Chapter 289: Puzzlement

When Ding Songyan said "I couldn’t worry about that" and thought "If I’m exposed, I’m exposed," all his tangled thoughts settled, as if he had thrown off a very heavy burden. He felt much lighter, and his mind became like a mirror, wiped spotless in an instant, illuminating the heaven and earth around him.

Secrets were important, and exposure was a big problem that would bring rather serious consequences. While there was still a chance, he really should be careful about concealing it. But it wasn’t everything. There were things more important than it, and when something had to be given up, Ding Songyan was capable of giving it up.

And once it was given up, what mattered wasn’t regret or remorse, or wondering whether there had been a better way to handle things before. It was thinking about how to deal with what came next, how to meet each problem as it arrived.

Ding Songyan looked around once more. He still saw no trace of Demoness Ji and no reinforcements coming from the direction of the Flame Capital. The Brightnight Sect disciples, who had survived a close call, were still a bit dazed and at a loss.

Just then, Zheng Zhuxi’s eyes seemed to light up, as if condensing starlight, every point of it brilliant, reflecting Ding Songyan’s face.

Her voice carried a hint of delight and relief as she said, "Junior Brother, I’ve thought it through."

"Huh?" Ding Songyan was a little confused, but he quickly understood what his senior sister meant.

Zheng Zhuxi gave a smile with pursed lips and didn’t bring it up again.

It had all vanished like smoke, so why mention it?

The young woman said, with faint dimples, "I’ve gotten a bit of a sense of the external apertures. In seven days to a month, I should be able to enter the Dharma Realm. By next year, we’ll be two perfectly matched swords to travel the jianghu together."

"You gained that from this?" Ding Songyan was pleasantly surprised.

He hadn’t expected Ji Hanyi’s attack this time to actually help his senior sister break through a realm.

He was pleasantly surprised, but not too shocked. In his view, Zheng Zhuxi had long since formed her own Candle Heart. Under his guidance, she had come to understand how complex the world is, knowing worldly ways without being worldly herself, knowing there was gray beyond black and white without stepping into it. She had also been tempered by the Huangliang Sect, his Master’s death, and other events, and had matured early. Measured against what the Dharma Realm demanded, her mindset was more than enough.

And since Zheng Zhuxi had also cultivated the Mystical Pass True-Nature Preservation Art, her soul and consciousness were close to the Dharma Realm level too. Her becoming a Grandmaster was a sure thing. It was only a matter of sooner or later, and she might not even need to travel the jianghu.

Had Demoness Ji’s attack, by sheer accident, helped Senior Sister sort out some subtle emotions and made her Candle Heart even clearer? A Dharma Realm Grandmaster at twenty-two would be extremely rare in the whole world, not someone that had leaped to the top in one go can compare with... And a certain someone was even more terrifying. Judging from her own account, she must have become a Heaven-Man at twenty-three or twenty-four, which even if not unprecedented, would have still overshadowed several generations... Ding Songyan’s mind was lively and carefree, as if he had forgotten the consequences of his secret being exposed.

Zheng Zhuxi was more concerned than he was.

"Junior Brother, what do you plan to do next?"

"We’ll see how things go." Ding Songyan smiled and said quietly, "At worst, I’ll pretend to fall into the unorthodox path and betray the sect, then come back as a reformed prodigal once I become a Heaven-Man. As long as it doesn’t implicate the sect and doesn’t make you misunderstand me, Senior Sister, I don’t mind."

That might not be such a bad way to live either.

Zheng Zhuxi’s eyes suddenly reddened. She sheathed her sword and said softly, "I’ll always believe you."

She extended her right hand to Ding Songyan.

Seeing this, and thinking they might be apart for a while, Ding Songyan was filled with mixed feelings. He put Frostshade away and reached out to clasp his senior sister’s hand. Her skin was smooth, warm, and soft.

If it weren’t for the external threats, his dream was just to study martial arts in earnest, with a wife, kids, and a cozy home, and a couple of drinks with his buddies. Why was that so hard?

With their hands clasped, Zheng Zhuxi felt as though she were walking on a pile of cotton, light and soft.

Suddenly, she remembered something. She turned her head to look at the other side of the road and saw a dozen or so Brightnight Sect disciples still conscious, staring blankly at the two of them.

A crimson flush surged like a tide from Zheng Zhuxi’s neck all the way to her cheeks. She instinctively tried to pull her hand back, but Ding Songyan took hold of it in return and interlaced their fingers.

Zheng Zhuxi struggled for a moment, then gave up and tried hard to focus on serious matters.

She looked at Ding Songyan and began to speak thoughtfully, her voice unconsciously gone soft.

"Junior Brother, did you hear Autumnwater’s clear cry?"

"No." Ding Songyan thought back for a moment.

Zheng Zhuxi gradually regained her ability to think and explained how she had used Autumnwater’s spirituality to call for help. Even Ding Songyan, who had already arrived nearby, hadn’t heard that mournful cry.

"It must have been that someone sealed off this area," Ding Songyan concluded.

