Radiant Blade of the Wilderness

Chapter 200: Natural Counters

Oh? I have someone singing my praises now? Amused, Ding Songyan stepped into the courtyard and said to Li Baima and Wu Mo, "I was only throwing the estate’s weight around. It was their authority I relied on."

"No, no," Fan Chunlin said hastily. "I’m an estate guard too, but I was still terrified of Liu Cheng. I couldn’t summon the nerve to stand up to him. You treated him as an equal, Brother Ding, as though being a Grandmaster meant nothing."

Treating him as an equal? I was practically having an arrogant attitude, akin to saying "Someone draft an imperial edict for him!" just to make him angry... Come to think of it, we only exchanged three moves, but Liu Cheng was definitely stronger than a second-rank Subtlety Attuned... Ding Songyan smiled modestly.

"We’re in the imperial capital, where law and order should be at their strongest, and we’re guards of a prince’s estate. What have we to fear from some disreputable gang?"

The Orchid Rankings’ first rank, Spirit Resonated, was much like the third rank, Form Transfigured. Both stood just below major realm thresholds and were crowded with martial artists of widely varying strength. The gap within the first rank could exceed the gap between the first and second. Some held only a narrow edge of two or three moves over second-rank Subtlety Attuned Grandmasters. Others could win within ten moves, or even finish the fight with a single strike if the circumstances favored them and they caught their opponent off guard.

"Whatever you say, I wish I had your courage, your composure, and your bearing." Fan Chunlin lavished praise on Ding Songyan, then turned to Wu Mo and Li Baima. "Want to bet? I wager Brother Ding will enter the Dharma Realm within three years, before he turns twenty-five!"

Li Baima and Wu Mo both knew Ding Songyan was a martial prodigy, but neither had seen him face a powerful opponent. They even thought the swordplay he occasionally practiced looked like a mess. They had been deeply skeptical of Fan Chunlin’s account, but his conviction and unstinting praise left them doubting their own judgment. Neither took the bet.

Ding Songyan changed the subject and asked Fan Chunlin, "Any leads on the man who sold the burial jade pendant at the Pingnan Street night market?"

Accountant Ma had claimed to know nothing about the merchant or the evil entity hidden in the pendant.

Fan Chunlin shook his head.

"No progress.

"But Accountant Ma later mentioned that the Envoy told him to focus on the princely estates and the Martial Prohibition Bureau when choosing people to draw in. I doubt she’s relying on Ma alone. She must have other arrangements, and the merchant at the Pingnan Street night market may be one of them."

A familiar style... Ding Songyan nodded slightly.

If this really was the Accumulated Evil Way’s work, they might even trigger the crisis themselves at the critical moment. With the powerhouses’ attention drawn to Prince Kang’s estate, they could slip a beauty carrying a Demon Seed into the palace unnoticed.

Noticing how quiet Wu Mo and Li Baima had become, and how they kept glancing at him, Ding Songyan chuckled.

"Come to think of it, we’ve never sparred. Shall we exchange a few moves?"

What he really meant was: I forgot to analyze your techniques and incorporate them into the Unified Way Sword. This is a good chance to see them. My way to the Heaven-Man may lie hidden in such things.

"Sure." Fan Chunlin was the first to agree.

He truly wanted to see Brother Ding’s swordplay.

Li Baima and Wu Mo nodded as well, their curiosity piqued.

Even without relying on his cultivation realm, Ding Songyan’s martial knowledge, understanding of the arts, and command of his techniques made it easy to let all three fight to their hearts’ content. Each gave the finest performance of his life, right up until he lost.

They relived the bouts, absorbed in the experience yet faintly bewildered.

How did I lose?

Li Baima, the strongest of the trio, was the most confused. To him, the fight had gone something like this: "Li Baima seizes the initiative." "Li Baima presses his advantage." "Li Baima launches a ferocious assault." "Li Baima closes in on victory." "Li Baima performs brilliantly." Followed immediately by: "Li Baima is defeated."

I don’t mind losing, but shouldn’t there at least be a point where the tide turns and I gradually start losing ground?

Ding Songyan was also reflecting on the three bouts.

What had impressed him most was Li Baima’s Qiezhi Fire-Wielding Sword.

The art could not create fire on its own. Li Baima had to coat his two short swords with a special substance. When the blades clashed with other weapons or sliced through the air, they sparked little wisps of flame that he could then command.

When Ding Songyan deliberately used Kindling Passes to Candle, hiding qi in the flying sparks, Li Baima incorporated those candleflames into his own moves, turning Ding Songyan’s technique against him.

Just as I thought. His art counters mine...

Often, a technique has no actual flaw. It’s simply a matter of how different arts reinforce or counter one another...

Since the heaven-earth severance, these counters really do matter. I’d either have to use my superior cultivation to keep Li Baima from commanding my candleflames, or use the improved Kindling Passes to Candle: conceal qi within stars and send them falling as swords...

Chaos encompasses all things. The only art that can truly counter me may be the Heaven-Opening Skill...

As Ding Songyan analyzed the moves used in their bouts, Li Baima suddenly looked at him and asked hesitantly, "Brother Ding, you weren’t even using half your strength just now, were you?"

Ding Songyan had accommodated them completely, ending each bout only when his opponent had fought to his heart’s content. That revealed an even greater gulf in strength than winning within ten moves!

Ding Songyan did not deny it. He smiled and nodded.

