Only after Ji Hanyi's figure vanished into the darkness of the torrential rain did Ding Songyan come back to his senses:
The demoness just left like that?
Spared me?
She's not setting a trap for me, is she?
No, that's not right either. If she'd wanted to kill me just now, it would've been no different from killing a goose—there'd be no reason to go out of her way to spare me just to lay a trap...
Is she interested in my secret of dying and coming back to life? Doesn't seem like it. I was just about to blurt it out to beg for my life, and she had no interest in hearing it and simply walked off—and clearly not because a grandmaster of the official forces was closing in...
As thoughts crowded his mind, Ding Songyan suddenly remembered something.
Last night, Ding Qingyan—that is, Ji Hanyi—had made him swear an oath, and one of its terms was that "he would not die."
"In the end, the one who decides whether I live or die is herself..." A rather absurd thought came to Ding Songyan out of nowhere. "If I hadn't sworn that oath last night, or had sworn it half-heartedly, would I have really died just now?"
As this thought took hold, he suddenly recalled the rest of the oath:
"He would not abandon his little sister, and would take her wherever he went..."
Ding Songyan's mouth twitched despite himself:
"So it turns out that when I only said 'little sister' back then, without her full name, it was the demoness quietly working her power?"
"Hiss... the demoness isn't going to keep haunting me from now on, is she..."
…………
The big bean-sized raindrops kept falling, but the sky seemed to have brightened a little.
Ji Hanyi walked through the curtain of rain as though she carried an invisible straw cape and bamboo hat of her own; not a strand of her hair nor her clothes showed the slightest trace of damp.
Suddenly the woman in the scallion-white, front-fastening short jacket halted, turned, and looked across the still-dark lotus pond opposite her.
She said with a soft laugh:
"I suppose I've lent you a hand too, haven't I?
Now it's your turn to help me escape Dingjiang Prefecture."
Across the lotus pond there was only silence, yet that patch of darkness seemed to stir faintly.
…………
On the archer's tower of the eastern barbican.
Yi Qincang saw Li Zhi come charging over again, swinging two dead horses, driving back the constables, soldiers, and Xiaoming Sect disciples who were trying to shut the barbican gate.
This county lieutenant of Linjiang County drew two more white-feathered arrows and loosed them in quick succession.
The arrow behind flew faster than the one in front, quickly catching up and striking the tail of the first, making it suddenly accelerate, letting out a sound of tearing through the air and kindling specks of crimson flame.
"Two Stars Chasing the Moon."
As the arrow behind dropped to the ground, the one in front tore through the air currents inside the barbican and, with ferocious force, struck one of the dead horses Li Zhi was swinging.
With a strange thud, the arrow pierced through the horse's body and blasted open a sizeable bloody hole.
Still not spent, it drove on and buried itself in Li Zhi's left ribs, piercing from the front all the way through to his back.
Li Zhi roared but did not pause; he let the arrow stay lodged in him, blood gradually welling out, and heedless of everything, kept swinging the dead horses, forcibly driving away everyone who dared approach the barbican gate, pushing them back no small distance.
He turned back around and, braving the many arrows shot down from above and from ahead, raced toward the city wall gate with divine-travel strides.
Swish, swish, swish!
With Yi Qincang's first hit landing, Li Zhi's "weapon" showed a small gap and was no longer whirled into an impenetrable blur, which let one of the arrows slip past the layered obstacles and strike his shoulder.
Enduring the pain, Li Zhi mustered his ferocity and kept swinging those two dead horses, charging back and forth to fight and kill—counting what came before, it was far more than seven times.
Finally, when he came to the barbican gate once more, two figures suddenly darted out of the crowd in the streets outside—Qi Xiaoxiang, dressed as a menial serving-woman, and Qiu Chen, disguised as a farmer.
Both had good footwork; in the blink of an eye they slipped into the barbican on either side of Li Zhi like loaches and raced toward the city wall gate.
Outside the city wall gate, a band of soldiers had regrouped, all preparing to draw their strong bows and loose a volley at the three.
Qiu Chen, no longer "shielded" by his giant weapon, kept up his high-speed run and suddenly clenched his right hand.
With a humming sound, out flew swarms of things from the cracks between the wall bricks, the weeds on either side, and the earth and stones.
Among them were mosquitoes, flies, moths, and bees, all sorts of insects and vermin, which swiftly engulfed those soldiers, then rammed at their eyes, burrowed into their ears, stung at their mouths, or crawled into their nostrils, leaving the soldiers scrambling and swatting in a sorry state, unable to attend to their bows and crossbows.
Seizing the chance, Qiu Chen and Qi Xiaoxiang each chose a side and dashed out the gate toward the horses scattered nearby; Li Zhi broke into a smile and, swinging the dead horses, was about to follow with divine-travel strides.
