Radiant Blade of the Wilderness

Chapter 199: Let’s Be Friends

Someone tipped her off? Alarm shot through Wang Yue. He carefully retraced everything that had happened, searching for any possible oversight.

"Either the Envoy still has someone hidden in the gambling house who grew suspicious when I arrived and left so quickly, or someone at the estate learned what had happened from our report and passed word to her," Wang Yue said after some thought.

The latter would mean an undiscovered traitor still lurked within the estate.

That was precisely the possibility Ding Songyan wanted Wang Yue to consider, so the estate would be more vigilant.

Only then did he turn toward Wang Yue.

"Actually, there’s one more possibility."

"One more?" Wang Yue was taken aback.

Ding Songyan said earnestly, "An evil entity had been sealed inside Accountant Ma’s child. There’s a small chance that when I broke the seal and destroyed it, whoever controlled it sensed what happened from afar and realized there was danger here.

"I’ve never read the Demon Swallowing Evil Devouring Technique or any similar art, so I can’t say whether that’s possible. It’s only a guess."

But if the woman controlling the entity could sense its condition and changes to the seal from afar, she could surely detonate it from a distance as well, killing its host in an instant.

In that case, even if Ding Songyan and Wang Yue killed the Envoy swiftly, they could not stop her from taking Accountant Ma’s child with her in death.

That was why Ding Songyan had chosen to save the boy first, even at the risk of alerting the Envoy.

Wang Yue paused, regarding Ding Songyan with mixed feelings. The Brightnight Sect disciple met his gaze calmly, seemingly prepared to accept punishment.

After a moment, Wang Yue sighed.

"I’ve never fought anyone from the Accumulated Evil Way, but the Langhuan Bureau has never mentioned the Demon Swallowing Evil Devouring Technique allowing its practitioners to control evil entities from a distance. The heretics who cultivate it devour demons and evil entities to strengthen their martial arts and acquire some of those entities’ traits."

What if an entity the Envoy devoured gave her the ability to control evil entities and obliterate ghosts remotely? Ding Songyan let the matter drop and asked instead, "General Wang, shall we still wait for the Envoy?"

Wang Yue stepped out of hiding and shook his head.

"No. We’ll leave it to the Martial Prohibition Bureau now. With another heretical faction, this might be the end of it. But the Accumulated Evil Way is different. They may come back just to take revenge on Accountant Ma for betraying them. They’re always eager for that sort of wickedness."

When Ding Songyan remained silent, Wang Yue sighed inwardly and continued, "The Martial Prohibition Bureau will send at least a deputy chief and a department director to lie in wait for them. A Grandmaster surnamed Yi will also quietly take over the nearby watchtower. If the Accumulated Evil Way hasn’t come for revenge after seven days, we’ll secretly move Accountant Ma’s wife and child somewhere they can live in safety. Ma himself will have to be imprisoned to await judgment, of course."

Only then did a faint smile appear on Ding Songyan’s face.

"Are all members of the Accumulated Evil Way willing to take terrible risks just to do evil?"

"Tan Guanchan is the sole exception. He’s so calm and rational that you’d never think he led the Accumulated Evil Way." Wang Yue recalled the Langhuan Bureau’s description.

After handing matters over to the Martial Prohibition Bureau, Ding Songyan and Wang Yue returned to the Silver Hook Gambling House.

The accountants were still busy checking the books against the assets on hand, the debt notes, and other records. Fan Chunlin had been relieved and sent back to rest.

Wang Yue watched for a while, then decided to return to the estate to report. Ding Songyan went into the adjoining room, where Accountant Ma was being held.

Haggard and lost in gloomy thought, Accountant Ma sprang to his feet when Ding Songyan entered. His lips trembled.

"Guard Ding, my... my child. How is he?"

Ding Songyan answered at an even pace, "He’s safe and well now. He wasn’t poisoned. Someone had sealed an evil entity inside him. The Brightnight Sect’s Candlelight Sword Intent is particularly effective against such things."

Accountant Ma, his graying hair disheveled, stared for a moment. Then tears filled his eyes.

