Radiant Blade of the Wilderness

Chapter 140: A Year Passes Amid the Firecrackers

Seeing Ding Songyan standing there speechless, Zheng Zhuxi called out again with a smile, "Junior Brother?"

Ding Songyan smiled and walked toward her, making easy conversation.

"Senior Sister, why aren’t you wearing something festive?"

The New Year called for festive colors, and Great Zhao’s preference for red meant he had just seen all manner of red robes and red skirts down in Alpine Lake Town.

"At year’s end I keep to plain colors. It calms the mind, gathers the spirit, and allows me to reflect on the past. Tomorrow I’ll change into something festive," Zheng Zhuxi shared.

Ding Songyan glanced down at his own blue padded jacket.

"Should I bring a festive set of clothes to your home, to change into tomorrow?"

Aside from his everyday training clothes, the Brightnight Sect prepared three sets of clothing for him each season, with extra for the New Year.

"My mother has new clothes ready for you. A personal disciple is half a child," Zheng Zhuxi said with mild teasing.

For a personal disciple, a master truly was half a parent.

Ding Songyan followed Zheng Zhuxi and her snow-white greatcloak down the mountain, and asked thoughtfully,

"What kind of man is Master’s husband?"

Master’s husband, Zheng Ziming, had arrived in Alpine Lake Town the day before. Tao Wenshu’s personal disciples in the sect had all gone to pay their respects, but it had been mostly pleasantries and they hadn’t stayed long. Ding Songyan hadn’t formed a particularly detailed impression, only that he was less stern than he had imagined.

Zheng Zhuxi glanced sideways at her junior brother, a dimple flickering into view.

"No need to be nervous. My father is an upstanding man—he flatters no one above him and bullies no one below. As long as you don’t come across as slippery or showy, and mind your table manners and how you sit, you’ll be fine."

"Good to know..." In his past life, Ding Songyan had dealt with his share of people like that, some of them quite imposing in their official bearing.

He had only recently learned why Brother Youyang had regarded his master’s husband as a high-ranking court official. Zheng Ziming was currently one of the four Senior Councillors of the Chancellery.

The dynasty’s government followed the system of the Three Departments, Six Ministries, and Nine Directorates. The Three Departments were the Department of State Affairs, the Secretariat, and the Chancellery.

In the beginning, Great Zhao held the Department of State Affairs in highest regard; its Left and Right Vice-Directors were the de facto Chancellors. Later, the Secretariat—established to counterbalance the Department of State Affairs—gradually gained more favor, and its Director came to wield the powers of the Chancellor. When the court made its southward crossing, the Chancellery, whose officials attended the emperor, advised him, and participated in confidential state affairs, rose to prominence, and the title of Senior Councillor became synonymous with Chancellor. By the time of the late emperor, the administrative system was reorganized, restoring the Department of State Affairs to its preeminent position.

At present, the Senior Councillor title was not as prestigious as it had been before the late emperor’s reign—powerful officials were often granted the title as an honor—but as one of four Senior Councillors actually responsible for running the Chancellery, with authority to review edicts, reject imperial decrees, and advise on governance, Zheng Ziming was still very much a high-ranking court official.

This visit to the Brightnight Sect was said to be a modest private trip with only household servants, yet court-assigned guards and soldiers still accompanied him—even though he himself was a first-rank Spirit Resonated Grandmaster.

Ceremony had to be upheld!

Taking the opportunity, Ding Songyan chatted with Zheng Zhuxi about his master’s husband and his master, trying to get a better grasp of Zheng Ziming’s character.

Both of them moved quickly, and before long they had entered Alpine Lake Town and arrived at Mountainview Lane.

The front gate of the Zheng family’s three-courtyard residence stood open. It wasn’t to receive guests, but an implementation of one of Great Zhao’s New Year customs. On New Year’s Eve, the door must be opened to "welcome fortune in."

Through the gate, Zheng Zhuxi turned to Ding Songyan with a smile.

"Everyone’s here. We can welcome the Fortune God and the Auspicious God."

Throughout Great Zhao, the Fortune God and Auspicious God varied by region. In Dingjiang Prefecture, the Quail Bird served as the Fortune God and Taifeng as the Auspicious God. In the Flame Capital, the Queen Mother of the West was the Fortune God, a choice that also carried the meaning of warding off celestial plagues.

