Eating

Outside the main gate of Zhen Manor on Beishui Street. Su Chongxiao had already learned Su Qingli's whereabouts from the Zhen family servants, who were gradually returning to normal, so he took the wooden box containing the huai fruit and prepared to go find her in Chengyu Lane. "Second Uncle! Second Uncle!" Su Qingli ran joyfully from one end of Beishui Street, like a bird dancing happily. Her maid Yuyao followed with some difficulty. "You saw Ding Erlang home?" Su Chongxiao secretly let out a breath, though outwardly he remained as light and detached as ever, utterly otherworldly. Su Qingli blinked. "How did you know?" "Anyone who meets you cannot help taking a few extra glances. And so they would recognize Ding Erlang too." Su Chongxiao often felt rather helpless. When his niece was smart, she really was smart, but when she did not want to use her brain, she could be especially muddled. He raised his left palm and showed the wooden box. "Back to Tianyang Guildhall. On the way, eat the huai fruit." "Ren Youyang did not want it?" Su Qingli was rather surprised. Su Chongxiao glanced at her. "He has already died and become a god. The huai fruit is useless to him now. Besides, did you not help him quite a bit?" "I just wanted to see whether he could live long enough to become a grandmaster." Su Qingli would never admit she had momentarily softened. She took the wooden box containing the huai fruit, then beckoned her second uncle closer with bright eyes. "Second Uncle, I have found out a huge secret!" Su Chongxiao leaned his ear closer, looking puzzled. "You must not tell anyone else. I promised Sect Master Tao that this matter would only circulate within the Su family." Su Qingli stated her condition first, then lowered her voice to a whisper. "The Zhen family matter involves Yan Changqing, the Juesheng Dao's previous sect master who disappeared long ago. He found the missing Kunlun and entered the Heavenly Emperor's traveling palace..." Su Chongxiao immediately straightened and said in a low voice: "We will talk after we are on the boat." How could such a thing be discussed in the street? Not even a whisper would be safe—not even with the Great Void illusory realm to hide it! Without giving Su Qingli a chance to argue, Su Chongxiao said seriously to the two of them: "After we return to Tianyang Guildhall, I will give you only a quarter of an hour to pack. Then we board the boat and set off." "Weren't we going to the dock in the evening?" Su Qingli's face was full of confusion. Su Chongxiao glanced at Yuyao, then withdrew his gaze and said to his niece: "I trust Sect Master Tao's word, but I do not trust the others. If we do not leave now, when will we?" Seeing Second Uncle invoke his authority as an elder, Su Qingli stammered: "Then let me go find Ding Erlang again. He is the first friend I made while traveling in the jianghu. I cannot leave without saying goodbye. Yuyao, Yuyao, help me pack my things first!" As she spoke, Su Qingli gradually became more self-assured, taking the stance that Second Uncle had promised she could go, and that if he refused, she would sneak off and go anyway. Su Chongxiao felt a headache coming on. He sighed. "Go quickly and return quickly. If you take more than one incense stick's time, go straight to the east-side dock. Yuyao will pack your things and bring them." "Second Uncle, you are the best~" Su Qingli said with smiling eyes. She returned the box containing the huai fruit to Su Chongxiao and turned to dash out of Beishui Street. "Take it with you and eat it on the way, before anything goes wrong!" Su Chongxiao could no longer maintain his elegant bearing and shouted loudly. Su Qingli turned back gracefully, smiling. "If I eat it, I will have to adjust. I am afraid I will break Ding Erlang's door! I will eat it after we are on the boat~" Leaving behind a string of laughter, she vanished into Beishui Street. Su Chongxiao shook his head helplessly. He could only blame his elder brother and sister-in-law for spoiling the child beyond measure. He turned to instruct Yuyao. "Return to Tianyang Guildhall at once and pack." ........ East-side dock. A tower ship was entering the middle of the river, preparing to go downstream. In a cabin on the top deck, Qi Xiaoxiang sat by the window, quietly watching the city wall gate. With a creak, the door opened, and Qiu Chen entered, having changed back into a scholar's robe and a four-square peace cap. After he and Qi Xiaoxiang fled into the forest, they made a wide loop, erased their trail, secretly circled back to the dock, and boarded this tower ship prepared in the name of a certain trading company. Qiu Chen looked at Qi Xiaoxiang with pity and said softly: "My condolences." In this situation, he did not know how to comfort her. He felt that any words would only bring new pain. Qi Xiaoxiang nodded slightly but said nothing. After thinking for a while, Qiu Chen finally found a topic. "Where is your sect master?" Qi Xiaoxiang withdrew her gaze from outside the window, looked at Qiu Chen, and said: "The sect master said earlier that he has his own way to leave this place. We do not need to wait for him. We are to meet him at Xinfu City." Xinfu City lay in the deep mountains north of the river, at the border of the three states of Zhao, Gan, and Yu, and was notorious as a place no one governed. Qiu Chen sighed. "I wonder what gains your sect master made this time." After all, he had a share in it. "I do not know yet." Qi Xiaoxiang stood and said calmly, "I will go see the people of the sect." Seeing that Qi Xiaoxiang seemed a little better, Qiu Chen smiled self-deprecatingly. "I have always been good with words, but for some reason, when I am alone with you, Sister Xiaoxiang, I always get tongue-tied and cannot think of anything good to say. Just now too—I clearly care for you, but I do not know how to say it." Qi Xiaoxiang glanced at Qiu Chen but did not respond, nor did her expression change. She walked slowly toward the door. Qiu Chen hummed a line of lyrics in self-mockery. "When the false is made true, the true is false as well..." While humming, he turned to look out the window and gazed at the city of Dingjiang Prefecture. To him, the better part of a year had been wonderful, so wonderful that he had even thought of retiring from the jianghu. Suddenly, the tip of a short sword pierced through his throat, accompanied by a stream of bright red blood. "Hah... hah..." Qiu Chen tried to turn with difficulty to see who was behind him, but was held in place by the short sword and could not. With a thud, Qiu Chen, his life ebbing, fell onto the small table by the window. Using the movement, he turned over and looked at Qi Xiaoxiang, who was pulling back the short sword. Qi Xiaoxiang said expressionlessly: "I cultivate the Book of Rejecting Sagehood and Discarding Wisdom. Of course you would be tongue-tied." Drip. A drop of crimson blood slid from the tip of her short sword and fell to the deck. Another drop. And another. Qiu Chen's eyes were wide, full of confusion, pain, and disbelief. From his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth crawled numerous "moth seeds" like large red ants. Qi Xiaoxiang looked at him coldly and said: "The Qi Xiaoxiang of the past was indeed kind-hearted, resilient and strong. She was pitiable, and worthy of pity. But in the demon den, she was already dead. What lives now is merely a vicious ghost—willingly debased, abetting evil, and skilled at exploiting others' pity." The woman's lips slowly curved into a very faint smile. The light in Qiu Chen's eyes froze. He exhaled his last breath. The "moth seeds" flying around the room fell to the floor one after another, motionless. Qi Xiaoxiang wiped the short sword with her lapel, found a book on the corpse, left the room, and nodded to the Juesheng Dao disciple guarding the wooden staircase. "Clean this up." She put away the short sword, flipped through the book, then turned and walked to the other side, to the room at the end, and pushed open the wooden door. The room had a thick, dark brown felt rug with a flavor of the western deserts; it was soft and silent underfoot. By the window stood a person with their back to Qi Xiaoxiang, wearing a pale scallion-white short blouse edged with silver embroidery and a light, goose-yellow silk skirt. Their black hair hung loosely, long and shining. Qi Xiaoxiang was startled for a moment, then quickly saluted. "Sect Master, when did you return?" Ji Hanyi turned her body sideways and nodded with a smile. "I was here before you boarded. You have worked hard." Qi Xiaoxiang lowered her head and said respectfully. "It is what this subordinate should do." Ji Hanyi looked at Qi Xiaoxiang for a while, her smile gradually fading. She turned back and looked toward the not-too-distant east-side dock. "Did you get the Classic of the Moth God?" "I have it, but there is no aperture crafting method." Qi Xiaoxiang offered with both hands the book she had found on Qiu Chen's body and waited for the sect master to take it. "Qiu Chen also altered some of the text in the Classic of the Moth God." Ji Hanyi gave a soft "mm". "It does not matter. Put the manual on the table and leave." "Yes, Sect Master." Qi Xiaoxiang stepped forward and placed the Classic of the Moth God on the desk where brush, ink, paper, and inkstone were laid out. After she left and closed the door, restoring quiet to the room, Ji Hanyi looked toward another tower ship that was weighing anchor and preparing to sail. That tower ship had its sails half full and slowly left the east-side dock. On its deck stood a tall old man. The old man wore a straight-cut robe of fine kudzu cloth and a Huayang cap. His beard and hair were white, his face plain and ancient-looking. In his hand he held a brush and was writing and drawing in an account book. As if sensing Ji Hanyi's gaze, he raised his head and looked in that direction. Ji Hanyi smiled faintly and nodded. The old man nodded lightly, withdrew his gaze, and continued writing something in the account book. ........ In the Ding family's courtyard in Chengyu Lane. After checking on Ding Songyan's condition, Zheng Zhuxi returned to the watchtower. Only Xu Chang'an stayed, sizing up Ding Songyan in disbelief. "Second Brother Ding, when did you meet Zheng Zhuxi? You two seem... to have some connection?" Ding Songyan gave the fellow a sidelong glance. "I met her when I went to the Xiaoming Sect to report the case." Xu Chang'an made a fuss. "The Zhen Manor affair?" Ding Songyan smiled. "The Zhen Manor affair is settled." Xu Chang'an relaxed and suddenly understood. "I knew it. Why else was there thunder and rain only over there?" After saying that, he peeked into the house. "Is Sister Qingyan not here?" Why aren't you leaving yet? I need to eat the Hundun's remains! Ding Songyan thought, then said irritably, "She went to copy Buddhist scriptures for my mother." The few traces of warmth that had arisen in him just now had turned into impatience. "Oh, okay." Xu Chang'an looked disappointed. "I still have things to do. You should go back first." Ding Songyan urged. Without Sister Qingyan there, Xu Chang'an took his leave without a shred of reluctance. Ding Songyan quickly closed the courtyard gate, dropped the bolt, then returned inside and carefully checked the surroundings. He was truly a little afraid that Ji the demoness might suddenly pop out. ........ In the cabin of the tower ship. Ji Hanyi withdrew her gaze from the surging, ever-changing river, sat down, and carefully coiled her hair into a bun before the glass-faced silver mirror. Then she took out a silver hairpin that was fairly finely made but had no floral ornament set into it and slowly inserted it. She looked left and right, and Ji Hanyi smiled. She stood, raised a pale wrist, and put a large yellow sac-like mass into her mouth. ........ Feeling the quiet and heat of the afternoon, listening to the cicadas and dogs barking outside, Ding Songyan closed his eyes, bit down, and swallowed the small lump of Hundun's remains. His mouth, throat, and stomach were instantly seared as if by fire, and caved inward. After a few breaths, a vast, unfathomable power burst forth, surging toward every corner of Ding Songyan's body, trying to pull them toward the core, bringing intense pain. Ding Songyan's spirit and soul felt the same, but he found that part of his consciousness had merged into the void, looking down at his body from above, coldly watching it undergo various changes. At the entrance of Chengyu Lane, Su Qingli tapped the ground lightly with her toes and ran nimbly to the outside of the Ding family courtyard. She was about to knock on the gate when a strong sense of fear suddenly welled up in her heart, and she instinctively stepped back. She could not help raising her right hand and covering her eyes. Inside the room, Ding Songyan endured the severe pain and found his skin taking on more yellow. His internal organs were visible as if through empty space, red as fire. Within his body, masses of illusory light, strange organs, and meridians that had not existed before condensed into being. The invisible power spread outward and created even more points and clusters of light in the void, countless, outnumbering the stars. Ding Songyan's legs first grew dark, then four additional nearly invisible legs extended from them. They pinned down the six directions—up, down, left, right, front, and back—completely freezing the airflow inside the room. On Ding Songyan's back, with a bang, four phantom wings of different colors opened. One was a spring day full of life, with fresh green sprouting; one was a scorching summer with lingering flames; one was a golden autumn with abundant grain and fruit and crisp, clear skies; one was deep winter with ten thousand miles of ice and white snow. Finally, a mass of dark chaos quickly formed between Ding Songyan's brows. It spun continuously and swallowed his features inside. Hundun, being eaten, established the six directions, divided the four seasons, spread the Way and Virtue, quelled demons and dispelled evil, and returned all things to one. (End of Volume)