push my deductions, the more terrifying they become?

Then another question came to him.

Wait, I transmigrated in mid-June, the height of summer, but the Demon Sovereign comes to Dingjiang Prefecture once every winter. The timing doesn’t match...

If the Demon Sovereign really is waiting for the next transmigrator, why is he so certain it will happen in winter? Did his own transmigration occur in winter? Isn’t that too rigid a way of thinking...

Wait. My remaining memories are that I drifted through the netherworld for a very long time before a ’Scree’ bird’s cry woke me and drew me back to the mortal world...

A dull ache started nagging at Ding Songyan.

Surely I didn’t actually transmigrate in winter, get lost in the netherworld, and only got found over half a year later?

If that’s really what happened, the Demon Sovereign’s certainty would make perfect sense. I just don’t know where that certainty comes from...

And why would I have been lost for so long?

After his thoughts churned for a long while, Ding Songyan still couldn’t arrive at any possible answer. What he had just deduced remained conjecture—nothing that could yet be verified.

Ding Songyan composed himself. Testing these conjectures would have to be done slowly and carefully—he absolutely could not rush.

His current strength was far from sufficient. The slightest misstep could draw the attention of Demon Sovereign Tan Guanchan, or even of Jiang Weichen, who might not yet be dead. That would be serious trouble. After all, Tan Guanchan’s openly demonstrated strength already far exceeded his own.

Of course, if the Demon Sovereign already knew and hadn’t come looking, that would mean he had other plans. In that case, Ding Songyan had no need to panic for now.

As for making contact with Tan Guanchan—setting everything else aside—the mere suspicion that he was Two-Faced was enough to make Ding Songyan unwilling to approach or trust him.

I still need to train hard, build on the Chaos force, and forge my own martial path. Without something uniquely my own, even Demoness Ji—a stronger version of myself in terms of fortuitous encounters—could hold me firmly in her grasp. And Tan Guanchan is currently stronger than her. Judging by the nature of Qiongqi, he is also not suppressed by Chaos...

But I can’t rush. The Chaos technique, being foundational, must be built step by step. The more turbulent the waves, the steadier I must walk. The same goes for swordsmanship, movement techniques, and everything else. I need to discern my own Way through them.

When winter comes, I’ll either stay within the Brightnight Sect and focus on training, or travel to Qisong Prefecture with Senior Sister. I can’t stir up any more trouble in Dingjiang Prefecture, in case Tan Guanchan shows up and notices me...

I said before that I’d climb Heaven’s Gate Lookout Island again in deep winter—I truly don’t dare do that now. I’ll wait until I’ve entered the Heaven-Man Realm. As for Senior Sister, if she hasn’t forgotten, I’ll use the possibility of attracting the Demon Sovereign’s suspicion as an excuse to shelve the plan for now. No, that’s not an excuse—it’s a genuine reason!

As for the secret of his own transmigration, Ding Songyan had no intention of bringing it before the imperial court for now. He only planned to make use of the information He Luo had reported—that Tan Guanchan came to Dingjiang Prefecture every winter—and see whether the court could plant powerful fighters to catch him like a turtle in a jar.

Phew... Ding Songyan retrieved a fire stick, burned the paper covered in the historical timeline and all his deductions to ash, and left not a trace behind.

After settling himself a little, he spread out fresh paper and began to write.

”Miss Xiao Qing,

”On the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, Master Tao held a family banquet for us disciples. After the feast, I looked up at the cold and pure bright moon hanging in the sky and raised my jar of wine to drink with it, asking it to carry my regards to you, Miss Xiao Qing, with the wish that though we are far apart, we might share this same moment.

”The Brightnight Sect has no particularly special customs for Mid-Autumn. We just share mooncakes and drink osmanthus wine. On Double Ninth, though, the custom is to exchange chrysanthemum cakes. They are made from a mix of sugar, meat, and sorghum flour, topped with strips of pork and duck and dotted with pomegranate seeds. They are both savory and sweet, making them quite delicious.

