Radiant Blade of the Wilderness

Chapter 233: A Sudden Assault

Recalling what he had read about the Xiangshe, Ding Songyan could not keep the corner of his mouth from twitching.

Does the Yin-Yang Order take the yin-yang business a little too far?

Is the so-called Way Lord of Yin-Yang and Myriad Forms merely the Xiangshe in another guise, or has the Order elevated its legacy to the principle of yin and yang returning to the Supreme Ultimate?

The singers, unaware of the truth, laughed at Jiang Lanting’s declaration that Young Master Jiang had lost and Miss Jiang had taken his place. Given Jiang’s looks and bearing, such jokes were common. Some people even challenged Jiang to fights in hopes of seeing him dress as a woman. The singers thought nothing of it.

After that mock rebuke, Jiang Lanting laughed too, not truly angry at all. Laughing hard enough to shake, Jiang leaned against the singer beside him.

For a moment, Ding Songyan could not tell which of them was taking advantage of the other.

Xie Fengchao continued speaking into Ding Songyan’s ear.

"Lanting used to struggle with his body. He thought of himself as a monster, always insisted he was a man, and wore only loose men’s clothes. He wouldn’t get angry when people teased him about being a woman dressed as a man, but he didn’t like it either.

"But he was born with both yin and yang, and the Boundless Forms Art and Two Principles Divine Sword require the same of their cultivators. If he remained at odds with himself, his cultivation could hardly advance. He has extraordinary talent—the Yin-Yang Order’s most promising disciple in a century—yet nearly three years after perfecting the Great Proliferation Realm, he still hasn’t entered the Dharma Realm.

"Perhaps Li Linquan’s becoming a Grandmaster spurred him on. Recently he’s begun to accept the female side of himself and has told a few of us about the pain and confusion he once felt. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have known he was born with yin and yang in one body, or understood this aspect of the Yin-Yang Order’s arts.

"Most Yin-Yang Order disciples suffer similar confusion. Unlike Lanting, they weren’t born this way; their cultivation changed them, and many suffer even more deeply. That’s why word of the Order’s male-and-female nature seldom reaches outsiders. Few disciples wish to reveal what they see as a shameful part of themselves. If Lanting hadn’t called himself Miss Jiang today, I wouldn’t be telling you any of this.

"Second Ding, please keep this to yourself."

Ding Songyan nodded and answered softly, "At most, I’ll mention it to the women close to me and ask them not to tell anyone else."

He did not want any woman close to him to be "fooled" by Miss Jiang.

He means Miss Zheng? She has a heart for the vulnerable. Promise or no promise, she’d never turn the Yin-Yang Order’s suffering into gossip... Reassured, Xie Fengchao agreed.

He added, "Lanting is easygoing and came to accept his female side faster than most. These days, whether he’s Young Master Jiang or Miss Jiang depends on his mood. Call him whichever you like in private, but ask what he prefers before introducing him to others."

So that’s why you paused during the introduction. You waited for Jiang Lanting to say whether to use Young Master or Miss... Ding Songyan immediately realized the details from before.

In truth, he had many questions, but hesitated to ask for fear of reopening Jiang Lanting’s old wounds.

When he had read the Secret Classic of Mountains and Seas, he had never quite understood its claim that the Xiangshe was both male and female. He had thought only of an artificial change from his previous life. Meeting Young Master Brightstream Jiang Lanting showed him how different this was.

The Xiangshe’s resemblance to a hen pheasant meant Yin-Yang Order disciples would tend to look feminine. But Jiang Lanting’s beauty had to be natural. None of the Xiangshe’s four traits improved one’s appearance, and the Boundless Forms Art could neither change the body fundamentally nor reproduce another art at full strength.

I understand the male-and-female part now, but what does it mean to reproduce alone? How is that possible?

And apart from someone born like Jiang Lanting, how do other Yin-Yang Order disciples become both male and female? Does it develop gradually as they forge apertures and install viscera, like their other bodily changes? Or is it implanted directly, then assimilated like an installed viscera?

If it’s the latter, could the Yin-Yang Order perform that kind of bodily alteration for others?

For the moment, Ding Songyan’s curiosity about the Yin-Yang Order outweighed even his desire for the Boundless Forms Art.

Jiang Lanting glanced at him and chuckled.

"It seems Young Hero Ding has plenty of questions. Fengchao, let’s switch seats. Since I lost, I may as well satisfy his curiosity."

"What could you two have to say that we can’t hear?" Xie Fengchao teased as he rose to exchange seats with Jiang Lanting.

Jiang Lanting sat beside Ding Songyan and leaned closer, smiling eyes fixed on him.

"I won’t answer anything too impertinent."

A delicate, refreshing fragrance reached Ding Songyan, as though the plum blossoms on Blossoms Mountain had already opened.

Had he not known Jiang Lanting or heard Xie Fengchao’s explanation, Ding Songyan would have taken the person beside him for a peerless beauty.

Keeping some distance from Jiang Lanting’s ear, he projected true qi to gather his words and carry them forward.

"Is becoming both male and female part of the viscera installation?"

"Partly. The rest develops through cultivation," Jiang Lanting answered softly. "That’s why the additional side can’t reproduce until the Dharma Realm. Unless you’re born this way, as I was."

