Radiant Blade of the Wilderness

Chapter 141: New Year’s Business

All of Alpine Lake Town was filled with the sound of firecrackers and fireworks. It was lively, noisy, and boisterous, so as to drive away the Year Beast, Nian.

Zheng Zhuxi seized the opportunity to pull Ding Songyan away from the heated chamber, out to the front courtyard, where she produced a wooden crate of firecrackers and fireworks from somewhere.

"Go get an iron basin," Zheng Zhuxi instructed her junior brother.

Both of them had exceptional hearing and were untroubled by the random crackle of firecrackers around them.

He had come through Alpine Lake Town just that afternoon and seen how the children played, so he had a fair idea of what his senior sister had in mind. He procured an iron basin from one of the elderly servants he knew, placed some firewood inside, and used the stove to light it.

In the biting wind, Zheng Zhuxi handed Ding Songyan a firecracker, and they both tossed their pieces into the fire basin at the same moment.

The bamboo nodes caught fire and let off a continuous crackling and popping.

Zheng Zhuxi crouched down, her fair, clean face lit crimson by the firelight.

Using the basin, she kept lighting firecrackers and tossing them into the courtyard—sometimes one at a time, sometimes a whole string.

Amid the pops of the blasts, Ding Songyan rolled up his sleeves and joined in.

At first the two of them went about it dutifully, driving off the imaginary Year Beast, but before long Ding Songyan deliberately tossed a firecracker next to his senior sister.

Zheng Zhuxi gritted her teeth and returned the favor. Gradually the two of them started chasing each other around the fire basin, the pillars, and the trees, occasionally kicking the iron basin to send sparks flying through the air so they could light their firecrackers, or feinting with their shoulders and stamping false steps to deceive the other.

One moved with the sinuous grace of a dragon in flight, the other as light as a startled swan, and amidst the unceasing explosions of the firecrackers, it was almost as if they were competing with hidden weapons.

When the entire crate of firecrackers had been used up, both of them came to a stop at the same moment and looked at each other.

Scattered sparks drifted slowly down from the air above. The sound of firecrackers in the distance had not yet ceased.

Zheng Zhuxi caught her breath, then suddenly broke into a smile as bright as moonlight.

"How can you be so awful? Couldn’t you just set off firecrackers nicely? Why did you have to attack me!" she muttered in mock reproach, eyes curving with laughter.

Ding Songyan laughed.

"Before I learned martial arts I had to set off firecrackers like a good boy, and now that I have I’m still supposed to? Wouldn’t that make the whole thing a waste?"

Zheng Zhuxi gave a huff, then couldn’t help laughing out loud. She nodded.

"But it was quite fun."

"You’ve never played like this before?" Ding Songyan walked toward her.

Zheng Zhuxi smiled as she thought back.

"When I was in Alpine Lake Town, Senior Sister Xue would often come find me on New Year’s Eve, bringing along her cousins and relatives. We’d all play games together, stay up until dawn, and set off firecrackers just for the occasion. In Changhua, my cousins and I would set off firecrackers too, but none of us ever played as wildly as just now. For them, it was already one of the rare times in the year when they didn’t have to observe proper decorum."

"Why didn’t Senior Sister Xue come tonight?" Ding Songyan asked in passing.

Only then did Zheng Zhuxi notice. She shook her head.

"I’m not sure...

"Perhaps she found something else to do?"

"Maybe Senior Sister Xue thought it wouldn’t be fun with me here." Ding Songyan took the blame on himself, to save his senior sister from feeling that spending the past half year so close with her junior brother, absorbed in martial cultivation, had caused her to neglect her closest friend.

"The main thing is that you don’t like joining her wagers." Zheng Zhuxi noticed the sound of firecrackers from town had grown a little quieter, and said to Ding Songyan, "You’ll be in the west wing. I’ll show you the way. The new clothes my mother prepared for you are there too."

"We aren’t staying up for the New Year?" Ding Songyan followed beside her.

Zheng Zhuxi said with a smile, "We have to rise early tomorrow to pay respects at the founding ancestors’ shrine. It only comes around once every five years."

