Yesterday, Ding Songyan had thought that since he had no substantial contact with this "honored guest"—with Zhen Manor's younger generation watching on all sides, and even verbal exchanges strictly limited—he would never fall under suspicion. Only then had he dared stake out a chance encounter in Beili Ward to witness the wonders of divination.
Who would have guessed that Zhen Manor operated on the principle of killing mistakenly rather than letting anyone slip through, going so far as to have their retained experts take turns tailing him under such circumstances?
As Ding Songyan saw it, if Zhen Manor was truly doing this because of the "honored guest" rather than having traced the origins of that copy of The Esoteric Classic of Mountains and Seas, then this "honored guest" should have foreseen how events would unfold. Yesterday, he had deliberately used divination and fateful opportunities as bait to dupe Ding Songyan into heading to Beili Ward to verify it. By doing so, Ding Songyan had been made to look overtly suspicious and abnormal in the eyes of the Zhen family.
Afterward, even if he chose to come clean to Zhen Manor, they would only suspect him of running a scheme within a scheme. Given his negligible status and background, his ending was not hard to imagine.
Truly, he wouldn't be able to wash himself clean even if he jumped into the Yellow River!
And even if Zhen Manor believed him, getting entangled in a matter they took so seriously meant the likelihood of being silenced afterward was at least ninety percent, if not a certainty.
How sinister the human heart is! I never provoked or offended you, yet right from the start you bore such malice, trying to drag me down with you! Ding Songyan felt a surge of rage. He fumbled to his side for his teacup, trying to soothe his emotions under the pretext of moistening his throat.
Though he had fought in the business world for years, he had at least lived in an orderly society with solid public security. He had genuinely never encountered someone trying to screw him over to death at their very first meeting. Furthermore, he was not well-versed in the esoteric wonders of this world's divine arts; he had assumed that as long as there was no overt communication, he would not be suspected. That was how he had landed in this dilemma.
Gulp. Ding Songyan swallowed a mouthful of tea, straining to calm his rage and panic.
One of his most crucial pieces of experience over the years was never to act on emotion—never to ponder matters or make decisions when fury, panic, fear, or other passions dominated his mind.
As his volatile emotions subsided, he caught a familiar whiff of something:
The scent of a con.
Many of the scams he had heard of, seen, or even experienced shared a common pattern: first shock, then entice. They would first use various methods to terrify, frighten, and disorient their target, or genuinely plunge them into dire straits. Then they would display their "status" or "power," seizing the chance to steer their utterly bewildered, panicked, and unthinking mark into doing things advantageous to the schemer.
Weren't your actions yesterday and your words today meant precisely to make me panic, fear, and dread? Let's see what you say next and how you plan to "entice" me... By the time Ding Songyan handed the teacup back to the Zhen family youth beside him, he had regained an initial measure of calm.
Within his mind, that hoarse, aged voice continued to echo:
"Even if this old man had not tricked you into going to Beili Ward, Zhen Manor would not have let you off.
"The moment they brought in someone outside the Zhen family to tell stories, this old man knew Zhen Qianfan could wait no longer.
"Think carefully: has the Zhen family taken control of your parents or elders to coerce you into keeping the storytelling quiet? Are the promises they made to you still unfulfilled, unmentioned unless you bring them up?
"In their eyes, the instant you agreed to tell stories, you were already a dead man."
Still "shocking" me... Still, the Zhen family's behavior is indeed abnormal. For something so secretive that I have to be blindfolded and led through twists and turns just to meet, they simply took my verbal promise to guard the secret at face value? Ding Songyan snapped open his folding fan once more and seamlessly resumed telling the portion where the White Maiden married Xu Xian.
"Young friend, you and this old man are grasshoppers tied to the same string. Only by setting aside past grievances and joining hands can we fight for a sliver of life from the jaws of death," the hoarse, aged voice urged further.
Here comes the "enticement"... Hard to say whether his motive is genuine or fake... Ding Songyan coolly evaluated the speaker's words without faltering in his storytelling.
The hoarse, aged voice echoed yet again:
"To show my sincerity, this old man will first lend you a strand of qi, allowing you to converse with me in your sea of consciousness without being overheard by Zhen Qianfan or those beside you.
"While stored within your body, this qi has various wondrous uses: in the eyes it can dispel illusions, in the hands it can wound foes, in the feet it aids in leaping, and in the soul it protects the self. However, you must remember that outside this dungeon, you have only two chances to use it."
Revealing the dagger at the end of the scroll at last? Your true aim is to trick me into relaxing my mind so that strand of "qi" can enter? Ding Songyan gave a cold inward sneer, having no intention of agreeing.
Right at that moment, the cooling sensation pouring down through the Celestial Gate at the crown of his head grew extraordinarily dense. Cascading inward like the Milky Way spilling over, it swiftly nurtured a misty, shimmering "seed."
With a gentle spin of this "seed," Ding Songyan felt as though his divine soul had split in two. One half continued smoothly reciting The Legend of the White Snake, rising and falling with emotion, while the other half shrank onto a vast, surging, shimmering expanse of an illusory ocean.
The sky blanketing the sea was completely enveloped in thick mist, except for a tear at the very apex where misty, clear light cascaded down.
Within that light stood a figure with his hands clasped behind his back, wearing a Huayang cap and a scholar's azure robe. His temples were streaked with gray, his face lean and gaunt, his demeanor refined and scholarly. His pitch-black eyes resembled deep, hidden pools.
He just forced that strand of qi straight in? Then why waste all those words earlier when I couldn't even resist anyway... Is this still part of the "enticement"? What cultivation art is this to be so wondrous... Ding Songyan was both shocked and suspicious.
Yet an elder possessing such miraculous arts was still imprisoned by Zhen Qianfan in this dungeon, unable to escape!
