Radiant Blade of the Wilderness

Chapter 183: The Guards

After receiving three sets of everyday guard uniforms and a carved wooden identification token, Ding Songyan followed the young eunuch Zhang Quan into a modest courtyard.

A man was practicing martial arts in the courtyard. He wielded two short swords wreathed in flowing scarlet flame, taking a light and agile style.

"Young Hero Li, I brought everyone a new friend," Zhang Quan called.

The practicing man stopped and smiled at Zhang Quan.

"Eunuch Zhang, why so formal? Just call me Baima."

The man was twenty-seven or twenty-eight. His round eyes lent him a somewhat vacant look, yet his features combined into a faintly fierce expression. His skin was reddish, while his face was pale, and he wore the guards’ dark red and cyan uniform.

"Young Hero Ding, this is Li Baima, a successor of the Fire-Wielding School. He recently reached the perfected Great Proliferation Realm and third-rank Form Transfigured. He intends to consolidate his cultivation at the prince’s estate for two years before traveling." Zhang Quan introduced them. "This is Young Hero Ding Songyan of the Brightnight Sect, a martial prodigy. He is only fifth-rank Profound Discerned for now, but his rank will certainly rise when next year’s Orchid Rankings are released."

Fire-Wielding... Combined with Li Baima’s physical abnormalities, the name allowed Ding Songyan to roughly determine the origin of his inheritance.

Qiezhi, shaped like an owl with a red body and white head. The result of consuming it? Grants the power to steal kindled flames and command a hundred fires.

Though it granted only two traits, the phrase "command a hundred fires" convinced Ding Songyan that the Fire-Wielding School’s martial arts were far from simple. They would certainly counter certain enemies extremely well.

After leaving Ding Songyan in Li Baima’s care, the young eunuch Zhang Quan departed.

"Two side rooms remain, one east and one west. I hope you do not mind me calling you Brother Ding. Which would you prefer?" Li Baima asked warmly.

Ding Songyan did not answer immediately. He looked around before asking, "Who else lives in this courtyard?"

"I arrived at the estate two years ago. By virtue of seniority, I am nominally the leader of our group of four and live in the main room." Li Baima began with himself, then sighed. "I reached the perfected Great Proliferation Realm only thanks to the resources provided by the estate. Our Fire-Wielding School cannot compare with the Brightnight Sect. We have only one Grandmaster. Without entering His Highness’s service, we could never have been in the situation of having ten disciples at the perfected Great Proliferation Realm attempting to break through to the Dharma Realm."

The Brightnight Sect has hundreds at the perfected Great Proliferation Realm. More than a hundred have hopes of becoming Grandmasters, including eight or nine who might succeed within the next three years... Ding Songyan smiled.

"It seems you are one of those ten, Brother Li."

Li Baima made no show of modesty. He nodded with a smile and pointed to the western side room.

"There are two rooms there. Wu Mo occupies one. He is a disciple of the Ruyi House at the late Great Proliferation Realm and fourth-rank Mortal Surpassed. He enjoys pleasure quarters and often visits the Hengbo River for entertainment."

The Hengbo River was the stretch between Golden Pool and Yukan Water Gate. Lavish pleasure boats and lantern-lit barges crowded its waters, where the excesses of the pleasure quarter spilled freely onto the river.

"You say that as though you dislike going. Life comes down to power, pleasure, fame, and profit. Who can rise above them?" A burly man emerged from the western side room.

He also wore the guards’ dark red and cyan uniform. He stood over 1.9 meters tall, with bluish skin, abnormally long arms, slightly protruding lips, and a vaguely simian appearance.

From the name Ruyi House and Wu Mo’s physical traits, Ding Songyan easily identified the corresponding strange beast.

Xingxing, a cyan beast with a human face. The result of consuming it? Grants the strength to lift a cauldron and the ability to survive peril unscathed.

Li Baima chuckled.

"I go only once every ten days. You and Fan Chunlin visit the Hengbo River every few days and spend every last coin of your monthly salary. If the estate did not gather cultivation resources for us free of charge, you would never have reached the late Great Proliferation Realm."