In Alpine Lake Town, dusk was the time for ancestor rites. The early morning was reserved for the Brightnight Sect’s founding masters.

Brightnight Sect’s rites for the founding masters were divided into grand ceremonies and minor ones. The twentieth day of March each year—the anniversary of the sect’s re-establishment—called for a grand ceremony with the whole sect in attendance. The minor ceremony fell on the morning of the first day of each year and normally required only bowing in the direction of the mountain gate from home. But every fifth year, it was more formal. Disciples were to go up the mountain to the founding masters’ shrine. There was no need for grand preparations; going in a small group or alone were both fine.

Before going to the west wing, Zheng Zhuxi led Ding Songyan through the custom of seeing off the Fortune God and the Auspicious God, closing the residence’s front gate. This was the custom in several northern provinces of Great Zhao: even gods, if they lingered too long in a home, would become a nuisance.

In the west wing, Ding Songyan found the new clothes laid out on the bed: a festive set of red with black patterns, a proper upper garment and lower piece.

After washing up and soaking his feet in the hot water a servant brought, he was tidying up to go to sleep when he suddenly heard familiar footsteps approaching.

"Junior Brother." Zheng Zhuxi knocked on the door and called out, her voice warm with laughter.

I’m about to sleep. What does Senior Sister want now... Ding Songyan opened the door, unsure whether he felt a little apprehensive or a little eager.

Zheng Zhuxi was holding two oil lamps, each enclosed in glass.

"There’s still one thing left to do." With light, quick steps she went to the bed, crouched down, and slid the lit oil lamp beneath it.

The space beneath glowed at once in a warm amber light.

"What’s this?" Ding Songyan asked, puzzled.

Zheng Zhuxi stood up, eyes bright and smile radiant.

"’Illuminating Xuhao.’ It’s a New Year’s Eve custom of the dynasty. Don’t put it out yourself. Let it extinguish on its own."

Xuhao or Wasteful Expenditure referred to the malevolent ghost of folk legend that caused people to lose their wealth and drain their household resources. In some places it referred instead to the mice that pilfered from the family stores, and the depletion that followed.

"Ah, I see..." Ding Songyan let out a quiet breath.

She picked up the remaining oil lamp and had taken only a few steps when she suddenly stopped.

"Oh, I forgot to wish you a Happy New Year."

She turned to him at once, smiling warmly, and cupped her hands.

"A peaceful and joyful new year—may great fortune and prosperity come your way!"

"And the same to you, Senior Sister. A peaceful and joyful new year—may great fortune and prosperity!" Ding Songyan cupped his hands in return.

After Zheng Zhuxi left, Ding Songyan closed the door and returned to the bed.

He gazed for a moment at the warm glow seeping out from beneath the bed, then smiled and shook his head.

Amid the continuous sound of firecrackers, Ding Songyan fell into a calm and easy sleep.

The moment dawn broke, he was already up, dressed in the heavy padded new red clothes with black patterns, upper garment and lower piece.

He had barely finished tidying himself when a knock came at the door.

He opened the door, and Zheng Zhuxi’s figure filled his eyes.

She carried the Autumnwater sword in hand, dressed in a vermilion padded jacket with a ring of white fur at the cuffs. She wore a bright red cotton skirt below, and a crimson greatcloak trimmed in white fur. Her hair was gathered in an upswept bun, and she had applied a touch of rouge in keeping with the occasion, which lent her already lovely features a touch of grandeur and complemented her somewhat bold brows perfectly. She was radiant like a fire, luminous and breathtaking.

"A peaceful and joyful new year—may great fortune and prosperity come your way," Zheng Zhuxi flashed a dimple and said it again.

...

In the main bedchamber.

Tao Wenshu, changed back into the sect master’s black robe, saw her husband standing at the desk by the window, writing with focused concentration, each stroke flowing and unhurried.

She waited until he set down his brush before asking with a smile, "Rectifying the self and seeking sincerity?"

Zheng Ziming turned around and smiled.

"At peace. Our family of three should face no calamities within the next half year."

