Radiant Blade of the Wilderness

Chapter 201: Altering Name and Reality

"Miss Zhang..." Using his movement technique, Fan Chunlin also squeezed through, reaching Ding Songyan’s side. One look nearly left him rooted to the spot.

Such beauty, such brilliance, such a distinctive trait, here near Prince Kang’s estate... Who else could she be but Crimson Phoenix Spear Zhang Yingbo?

Besides, Fan Chunlin had read Peerless Beauties of the Jianghu thoroughly. The Five Saints Sect’s youngest junior sister was hardly unfamiliar to him.

While he craned his neck for a better view, Ding Songyan entered the Cheap Wine Shop from the other side and made his way to the counter.

He dared not get too close to Zhang Yingbo. With her cultivation only at the Great Proliferation Realm, All Colors Under Heaven Gather Unto You had little effect on him and could draw away only a fraction of his brilliance. That would expose his cultivation realm as clearly higher than Heaven’s Will Saber Yan Qing’s.

At the Pingnan Street night market, Zhang Yingbo had been nearly four meters away, and since All Colors Under Heaven Gather Unto You weakened with distance, it could only make people look dimmer beyond four meters at her realm, drawing away very little of their color. It had also been late at night, and Ding Songyan had been sitting on a stretch of street without stalls. Lamplight was on either side, and he had already been in shadow, so Yan Qing and the others had noticed nothing amiss.

Twelfth Madam Luo was watching Zhang Yingbo’s group with her chin propped on one hand. Ding Songyan glanced at her, leaned against the counter, and lowered his voice.

"What brings Crimson Phoenix Spear here?"

Shouldn’t she choose a private room in a restaurant so people won’t crowd around to stare?

Senior Sister and I mostly ate at roadside stalls in Alpine Lake Town, where everyone passing by belonged to our sect. In the prefectural city, we ate at the Ding residence, in private restaurant rooms, outside the county yamen, or in a corner of an inn. Besides, Senior Sister doesn’t have a trait like this, gathering all the brilliance around her and proving so hard to suppress that every passerby can tell something is unusual...

"Perhaps she wants to experience life as an ordinary wandering hero," Twelfth Madam Luo said calmly. "If she isn’t embarrassed, no one else has any business objecting."

The shopkeeper gestured toward their table with her chin.

"One of her companions is an estate guard. Naturally she’d know this wine shop. She’s been here a few times and thinks very highly of Chef Shi’s cooking. Says there’s no better cook in the surrounding streets."

Following Twelfth Madam Luo’s gaze, Ding Songyan saw a woman with physical anomalies, dressed in the guards’ customary dark-red uniform trimmed with cyan.

He could guess what had happened. During her stay in the estate’s inner courtyard, Zhang Yingbo had befriended one of the female guards responsible for protecting the princess consort and the prince’s heirs. On her recommendation, Zhang Yingbo had come to try Shi Wuyan’s cooking and experience an ordinary wandering hero’s daily life.

The young woman was chatting and laughing with her companions over tales of the jianghu, seemingly long accustomed to being watched.

Ding Songyan looked away and teased Twelfth Madam Luo.

"Why do you keep looking at Miss Zhang?"

Twelfth Madam Luo shifted her eyes toward him.

"Who doesn’t enjoy looking at beautiful people and lovely things?

"Don’t you?"

"I do," Ding Songyan admitted honestly. "But one shouldn’t look where propriety forbids."

Twelfth Madam Luo gave him a sidelong glance.

"When did you join the Five Saints Sect?"

I certainly wouldn’t mind... Ding Songyan kept that thought to himself and said with a smile, "The Brightnight Sect’s reputation for upright conduct is no worse than the Five Saints Sect’s. A few glances are only human. Staring is rude. You’re a woman, so it’s different for you. If I keep looking, people will take me for a frivolous rake."

Then Zhang Yingbo would recognize me as the man playing the flute that night. She might come over to chat and expose my actual realm.

Establish myself as a gentleman first, and even if we happen to meet later, I’ll have an excuse to keep my distance.

