Radiant Blade of the Wilderness

Chapter 117: A Wandering Remnant Soul

In Ding Songyan’s vision, a massive shadow blotted out all light and plummeted downward from the high darkness where pale green nether-lightning flickered.

It was accompanied by a harrowing, grinding rumble.

Ding Songyan instinctively took two paces back, and the colossal shape filled his vision.

It had the body of a feng phoenix, its neck branching into many segments, with a total of nine heads—each bearing a human face with different expressions: rage, hatred, resentment, etc. Yet all of them were contorted into the same malevolent grimace.

The remnant soul of this nine-headed feng swooped silently toward Ding Songyan as though to engulf the entire netherworld. Its body was deep crimson streaked with nether-green, weeping pus and black blood that dripped into the void and vanished in an instant, dissolving into smoke-like darkness.

Ding Songyan’s body had gone rigid and cold where he stood. His soul stirred restlessly, straining to leave and be drawn to the nine-headed feng.

His consciousness could still barely function. He wanted to close the yin eyes immediately, but it remained open once triggered by the Celestial Heart imprint; it closed on its own. He had never shut it himself before, and found he had no idea how.

Opened through the Celestial Heart imprint... could it also be closed through the Celestial Heart imprint... yes, there’s a way... The thought had barely crossed Ding Songyan’s mind when his consciousness began to "freeze" as the nine-headed feng’s remnant soul rapidly drew closer.

At that moment, a warm, amber-tinted candleflame flickered to life, falling on his body, entering his sea of consciousness and his soul, letting him briefly break free from the darkness and the netherworld’s pull.

The sword intent came from Autumnwater—from Zheng Zhuxi.

The two steps he had staggered backward had put her on alert. She drew her sword in time and let the Candlelight shine forth.

As the immense remnant soul of the nine-headed feng drew ever closer, Zheng Zhuxi’s small "candleflame" began to gutter violently, on the verge of going out.

Ding Songyan seized the brief restoration of his consciousness and rapidly circulated the Celestial Heart Art in his sea of consciousness.

To deceive others, first deceive yourself. The false can become true. Believe, and it exists...

My yin eyes are closed. My yin eyes are closed...

Once body and soul were both deceived, Ding Songyan’s yin eyes snapped shut, and the terrifying remnant soul of the nine-headed feng, along with the boundless dark wasteland, vanished at once.

His sight returned to normal.

He felt only a chill wind pass through his body, and the brief rigidity of his soul dissolved as if nothing had happened.

"Phew..." He let out a breath.

The yin and yang were separated again. He was out of danger!

"What happened just now?" Zheng Zhuxi asked, her voice full of concern.

It was the first time she had felt her Candlelight sword intent reduced to a guttering candle in the wind, barely holding on for three breaths. Furthermore, the source of the danger had seemed to be still quite far away.

Ding Songyan glanced at their companions elsewhere on the island, then described what he had just seen in a low voice.

Zheng Zhuxi’s eyes widened slightly, and she said in disbelief, "The Nine Feng’s remnant soul?"

"Is it really the Nine Feng’s remnant soul?" Ding Songyan had already suspected it, but hadn’t dared believe it.

The Nine Feng had been a renowned power even before the heaven-earth severance. If Earth Mother Houtu was the lady of the underworld, the Nine Feng was the divine being who assisted Houtu in governing it—its dominion over souls and the Nine Hells was no mere legend.

By Ding Songyan’s own understanding, if the underworld had ten Yama kings, the Nine Feng was equivalent to nine of the ten halls combined.

Zheng Zhuxi composed herself and said, recalling what she knew, "After the heaven-earth severance, not all divine beings simply vanished. A large portion remained in our realm, but their cultivation and power were gradually suppressed to the Spirit Platform Realm, and their lifespans were reduced to eight hundred years.

