Radiant Blade of the Wilderness

Chapter 102: Master Yan’s Well-Earned Reputation

Tan Guanchan can give people an Immortal Seed—no, a Demon Seed—and transform them into Two-Faced? Ding Songyan was struck with a chill.

And what’s more, the Two-Faced created this way—though still selfish and self-serving—would obey the commands of the Demon Seed’s master, willing to sacrifice their own lives for him...

Having no time to dwell on it, Ding Songyan asked in confirmation, "This so-called ’Holy Sovereign’ is Demon Sovereign Tan Guanchan?"

"Do not speak the Holy Sovereign’s name aloud!" He Luo’s soul, which had been hunching with its head bowed and trembling, suddenly straightened and reprimanded Ding Songyan in a sharp voice.

But an instant later, he was trembling again, hunching over and bowing his head.

The Demon Seed’s hold is remarkably strong. He Luo has already become a ghost, yet he dares to defy a "Celestial Thearch" on Tan Guanchan’s behalf... As Ding Songyan confirmed that the "Holy Sovereign" and the "Demon Sovereign" were one and the same, he inwardly shook his head with a mix of amusement and wariness, and his thoughts naturally branched outward.

I wonder which is stronger at influencing others—Tan Guanchan’s Demon Seed or the Sage-Severing Way’s Celestial Heart imprint...

The Celestial Heart imprint doesn’t change a target’s perceptions or thoughts, but the Demon Seed awakens the hidden evil in He Luo, making him an entirely different person. In terms of "brainwashing," the Celestial Heart imprint is weaker. However, the Celestial Heart imprint can control a target’s behavior and keep events under one’s own control, whereas the Demon Seed can only ensure obedience and loyalty, directing the seed-slave through commands with no control over how it’s carried out. In that regard, the Demon Seed is weaker than the Celestial Heart imprint.

The Accumulated Evil Way, which preaches the destruction of faith and loyalty above all else, has produced a Demon Seed that makes people absolutely loyal. How ironic...

At that moment, countless important questions flashed through the minds of Zheng Zhuxi, Xie Fengchao, Xing Chang, Caretaker Zhu, and the rest. But since none of them could carry out spirit channeling, they could only suppress the urge to speak.

Unlike Xing Chang and the others, who were trying to prompt Ding Songyan on what to ask, Zheng Zhuxi had full confidence in her junior brother’s quick thinking. He would certainly ask the most crucial questions—the ones she and the others were most likely to overlook.

Sure enough, she heard him set aside further questions about the Demon Sovereign and instead address He Luo’s soul in a chilling voice.

"If someone spends too long in the company of a person carrying a Demon Seed like yours, will they also grow a second face on the back of their head?"

Upon hearing that question, Xie Fengchao and Xing Chang both felt a start and instinctively moved away from Caretaker Zhu, Steward Hu, and the other Dangkang Temple members.

"Immortal Seed," He Luo’s soul corrected the term before answering. "Unless I activate the Immortal Seed’s power, those around me won’t find their true selves. And the Immortal Seed only allows me to assist two people."

So this is somewhat different from natural-born Two-Faced... Ding Songyan fired off two questions in one breath, "Have you helped anyone find their true self? And can the people you’ve helped—those who’ve grown a second face—also cause the people they regularly interact with to find their true selves?"

"I haven’t helped anyone." He Luo’s soul shook its head. "People without an Immortal Seed cannot help others find their true selves."

Good, that’s a relief. Otherwise it would be terrifying. Tan Guanchan would only need to stroll into a city and casually plant Demon Seeds in a few suitable people, and within a few months he’d have a whole city of Two-Faced. That would be worse than a plague... You can’t exactly check the back of everyone’s head every single day. Ding Songyan quietly let out a breath.

Xie Fengchao and the others felt the same way. The Immortal Seed, the Holy Sovereign, finding one’s true self, the second face, the Two-Faced infecting those who spent too much time with them—the words and facts together gave all of them a creeping chill.

Ding Songyan felt the Demon Seed was more important than anything else right now and pressed further.

"How did the Holy Sovereign plant the Immortal Seed in you?"

