Radiant Blade of the Wilderness

Chapter 181: Tenth Year of Jianwu, Autumn

Storms from Eight Directions Converge upon the Central Plains.

At the edge of the shimmering Alpine Lake.

Ding Songyan sat cross-legged on a gray-white rock. Before him, illusory figures practiced all manner of martial arts.

Some held swords, others sabers or hammers, and even others wielding strange weapons. They slashed, chopped, smashed, swept, flicked, sliced, shaved, adhered, guided, thrust, and separated, reducing complex techniques to simple movements.

The illusory figures and the different martial arts they had reduced from complexity to simplicity gradually overlapped, as though converging into one and revealing their true form.

All of them were manifestations of Ding Songyan’s mind.

After an unknown length of time, a metallic ring sounded from the sheath across Ding Songyan’s knees. Frostshade sprang free, caught in his hand as he thrust it toward the countless illusory figures.

The sword moved exceptionally slowly, its tip trembling without pause as though it contained myriad transformations.

At last, Frostshade passed between the sabers, spears, swords, halberds, and other weapons to touch the right wrist of the increasingly overlapping figures.

In an instant, every technique and illusion vanished like smoke.

Phew... Ding Songyan slowly exhaled.

His vision of drawing from the insights of countless schools and unifying myriad arts had finally taken a nascent shape.

For now, it was limited to the martial arts collected by the Brightnight Sect and did not account for special circumstances such as flight, traveling underground, or entering and leaving the underworld. But he had at least taken the first step. In the future, he would need to see and experience more, revising it constantly or even discarding everything and starting over, again and again.

If it ever reached lesser mastery, it would become an astonishing general theory of martial arts.

Ding Songyan believed that would take decades. Greater mastery lay even farther beyond his reach.

Even so, he found considerable satisfaction in this sword art, even though it remained rudimentary and nascent.

"I will call it the Unified Way Sword." As Ding Songyan murmured to himself, he looked to his right.

Wearing the Brightnight Sect’s fitted black uniform, Lü Woyu hurried through the falling yellow leaves.

"Senior Brother Ding, Master Granduncle Wang requests your presence at the scripture repository."

After considering the matter throughout the New Year, he and his sister, Lü Huaijin, had ultimately believed Ding Songyan’s explanation and joined the Brightnight Sect’s newly established branch. They were still cultivating the Nine Primal Arts to temper their bodies.

Lü Woyu was not yet sixteen and had not finished puberty, so he had cultivated only a modest amount. Even so, he had grown noticeably taller and much stronger. After nine months of cultivation, Lü Huaijin had reached lesser mastery in body tempering and developed the sensation of qi. She had begun cultivating Forward-Reverse Circulation as well.

In addition to Ding Songyan, Grandmasters such as Yan Jingxian and Wang Zhou regularly instructed them, as did several personal disciples who had earned the Grandmasters’ deep trust. This further convinced Lü Huaijin and Lü Woyu that they had made the right choice.

What other new disciples had the chance to receive guidance from Grandmasters every so often?

"All right." Ding Songyan sprang down from the rock.

......

Inside the scripture repository, Wang Zhou, who had just condensed an external aperture, said to Ding Songyan, "It has been confirmed. The Orchid Examination will take place at the end of the year, and the consort selection will begin next spring. I must leave for the Flame Capital to relieve Martial Nephew Yang. Will you accompany me and serve as a guard at Prince Kang’s estate for a few months, or travel on your own and arrive in the Flame Capital next spring?"

According to the response from Prince Kang’s estate, a Brightnight Sect’s Dharma Realm powerhouse still needed to oversee the consort selection. First, they could not let Tan Guanchan suspect that the Demon Seed’s secret had been exposed. Second, the Candle-Star Pupils could see through more than Demon Seeds. They could also expose other forms of concealment and illusion.

The Brightnight Sect intended to send Wang Zhou. Under the pretext of giving an outstanding disciple exposure to the world, he planned to bring Ding Songyan along to oversee the Orchid Examination and consort selection. Ding Songyan could then discreetly use his Candle-Star Pupils at the perfected Dharma Realm to identify Demon Seed Two-Faced.

"I will serve as a guard at Prince Kang’s estate and enjoy a few months of easy living," Ding Songyan said with a smile.

"Why the choice?" Wang Zhou asked, puzzled.

In his view, the sect’s future hope was a free spirit who disliked restraints, while a prince’s estate had rules for everything.

Ding Songyan smiled slightly.

"The Accumulated Evil Way may not be the only faction that wants to interfere with the consort selection. Other heretics lack Demon Seeds and must devise different methods. Prince Kang represents the inner palace in coordinating the selection with the Ministry of Rites, so there is a good chance someone will target him.

"Moreover, given Tan Guanchan’s style, he may have prepared another layer beyond the Demon Seed. Prince Kang’s estate may not remain peaceful over the next few months. I might seize the opportunity to uncover some clues."

Ding Songyan was making preparations under the assumption that the Demon Sovereign already knew he had reached the Grandmaster level.

Wang Zhou nodded slightly and raised no objection.

"Then it is settled."

The Grand Elder then asked, "How many external apertures have you yet to condense?"

"Seven." Ding Songyan felt inexplicably dazed as he answered.

His Chaos force had completely dissipated in early July after lasting a little over two years.

Fortunately, he had cultivated diligently throughout that time, spending more than eight hours each day altering and merging void qi. When his Chaos force dissipated, only a little over 3,000 external apertures remained uncondensed, most of which he could sense directly.