Using this as an opening, Li Baima pointed to the eastern side room.

"Fan Chunlin, a disciple of the Shadowkill School. He excels at concealment and assassination, is two years older than you, and ranks fourth-rank Mortal Surpassed. Do not let his thin, small build fool you. He likes his women to be voluptuous and fiery."

"Li Baima, what part of me is small?" The eastern room’s window opened, revealing a young man with black markings on his forehead, laughing as he cursed.

His head and features resembled a leopard’s. His eyes were such a dark green that they appeared nearly black, narrowing to slits beneath the afternoon sun. Black markings covered much of his cool, pale skin.

As he spoke, Fan Chunlin rubbed his forehead, where a bruised red swelling protruded like a fleshy horn.

Their vulgar banter continued for several exchanges before Li Baima turned to Ding Songyan.

"Do not learn from him. Even at the Hengbo River, he cannot behave himself. He relied on his status as one of Prince Kang’s guards to provoke someone, then got his head split open by a rock on the way back without even seeing his attacker. So much for a Shadowkill disciple skilled in concealment."

"I did not offend anyone at the Hengbo River." Fan Chunlin hissed softly as he rubbed the swelling on his forehead. "The whole thing was strange. I even asked Steward Peng to question the nearby watchtowers, but none of them saw who struck me."

It does not sound like an attack against the estate, but it is still worth paying attention... Ding Songyan nodded silently.

He had become a guard precisely to gather clues and watch for further schemes by the heretics.

After a little casual conversation, Ding Songyan pointed to the western side room.

"I will stay on this side.

"Brother Fan specializes in concealment, so he probably does not enjoy having people nearby."

He judged Fan Chunlin’s inheritance to be the Mengji, shaped like a leopard with a patterned forehead and white body. The result of consuming it? Grants mastery of concealment and the strength to battle a hundred beasts.

Fan Chunlin froze, then raised a thumb toward Ding Songyan.

"A kindred spirit!"

After Ding Songyan put away his luggage and rested briefly, Li Baima told him, "Although we receive only two days off every ten, most days we merely report for duty and patrol or stand guard for four hours."

"That easy?" Ding Songyan responded with amusement.

Senior Sister truly would not lie to me.

Wu Mo joined them in the middle of the courtyard and curled his lip.

"We are outsiders, not martial artists raised by the estate. They never assign us to important places or critical affairs, so naturally we have little to do."

"Aside from patrols and guard duty, they might send us to handle jianghu matters," Li Baima added. "The Brightnight Sect’s Candle-Star Pupils are unusual, and Fan Chunlin excels at concealment and assassination, so they sometimes ask people like you to assist with other tasks."

Ding Songyan listened quietly, then glanced at the sky.

"There should be nothing else today, right? Drinks are on me."

"Generous!" Wu Mo turned toward the eastern room and shouted, "Fan Chunlin, come along. Let us visit the Twelfth Madam you cannot stop thinking about."

"No, no. My head hurts, and I cannot drink a drop." Fan Chunlin poked half his head outside and sighed. "Remember to give the Twelfth Madam my regards."

Ding Songyan did not ask who the Twelfth Madam was. He followed Li Baima and Wu Mo through the estate’s winding maze of covered walkways toward a rear side gate.

The two guards, both of whom had spent more than a year here, introduced the people stationed along the way and warned him which places he could enter and which paths were forbidden.

As they walked, several maids and eunuchs escorted a graceful figure dressed in red through a festooned gate ahead, disappearing from sight.

"Who was that?" Captivated at a glance, Wu Mo questioned a nearby guard.

Even from behind, she seemed to leave every flower, plant, and tree around her pale in comparison.

The guard stationed there lowered his voice.

"Zhang Yingbo of the Five Saints Sect is visiting the princess."

"Crimson Phoenix Spear Zhang Yingbo, who entered the Peerless Beauties of the Jianghu last year?" Li Baima’s eyes brightened. "No wonder she carried a spearhead and shaft on her back."