Seeing this, Yi Qincang's face turned livid, and he made an instant decision: he leaped down from the archer's tower into the barbican.
He stood right there and took out three white-feathered arrows, nocking all three on the bowstring at once and drawing it to the fullest.
Yi Qincang, together with the air around him, froze in an instant, as though brewing something.
Sensing the anomaly, Li Zhi spun around and hurled the two dead horses straight at Yi Qincang.
Having done this, he turned and ran at full speed toward the city wall gate.
Yi Qincang did not dodge; he stood there upright, a golden-red great sun reflected in his eyes.
Soundlessly, the three arrows burst into golden flame and shot out as afterimages.
Thud!
Yi Qincang was knocked to the ground by the two dead horses falling from the sky, his head split and bleeding, badly hurt.
This did not affect the three arrows; they passed through the gaps between the dead horses and their bloody holes and shot like lightning—one to the left, one to the center, one to the right—at Qiu Chen, Li Zhi, and Qi Xiaoxiang.
Li Zhi had just run to the city gate when his body suddenly froze.
A length of arrowhead protruded from his chest, dripping golden flame.
Silently it tore at his flesh and destroyed his organs.
The other two arrows also caught up at a terrifying speed with Qiu Chen and Qi Xiaoxiang, who were galloping away on horseback; this fake married couple both had a strong sense of impending danger.
Rich in jianghu experience, they abandoned their mounts without hesitation and rolled off their saddles at the same time.
Boom! Boom!
The two horses, struck by the arrows coated in golden flame, burst apart on the spot, flesh and blood flying everywhere, leaving no whole corpse.
"Sun-Piercing Arrow!"
After rolling several times, Qiu Chen and Qi Xiaoxiang immediately lunged toward the woods not far off.
While still in midair, Qi Xiaoxiang felt a sudden pang in her heart and forcibly twisted around to look back at the city wall gate.
She saw Li Zhi standing at the gate like an iron tower, this giant of a man with his leopard eyes glaring wide as bronze bells, the wound on his chest steadily widening.
The corners of Li Zhi's mouth stretched open beneath his thick beard, and with a smile he called out softly:
"Mother."
Thud! He pitched forward onto the ground, raising countless clouds of dust.
The great bandit of New Yu is slain this day.
…………
In Zhen Manor, in a certain empty room.
Having come back to his senses, Ding Songyan, while the yin eye's effect still held, hurriedly transferred the misty 'seed' into his right hand, meaning to take that small lump of Hundun's remains out of the Netherworld and eat it on the spot, lest delay breed complications.
This was also to guard against the demoness having other schemes that might one day turn against him.
A moment ago, Ding Songyan had let himself think toward the brighter side, but he felt that given the style and methods the demoness had shown, the odds leaned toward a bad reason, so he was willing to take the risk of eating the Hundun's remains. Otherwise, even if he managed to join a great sect, it would take him a good ten years just to reach the Dharma Realm—what would he have to use against the demoness?
And in the course of killing Yan Changqing, he had actually already confirmed that this thing really could be eaten; the only question was how much:
At the time, what had shattered Yan Changqing's composure and brought his mind to the brink of collapse had not been those last few questions, but that Ding Songyan had overcome his misdirection and thought of eating a bit of the Hundun's remains on the spot to gain temporary grandmaster-level power.
Once Ding Songyan revealed this intent, the invisible barrier Yan Changqing had woven from qi was instantly pierced more than halfway, and the dagger then churned up the flesh around the mystical gate at the crown of his skull.
This showed that Yan Changqing knew clearly that the Hundun's remains could be eaten, that they could let an ordinary person rise to heaven in a single step and become a Dharma Realm grandmaster—and since he himself had eaten the Hundun's remains and suffered greatly from it, no one understood this better than he.
With this understanding, Ding Songyan's later questions were simply going along with the flow. Even if they proved useless, he still had one strand of "qi," enough to help his left hand break off a bit of the Hundun's remains and bring it to his mouth. By then, even if digestion took time and some effort, Yan Changqing—unable to move his hands or feet, let alone run—would be powerless to do anything about him. Relying only on a Heaven Heart imprint that had not yet fully recovered, it would most likely be unable to affect Ding Songyan, whose soul and spirit were both being remade by Hundun's power.
Exhaling... Ding Songyan reached his hand toward that jet-black stone pillar.
Ever since he transmigrated here, he had lived a life controlled by others, with no freedom of his own. He did not want to fall into such a state again, did not want to wait helplessly for death—and for that, he was willing to gamble!
If he was afraid to risk himself in everything, he would never get anything done, especially not something this important!
Just then, a figure wearing a crude iron crown and a black robe embroidered with a scatter of stars came rushing in from outside the courtyard.
Seeing Ding Songyan, Tao Wenshu let out a breath of relief and asked, speaking rather quickly:
"Where's the demoness?"