He had obligingly adopted the term, not because he accepted He Luo’s "protest," but because he felt there was no point wasting time correcting titles when there were far too many things worth asking about.

Adaptation was imperative in urgent situations; what’s more a trivial matter of naming!

He Luo’s soul, suffused with a dim green glow, showed fervent emotion again.

"I don’t know either. But the more time I spent near him, the more I felt joy grow in my heart. Little by little I found my true self, and then he told me he had already granted me the Immortal Seed."

There’s no guarding against that... Ding Songyan glanced sideways at his senior sister, and found Zheng Zhuxi looking at him at the same moment.

Someone with Candlelight Sword Intent or a "Candle Heart" might be able to detect the signs early and resist, even dispel, the Demon Seed. For other martial practitioners, it was hard to say.

The Brightnight Sect’s techniques really do counter the Demon Sovereign quite well. Is that why Tan Guanchan put such great effort into the siege of the Brightnight Sect? Ding Songyan thought briefly, then asked, "When and where did you meet the Holy Sovereign and receive the Immortal Seed?"

By now, Ding Songyan had noticed that He Luo, perhaps due to the Demon Seed, was dissipating under Banishing Demons and Warding Off Evil more slowly than Xie Zi’an had. Both had been ranked fourth-rank Mortal Surpassed.

"A December three years ago, a few days before the New Year. Right here in the prefecture city." He Luo did not hide it.

Three years ago... Ding Songyan looked to Zheng Zhuxi again.

Zheng Zhuxi shook her head as she tried to recall, indicating she couldn’t remember anything significant from three years ago.

Three years ago, she hadn’t yet started her patrolling support duties.

"What business did the Holy Sovereign have in the prefecture city?" Ding Songyan had no choice but to press He Luo.

He Luo indicated that he didn’t know either.

"When was the last time you saw the Holy Sovereign?" Ding Songyan changed his question.

"Early in October last year. Over these past three years, the Holy Sovereign has come to the prefecture city once every winter." He Luo’s spirit wore an expression of undisguised fervor.

Last October... According to the yamen records, the "Ding household" had arrived in Dingjiang Prefecture city at the start of November last year. The timing is awfully close... Ding Songyan briefly fell into thought, finding it quite a coincidence.

His thoughts branched out quickly.

What could Tan Guanchan’s business be, coming to Dingjiang Prefecture city every winter for three years running? Surely he doesn’t just enjoy it here and comes for a vacation every year?

Right, it may not be limited to these three years. In the years before, He Luo may simply not have encountered him...

For Yan Changqing in the Zhen household dungeon? No, that doesn’t work—if so, the Accumulated Evil Way would have no need to investigate what the Sage-Severing Way was doing in Dingjiang Prefecture...

Ding Songyan had a vague sense that something in the prefecture city was drawing Tan Guanchan, something that couldn’t simply be removed, thereby forcing the Demon Sovereign to return year after year.

Glancing at He Luo’s soul, Ding Songyan suddenly had a strange, seemingly absurd but oddly plausible thought.

I was able to discover the Demon Sovereign’s movements because I came to Dangkang Temple to fulfil a vow, and was selected by the deeply blessed Caretaker Zhu. And the reason I needed to fulfil a vow here was that Yan Changqing had directed me to come offer incense and I had made a prayer for protection while I was at it... Yan Changqing must have been laying false trails at the time, but that doesn’t mean there wasn’t something real buried inside those trails...

Wait, Master Yan is extraordinarily skilled in the arts of numerology!

Did he divine that Dangkang Temple had some connection to the Demon Sovereign, and that’s why he had me come offer incense here?

If Zhen Qianfan and the behind-the-scenes Ji Hanyi followed that thread and discovered He Luo’s involvement and Tan Guanchan’s movements, the waters would truly be muddied. And for Master Yan, muddied waters are where you fish. It would make people overlook the fact that what he really wanted was for me to perform a "surgery" on him.