He had just used the act of writing to settle his mind and spirit, then actively exercised the Way of Utmost Sincerity to seek foreknowledge.

"Look at you, always worrying over nothing," Tao Wenshu said, pressing her lips together into a smile.

...

Hall of Myriad Stars. The Purple Forbidden Chamber.

Ding Songyan had spent three days eating and drinking freely at his master’s home, keeping them company through the festivities, and had only just returned to the mountain gate when his master summoned him here.

"Your senior sister has completed the first alien aperture for the White Tiger. Tomorrow she’ll travel with me and my husband to Changhua Prefecture and Flame Capital, so she should be back on the mountain in about half a month," Tao Wenshu said with a smile. "During that time, your other senior brothers and sisters likely won’t be at the mountain gate either. Holidays aren’t common, so they probably won’t return until after the Lantern Festival. But you can seek guidance from your Master Granduncle Wang or Master Uncle Yan. Heh, they likely have quite a few questions for you as well."

Before the New Year, Ding Songyan had spent three years’ worth of his lifespan to complete the Great Proliferation Chapter of the Celestial Stars Scripture, identified nine errors in the corresponding aperture forging and viscera installation methods, and provided his thoughts and approaches for correcting them.

By now he had expended sixteen or seventeen years of his lifespan in total. Fortunately he had gained an extra twenty years through the Grass-and-Wood Longevity Pills.

"Understood, Master." Ding Songyan acknowledged, then thought for a moment and said, "Senior Sister is progressing rapidly. She should be ready to forge the second alien aperture for the White Tiger in about half a month. It would be best not to delay."

Normally, after completing the Vermilion Bird viscera installation, the pace of forging alien apertures slowed down. Many disciples with solid talent still needed a full year to forge the four alien apertures surrounding the White Tiger and prepare for that installation.

Part of this was because the demands on one’s heart and mind grew higher, and unless one didn’t mind compounding difficulties down the line, everyone preferred to go slowly. The other part was that after the first viscera installation, the sect would arrange for disciples to go on a journey to adapt to their body, temper their mind and spirit, and build combat experience. Forging apertures was simply not possible while away from the sect.

Zheng Zhuxi, however, had cultivated a Candle Heart on her own, and had been tested by nightmares as well as several rounds of "tempering" from Ding Songyan, whether intentional or not. After her first viscera installation, she could continue forging apertures without any jianghu travels, and adapted faster than before. Her cultivation had not slowed at all; in fact, it had greatly accelerated.

The Candlelit Nocturne Sutra’s viscera installation sequence was Vermilion Bird, White Tiger, Black Turtle, then Azure Dragon. The Celestial Stars Scripture’s sequence was Azure Dragon, Vermilion Bird, White Tiger, then Black Turtle.

Hearing Ding Songyan’s words, Tao Wenshu gave him a slightly surprised look, then smiled.

"Half a month is exactly when we’ll be back."

She let the smile fade and said to Ding Songyan,

"Pan Yunzhou’s identity, background, and jianghu record have been verified by the sect and the Martial Prohibition Bureau. Everything checks out. Have him come see me shortly.

"Oh, didn’t I say before that I would help you trace your origins and find your family?"

You did say that, but I never agreed to it at the time... Ding Songyan couldn’t help grumbling inwardly.

He had originally had no intention of looking into the origins of this body, but after learning that the Demon Sovereign was possibly a transmigrator, he had somewhat changed his mind.

If I really transmigrated in winter and didn’t inhabit Ding Songyan’s body until more than half a year later, why was I able to transmigrate at all?

My original theory was that transmigration requires the same name and roughly simultaneous deaths. But in winter, Ding Songyan had only just joined the "loving family." He wasn’t even dead yet!

Did something else happen to him around that time?

Is that also why I lingered in the netherworld for more than half a year?

The simplest way to clarify the matter would be to ask Ji Hanyi, that unearned little sister of his, but Ding Songyan didn’t have the nerve for that just yet, and couldn’t find her anyway. So he had decided to start with Ding Songyan’s origins.

"You found something?" he asked, genuinely surprised and pleased.

Tao Wenshu shook her head.

"No. Only some broken threads."