Once he finished condensing all the void qi he could sense, some of the remainder became perceptible. In little more than a month, only 72 external apertures separated him from the perfected Dharma Realm.

From mid-August to late September, Ding Songyan relied on the precise locations of the void qi he had recorded in advance. Sometimes he found seven or eight external apertures in a day; at other times, several days passed before he found one. In total, he condensed 65 void apertures.

Of the seven remaining, six were still beyond his senses. Condensing the last required special external assistance. Ding Songyan had deduced that he needed a strand of true qi capable of dissolving all things, but it could not originate from himself.

He would either have to borrow it from Ji Hanyi or capture someone who had cultivated the Returning Abyss Divine Art to at least the perfected Great Proliferation Realm and take it from them.

Wang Zhou relaxed and nodded with a smile.

"Good. Go back and pack your belongings. We leave the day after tomorrow."

In his view, Ding Songyan knew the exact locations of the remaining external apertures. Even if finding them required slow, painstaking effort, a few months would suffice. He would not be like Wang Zhou and the others, who might spend a year or two without sensing even one.

......

In the courtyard beside the lakeside cliff.

Ding Songyan entered the meditation room, drew a letter from a stack, and unfolded it before him.

Zheng Zhuxi had sent it not long ago. Since her letter before the New Year, they had corresponded without interruption, exchanging at least one letter every month.

Ding Songyan’s gaze settled on the middle of the letter.

"I have learned some of what you wanted to know.

"From the snippets from what my father has said, I believe the imperial family principally relies upon five forces.

"First is the Hong clan itself, one of the great clans in the world and heirs to Zhurong’s inheritance. It has three Supreme Masters, all of whom have been enfeoffed as princes.

"Second are the Confucian schools led by the Five Saints Sect. They revere rites and law and place great importance on hierarchy. As you put it, they naturally suit the imperial family’s needs. They can help His Majesty balance the court and influence the martial world. I never understood why the imperial family had to value and observe proper rites so strictly, but I understand much more now.

"Third is the Kitchen King Order. The Kitchen King is another name for Zhurong, and those who worship him have always been close to Zhurong’s descendants and willing to cooperate with them. The dynasty has also treated the Kitchen King Order with considerable favor, allowing it to become one of the Nine Great Orders in the world.

"Fourth are the martial artists trained in the imperial court’s arts or forged through battle in the army. They include many Grandmasters and two Supreme Masters, one in the military and the other at court. Their foundations are shallow and they have few descendants. Their households may prosper, but their clans do not, so they must depend upon the imperial court.

"Fifth are nonhuman races such as the Headless and the Di. Common folk often reject them, leaving them no choice but to follow the imperial court closely.

"Beyond these five are allies gained through marriage. The Empress Dowager comes from the Yi clan, while the Empress is the legitimate daughter of the Fang clan.

"As for His Majesty himself, my father observes propriety strictly and never speaks carelessly. I can only discuss affairs of the state with him and glimpse His Majesty’s character through them.

"Four years ago, at the age of 28, His Majesty had already entered the Dharma Realm, making him quite talented in martial arts. He should be a deeply calculating man, resolute and forceful, yet not lacking in subtlety..."

Deeply calculating... Ding Songyan’s finger glided lightly across the letter.

After putting the letter away, he took out the reply he had written but not yet sent and added two lines at the end.

"Senior Sister, I will soon depart for the Flame Capital. If you travel there with your father, you can find me at Prince Kang’s estate.

"If you remain in mourning, I will visit Changhua to pay respects to Master and see you once matters in the Flame Capital are settled."

The main body of his reply served two purposes. First, he shared details of his recent life and addressed the matters in Zheng Zhuxi’s letter that she cared about. Second, he discussed incorporating the Accumulating Waters Divine Art’s special qualities into Kindling Passes to Candle.

A little over four months ago, Ding Songyan had excluded some less important overlapping apertures and improved the method of condensing true qi and its circulation route. He then used the Lesser Limitless Art to derive Fathomless Depths from the Accumulating Waters Divine Art for the first time. It produced no obvious conflict with the corresponding apertures of the Candlelit Nocturne Sutra.

Upon receiving his letter, Zheng Zhuxi immediately began cultivating it. Her feedback was that it could indeed be practiced without risk, but the results were poor. It lasted longer than Kindling Passes to Candle but offered no other improvement.

Drawing on her experience, she proposed many ideas for improving it.

Ding Songyan revised it accordingly and was now on the fourth version.

Zheng Zhuxi’s assessment improved with every version. By the third, she could use Kindling Passes to Candle at the perfected Great Proliferation Realm to unleash a strike approaching the Dharma Realm. It remained inferior to Ding Songyan’s version using the Chaos Realm but possessed 70 to 80 percent of its power.

For the fourth revision, Ding Songyan also incorporated the Celestial Stars Scripture. Once his senior sister entered the Dharma Realm, she could conceal her qi within the stars and remedy the fatal flaw in the killing move Wandering Star Overhead.

Beyond that, Ding Songyan was still exploring how to add alien apertures and improve the qi circulation route so Brightnight Sect members who had not cultivated the Lesser Limitless Art could practice it. He had yet to find a direction.

After finishing his letter to Zheng Zhuxi, Ding Songyan wrote to each member of his motley circle of friends, telling them he would soon leave Alpine Lake Mountain for the Flame Capital.

Two days later, after leaving instructions with Xu Chang’an, he shouldered his pack and boarded the flying vessel bound for the Flame Capital with Master Granduncle Wang, two senior brothers, and two senior sisters.