A spotless reputation does come in handy. I just hope no one in the jianghu starts calling me "Gentleman Sword¹."

Twelfth Madam Luo looked at Ding Songyan with mild surprise. Her doubts about his spotless reputation seemed to waver.

Without a trace of guilt, Ding Songyan lowered his voice further and deliberately added a note of curiosity, "Twelfth Madam, aren’t you worried that if Zhang Yingbo comes to settle the bill or chat with you, All Colors Under Heaven Gather Unto You will expose your true realm?"

"I can fool it by briefly altering name and reality," Twelfth Madam Luo answered offhandedly.

Suddenly, a knowing gleam entered the shopkeeper’s eyes. She smiled.

"All this talk of propriety... You’re really afraid Miss Zhang will come over to confront you, fail to draw away much of your brilliance, and discover your true realm, aren’t you?"

Since when did you become so clever, Twelfth Madam...? Ding Songyan did not deny it. He shamelessly seized the opening.

"Might you briefly alter my name and reality for me, Twelfth Madam?"

Twelfth Madam Luo’s lips parted. She was caught between irritation and amusement.

"In all my years in the jianghu, I’ve never met a Brightnight Sect disciple like you. Are you really one of them?"

"As genuine as they come," Ding Songyan replied without a hint of shame. "To me, what matters is holding justice and chivalry in my heart. The rest isn’t important."

Twelfth Madam Luo considered for a moment.

"’Reality’ is fundamental, but you mustn’t neglect ’name.’ A name can harm the reality behind it."

Seeing Ding Songyan give her words real thought instead of simply brushing them aside, Twelfth Madam Luo sighed.

"You’re fortunate I’m softhearted. Since you’ve asked me, I suppose I’ll help."

She pressed two fingers together like a sword and discreetly touched Ding Songyan’s arm.

Intangible spirit-intent flowed into Ding Songyan’s meridians, carrying true qi that could encompass every Way and Virtue. He offered no resistance, opening himself in body and mind as Twelfth Madam Luo’s spirit, intent, and qi passed through him. He took the opportunity to study their subtleties closely.

Twelfth Madam Luo had already withdrawn her fingers and severed her connection to the spirit-intent and true qi she had sent into him, refraining from probing his apertures and meridians.

Ding Songyan soon found his true qi compressed and his external apertures seemingly shrouded in dense fog.

So long as he did not fight, he would in "name" and in "reality" be at the perfected Great Proliferation Realm.

This... this resembles Chaos, yet differs from it, like flowers blooming on separate branches of the same root... Ding Songyan was startled by what he had felt during the alteration of name and reality. Did the Yellow Emperor Xuanyuan consume Chaos and thereby attain the position of Celestial Thearch, then create his own arts and name them the Nine Canons only after uniting with the Great Way? Do they combine many of Chaos’s traits with what he gained from that union?

That would make sense. Chaos’s remains were indeed kept in the Celestial Thearch’s palace...

I’d love to read the complete Nine Canons. They might be crucial to finding Chaos’s path to the Heaven-Man Realm, my own path to the Spirit Platform, or even something beyond.

Twelfth Madam Luo did not mind him taking the chance to learn from her technique. She merely reminded him, "When I use this method of altering name and reality on someone else, it lasts an hour at most. Keep that in mind."

Ding Songyan gathered his thoughts and thanked Twelfth Madam Luo sincerely.

Only when Luo Mingyin waved away any further thanks did he turn to another subject.

"The wine shop had finally quieted down. Now that Miss Zhang has come to check the place out, I imagine it’ll be bustling again for a while."

He could not immediately think of a suitably old-fashioned expression for "checking a place out," so he simply used the modern one.

"Isn’t that a good thing? With Miss Zhang here, business is better and everyone is polite. They’ve even stopped making lewd remarks." Twelfth Madam Luo kept her chin propped on one hand, admiring the beauty.

Only then did she remember why Ding Songyan had come to the wine shop. She turned toward him.

"You’ll have to wait another two rounds of customers before there’s a table. Why don’t you try somewhere else?"

"All right." Ding Songyan felt no particular need to eat and drink here.