"The Nine Feng is said to have died when His lifespan ran out. His body allowed untold numbers of Nether Capital House disciples to ascend in a single step, becoming Grandmasters at the perfected Dharma Realm. Even now, there may still be a few remnant pieces within the Nether Capital House."

Ding Songyan couldn’t help interjecting at this point.

"A Heaven-Man Realm wyrm can only elevate seven or eight ordinary people in a single step. Yet the Nine Feng’s remains can turn dozens, even hundreds, of Nether Capital House disciples into Grandmasters?"

Before Zheng Zhuxi could explain, Ding Songyan was already murmuring to himself.

"Right. The Nine Feng was only one realm above the wyrm when He died, but He was at the Spirit Platform Realm because the heaven-earth severance capped everything there. His fundamental nature was absurdly transcendent..."

Zheng Zhuxi made a terse affirmation before offering a correction.

"Probably more than a hundred."

The young woman turned her gaze toward where the chill wind had come from, still faintly shaken and puzzled.

"When a martial artist of the late or perfected Great Proliferation Realm dies, their ghost can linger in the netherworld for years, even over a decade, before dissipating. At the Dharma Realm, if the obsession is strong enough, a remnant soul can linger for decades and might eventually become a malevolent ghost.

"The ghost of someone at the Heaven-Man Realm is said to last over a hundred years in the netherworld. For a Sage, two or three hundred. I already thought the Nine Feng, as an ancient deity, couldn’t be measured against an ordinary Sage. He also governed the Nine Hells and assisted in ruling the underworld. I always assumed His ghost could linger for thousands of years without dissipating. But to think that after more than 3,000 years, His remnant soul still remains and is able to draw your soul energy directly through the link your yin eyes opened...

"Still, He is far weaker than He once was. The ghost must have dissipated by more than half; otherwise, my Candlelight Sword Intent wouldn’t have lasted even one breath."

"Ancient powers are on a different level entirely." Ding Songyan agreed with his senior sister, whispering with lingering dread, "I used to think I was special, that opening the yin eyes carried no real danger. Looking back now, that was arrogance and ignorance..."

The netherworld was far more dangerous than the mortal realm. Countless ancient powers that had remained in the world after the heaven-earth severance must have wandered there after death, their remnant souls yet to dissipate.

Zheng Zhuxi hesitated, then said sincerely, "Junior Brother, you do sometimes think too highly of yourself. There are great secrets and great dangers in this world, and any exploration requires utmost caution."

She then turned to another thought.

"Could the scarcity of ghosts in the nearby netherworld be because the Nine Feng’s remnant soul is haunting this place?"

"That seems to be the case." Ding Songyan murmured thoughtfully. "But why would the Nine Feng’s remnants linger here?"

After a brief silence, Ding Songyan and Zheng Zhuxi said it at the same moment.

"The Heaven’s Gate Lookout?"

"The Nine Feng’s remnant soul is obsessed with returning to the Heavenly Realm, so He lingers near a place where the Heaven’s Gate was once visible?" Ding Songyan nodded slowly. It was the most plausible conjecture he could come up with.

He thought it over briefly, then used the Celestial Heart Art’s self-suggestion to link the closing of the yin eyes to a simple mental image centered on the glabella where the ancestral aperture was situated, allowing to close it with a single thought.

Now able to close his yin eyes quickly, Ding Songyan carefully changed positions and looked over the netherworld again.

He looked in brief intervals of only a few breaths, repeating the process several times. The Nine Feng’s remnant soul appeared here occasionally, but was not always present; in fact, it was absent most of the time.

Beyond that, nothing else was unusual.

After this, Ding Songyan and Zheng Zhuxi were both absolutely convinced that Heaven’s Gate Lookout Island held something special, but exactly what, and why it drew the Demon Sovereign Tan Guanchan every winter, remained unknown for now.

If the island’s secret were that easy to uncover, Tan Guanchan would have had what he wanted long ago.

"In winter... Shall we visit the island again when midwinter comes?" Ding Songyan extended an invitation to his senior sister.

