Radiant Blade of the Wilderness

Chapter 224: "Jade Maiden"

Ding Songyan earnestly reminded Master Xiaozhang, "Hero Ou isn’t like the Demon Sovereign or the Heretic Immortal. He’ll be staying in the Flame Capital. Lying low for a while won’t let you escape him. Unless you enjoy a life of contacting everyone through intermediaries and want to keep it up forever, you’ll still have to write that story."

"I understand." Without his smile, Zhang Qiang looked even paler.

Having made his point, Ding Songyan asked with a friendly smile, "How much for the Ghost Yu Way information?"

Master Xiaozhang ventured, "How about two hundred taels?"

"Very fair. You get what you pay for." Ding Songyan took two hundred-tael banknotes from inside his robe and handed them over.

Accepting the money, Master Xiaozhang grew more certain that he had understood the unspoken message correctly.

The man had not brought up Ou Luwen to threaten him out of sheer stinginess. He had used it to deliver a warning: Unlike the Demon Sovereign and the Heretic Immortal, I’ll be staying in the Flame Capital. If you think you can hide your identity and sell me out to the Accumulated Evil Way, I may or may not die, but you certainly won’t survive. I’ll wait patiently for you to appear. Just like today, I can find my way to your door even if no one tells me where you’re hiding.

Master Xiaozhang rose in his loose robe, walked to a bookshelf, and retrieved several sheets of paper.

"Ghost Yu Way members have been seen on Zhendong, Huaiyuan, and Shuning Streets and in the nearby lanes. I asked a friend at Chengtian Prefecture to look through the case records from that period and found a few clues." Master Xiaozhang handed Ding Songyan the papers. "Several households suspected someone had broken in at night, but found nothing. Two people were also killed for no apparent reason, with no romantic entanglements or grudges to explain it."

Zhendong, Huaiyuan, and Shuning Streets lay where the southern and eastern districts met.

Ding Songyan took the sheets and leafed through them. Each held a portrait.

The people depicted looked different, yet shared certain features: narrow, slightly pointed heads, small eyes with round pupils, and somewhat upturned nostrils. At a glance, they resembled turtle spirits.

The recorded description of the Yu immediately came to Ding Songyan’s mind: The Yu resembles a soft-shelled turtle with three legs and a strip of flesh across its mouth.

Master Xiaozhang settled back into his chair.

"Both unexplained murder victims had some turtle-like features. So did someone in each of the households that reported an intruder.

"I suspect the Ghost Yu Way is looking for someone with that appearance. The victims were killed to silence them after seeing their pursuers. And someone who looks like that could very well be one of the Ghost Yu Way’s own disciples."

"A renegade?" Ding Songyan asked thoughtfully of Zhang Qiang, himself a renegade from the Dismemberment Way.

"Most likely. I was hunted the same way. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be holed up in the Flame Capital, afraid to leave." Master Xiaozhang took no offense.

Several orthodox Heaven-Men were always present in the Flame Capital, along with countless formidable Grandmasters. Heretics had much to fear here and dared operate only in secret.

An assassin who defected from the Ghost Yu Way... Ding Songyan considered for a moment, then said, "Master Xiaozhang, please help me find that Ghost Yu Way renegade. We can work out a price."

"All right." Master Xiaozhang did not quote a price yet.

There was no telling with a search like this. He might find the man just around the corner, or need scores of people working for days, months, even years to uncover the faintest clue. The prices for those two possibilities would plainly be worlds apart.

Ding Songyan stopped stroking the Feifei, picked up Frostshade, and rose to leave the study.

As he disappeared through the doorway, both Zhang Qiang and the Feifei quietly breathed out in relief.

In the corridor outside, double pupils suddenly appeared in Ding Songyan’s eyes.

He had been deriving the Mirror Lake Divine Reflection, not the Candlelit Nocturne Sutra, and had been listening to Master Xiaozhang’s thoughts all along. At any hint of resentment, revenge, or insatiable greed, he would have drawn his sword, taken the man captive, and confined him somewhere. Then he would have found and dismantled every arrangement Zhang Qiang had made to expose information if he came to harm.

Better safe than sorry.

Besides delivering a veiled warning, Ding Songyan’s pointed remarks had kept Master Xiaozhang’s attention on those matters rather than his eyes.

Stroking the Feifei served a similar purpose. It made him look languid and relaxed, a perfectly natural pose in which to keep his eyes half closed.

Even if Master Xiaozhang had noticed his lack of double pupils today, Ding Songyan would not have minded much. In the man’s eyes, he was already a mysterious powerhouse of unknown strength. A little more mystery hardly mattered.

...

That afternoon, at the Cheap Wine Shop.

From a distance, Ding Songyan saw that hardly two tables of customers remained and Twelfth Madam Luo was nowhere in sight. He lowered his head slightly and pressed a hand to his face.

Beneath his palm, his face swiftly took on a birdlike shape. White markings appeared on his neck, behind his ears, and across his cheekbones. His eyes grew uncannily deep, as though a mirror-still lake lay within them.

The anomalies vanished a moment later.

As soon as Ding Songyan entered, Seventh Yu greeted him with a smile.

"The shopkeeper’s in the rear courtyard."

"I have something to discuss with Chef Shi." Ignoring Seventh Yu’s inward teasing, Ding Songyan went to the kitchen entrance.

Shi Wuyan turned to look at him. Ding Songyan pointed to a table in the corner.

"A word?"

Shi Wuyan silently followed him to the corner and sat down.

Ding Songyan smiled and said, "Twelfth Madam was tired of those idlers pestering her, so she asked me to be her cover. We’ve been putting on an act."