Wu Mo and Fan Chunlin came to a realization as well. One was stunned; the other was both astonished and delighted.

"I told you! Brother Ding is a true master. He knows his own strength. That’s why he can face a Grandmaster without flinching!" The leopard-headed Fan Chunlin looked as pleased as if he had won the bouts himself.

Wu Mo drew a sharp breath as he looked at Ding Songyan.

"You certainly deserve your reputation as one of Ning Province’s martial prodigies.

"I’ve sparred with plenty of third-rank Form Transfigured masters. None of them felt so unfathomable. Only you."

You’d have to spar with someone in the Orchid Fresh List’s top ten to feel that again... Ding Songyan made a few modest remarks, then returned to his room, opened his food box, and began eating his cold dinner.

Fan Chunlin came to his window and said with a smile, "Steward Peng says the two of us are excused from patrol tonight. He’s assigned two other guards to join Brother Li and the others. Once the Silver Hook Gambling House affair is settled, we’ll get a reward too."

No patrol for me tonight? Congratulations to the estate, then. Nothing will happen tonight... Ding Songyan mocked himself inwardly.

After dinner, he was walking around the courtyard to digest his meal when a servant arrived to say that Old Master Wang wished to see him at his separate residence.

Ding Songyan met Wang Zhou in a courtyard with a pond and rockery. The Brightnight Sect’s Grand Elder dispensed with pleasantries and asked with a smile,

"You were the one who knocked Direct-Chamber General Lu unconscious two nights ago, weren’t you?"

In all of Prince Kang’s estate, he could think of only one person capable of doing that without a sound: Ding Songyan, the hope of the entire sect.

"I thought he was an intruder mounting a night raid. Only after I knocked him out and entered his dream did I learn His Majesty had sent him to ’inspect’ the estate’s defenses." Ding Songyan concealed nothing. "Master Granduncle, how did you hear about this?"

"Prince Kang asked me today whether I had done it." Wang Zhou shook his head and laughed. "As if I were capable of that! At the time, I truly had no idea who it was. Only after I returned here and thought it through did it occur to me that it might have been you."

Ding Songyan frowned slightly.

"Prince Kang knew His Majesty had sent General Lu to infiltrate the estate?"

He had wondered whether the Jianwu Emperor’s suspicious nature or some ulterior motive had prompted such an unorthodox move. He had not reported the incident to the Grand Elder to be relayed to Prince Kang, partly because it was too soon to reveal Chaos, and partly because the stranger the incident seemed, the more attention it would attract. That would actually make the estate safer. Once the heretics’ arrangements came to light, the Jianwu Emperor’s suspicions could be allayed. He would conclude that Lu Boxiu had encountered a heretical powerhouse hidden in the estate.

And within two days, the Silver Hook Gambling House affair had come to light. There was no need to look for another explanation.

"Prince Kang knew beforehand, but he didn’t tell the estate’s Grandmasters," Wang Zhou said with a nod. "He isn’t entirely confident in the estate’s defenses."

Ding Songyan considered for a moment and said, "I suspect there’s someone in the estate he isn’t entirely confident in either. Perhaps more than one person..."

Including its guest advisers, the estate had seventeen or eighteen Grandmasters. A little under half were away managing properties and attending to other business. Of those who remained, Ding Songyan had met only four so far and had noticed nothing amiss.

...

The next morning, refreshed by a full night’s sleep, Ding Songyan practiced the Nine Primal Arts in the courtyard.

After days of activity, the sudden leisure settled his emotions and brought him peace. Without him noticing, his thoughts drifted outward, roaming freely between heaven and earth.

In that state, a thought stirred, and Ding Songyan sensed another external aperture. He finished condensing it with little effort.

"Only four left..." Smiling, he finished his morning practice and washed. Back in his room, he spread out blank paper and ground some ink, preparing to write a new story.

He would use it to trade with Ou Luwen later.

Having already given it some thought, Ding Songyan soon settled on an idea, steering clear of the period the Demon Sovereign might have lived in before transmigrating.

The story concerned a sentient piece of jade reborn as a human, who gathered companions and set off westward in search of the vanished Kunlun.

Along the way, he would face trials set by twelve spirits, including the Great Roc Yao, the Crimson Grass of Yaochi, and the Rosy Bodhisattva.

Ding Songyan enjoyed concocting this nonsense so much that he wrote until noon without noticing.

Wu Mo came over, rubbing his forehead.

"The bruising and swelling are gone. That calls for a celebration. Come on, let’s have a drink at Twelfth Madam’s."

"All right." Ding Songyan put away his paper and brush.

He would have to keep an eye on the man, lest he get hit on the head again.

Fan Chunlin had not seen Twelfth Madam Luo for several days and rather missed her. He brought Li Baima along, and the four headed to Tiger Tail Alley together.

Before they reached the Cheap Wine Shop, they saw a crowd gathered outside, everyone craning to peer inside.

Did Twelfth Madam actually chop someone? Surely not. Even if no one intervened, she could hold back her own strength... Ding Songyan squeezed through the crowd, looked inside, and spotted the culprit behind the commotion.

Dressed in a red top and skirt, Zhang Yingbo was eating and drinking at a table against the wall with Heaven’s Will Saber Yan Qing and the others. There were six wandering heroes in all, three men and three women.

All the brightness in the wine shop seemed to gather at their table.

The other tables were full as well, but the regulars had abandoned their usual coarse, boisterous ways. Every last one had become the epitome of grace and decorum.