Demoness Ji is no simple character either. She deliberately used me to report the Kunlun matter to the authorities, which set a Sage and Supreme Master en route to Dingjiang Prefecture city. That prevented Master Yan from waiting for events to develop and for the false trail to become "real," forcing him to go all in and take the risk.

With that suspicion in mind, Ding Songyan’s thoughts connected to even more.

Having me take a stroll through the mass graves, was that divining that I could practice spirit channeling and might use it to uncover the true identity of whoever was pulling the strings? And what about having me discreetly observe Heavengaze Gate Island three times? Did Master Yan hide meaning in that part of the false trail as well?

Wait, Heavengaze Gate Island... Tan Guanchan has been coming to Dingjiang Prefecture city every year for the past few years. Could it be because of Heavengaze Gate Island?

Was Master Yan’s false trail pointing at him all along?

Now that is what it means to be skilled in numerology, to foresee future events! Master Yan’s worth has gone up enormously in my estimation! Ding Songyan marveled inwardly.

He steadied himself and, before Xing Chang and the others could press him, asked He Luo’s soul again, "The Holy Sovereign hasn’t come to Dingjiang Prefecture yet this year?"

"Correct." He Luo’s ghost was growing ever more translucent and thin.

"Was it not he who instructed you to steal Caretaker Zhu’s valuables?" Ding Songyan asked after a moment’s thought.

He Luo’s soul answered with fervor, "The ten-thousand-year luan tree flower must be of great use to the Holy Sovereign. When I learned of it, I immediately set my mind on stealing it and presenting it as an offering."

So the Demon Sovereign Tan Guanchan doesn’t even know about this... Ding Songyan relaxed slightly, glanced at the pale-faced Caretaker Zhu, and pressed He Luo’s spirit with a contemplative air, "Then why not wait until Caretaker Zhu had refined the Youth Restoration Pill before stealing it?"

"The moment Zhu finishes refining it, he’d certainly swallow it on the spot. He would never give me the chance to enter his dream." He Luo’s soul sneered. "The reason I took the risk of coming back was to find some way to get the formula for the Youth Restoration Pill!"

Ding Songyan’s mouth twitched slightly, and he felt a great deal of sympathy for Caretaker Zhu.

He Luo was Caretaker Zhu’s adopted son, yet every fiber of his being was devoted to Demon Sovereign Tan Guanchan. He had not only stolen the ten-thousand-year luan tree flower that Caretaker Zhu had bankrupted himself to obtain, but also referred to him simply as "Zhu."

Caretaker Zhu’s face had gone ashen, his right hand pressed over his chest.

"Where are the Three Fiends of Xiao City?" Ding Songyan followed up.

He Luo’s soul answered honestly, still trembling, "At Sunset Ridge on Lion-Felling Mountain. They are all the Holy Sovereign’s subordinates. By now they should have set out for Xinfu City, where a Malevolent Envoy is stationed permanently."

Ding Songyan already knew that the Accumulated Evil Way had ten Malevolent Envoys, each a Grandmaster that corresponded to one of the Ten Great Evil Acts. Xinfu City lay deep in the mountains north of the river, at the border of the three kingdoms of Gan, Yu, and Zhao, a no-man’s-land where none held authority.

The Three Fiends of Xiao City were not unknown to Ding Songyan; he had just read their arrest warrants at lunch.

They had earned their name for a massacre committed in Xiao City, and had since drifted across various provinces. Over the past year or two, they had been active in Dingjiang Prefecture, hiding in Lion-Felling Mountain.

All three were Great Proliferation Realm martial practitioners. The leader was named Cao Yue, currently ranked fourth-rank Mortal Surpassed, though reportedly set to be raised to third-rank Form Transfigured next year. He practiced the Molten Gold Dharma, was known for his greed, and had apparently attached himself to the Accumulated Evil Way. The bounty on him stood at 11,000 taels.

Exchanging a glance with Zheng Zhuxi, Ding Songyan turned over the location of Sunset Ridge on Lion-Felling Mountain in his mind.

It lay to the southeast of the prefecture city, some distance from the river.

"When did you deliver the item to Sunset Ridge?" Ding Songyan asked He Luo’s soul, which was nearly gone by now.