Shi Wuyan abruptly raised his head and looked into Ding Songyan’s eyes.

Ding Songyan sat in the glare of the sun, his eyes narrowed against it. With a faint smile, he said, "I meant everything I told you before. My heart already belongs to someone. If I weren’t grateful to Twelfth Madam for her help, I’d never sacrifice my good name like this."

Before Shi Wuyan could speak, Ding Songyan paused in thought, then continued, "I wanted to explain yesterday, but Twelfth Madam said to let you keep your mistaken impression. I think you can understand what she means and where she stands. Don’t become one of those unwelcome idlers."

Shi Wuyan remained silent for a long while before answering, "I’ve never dreamed that Twelfth Madam might favor me.

"I only hope she can keep enjoying every little thing in her everyday life, just as she always has."

With that, the cook rose and returned to the kitchen.

Weren’t you a heretic? And here you are, a hopeless romantic: admiration, secret love, protection, no regrets. Tsk, tsk... You’re eaten up with jealousy, yet you still want to warn me not to let Twelfth Madam down... Is she really that captivating? Ding Songyan rubbed his face, and double pupils reappeared in his eyes.

He had come to eliminate a potential threat, only to find himself watching a romantic drama.

If Shi Wuyan had mistaken his relationship with Twelfth Madam Luo and meant to take revenge by secretly selling the Golden Boy’s identity to the Accumulated Evil Way, Ding Songyan would have sought her consent to destroy the cook, body and soul.

With that settled, Ding Songyan ate a late lunch at the Cheap Wine Shop, then went to the rear courtyard to greet Twelfth Madam Luo.

By now, Twelfth Madam Luo was so used to these visits that she could not even be bothered to acknowledge him.

Afterward, Ding Songyan returned to the estate’s side courtyard and spent a pleasant afternoon practicing his martial arts and writing his story.

Toward evening, Fan Chunlin and the others hurried back, their faces bright with barely contained excitement.

"What’s happened now?" Ding Songyan put away Frostshade, quick to notice their mood.

Fan Chunlin announced exuberantly, "A little over two hours ago, Altar-Cleansing Dragon King Huo Minglou of the Returning Abyss Order was killed aboard a pleasure boat on Golden Pool!"

He was the heretic ranked thirteenth on the Malevolent God Prison.

A Returning Abyss Order Grandmaster has been killed? Ding Songyan frowned slightly, seized by an ominous feeling.

Wu Mo added excitedly, "The killer was a woman. People on the shore saw her wearing a Jade Maiden mask!"

Ding Songyan’s expression froze. His whole body seemed to stiffen.

A Jade Maiden mask?

A jade-colored mask with peach-blossom-red makeup?

Li Baima spoke with heartfelt admiration.

"They say Huo Minglou didn’t last five moves. Who could that woman in the Jade Maiden mask be, to possess such terrifying strength?

"A powerhouse like that shouldn’t have been unknown until now."

The corner of Ding Songyan’s mouth twitched. He said nothing.

Fan Chunlin spoke with wistful fascination.

"She and the man who killed Evil Beyond Measure in a Golden Boy mask must be a couple—an immortal pair, devoted to slaying heretics."

"If I could travel the jianghu with a heroine like that, our swords side by side, I could die happy," Li Baima said enviously.

"Golden Boy and Jade Maiden, a Golden Jade Hero couple, what a match! They are too compatible!" Wu Mo also praised.

They were all young martial artists. How could they not be excited and yearn for such a legendary matter that had eliminated evil?

Ding Songyan’s expression had returned to normal, but he was gritting his teeth in his heart.

Alright, alright, alright. Is this how you play it?

As expected of my good sister!

He gritted his teeth as he relaxed a little.

Qingyan hadn’t directly come over to beat him up, choosing this method to show that she didn’t care about some of his previous petty tricks.

I wonder how much she has grasped and how she has grasped it... Ding Songyan’s thoughts raced as he smiled and said to Li Baima and the others, "I’ll go out and find out more."

...

Cheap Wine Shop, backyard.

Ding Songyan looked at Luo Mingyin, who was drinking tea in the main room, and asked with a smile, "Twelfth Madam, is there anyone you want to teach a lesson?"

Twelfth Madam Luo looked up at Ding Songyan and did not speak.

Her meaning was clear: Aren’t you one?

Ding Songyan coughed lightly.

"Apart from me, anyone else?"

"What are you doing? Why are you in such a hurry?" Twelfth Madam Luo asked with a smile. "I heard that a Jade Maiden appeared today. What’s her relationship with you, the Golden Boy? Your two masks are still in the east wing. They haven’t been taken away."

"That’s my enemy. I once offended her, but I can’t beat her now. I can only hide in the prince’s residence. Previously, I killed Sun Feiyang with the Golden Boy mask. Today, she’s wearing the Jade Maiden mask to frame me," Ding Songyan explained vaguely.

Twelfth Madam Luo thought seriously and said, "What did she set you up for?"

"Let the world misunderstand that she and I are a couple and ruin my clean reputation!" Ding Songyan replied without hesitation. "Besides, she wanted to kill someone from the Returning Abyss Order to begin with. Wearing the Jade Maiden facade can mislead the Martial Prohibition Bureau, Chengtian Prefecture, and the heretical sects, making them link this matter to my killing of Sun Feiyang and investigate in the wrong direction."

Love debt? Twelfth Madam Luo’s eyebrows twitched slightly.

"So what do you want to do?"

Ding Songyan said softly, "Muddy the waters and produce a few more Jade Maidens."