The Secret Classic of Mountains and Seas had records for the both of them:

"Taifeng: human in form but with a tiger’s tail. Light surrounds its comings and goings. It governs auspiciousness, summons clouds and rain, excels at transformation, and stirs the breath of heaven and earth.

"The Quail Bird: of the phoenix’s kin. Consuming it grants governance over imperial garments, mastery of imperial vessels, the companionship of auspicious omens, and the friendship of the stars."

The Auspicious Order, one of the Nine Great Orders of the world, derived from Taifeng. It blended corresponding Daoist lineages, Buddhist concepts, and shamanic traditions, with its main altar in the Feng Kingdom. Somewhere in Great Zhao, a reclusive sect was said to trace its lineage to the Quail Bird.

Ding Songyan smiled and joined his senior sister at the gate, using a fire-starter to light five-colored paper money and placing it all into the bronze basin behind the threshold. Then two elderly servants arranged dried fruits and wine in sequence.

Zheng Zhuxi picked up a cup of wine, closed her eyes, murmured quietly to herself, and bowed with sincerity, as though inviting the Fortune God and Auspicious God to enter.

Ding Songyan watched with a smile, then bowed as she had done and followed her in pouring the wine on the ground behind the door.

With the welcoming rites complete, Zheng Zhuxi led Ding Songyan to the main hall.

Tao Wenshu had changed into a festive red padded jacket and a deep crimson pleated skirt, her hair styled in a loose draping bun. She seemed more relaxed and at ease than her usual composed gravitas.

Zheng Ziming wore a long black robe with red patterns, topped with a bamboo crown. His features were well-defined and striking, and his bearing was a blend of scholarly refinement and martial uprightness. If not for the effects of his cultivation art, he would have been a remarkably handsome man. That Zheng Zhuxi had surpassed her father in looks was entirely due to his side of the family, nothing else.

As a first-rank Spirit Resonated Grandmaster, Zheng Ziming showed fairly pronounced rodent features: eyes on the smaller side, pupils a deep black, teeth slightly prominent, mouth pushed a little forward. But because his base features were excellent, it did not make him appear ugly. If anything it added a touch of endearing charm, softening his air of official authority and making him seem approachable.

From Zheng Zhuxi, Ding Songyan already knew that his master’s husband cultivated the Zheng family’s Scripture of Utmost Sincerity, which derived from the Yubird.

Yubird: shaped like a mouse but with a bird’s wings, its cry like a sheep’s bleat. The result of consuming it? Grants immunity to all weapons and a self-warning against bloodshed.

Judging by the appearance and cultivation level of his master’s husband, Ding Songyan was certain that the apertures he had lodged in the void must be capable of forming a pair of wings, allowing him to fly like a bird.

After paying his respects to his master and her husband in full and offering his New Year greetings, Ding Songyan followed the Zheng family of three to the heated side chamber and took his seat at the table.

The sun was already leaning west, its light growing faint. The servants began bringing out the dishes, starting with the cold dishes.

Zheng Zhuxi had worried that her junior brother might come across as too slick, too prone to playful remarks, and put her father off, but she found Ding Songyan entirely transformed. He was sincere and open, and not a single falsehood passed his lips, nor did he use words of truth to mislead. What he chose not to share, he stated plainly that it touched on his own secrets, and the time had not yet come to lay everything out.

His etiquette was thorough in every respect: his posture, his table manners, the sequence, wording, and gestures for offering toasts—all natural and fitting. His only shortcoming was an unfamiliarity with many of the finer points, still lacking in polish.

But it was precisely that which showed how much effort he was putting in.

Junior Brother Ding is a different person with every person he meets... Zheng Zhuxi quietly let out a breath of relief.

Tao Wenshu had abided by sect rules and told her husband nothing particular about Ding Songyan. Zheng Ziming had simply assumed his wife had taken on a new disciple with some martial talent. He had not expected this disciple to be so mature in his manner with people, leaving him feeling as though he was warmed by a spring breeze.

Thinking of the sight of his daughter walking down the main hall side by side with this young man, Zheng Ziming set down his wine cup and said to Ding Songyan with a smile, "Songyan, is your primary art the Celestial Stars Scripture or the Candlelit Nocturne Sutra?"

