Chapter 205: "Evil Spirit"

Upon hearing Liu Cheng’s praise, Ding Songyan gave an inward chuckle, his feelings somewhat mixed.

You’re just lucky. Had I not met Master and Senior Sister first, I’d have felt no qualms about using you, the Young Boss of a disreputable gang, as bait.

Ding Songyan disregarded Liu Cheng’s gratitude and said seriously, "Don’t let me catch you doing evil."

Liu Cheng paused, unsurprised yet somehow taken aback.

Such words were only natural from a Brightnight Sect disciple. What surprised him was that Brother Ding had struck him as quite an interesting fellow, rather flexible in certain respects.

Has principles, yet also resourceful? He upholds the Brightnight Sect’s chivalrous ideals yet understands the world’s complexities, without becoming rigid or extreme? There’s no limit to how far such a man could go... With a little more experience, he should soon become Resolute and enter the Dharma Realm... Liu Cheng collected his thoughts and said with a bitter smile, "While I was still in the Great Proliferation Realm, I noticed something. Many great clans and sects have histories stretching back over a thousand years, yet not one of these disreputable gangs lasts a hundred. My adoptive father founded the Sea-Treading Gang himself, and he’s only in his early seventies. The other two great gangs are much the same. All three rose to prominence in the Flame Capital within the past forty years.

"Were there no gangs before us? Did those gangs have no Grandmasters?

"I’ve always urged my adoptive father to consider a way out. Harmony brings wealth. We should separate certain businesses from the Sea-Treading Gang and work with the sects and great clans. Unfortunately, some things are easier said than done. Even with all this clear to me, I can’t keep my hands free of blood.

"Before the gang leader adopted me, I lived among the dregs and did plenty of evil. Afterward, to win his favor, I always led the charge against other gangs and showed no mercy. Only after entering the Dharma Realm could I slowly begin putting my own ideas into practice. For the past five years, I’ve tried to follow the maxim that harmony brings wealth. But in the jianghu, your life is never entirely your own. Unless you reach Heaven-Man, you still have to struggle through this tangled world. If you ever catch me doing evil, Brother Ding, act as justice demands. I’ll accept it."

"You’re certainly frank." Ding Songyan smiled faintly and had the two pretty maids come over to support Liu Cheng. He then headed for the front courtyard to search for traces left by the Envoy.

"Brother Ding," Liu Cheng called.

When Ding Songyan turned to look, he said solemnly, "You saved my life. I will repay that debt."

"Don’t worry. I won’t be shy about collecting." Ding Songyan turned away and left the second courtyard.

Watching him go, Liu Cheng suddenly realized something was amiss.

When Brother Ding said, "Don’t let me catch you doing evil," he seemed certain he could kill me and rid the people of a scourge. And I didn’t even find that strange...

Is he that confident in his strength and his future?

That confidence alone should be enough to make him a Grandmaster within six months or a year...

Or perhaps he already is?

When Ding Songyan reached the front courtyard, several Sea-Treading Gang members were gathered in a corner of the covered walkway.

"What are you looking at?" Ding Songyan asked, his eyelid twitching slightly.

This was precisely where he had caught the scent of sandalwood and jasmine.

"The assassin suddenly appeared here, dashed into the servants’ quarters, and vanished," one of the gang members answered.

When the Envoy left the underworld and returned to the world of the living, she appeared where she had left that sandalwood-and-jasmine scent? Ding Songyan suddenly suspected there was more to the fragrance than he had thought.

He retraced the Envoy’s escape route. The scents had already mingled, and the rich, woody fragrance with its hint of delicate sweetness was gone.

Standing in the corner of the covered walkway, Ding Songyan considered one possibility after another.

The Envoy can indeed use the underworld to infiltrate and escape...

Then why wasn’t she the one make the first attempt on Liu Cheng’s life? Wouldn’t she have been better suited to it than a Grandmaster cultivating the Accumulated Evil Divine Art?

It was the same when they silenced Qi Lingyi. They had to hire a Ghost Yu Way assassin to kill him, while she only destroyed his ghost...

Does that mean her use of the underworld is severely limited? Or does emerging from it leave her weakened or otherwise impaired, unable to exert her usual strength? Could she be unable to assassinate even a second-rate Grandmaster like Qi Lingyi?

Perhaps she simply isn’t good at direct combat...

Now that Liu Cheng is badly wounded, he’s a suitable target for her.

That thought led Ding Songyan to consider a few questions more deeply.

What does the world of the living look like from the underworld?

Can locations be pinpointed exactly, or are there overlaps and discrepancies?

The Envoy relies on an evil entity’s traits to enter and leave the underworld. If she stays too long, could she lose herself there and truly become a walking corpse?

All at once, Ding Songyan began to glimpse the purpose of the sandalwood-and-jasmine scent.

Could it work like soul-guiding incense?

The Envoy doesn’t cultivate an underworld art. Relying only on an evil entity’s traits, she can’t remain there for long. Once she exceeds that limit, does her awareness gradually blur as she becomes more like a ghost? In that state, would she be unable to leave on her own and need the sandalwood-and-jasmine scent to guide her?

When my Unifying Sword Qi wounded her and she bled in the underworld, did her awareness begin to blur ahead of time, leaving her dependent on the scent she’d laid down beforehand to return?

That would explain why she appeared where I smelled the sandalwood and jasmine...