”In the mountains, time passes without notice, and only the cold wind tells you autumn has deepened. I train every day without rest and have begun aperture forging, truly entering the Great Proliferation Realm. I don’t know much about the sect’s affairs in general and haven’t heard any interesting stories, but on my trips into Dingjiang Prefecture, I encountered two things worth sharing.

”Do you remember the path we walked at night—from Chengyu Lane to Fengshui Bridge? You said it was unusually cool, enough to ward off the summer night’s heat, and I agreed. Later, when I was talking with a Jiguren friend, he told me that around that same time, he had opened his yin eye in the dead of night and seen netherworld ghosts gathering strangely near Fengshui Bridge...”

Ding Songyan recounted the key points of the Xie Zi’an incident, the mysterious guest, the Renewal Way’s World Scorcher Envoy, and everything connected without embellishment, describing the situation in plain strokes, nothing added or omitted.

Of course, the parts touching on his own secrets were seamlessly covered over. Who had killed Xie Zi’an and how—he left that out as well. It wasn’t the point and could be glossed over.

”From the looks of it, there were quite a few undercurrents stirring in the shadows during the June incident in the prefecture city, possibly connected to the Demoness Ji’s escape.

”The second matter: when the caretaker of Dangkang Temple lost the ten-thousand-year luan tree flower, Senior Sister Zheng, several jianghu companions, and I tracked it all the way into the deep mountains north of the river, finally killed the Three Fiends of Xiao City, who had already pledged themselves to the Accumulated Evil Way, and recovered the item...

”At the time, the flower also drew the covetous interest of a Heaven-Man Realm wyrm, which chased us the whole way. Fortunately it had kept some distance, and once we escaped the mountain range it retreated on its own, leaving us all unharmed...”

Ding Songyan described the highlights of that evening, not hiding the role his two pebbles had played. He simply left out the part about carrying Senior Sister while sprinting down the mountain path, leaving a body every ten steps.

He then turned back to recount He Luo’s intelligence report and wrote of his own deduction that was built on the web of suspicion Yan Changqing had laid, implying that Demon Sovereign Tan Guanchan’s aim was Heaven’s Gate Lookout Island.

”...The five of us shared a bounty of 18,000 taels of silver, and I also received a Grass-and-Wood Longevity Pill that extends one’s lifespan by twenty years. Xie Fengchao of the Xie family from Flame Capital invited us all to the bathhouse, then to the top floor of Emerald Willow House to drink and listen to music. With Senior Sister Zheng present, we naturally only drank and listened.

”When the drinking reached its peak, Xie Fengchao proposed a night excursion to Heaven’s Gate Lookout Island, which was exactly what I had in mind... There on the island, I opened my yin eyes and found, to my amazement, Nine Feng’s remnant soul. He was still wandering, not fully dissipated, and He nearly drew away my soul energies. Fortunately, Senior Sister Zheng noticed in time and used her Candlelight Sword Intent to give me a moment’s reprieve, allowing me to close my yin eyes in time...

”We also encountered a young female Di in the waters near the island, and on that note our nighttime excursion came to a satisfying end...

”Beyond all this, I made no other discoveries. Miss Xiao Qing, what do you know of Demon Sovereign Tan Guanchan?”

There was actually one more thing Ding Songyan had gained from the encounter: he had ruled out Nine Feng’s lineage as the source of his own soul-hijacking resurrection. The ”Scree” cry he had heard was unlike the ”Lin Lin” rumbling sound akin to rolling wagon wheels that the Nine Feng’s remnant soul produced.

The Secret Classic of Mountains and Seas made no mention of Nine Feng’s call. Ding Songyan had only learned what it sounded like after coming face to face with the remnant soul.

That left only two candidates still under suspicion: the Chi Bird and the Tri-Azure Bird.

”Also, the ’Scree’ sound Xie Zi’an heard in his dream might be a lead. My initial suspicion is that it comes from either the Chi Bird or the Tri-Azure Bird. If you have detailed knowledge of either lineage, could you share what you know?”