"Senior, what is your intention?" Ding Songyan took the initiative to cup his hands.
The elder took two paces with his hands behind his back, nodding in praise. "Your wits remain unshaken; your future holds promise."
First I need to have a future... Ding Songyan waited for him to continue.
The elder smiled faintly. "You need not panic for the next few days. Before you finish telling your story to this old man, and before Zhen Manor finds any clues, they will not do anything to you.
"As for this old man's goal, you should have guessed it: aid my escape, help me recover, and when the time comes, I shall grant you a grand fortune."
"Senior, this junior lacks even the strength to truss a chicken. What capability could I possibly possess to help you break free? Setting aside Old Master Zhen, even these two Zhen family disciples beside me could beat me to death with a few punches." Ding Songyan was amused by the sheer absurdity of the idea.
Aren't you overestimating me a bit too much?
The elder's dark eyes gazed at Ding Songyan as he said with utter tranquility, "High martial strength is merely icing on the cake. Lacking the strength to truss a chicken will not hinder you. Once you begin acting on my instructions, you will discover that those who walk the righteous path find abundant aid—plenty of people will help you."
"Then why does it have to be me?" Ding Songyan was not one to be easily duped.
The elder gave a slight nod. "Well said. You have the prudence of my younger days.
"To speak plainly, Zhen Qianfan sent you here to tell stories precisely so that I would use you. This old man is merely beating him at his own game. Otherwise, why would he specifically pick someone with virtually no ties to Zhen Manor and no martial arts to your name? So many disciples of the Zhen family have studied storytelling for so long; could they really fail to learn The Legend of the White Snake?"
That makes sense. Yesterday, Mr. Yu clearly followed me to Beili Ward, yet Zhen Manor had no reaction whatsoever today. Even with Ren Youyang's face to consider, if they decided not to kill me, they ought to have done something else. Acting like this now—isn't it glaringly obvious that they're setting a trap? Ding Songyan deliberately put on a look of agreement.
The elder looked up toward the heavily misted "sky" and chuckled. "Your performance has exceeded my expectations. It gives this old man hope."
"Senior, just what is going on here?" Ding Songyan played along, attempting to coax more details out of him.
Naturally, he understood that what the other man said was bound to be a mix of truth and falsehoods. He could neither believe it all nor dismiss it entirely.
The elder in the Huayang cap and azure robe paced toward Ding Songyan and sighed. "This old man was blind to take Zhen Qianfan as a life-and-death friend.
"My original name was Yan Changqing. In my youth, I came from a family of scholarly heritage. But one day, my elders provoked heretical evil forces, and our entire household was slaughtered—only I survived.
"That night, I had climbed over the wall to carouse with my profligate friends, and thus escaped calamity by chance. One of those friends was Zhen Qianfan.
"Later, I traveled far from home. Relying on ancestral connections, I joined a sect and cultivated divine arts.
"For the sake of revenge, I sought opportunities far and wide and met with many miraculous encounters, using them to sweep across the world for a time.
"Then one day, I returned to my hometown, only to find my childhood friends long scattered to the winds. I could find only Zhen Qianfan. His family fortunes had declined, and he had joined the Sishui Gang, cultivating that wretched Water Ape Divine Art.
"All alone in the world, I thought of our childhood friendship and our past together. I revealed myself to meet him, helped him acquire various resources, and assisted him in unearthing the Northern Darkness Fish-Back Scripture left behind by a predecessor—which could assimilate his Water Ape Divine Art. This allowed him to shatter the adage that 'one who is not a grandmaster by forty has no hope for life,' stepping into the Dharma Realm at the age of forty-two..."
Yan Changqing fell into reminiscence, even shifting his self-reference from "this old man" to "I."
As Ding Songyan listened, he analyzed which parts were true, which were false, and which could be verified.
Yan Changqing withdrew his gaze from the heights above, a faint trace of resentment creeping into his expression.
"This old man regarded him as a true brother, and he too honored me as an elder brother. But when I was grievously injured while seizing a divine relic and rushed to Dingjiang Prefecture to seek his protection, he coveted that relic. Treacherous and ungrateful, he struck to kill when I was vulnerable.
"Heh, fortunately, this old man had been mortally wounded earlier and didn't dare carry the divine relic on me. The moment I seized it, I hid it away in a secret place. Because Zhen Qianfan failed to find it on my person, he kept me alive, locking me in this dungeon to interrogate me day and night. By now, I don't even know how many days have passed."
Keeping the number of years he's been imprisoned vague—is he afraid I'll uncover his true identity? Ding Songyan hazarded a guess.
Yan Changqing regained his calm, detached bearing. "Zhen Qianfan has already reached sixty years of age and can wait no longer. All these abnormalities today stem from this."
"Why can he wait no longer?" Ding Songyan refrained from asking what the divine relic actually was; the man hadn't mentioned it just now, and asking would likely yield nothing.
Yan Changqing chuckled. "His Northern Darkness Fish-Back Scripture is incomplete. It has no continuation after reaching the Dharma Realm, and it harbors certain hidden flaws. Consequently, once he passed sixty, his body began deteriorating at an accelerated rate. Unless he finds the elixir of immortality, even longevity-extending treasures will merely grant him a few more decades of life without restoring his martial strength.
"That divine relic can aid him in this matter."
"So that's how it is." Ding Songyan put on an expression of sudden enlightenment, then casually asked, "Senior, which sect do you hail from?"
Yan Changqing fell silent for a moment. "Back then, for the sake of that divine relic, this old man betrayed my sect. Today, I no longer dare speak its name."
You're just afraid I'll trace it back to the sect and discover there never was any Yan Changqing, aren't you? Ding Songyan sneered coldly in his heart.
Chapter 26