"The Candlelit Nocturne Sutra," Ding Songyan said, giving the official answer.

It was also what his master Tao Wenshu had instructed him to say. It didn’t count as a lie.

Zheng Ziming gave a slight nod.

"Then it’s Zhuxi who guides your training day to day?"

"Junior Brother Ding has a great deal of talent with the sword. He has already achieved mastery of the Seven Swords of Candlelit Night," Zheng Zhuxi answered on his behalf.

What she couldn’t see was that Ding Songyan was already breaking into a cold sweat.

Zheng Ziming gave his daughter a glance, then turned back to Ding Songyan.

"When it comes to martial cultivation, cultivation arts and manuals are important, but the words of the sages and one’s own knowledge matter just as much.

"I’m not asking you to study Confucianism and observe ritual—the same applies to Daoism, Buddhism, or a school of thought of your own creation. Without knowledge, no matter how far you go in martial cultivation, you will only ever be a god-beast or strange creature with intelligence and reason. The human must always be the foundation."

This echoed what Master Yan had said about "Man is supreme"... Ding Songyan was instantly interested. He bowed with sincerity.

"I humbly ask for your guidance, sir."

Hearing this, Zheng Ziming couldn’t help but regard Ding Songyan in a better light.

Because his wife and daughter cultivated arts derived from the goddesses Brightnight and Candlelight which were considered human-lineage traditions, they had never placed much weight on this particular view of his. Those who could recognize such a problem were few, even among Grandmasters. It was rare for Zheng Ziming to meet a junior willing to hear him out on the matter. His interest kindled at once, and he chose his words carefully.

"It’s difficult to put it into words. I’ll use my own Zheng family as an example.

"The Zheng family’s first Grandmaster lived only two hundred-odd years ago. That’s nothing compared to long-standing sects and lineages like the Brightnight Sect. Our ancestor was a martial artist who cultivated the Celestial Guardian and Earth Fiend Nine-Revolution Body-Tempering Art, derived from the Yubird. Later he came into contact with Confucianism and heard the words of the sages. From them he perceived the Way of Utmost Sincerity, and combining it with the Yubird tradition, he created the Scripture of Utmost Sincerity at the age of a hundred.

"The Way of Utmost Sincerity enables prescience. Compared to the Yubird’s ’self-warning against bloodshed,’ this is a significant departure: it not only lets the cultivator sense impending bloodshed they would face and avoid ambushes and calamities, but can also perceive in advance the disasters and misfortunes of those nearby, or ill omens that will befall within the next half year to a year. It’s just that it is unclear and rather indistinct.

"Were the Yubird itself alive, it could not do this even as a Mystic Realm creature.

"That is the effect the Way of Utmost Sincerity had on the underlying martial art. Through it, our ancestor perceived more void apertures and condensed them accordingly. He held that the Scripture of Utmost Sincerity could thereby reach the Heaven-Man Realm, but his descendants have all been rather dull. None of us have yet reached that point..."

The Way of Utmost Sincerity... one’s own knowledge... Yes, the Way is not found only within martial arts. It can be perceived elsewhere too. And once perceived, it can in turn help one discover more of heaven and earth’s underlying principles, which can then be integrated into one’s martial art, enabling one to sense new and additional void apertures... Using divine beasts and strange creatures as the source but the human self as the foundation, gradually feeling out more possibilities, creating stronger martial arts, and ultimately transcending the confines of the god-beast tradition... Ding Songyan laid out these thoughts and impressions honestly and entered into a discussion with his master’s husband.

Zheng Ziming agreed wholeheartedly, his enthusiasm growing. A feeling not unlike finding a kindred spirit over wine rose up in him.

Tao Wenshu watched her husband and disciple talk with a quiet smile, finding the scene warm and wonderful.

Zheng Zhuxi watched with a faint smile as well. She had not expected at all that her junior brother would get along so well with her father.

Without them noticing, the crackle of firecrackers and the boom of fireworks gradually intensified throughout Alpine Lake Town’s streets and lanes. Zheng Ziming, Tao Wenshu, Zheng Zhuxi, and Ding Songyan all suddenly jolted to their senses, remembering that today was New Year’s Eve.

They listened to the popping and crackling and looked at one another, all of them smiling.

Amid the firecrackers, another year passes. The past is gone; the days ahead are still to be caught.