He dropped to his knees with a thud and solemnly kowtowed three times, his forehead loudly striking the floor.

Ding Songyan remained where he stood, accepting the profound gesture of gratitude without protest.

"With my crimes, I dare not promise to repay you." Accountant Ma looked up, tears streaming down his face. "All I can do is pray for you every day, Young Hero Ding, and tell people of your kindness and valor."

After rising, he searched his memory and said, "Young Hero Ding, I never saw the Envoy’s true face, but I met her often. I vaguely remember a scent about her. Jasmine mixed with sandalwood, I think."

Ding Songyan could not readily imagine the scent. He decided to find some similar scented powder later and smell it for himself.

Leaving the room, he glanced at Liu Cheng, whose amiable smile had returned, and teased, "Still in good spirits, Young Boss?"

Liu Cheng answered with a friendly smile, "This may be a blessing in disguise. If Accountant Ma had caused a true catastrophe before anyone discovered that we were using threats and inducements to get servants from those households to pass us information, the Sea-Treading Gang would soon have ceased to exist. As it is, disaster has yet to strike, and there’s still room to negotiate. We’ll pay dearly, but we won’t be wiped out.

"I keep telling my adoptive father that harmony brings wealth, but he never listens. How can anything built on violence and scheming last?"

Your adoptive father won’t listen? Then why spend your life chafing under someone else’s command...? As Ding Songyan amused himself with the thought, the Young Boss offered him a green jade pendant carved with a scene of churning seas and surging rivers.

"This is my personal token. With it, you’ll be an honored guest of the Sea-Treading Gang. A small gift as a mark of respect." Liu Cheng smiled warmly. "Guard Fan tells me you have quite an interest in the peerless beauties of the jianghu. I don’t know any of those incomparable women, but our gang does have some influence along the Hengbo River. If a leading courtesan catches your eye, just say the word. Their looks may fall well short of those beauties, but they’re more attentive and accommodating, and accomplished in many arts."

I’ve developed rather high standards... Ding Songyan laughed.

"I can’t accept this token, and I don’t wish to become an honored guest of the Sea-Treading Gang."

How could a disciple of the illustrious Brightnight Sect become an honored guest of a disreputable gang?

As Liu Cheng’s expression stiffened slightly, Ding Songyan looked at him and smiled.

"I’d just like to be your friend, Young Boss."

Liu Cheng paused, then his smile broadened.

"Good! You’re quite a fellow, Brother Ding. I’d be glad to call you a friend!"

"I may come to you for information or help with a few small matters," Ding Songyan said at once, his expression perfectly composed.

"No problem," Liu Cheng agreed without hesitation.

As they walked down toward the gambling floor, Ding Songyan asked with apparent casualness, "Aside from the cyan snakes around your ears, your physical anomalies are hardly noticeable. Your inheritance must come from Buting Huyu, the ancient deity of the Southern Sea?"

"You have a keen eye, Brother Ding." Liu Cheng tacitly confirmed his guess.

The Secret Classic of Mountains and Seas records: "On an islet in the Southern Sea dwells a deity with a human face, two cyan snakes hanging from his ears and two red snakes beneath his feet. His name is Buting Huyu. He rules the Southern Sea, commands raging winds, governs scorching heat, and carries out Heaven’s decrees"... Does Liu Cheng’s art favor raging winds and carrying out Heaven’s decrees? I’ll have to find a chance to see more... Recalling their brief exchange, Ding Songyan formed a tentative conclusion.

Leaving the Silver Hook Gambling House, Ding Songyan strolled toward the street behind the estate. As he passed through Tiger Tail Alley, he thought for a moment, turned down a side lane, and knocked on the side gate to Twelfth Madam Luo’s rear courtyard.

"Come in." Twelfth Madam Luo’s low, languid voice drifted out.

Ding Songyan pushed the gate open. In the clear moonlight and the glow of an oil lamp, golden and pale-yellow chrysanthemums lay heaped on the stone table. Luo Mingyin, her hair in a loose, tilted bun, was busily weaving the flowers into bracelets, hair ornaments, and other accessories.

"What’s all this?" Ding Songyan asked, curious.

