Radiant Blade of the Wilderness

Chapter 137: Year’s End

Two hours later, Zheng Zhuxi finally finished the viscera installation and was carried out from behind Kindling Hall by two servants on a stretcher, covered with a light, soft, warm silk quilt.

"How was it?" Ding Songyan went over and asked.

He saw that all color had drained from his senior sister’s face, leaving it white as snow. Her lips were pale, not their usual rosy hue.

Zheng Zhuxi tugged weakly at the corners of her mouth, managing a faint smile.

"Quite good. Everything proceeded normally."

With the two servants present, she said no more, but her meaning was plain enough.

I never installed the Vermilion Bird viscera with the old method, so I can’t compare. I only know that there are no anomalies so far.

Ding Songyan’s worry had been about the process itself; he was confident in his revised method. Reassured, he fell quiet, walked alongside the stretcher, and accompanied Zheng Zhuxi all the way back to Myriad Ravines Courtyard.

Tao Wenshu had not gone to attend to business that day and had been waiting at home. Seeing that Zheng Zhuxi’s condition was acceptable, she quietly let out a breath of relief.

After settling her daughter onto the bed, she asked only a few questions about how her body felt, then launched into a one-sided account of various recent happenings in the Brightnight Sect—keeping Zheng Zhuxi from having to strain to answer questions while also preventing her from growing too bored and listless and falling asleep prematurely.

The reason Zheng Zhuxi could not yet sleep was not because of the anesthetic. In fact, she needed to promptly circulate her Candleflame True Qi in a specific pattern through the Vermilion Bird viscera once she had recovered slightly, fully integrating this non-human organ into her body.

This had been done once when the installation ended and she first came to. But non-human organs were different from alien apertures. It had to be repeated three times before the organ was considered stable, with at least half an hour between each repetition to allow the body to adapt. The first time had been done during the installation itself, with the cultivation-teaching Elder guiding her true qi.

Seeing that his master was present, Ding Songyan observed his senior sister’s condition for a while, then took his leave and returned to his own small courtyard at the cliff’s edge by the lake.

The winter sunlight was cold and dim. Ding Songyan lit an oil lamp and turned his mind to whether the Diagram of the Great Change, Way Attainment could yield the Lesser Limitless Art, and if so, how to go about it.

It wasn’t simply a matter of selecting the six key apertures—the Way as One and the rest—along with the other apertures corresponding to the Celestial Stars and Candlelit Nocturne frameworks. Substantial and complex adjustments would inevitably be required. Without the other apertures, how could the Presence-Absence Myriad Forms Qi circulate to full effect? How should it operate to preserve the Manifesting the Way and its Virtue trait and ultimately stabilize into the Lesser Limitless True Qi? All of this needed to be worked out, and the condensation methods for some apertures would also need to change.

For anyone else, even someone who had also consumed Chaos, it would take two or three months, perhaps even half a year, to produce the Lesser Limitless Art. But Ding Songyan had the Celestial Heart Art.

He closed his eyes, turned his mind inward to his sea of consciousness, and murmured in a specific rhythm, "To deceive others, first deceive yourself. The false can become true. Believe, and it exists..."

He repeated this continuously, deceiving himself, convincing his body to temporarily believe that all apertures beyond the useful 365 had not yet been condensed and could not circulate true qi. The six key apertures and the 360 apertures of the Celestial Stars framework overlapped at one point: the ancestral aperture between the brows.

Over and over again, until at last Ding Songyan felt the true qi circulating only through the needed apertures.

He immediately used Manifesting the Way and its Virtue to perceive where this circulation was impeded and how the true qi was transforming, feeling it out bit by bit and adjusting little by little.

Without realizing it, the midday sun’s rays illuminated the room. Ding Songyan only then noticed that two hours had passed.

He picked up his brush and recorded his observations, the changes he had refined, and his ideas for further adjustments, then released the self-deception state and let the Presence-Absence Myriad Forms Qi return.