In other words, she deliberately leaves these scents as markers. No wonder they don’t dissipate quickly...

Hence the sandalwood base...

While Ding Songyan was ruminating over these matters, people from the Martial Prohibition Bureau and the Chengtian Prefecture arrived.

The bureau already knew about both the Envoy’s sandalwood-and-jasmine scent and Ding Songyan’s gift of spirit channeling, so he gave a detailed account of what had happened. He concealed only his use of Unifying Sword Qi to wound the Envoy. Instead, he claimed that she had been unexpectedly discovered and, in her haste to flee, had triggered a change in the underworld, forcing her to leave it prematurely.

Director Huang, sent by the Martial Prohibition Bureau, noted these details and drew a preliminary portrait of the Envoy from Ding Songyan’s description and those of several Sea-Treading Gang members.

After several revisions, Ding Songyan and the others confirmed that the portrait closely resembled the Envoy. Director Huang gave a self-mocking smile.

"It’s not any great artistic skill on my part. After the third drawing, I recognized her and redrew the portrait based on her wanted notice."

"Who is she?" Ding Songyan asked at once.

Director Huang glanced at the Sea-Treading Gang members.

"Evil Spirit Fei Biru, foremost of the Accumulated Evil Way’s Evil Intent Envoys. A first-rank Spirit Resonated Grandmaster, sixty-first in the Malevolent God Prison of the Nine Hells Ranking."

Everyone in the Malevolent God Prison’s top hundred could be said to have a chance of reaching the Heaven-Man Realm. Just how much of a chance was something only they themselves knew.

The Accumulated Evil Way, just as expected... In truth, Ding Songyan had harbored no doubts since seeing Fei Biru’s face.

Besides Malevolent Envoys, the Accumulated Evil Way also had Evil Intent Envoys and Eight Winds Envoys. There were ten of each of the first two and eight of the last. Weaker Grandmasters served as their assistants.

Above the Malevolent Envoys, Evil Intent Envoys, and Eight Winds Envoys stood the Three Dread Gods, all Heaven-Men. Those in the jianghu often grouped them with their leader, Tan Guanchan, as the Four Dread Gods. Fei Biru’s master, Heretic Immortal Kong Wanzhen, was one of them.

After leaving Liu Cheng’s residence, Ding Songyan carried Frostshade along the Hengbo River toward Golden Pool. Colorful buildings and painted pleasure boats lined the way, with women in bright sleeves and jade hairpins everywhere. A medley of fragrances lingered in the streets and alleys.

Golden Pool was small only in relative terms. Before him spread rippling green waters dotted with pleasure boats.

Crowds thronged the shore. Some sang or performed for money, others practiced martial arts, and still others had come for an arranged match.

Ding Songyan found a stone bench beside the lake and sat down to enjoy the scenery and the bustle of everyday life. Amid all the noise, he felt a touch of loneliness.

He was here to wait for Fifth Xie, Xie Fengchao.

It would hardly do to come to the Flame Capital without visiting a friend. A few days earlier, Ding Songyan had sent Fifth Young Master Xie a message through Liheng Bank, arranging to meet on Golden Pool’s southern shore at four this afternoon.

As the scents of food and cosmetics drifted intermittently past, Ding Songyan sensed something and turned his head.

A young gentleman approached in a loose, wide-sleeved robe of water blue and a rakish bamboo crown.

With refined, handsome features and an elegant bearing, he looked like an immortal descended to earth. He walked over and sat beside Ding Songyan.

"Fuck, what a goddamn pain in the ass." No sooner had Fifth Young Master Xie settled onto the bench than he gave a sample of the Flame Capital’s refined speech.

Ding Songyan glanced at him.

"What’s bothering you?"

Seated with impeccable poise, Xie Fengchao said, "Damn it. Ever since I made the Orchid Fresh List, someone’s come to challenge me or ask for a spar every single day."

"Perhaps they think you got on the list by luck and they have a chance of beating you," Ding Songyan said with a smile.

Xie Fengchao sighed, resuming the cultured tones of a young gentleman from a great clan.

"The burdens of fame.

"On my way here, two wandering heroes recognized me and insisted on challenging me.

"Both were at the perfected Great Proliferation Realm, so they were suitable opponents. I reluctantly accepted and defeated them in the time it takes to drink two cups of tea."

So all that complaining was just to lead up to this? Ding Songyan suddenly felt that Fifth Xie was the same fellow he had always known.

"Two whole cups of tea?" Ding Songyan raised an eyebrow.

"They were among the stronger third-rank Form Transfigured fighters," Xie Fengchao said airily.

"I’d have needed no more than ten breaths," Ding Songyan said, deliberately provoking him.

Xie Fengchao turned in astonishment to stare at the friend he had not seen in so long.

Ten breaths?

Is he serious or bluffing?

Those were third-rank Form Transfigured fighters at the perfected Great Proliferation Realm!

......

Somewhere in the Flame Capital, inside a small building in a rear courtyard.

Evil Spirit Fei Biru stepped out of the shadows, took out a porcelain bottle, and tipped two bright-red pills into her mouth. She sat down cross-legged and began circulating her true qi.

Only after a long while did she open her eyes and exhale, seemingly past the worst.

"You failed?" A hoarse voice sounded in front of her.

Fei Biru could not help recalling the monstrous torrent of sword qi she had encountered in the underworld. Fear still lingered as she said gravely, "They anticipated our plan. They had a Supreme Master on guard!"