Having someone nearby to stand guard was still very necessary.

"Of course." With the Demon Sovereign involved, Zheng Zhuxi felt it was her duty. She couldn’t let her junior brother carry this alone.

On the other side of the island, the thoroughly drunk Xu Chang’an needed to relieve himself. Pan Yunzhou, seeing this, helped him to the island’s edge.

He undid his belt and turned toward the river, ready to relieve himself with great satisfaction, when a splash suddenly sounded from the water.

A figure surged out of the river.

It was a young woman in the prime of her youth, but from the chest down, she had the body of a fish covered in red scales, while above the chest she was fully human. Her long hair, wet like river grass, hung low and covered her intimate parts. Her features were vivid and pretty, her skin smooth and fair. If not for the fish body, she would have counted as a beauty by any measure.

She stared at Xu Chang’an blankly for a moment, then let out a shriek of outraged fury.

"Shameless lout!"

She gave a powerful flick of her tail, sending a great splash of water toward Xu Chang’an and Pan Yunzhou, then dove back into the river and was gone.

Pan Yunzhou grabbed Xu Chang’an and pulled him sideways, dodging the water that came crashing toward the bank.

Xu Chang’an could no longer hold it. He turned away from the river and watered the trees instead.

Before long, Xie Fengchao, Ding Songyan, and the others came running at the sound.

After hearing Xu Chang’an and Pan Yunzhou describe what had happened, Xie Fengchao and Xing Chang spoke almost simultaneously.

"The Di."

The Di—one of the Hundred Species, with human faces, fish bodies, and no feet... The relevant passages from the Secret Classic of Mountains and Seas flashed through Ding Songyan’s mind.

The Secret Classic of Mountains and Seas had one further description of the Di: yao-kind, dragon-kin.

Both one of the Hundred Species and yao-kind? Ding Songyan had been too far away to confirm whether the Di girl would be affected by his Banishing Demons and Warding Off Evil.

Noticing the blank looks on Xu Chang’an and Yang Shiduo’s faces, Xie Fengchao laughed and said, "One of the Hundred Species. The imperial court has a secret naval force made up mostly of Di. That girl just now was probably on night patrol in the river, and ran into you answering nature’s call."

Relieved it wasn’t an enemy, Xu Chang’an let out a breath, then grew embarrassed.

"The Gan, Yu, and Feng Kingdoms have Di too," Xie Fengchao added.

At that moment, Zheng Zhuxi leaned close to Ding Songyan’s ear and said quietly,

"Before the heaven-earth severance, the Di lived west of the Jianmu Tree and could travel freely between heaven and earth."

Travel freely between heaven and earth? The island’s name suddenly surfaced in Ding Songyan’s mind.

Heaven’s Gate Lookout Island!

Could the Di also be seeking the Heavenly Realm, also holding out hope for Heaven’s Gate Lookout Island? Ding Songyan saw the same suspicion in Zheng Zhuxi’s eyes.

"To think we’d run into the Di on a night visit to Heaven’s Gate Lookout Island." Xie Fengchao picked up his wine jar and laughed heartily. "The night’s entertainment is spent. Let’s head back. Everyone, when we’ve all made something of ourselves, let’s come back here together again!"

"All right." Xing Chang and the others agreed, buoyed by the wine.

Ding Songyan and Zheng Zhuxi raised their wine jars of varying sizes and clinked with Pan Yunzhou, Yang Shiduo, and Xu Chang’an before tipping their heads for a drink.

Zheng Zhuxi took one long sip and stopped. Everyone else drained theirs.

Wind rose on the river, dark waves surging, carrying them and their little boat back to shore.

......

The following morning, after a round of sword practice, Ding Songyan remembered he would be back on duty at the county office that afternoon. He hurried to his room and began flipping through the poetry collections he had just bought, preparing to write back.

As he read, his expression slowly darkened.

Every poem he remembered from the Immortal Poet had also been written by Li Bai in this world...