He didn’t dare remain in the Lesser Limitless Art state for too long, fearing that his body might fully believe the self-deception, causing the already-condensed apertures to gradually revert to ordinary ones, which would mean a regression in cultivation realm.

"Six or seven days with four hours each day should be enough to extract and complete the Lesser Limitless Art." Ding Songyan stretched with delight.

He marveled at how perfectly the Celestial Heart Art and the Chaos force complemented each other in cultivation and the creation of martial arts, but alongside that wonder came a genuine chill of dread.

If I can do this, how terrifying must Demoness Ji be, having consumed far more of Chaos and having mastered the complete Celestial Heart Art?

Ding Songyan could only console himself that at least he had the knowledge of a past life. In breadth of thinking and ideas, he ought to still have some edge over Demoness Ji.

......

Since Junior Sister Zheng needed to rest after installing the Vermilion Bird viscera, Wan Guhong, who had only recently recovered himself, had no choice but to take on the task of guiding Ding Songyan through the Seven Swords of Candlelit Night.

Considering that Senior Brother Wan was still not suited for strenuous activity, Ding Songyan mostly practiced the sword forms on his own, pausing occasionally to consult and exchange thoughts.

Wan Guhong stood to one side with his sword cradled in his arms, posture slack and easy. But as he watched, his expression gradually stiffened and his increasingly prominent double pupils slowly widened.

When he had guided Ding Songyan through the Celestial Stars Sword Art, there were so many forms that once one was learned they simply moved to the next. He occasionally had his junior brother run through everything he had learned at once to get a sense of the whole, and even so, it wasn’t often. Ding Songyan had exposed plenty of problems regardless. He had only felt impressed by how quickly Ding Songyan learned, and that his feedback each time was genuinely thought-provoking. Ding Songyan was a true martial prodigy who inexplicably spurred him to work harder. Nothing about it had felt shockingly extraordinary.

But watching Junior Brother Ding perform the Seven Swords of Candlelit Night now, Wan Guhong could find not a single flaw. Every sword seemed to embody its corresponding principle with exquisite perfection.

Their master Tao Wenshu’s demonstration of the Seven Swords of Candlelit Night was only marginally better, and that was solely by virtue of being a Grandmaster.

After watching a while longer, Wan Guhong found himself breaking into a cold sweat, an immense pressure pressing down on him from nowhere.

Is this what Junior Sister goes through every day?

......

Seven days later, Ding Songyan entered Zheng Zhuxi’s bedchamber after knocking, carrying a square box, and found Senior Sister half-reclined on the bed with a book in her hands.

"What are you reading?" he asked casually.

Zheng Zhuxi, who had grown accustomed to her junior brother’s daily visits, murmured, "Lying around day after day gets dull. I dug out your copy of The Legend of the White Snake for another read."

"You should have said so sooner. I can make up a story for you every day." Ding Songyan smiled and pulled over a stool to sit down. "Don’t forget, Senior Sister, my past job was that of a storyteller."

"Great, save it for my next viscera installation." Zheng Zhuxi accepted her junior brother’s offer without ceremony.

Ding Songyan pulled a fairly thick booklet from his robe and handed it over. The cover bore seal-script characters: Lesser Limitless Art.

Once Zheng Zhuxi had taken it, he smiled and said, "This was extracted from the Diagram of the Great Change, Way Attainment. Once you’ve recovered, you can spend half an hour on it each day. With your aptitude, it should take about two years to master. By then, I’ll certainly have worked out the aperture forging and viscera installation methods.

"With the Lesser Limitless Art as a supplement, no matter how many hidden flaws remain in the Candlelit Nocturne Sutra, it won’t affect your eventual push toward the Heaven-Man Realm. You’d just need to use the Lesser Limitless Art as your primary scripture at that point."

Seeing Zheng Zhuxi hesitate somewhat, Ding Songyan drove the point home.

"Once you reach the Heaven-Man Realm, your understanding and mastery of the Candlelit Nocturne Sutra will be sufficient to deduce and refine it fully. I can do that too, but one should prepare against unexpected accidents. Every additional person adds another layer of safety."