Twelfth Madam Luo did not look up.

"I picked them while enjoying the autumn scenery. I’m making ornaments to sell at the market."

Chrysanthemum ornaments? Who are the customers, dead people? No, wait. Even in my previous life, their association with mourning only arose in recent decades. In ancient times, chrysanthemums symbolized longevity, good fortune, and noble character... As these thoughts flashed through his mind, Ding Songyan smiled and asked, "How much will you charge?"

"One copper coin for the small ones, two for the large." Twelfth Madam Luo went on weaving her garlands, perfectly relaxed.

"Don’t you have to pay to rent a stall? Aren’t you worried you’ll lose money at those prices?" Ding Songyan instinctively weighed the expenses, returns, and effort involved.

Twelfth Madam Luo glanced at him and said casually, "You can’t put a price on doing what I enjoy."

Before Ding Songyan could reply, the shopkeeper finally thought to ask, "Did you need something?"

"I came to borrow some paper and a brush. I didn’t feel like making an unnecessary trip," Ding Songyan said honestly.

Twelfth Madam Luo did not ask what he needed them for. She pointed toward the three rooms.

"There’s some in the main room. Help yourself."

Ding Songyan didn’t stand on ceremony and entered the main room. It lacked the usual square dining table and other reception furnishings. Instead, it had been arranged as a study, with a desk, low tables, chairs, woolen mats, bookshelves, and a display cabinet.

A faint, lingering fragrance filled the room. Ding Songyan approached the desk and found a brush, ink, paper, and inkstone.

He lit the oil lamp, ground some ink, and began to write.

"Master Xiaozhang, please continue looking into possible hiding places of the Ghost Yu Way’s masters, as well as the whereabouts of anyone from the Accumulated Evil Way, whoever they may be."

While waiting for the ink to dry, Ding Songyan glanced at the books and papers on the desk. The handwriting was uniformly graceful, poised, and elegant. A corner of the bottommost book protruded at an angle, revealing the characters for "name" and "reality."

Ding Songyan’s brow twitched. He looked away without opening it.

He used the lamp’s flame to burn Master Xiaozhang’s earlier note, then blew out the lamp, folded his own message, and returned to the stone table outside.

"Twelfth Madam, aren’t you worried I’ll sneak a look when you leave a book on name and reality out on your desk like that?" Ding Songyan asked with a smile.

He suspected she might be testing him.

Twelfth Madam Luo looked up, slightly puzzled.

"That’s my own treatise on name and reality. If you’d like to read it, you’re welcome to take it."

Her eyes shifted slightly as understanding dawned, and she laughed despite herself.

"Aren’t you being a little too wary?

"Not everyone you meet has designs on you."

"Then why throw pebbles at Wu Mo’s head when you knew I had the strength of the perfected Dharma Realm? Weren’t you giving me a chance to realize you were a master concealing your identity?" Ding Songyan voiced a question that had been bothering him for some time.

Twelfth Madam Luo smiled.

"I wanted to vent my anger, so I wasn’t concerned about whether you noticed. If you didn’t, all the better. If you did, I’d explain it away if I could. If I couldn’t, I’d leave the Flame Capital. It was hardly a serious matter, so I did as I pleased.

"What I didn’t expect was for you to work out so quickly that it was me."

"I see..." Ding Songyan murmured.

Twelfth Madam Luo tilted her head slightly and glanced at him.

"Do you often deal with people who are always scheming?"

"I have, but not often," Ding Songyan answered truthfully.

"That explains it." Twelfth Madam Luo’s lips curved slightly, pleased that her guess had been close enough.

Then she paused and said, a little embarrassed, "Have I still not asked your name?"

"Ding Songyan of the Brightnight Sect." After introducing himself, he asked her to keep an eye out for any courtyards available to rent nearby.

He handed the folded note to Chef Shi, then strolled back to the estate.

Before he even entered the side courtyard where he lived, he heard Fan Chunlin speaking inside.

"You’d better believe it! When Liu Cheng made the air scorching hot and it felt as though waves were about to crash down on every side, my legs were shaking with fear. But Brother Ding didn’t budge. He was calm as could be!"