Her gaze fell on Yan Changqing's corpse on the rattan bed.
"She left a dozen or so breaths ago." Ding Songyan had no choice but to stop his attempt to touch the jet-black stone pillar, and could not help a round of silent grumbling:
You look like Heroine Zheng's mother—how did you have to come at such an inconvenient time?
Come earlier, and I wouldn't have had to be so scared in front of the demoness; come later, and I'd have already eaten the Hundun's remains and secured my gains. You just had to show up at this neither-early-nor-late moment!
Never mind, I'll just chalk it up to good things being worth the wait...
Just as Ding Songyan moved the misty 'seed' back into his sea of consciousness, he saw Tao Wenshu step in one stride to stand before him and point the deep-black sword scabbard at the spot between his brows.
"Let me first help you remove the Heaven Heart imprint." Her mature, gentle voice reached Ding Songyan's ears.
Ding Songyan, who had done this before, was just about to relax his body and mind when he suddenly gave a start.
No, no—if Master Yan's "qi" gets removed too, how will I retrieve the Hundun's remains?
Though touching the Netherworld is my own special trait, and it's not impossible that I'll find another way to trigger it someday, the longer this drags on, the more variables there'll be—what if some passing wild ghost happens to eat it?
For instance...
Ding Songyan turned his gaze to Yan Changqing's dazed remnant soul, still lingering beside the corpse.
Not fully relaxing his body and mind, he hurriedly sank the misty 'seed' deep into his glittering golden sea of consciousness, hiding it with all his might.
As the deep-black sword scabbard touched the spot between his brows, the space above his sea of consciousness seemed to light up with a candle flame, radiating warm, faintly yellow light in all directions.
This lit up the depths, leaving the shadows belonging to Ji Hanyi and the lingering traces of Yan Changqing with nowhere to hide; they gradually melted away in the candlelight.
But the misty 'seed' that Ding Songyan had deliberately hidden deep within the illusory ocean was not illuminated.
When the faintly yellow light faded, Ding Songyan quietly let out a breath:
Seems the Candle-Illumination sword intent really does require the target to relax body and mind before it can work fully...
I wonder if it has a side that can forcibly illuminate, like the Juesheng Dao's Heaven Heart imprint...
Tao Wenshu withdrew the sword scabbard and, pointing at Yan Changqing's corpse, said:
"The demoness killed him?"
"It was this junior who killed him." Ding Songyan picked out the key points and told the whole story from start to finish, concealing only that he had cut off a small lump of the Hundun's remains. "Thanks to Heroine Zheng's sword intent, this junior was able to break free of Yan Changqing's control for a moment; afterward, the demoness's Heaven Heart imprint kept entangling with him. Unfortunately, the demoness sensed it too, and the moment this junior finished killing Yan Changqing, she arrived."
Hearing that Ding Songyan had even mentioned "questioning Yan Changqing about entering the Heavenly Emperor's traveling palace," Tao Wenshu nodded slightly and said:
"The demoness seems to have vanished into thin air."
Then she turned her gaze to the mottled dagger not far in front of Ding Songyan:
"So this is what cut that thing that seems to be Hundun's remains?"
"Yes, it's the dagger Yan Changqing had this junior bring." Ding Songyan did not say that it was he himself, and not the demoness, who had cut off the Hundun's remains.
Tao Wenshu looked at Ding Songyan again and, after a moment's deliberation, said with a solemn expression:
"Are you willing to take me as your master?"
Huh? So direct? Shouldn't she first rule out my suspicion? The scene Ding Songyan had dreamed of had arrived, yet caught him entirely off guard.
Then a flash of understanding came to him.
Whether or not he had learned from Yan Changqing the whereabouts of Kunlun or the burial place of the Heavenly Emperor's treasures, taking him into her sect was one of the best ways for Tao Wenshu to handle things right now:
If he had gained nothing, the Xiaoming Sect would merely have one more disciple, which it could easily afford to support; if he had gained something, his future achievements would be limitless, and the Xiaoming Sect would share in his glory—and even if anything else came up, it would still stay within the family. Moreover, in the course of this, if he needed help to explore the Heavenly Emperor's traveling palace, he would surely turn to his own sect first.
And by offering to take him as a disciple first, before pressing him on whether he had gained anything, and showing sincerity, she would be better able to win his heart.
Thinking of how the nonhuman folk formed the ruling class in the Gan Kingdom, Ding Songyan, his thoughts churning, finally made a deep bow:
"This disciple is willing."
"We'll hold the formal discipleship ceremony once we return to the sect." Tao Wenshu stopped Ding Songyan from making the full formal bow, then thought for a moment and said, "Do you have any idea why the demoness would spare you?"
This question was asked in the manner of a master, completely different from just before.
Chapter 56