He made his way out of the Cheap Wine Shop and joined Li Baima and the others, who were still gazing inside.

"It’ll be a long wait for a table. Let’s find a restaurant on Pingnan Street."

The tall, burly Wu Mo instinctively cleared his throat.

"It’s still early. Let’s wait a little longer."

Fan Chunlin hastily agreed.

"Exactly. There’s no hurry."

He then sighed with emotion.

"I’ve seen plenty of pretty women, but only today do I understand what a peerless beauty is. It’s like the difference between the Great Proliferation Realm and the Dharma Realm."

Ding Songyan could certainly agree with that.

During his days in the Flame Capital, he had seen many women who would have been considered stunning in his previous life. Yet they fell well short of Senior Sister after she took the xun grass pill, Miss Xiao Qing, his undeserved sister, or Crimson Phoenix Spear Zhang Yingbo. If he were to compare cultivation realms, he thought the gap was more like that between the Dharma Realm and the Heaven-Man Realm, where the human and the divine first parted ways.

Li Baima joined in the praise without once looking away.

Ding Songyan waved it off.

"I’ll take a walk around the neighborhood, then."

At that, Fan Chunlin and the others snapped their gazes toward his retreating back.

What’s wrong with Brother Ding? Crimson Phoenix Spear is right here, and he’d rather wander the streets?

Something isn’t right.

He even made a point of buying the Martial World’s Jade Tree Rankings. Could he be...?

No, no. From what he’s said, he and his senior sister have a special relationship... Are Brightnight Sect disciples really so proper, so determined to remain chaste?

Unconcerned with what the others might think, Ding Songyan went to Pingnan Street and found a shop selling rouge and face powder. He stepped inside and asked with a smile,

"Do you have any scented powder with jasmine and sandalwood? I’d like to give it to a woman I admire."

"One moment, young hero." The shopkeeper quickly brought over a box of scented powder. "Have a smell. Is this what you’re looking for?"

Ding Songyan wafted the scent toward his nose and sniffed twice, committing the jasmine fragrance with its sandalwood base to memory.

"Not quite." He shook his head.

After trying several more, he excused himself on the pretext that he had not found the right scent. He left the shop and bought a few steamed buns filled with beef and glass noodles nearby.

Wu Mo and the others could wait if they wanted. He had no intention of going hungry.

After half an hour of wandering, Ding Songyan returned to the Cheap Wine Shop. Li Baima and the others were still waiting for a table.

Zhang Yingbo, however, had risen and paid the bill. She came out surrounded by Heaven’s Will Saber Yan Qing and the rest of her companions.

Yan Qing glanced around and spotted Ding Songyan.

"It’s you." His brows shifted slightly.

Ding Songyan replied with a smile, "It is."

Brother Ding knows Heaven’s Will Saber? Fan Chunlin and his two companions were both astonished and impressed.

How many more surprises does Brother Ding have in store for us?

Zhang Yingbo, with colorful markings across her face, recognized Ding Songyan as well. Seeing him perfectly at ease, without a trace of embarrassment, she set aside her earlier concerns and asked with open warmth, "What were you doing at the Pingnan Street night market that day?"

She avoided mentioning the details, in case he did not want his friends to know.

Zhang Yingbo’s voice was as lovely as a phoenix’s song. For a moment, Li Baima, Wu Mo, and Fan Chunlin were entranced.

Even that could not quell their astonishment. They stared at Ding Songyan as though he were some mythical creature.

You know Miss Zhang too?

Having confirmed that Twelfth Madam’s alteration of name and reality worked, Ding Songyan relaxed and said with a smile, "Miss Zhang, you’ve probably heard about the evil entity in the estate.

"I was making inquiries at the Pingnan Street night market that day."

"The evil entity came from the Pingnan Street night market? I heard it was in a burial jade pendant," Zhang Yingbo asked curiously, without any airs.

Ding Songyan nodded.

The young woman suddenly paused and glanced at Heaven’s Will Saber beside her. Surprise and a hint of excitement entered her voice.

"Brother Yan and I came across a vendor selling burial objects at the Pingnan Street night market that night!"