The radiant beauty straightened and lowered her voice to address Xie Fengchao and Bai Qilin, "Quite a few eunuchs who retire from the palace come to the Yin-Yang Order hoping we’ll fit them with a donkey’s penis. It helps a little, but not as much as they hope. It only truly works if they master the Boundless Forms Art to the perfected Great Proliferation Realm, and most already cultivate other arts. They cannot take ours up alongside them.

"We call it ’fitting a look.’ Ha! It looks impressive, but it is only for show."

How did the conversation turn so filthy? Fairy Brightstream, I can barely look you in the face now. Oh, wait. You’re Young Master Jiang again, not Miss Jiang... Ding Songyan grumbled inwardly.

Jokes at the eunuchs’ expense were a Flame Capital custom. Xie Fengchao joined Jiang Lanting in teasing them for a while, and Ding Songyan and Bai Qilin chimed in now and then.

Afterward, Ding Songyan asked a few more questions about having yin and yang, male and female, in one body. He did not press too far; that would have been rude.

They listened to songs, drank tea, ate snacks, and traded amusing stories. Before long, the talk turned to martial arts. Ding Songyan learned a great deal from Bai Qilin’s Tianyu Scripture and Book of Mountains, Rivers, Wind, and Rain, as well as Jiang Lanting’s Record of Myriad Arts and Yin-Yang Two Principles Diagram.

The Boundless Forms Art originated from the Record of Myriad Arts; the Two Principles Divine Sword came from the Yin-Yang Two Principles Diagram.

With a little encouragement—and carefully placed flattery—from Ding Songyan, Jiang Lanting used the Boundless Forms Art to emulate several martial arts. Ding caught glimpses of how the art worked.

Ding Songyan held nothing back either, sharing his understanding of swordplay. As Jiang Lanting listened, the faint smile faded into thoughtfulness, then a new light shone in those beautiful eyes.

The Boundless Forms Art and Manifesting the Way and its Virtue had much in common. Ding Songyan’s ambition to bring all arts into one sword inspired him far more than it did the other two.

"No wonder Fengchao calls you a kindred spirit!" Jiang Lanting exclaimed with admiration, slapping the longsword laid on the stone table.

Xie Fengchao beamed with pride.

Would I have a second-rate friend?

Brother Ding is a martial prodigy!

As noon approached, Jiang Lanting looked around and smiled as brightly as a flower in bloom.

"Let’s find a proper meal. We can’t fill our stomachs with tea."

"Already arranged." Xie Fengchao was their host, and he always treated his guests properly.

Jiang Lanting rose, sounding a little disappointed.

"I was hoping to stroll down the mountain, pick a street-side wine shop at random, and try some ordinary local food."

"I’m afraid a stray piece of fruit might hit me," Xie Fengchao joked.

The people of the Flame Capital mostly watched the Peerless Beauties from a distance. They were less restrained around men from the Martial World’s Jade Tree Rankings.

Five Saints Sect disciples must be used to that kind of attention. All Colors Under Heaven Gather Unto You puts them in the spotlight from the start... Ding Songyan mused.

The four dismissed the singers and headed down the stone steps with their guards and attendants.

Without warning, a black shadow sprang from the withered weeds and streaked toward Jiang Lanting like a meteor.

The shadow was blurred, almost unreal. Its mouth opened, ready to spit several brightly colored grains of sand before anyone could react.

Then a clear, crystalline sword tip appeared in the assailant’s eyes.

It seemed to have been waiting in his path all along, letting him run straight onto it.

The assassin could not change course in time. He wrenched his waist and back, twisting sideways in midair and tilting his head just far enough to evade the point.

Even as he twisted, his weapon and the sand in his mouth remained trained on Young Master Brightstream Jiang Lanting.

The crystalline sword tip shifted with him. It was a tiny movement, but impossibly fast.

The assassin had no time to stop or dodge. He slammed straight into it.

Thud!

The sword tip pierced his mouth and emerged from the back of his head.

Blood flowed soundlessly. As Frostshade withdrew, the assassin fell to the ground with a thump, eyes wide. He died looking utterly bewildered.

When the mask was lifted, Jiang Lanting saw a face resembling a softshell turtle spirit and blurted in astonishment, his own sword still undrawn, "A Ghost Yu Way assassin? Who would hire a Ghost Yu Way assassin to kill me?"

He had plenty of enemies, but none who would go this far. Besides, those enemies would rather take him alive.

No one could answer Jiang Lanting’s question.

Stunned, Bai Qilin turned to Ding Songyan.

When had he drawn his sword?

He had merely held it there, and the assassin had run onto it himself?

That was even more ridiculous than waiting for a hare to run into a tree stump!

After a brief silence, Bai Qilin let out a breath and said to Ding Songyan, "No wonder Fengchao said your martial arts surpassed his."

Xie Fengchao had no time to feel pleased with himself. He reassured Jiang Lanting,

"Don’t worry. Ding Songyan can spirit channel. He can question the assassin for you."

Jiang Lanting’s eyes shifted toward Ding Songyan in surprise.

"I’d be grateful."

Then his fine brows drew together slightly, and he murmured to himself, "The assassin probably won’t know who hired him..."

Ding Songyan had been at a loss for leads on the Ghost Yu Way. He swiftly entered the spirit-channeling state, looked at the assassin’s ghost, and asked, "Who gave you the task of assassinating Young Master Brightstream?

"Who helped you gather information on him?"