With the serious matters covered, Ding Songyan returned to lighter conversation.

”I have moved to Baoping Lane. If you come to Dingjiang Prefecture again, you can find me there. Just look for the Ding family plaque above the door.

”On my way home last night, I saw bright lanterns hanging along the street, crowds of pedestrians, merchants everywhere, and I suddenly recalled that time when, to evade whoever was trailing us, you and I crouched by the roadside and pretended to browse hair ornaments while exchanging information in secret. When it was over, you bought a wooden hairpin and I picked out a silver one. Looking back on it now, I find it quite amusing.

”That reminded me, so I went home with Three Hundred Han Poems, Pillow Wei Lyrics, and others, hoping to find a line both apt and uncommon to reply to your last letter to show I am no shallow scholar. But after all that browsing, I still found that the line I already knew was the most fitting.

”Miss Xiao Qing, so long as we remain bosom friends in our heart of hearts, we’ll still feel like neighbours despite the distance apart1.

”Ding Songyan.”

While the ink dried, Ding Songyan read through the reply carefully. It wasn’t for the wording, but for the emotional tone that came through the letter as a whole.

When he finished, he gave a small nod of quiet satisfaction.

Good. The skill of ’keeping composure in the face of major events’ hasn’t been lost.

After deducing so many unsettling things, sitting down calmly to write Miss Xiao Qing a reply without letting anxiety show was a form of tempering for Ding Songyan’s character.

Ding Songyan sealed the letter, tucked it into the inner pocket of his robe, took up Frostshade, and walked out of the main room.

Zheng Zhuxi was already waiting for him to have lunch. The kitchen had prepared six dishes and a soup.

Once the household servants had withdrawn, Ding Songyan picked up his chopsticks and, weighing his words, said to Zheng Zhuxi, ”Senior Sister, I did find some leads just now and have arrived at a conjecture.”

”What kind of lead?” Zheng Zhuxi perked up.

Ding Songyan didn’t explain the lead itself. He simply said, in a low voice, ”I suspect Demon Sovereign Tan Guanchan is a Two-Faced.”

”He is a Two-Faced?” Zheng Zhuxi blurted out in shock.

She immediately thought of how Tan Guanchan could create Two-Faced, and how he regularly came to Dingjiang Prefecture, which shared a certain special quality with Mount Dique. Suddenly her junior brother’s suspicion didn’t seem unreasonable.

”But when Tan Guanchan first made his name, the Two-Faced were still confined in the settlement at the foot of Mount Dique.” The young woman raised the objection.

Ding Songyan considered this and said, ”He may have seized some opportunity to escape from that place of confinement.”

For example: being buried in the graveyard outside the city, then soul-hijacking a new body and rising from the coffin.

”Mm. That was nearly three hundred years ago, perhaps even longer. It’s difficult to verify.” Zheng Zhuxi frowned slightly.

”All right, let’s focus on eating for now and discuss it again when there are more leads.” Ding Songyan felt it would be a shame to let the food before him go to waste.

His household cook was quite skilled.

Zheng Zhuxi wholeheartedly agreed.

After lunch, both having already changed into their sect’s training attire, they walked to the county office.

They had not yet handed off duties to their fellow disciples when Yi Qincang suddenly appeared looking for them.

”The Martial Prohibition Bureau in Flame Capital has responded to the He Luo matter and the conjecture you reported earlier.” The thick-browed, powerfully built marshal looked around, then handed a document to Zheng Zhuxi.

Zheng Zhuxi received it carefully, spread it open between herself and Ding Songyan, and skipped the introductory sections to read straight to the end.

”Over the past three hundred years, several strange incidents have occurred in Tan Guanchan’s vicinity. If your deductions are correct, Tan Guanchan is likely a Two-Faced.”

The line ”we’ll still feel like neighbours despite the distance apart” is from Wang Bo’s ”Farewell To Vice-Prefect Du Setting Out For His Official Post In Shu.”