"What a pity. We were a step too slow to glimpse her face." The tall, burly Wu Mo sighed in deep regret. "I wonder whether the description ’beautiful as blazing flame, passionate and radiant’ is accurate."

Li Baima scoffed.

"What difference would seeing her face make? If Miss Zhang spared you a single glance, I would admit defeat."

"You say that as though you don’t wish to see her. The copy of Peerless Beauties in your room is nearly worn to pieces, and you bought it only last year," Wu Mo retorted.

Li Baima snorted.

"That book spends half its time in your hands."

As the two mocked each other, Ding Songyan recalled what he knew about Zhang Yingbo.

For most of the past year, he had trained diligently on the mountain. Whenever he returned to the prefectural city, he focused on instructing Xu Chang’an and helping gather the resources needed for aperture forging. This had not stopped him from following affairs in the jianghu and keeping abreast of every faction’s movements.

Zhang Yingbo was only twenty-one, a core disciple of the Five Saints Sect and Yu Chongyuan’s youngest junior sister. She had begun traveling the jianghu only last year and was soon added to the Peerless Beauties of the Jianghu. She specialized in the spear, had reached the late Great Proliferation Realm and had been given fourth-rank Mortal Surpassed, and likely cultivated the Five Virtues Canon.

I should buy Master Xiaozhang’s Peerless Beauties of the Jianghu and Martial World’s Jade Tree Rankings and look through them, so I do not fail to recognize someone standing right before me... Sigh, if I had read Peerless Beauties back then, how could I have failed to recognize the Nine-Evils Demoness Ji Hanyi beside me? I remember someone trying to sell me a copy. I did not buy it, which must have been the Celestial Heart imprint’s influence... Ding Songyan followed Li Baima and Wu Mo out through a side gate onto a rear street. They crossed two relatively quiet streets and turned into an alley.

The surroundings abruptly grew lively, as though they had crossed from the western city into the south.

Deep within the alley fluttered a wine banner bearing the characters "Cheap Wine."

"The Cheap Wine Shop. Most of the estate’s guards enjoy drinking here," Li Baima explained.

Ding Songyan teased with a smile, "Because of that Twelfth Madam?"

Li Baima sucked in a breath.

"Twelfth Madam Luo. Do not provoke her. She is viciously sharp-tongued, spares no one, and shows nobody respect. Only here in the Flame Capital, beneath the emperor’s feet, could she get away with it. Anywhere else, someone would have smashed her wine shop long ago."

"You cannot say that. Who would want to smash the Twelfth Madam’s shop? What is wrong with letting her curse you a little? You have no idea how many people enjoy exactly that!" Longing appeared on Wu Mo’s face.

You have that kind of fetish? Ding Songyan entered the wine shop, which held only eight or nine tables.

The first thing he saw was a woman wearing a short cyan-blue jacket over a dark red pleated skirt. She stood around 1.7 meters tall, with black hair gathered into a loose falling-horse bun. She was somewhat heavy and full-figured. Puffiness distorted her features, but a closer look revealed a rather attractive, voluptuous beauty.

The mature woman, already in her thirties, carried a wooden tray past a table. A middle-aged man drew a deep breath and leered.

"How fragrant! Twelfth Madam, what scented powder do you use?"

Twelfth Madam Luo glanced at the man with an inflamed boil on his face and replied coldly,

"Arsenic!

"Zhu, I am warning you. Come any closer and I will throw my foot-washing water over you!"

"I am waiting to drink it!" Zhu replied theatrically.

Twelfth Madam Luo laughed.

"Fine. I will bring you a basin later!"

She came over to greet Ding Songyan and the others, pointing at a square table nearby.

"Only one table remains. What will you have?"

Ding Songyan swept the Candle-Star Pupils around the wine shop. It employed two servers, two cooks, and a young woman who kept the accounts.

This tiny place employs five people? Can it possibly turn a profit? Ding Songyan frowned slightly and instinctively began evaluating the business.