"Don’t say such unlucky things. Fine, I’ll cultivate it." Zheng Zhuxi wrinkled her nose and gave her junior brother a look.

That reason really did get to her. She had no way to refuse.

After putting away the Lesser Limitless Art, Zheng Zhuxi asked with concern, "Have you been working on this day and night these past few days?"

She knew her junior brother had recently been absorbed in perfecting the Dream Sword and practicing the Celestial Stars Sword Art, with no thought of extracting anything from the Diagram of the Great Change, Way Attainment. He must have only just acted on the idea.

"Just four hours a day, so it’s not particularly difficult. The hardest part was practicing the seal script so the cover would look presentable." Ding Songyan made a small joke. "It hasn’t affected my regular training either. Using the Seven Swords of Candlelit Night and the Celestial Stars Sword Art at the mastered Human Realm feels completely different from using them at the perfected Great Proliferation Realm."

Part of the reason he had held off on cultivating the Great Proliferation Chapters of both arts for so long was to deepen his feel for how the corresponding sword arts performed at lower cultivation levels, searching for the underlying patterns and principles within the forms.

Hearing her junior brother’s words, Zheng Zhuxi paused and said with genuine feeling, "Senior Brother Wan must have had a rough time lately..."

"He’s definitely feeling the pressure," Ding Songyan said with a laugh that carried a hint of teasing.

He switched to talking about himself.

"To get a feel for and master the Waxing Moon Phantom Form at the perfected Great Proliferation Realm, I ran down to Alpine Lake Town today and sprinted all the way back up the mountain."

As he spoke, he lifted the square box he had set beside him and said with a smile, "And I picked up some food for you along the way."

The lid of the square box was lifted, revealing two items inside.

One was iced cheese dusted with plum blossom petals; the other was sheep intestines stuffed with mutton fat and sheep blood—called white sheep intestines on account of the fat’s pale color—braised in spiced broth and sliced into small pieces.

The iced cheese had held its icy, creamy form and had not melted, while the white sheep intestines had not congealed despite the bitter cold, as if freshly lifted from the pot, their fragrance spreading in every direction.

"Sword Intent of Summer and Sword Intent of Winter used together?" Zheng Zhuxi blurted out in delighted surprise.

"Just the influence of a trait," Ding Songyan said without embellishment.

Zheng Zhuxi didn’t press further. She took the small bowl of iced cheese and said with a smile, "I can’t believe you remembering that I love these two things from the Mei family food stall."

"You order one or the other every time you go. How could I forget?" Ding Songyan replied with an amused look.

Zheng Zhuxi scooped a spoonful of iced cheese into her mouth, eyes half-closed as she savored the sweet, fragrant chill melting on her tongue.

After a few more spoonfuls, she asked contentedly, "How has Alpine Lake Town been lately?"

With the Brightnight Sect’s annual intake recently concluded, the number of outside visitors to Alpine Lake Town had dropped considerably. Zheng Zhuxi had also dutifully reported all the various things she had observed before.

"Quieter than usual, but fine," Ding Songyan said, thinking back. "Those who’ve been roaming the jianghu, those who went out to trade, those away on business—many of them have come back to Alpine Lake Town for the New Year."

Seeing his senior sister listening attentively, he thought for a moment, then continued in a warm and unhurried voice, "The streets are already hung with colored lanterns. Every household has put up new peach wood charms and new couplets. Plenty of children have already started playing with firecrackers and setting off bangers early. You can hear the pops and cracks now and then..."

Zheng Zhuxi listened with a soft expression and a smile at the corner of her mouth, occasionally taking a bite of plum blossom iced cheese.

Suddenly, her eyes lit up with delight as she looked out through the glass window.

"It’s snowing heavily."

Ding Songyan followed his senior sister’s gaze and found that large, feathery snowflakes were already drifting down thickly beyond the window.

They blanketed the treetops, the rooftops, and the land. It was a sweep of white.

A timely snow bodes a bountiful year.