He was all too familiar with this method. It was probably the Heaven-Man Realm’s Establishing the Six Directions.

He and Zheng Zhuxi looked toward the Flame Capital at the same time and saw no passersby and no reinforcements coming.

Could none of the martial artists in the watchtower, the soldiers guarding the city, or the travelers coming and going have seen my Chaos Four Wings? Is something blocking things around me? Ding Songyan sucked in a breath through his teeth.

There was only one person he could think of who could pull off something like this without him noticing.

Ding Songyan then used the Chaos Realm to check the condition of the Brightnight Sect disciples and caravan hands lying in the woods and by the roadside. Some were unconscious and some injured, but none were in danger of dying.

The demoness went to all that trouble to attack, yet didn’t kill a single person, didn’t expose my secret, lost two moth-man Grandmasters, helped Senior Sister break through a realm, brought our relationship a step closer, and even helped my mindset and cultivation advance...

Ji Hanyi, are you flirting with me here?

What exactly are you up to?

What’s your real purpose?

Ding Songyan racked his brain but couldn’t figure out what his little sister was planning. Still, he gained a more vivid understanding of how terrifying a Chaos Heaven-Man was.

Although I was in a hurry to save Senior Sister and was somewhat careless about watching my surroundings, to seal off the heaven and earth around me silently and keep me from noticing is truly terrifying...

Did my little sister become a Heaven-Man through the Six Directions method? She’s especially outstanding in this regard...

I was just thinking about making noise to mark my position and draw help, but now it looks like I badly underestimated my little sister. If she really wanted to act, I would have been taken down already and unable to call for help from outside...

She was worried Twelfth Madam was lurking in the dark, so testing with moth-men first is a normal approach. But once she confirmed Twelfth Madam wasn’t there, she still didn’t show herself at all...

Her attack on Senior Sister is strange too. Except at Twelfth Madam’s place, Senior Sister and I have been behaving properly, just like in Dingjiang Prefecture. If she disapproved, why wait until today?

And when I was deriving the Scripture of Utmost Sincerity earlier, I got no warning of possible bloodshed either...

Only now did Ding Songyan and Zheng Zhuxi hear sounds coming from a distance. It was another caravan and some other travelers, who seemed to have walked for a long time without getting very far, and without noticing it themselves.

"Junior Brother, you carry the bodies into the woods and spirit channel them. I’ll instruct our fellow disciples and clean up the traces," Zheng Zhuxi said, having calmed down.

Since her junior brother’s secret didn’t seem to have been exposed yet, they might as well keep trying.

As for what Demoness Ji’s purpose was, they’d worry about that later.

Ding Songyan let go of her hand and quickly moved Hou Yang’s and He Jin’s bodies deep into the woods.

He didn’t think spirit channeling would get any useful information. He had already learned everything he needed from He Jin’s dream. But Hou Yang’s martial art had some reference value and could be folded into the Unified Way Sword.

Looking at the bodies of Hou Yang and He Jin, Ding Songyan suddenly sighed.

What do you two count as? Died from the "flirting" between Ji Hanyi and Ding Songyan?

No, you two were dead long ago, turned into moth-men long ago.

Wu Zheng, though, hasn’t even done anything yet, and his enemies have died just like that. He must feel pretty disappointed and miserable...

Outside the woods, Zheng Zhuxi didn’t rush to wake the unconscious hands and fellow disciples. First, she solemnly bowed to the dozen or so conscious Brightnight Sect disciples.

"Fellow disciples, Junior Brother Ding’s secret concerns the sect’s future. Please keep it a secret and don’t spread it. It’s best that those who know not discuss it among themselves either. If you have doubts, you can confirm with the Sect Master when we return to the mountain."

Zheng Zhuxi didn’t know whether these disciples would be targeted or whether they could keep the secret. She could only choose to trust them.

She wasn’t an evil heretic who’d slaughter fellow disciples to silence them, and she didn’t know any secret art to erase others’ memories either.

Things would work out somehow. Even if it’s exposed, there’s a way to live with exposure.

After the Brightnight Sect disciples agreed, Zheng Zhuxi led them to free the caravan members and clean up the traces of the fight.

Before long, another caravan and a few travelers passed by without noticing anything unusual.

Phew... Zheng Zhuxi quietly exhaled and said to the lead steward from the sect, "Master Uncle Ren, this attack had nothing to do with you. The caravan can continue to Changhua. I’ll find another way back."

The steward, whose eyes had double pupils, didn’t ask any questions. He simply glanced at the woods with a sigh.

Martial Nephew Ding is already a Dharma Realm Grandmaster, and the kind who can kill a same-realm powerhouse with one strike...

When I get back to the sect, I should ask around about his deeds and see if there’s anything I can learn from him...

The steward quickly arranged for the caravan to set off again, sending only the few who were wounded back to the Flame Capital.

In the woods, Ding Songyan memorized the martial art Hou Yang had used, called Soul-Startling Pierce.

He also asked He Jin’s ghost while he was at it, but couldn’t learn where the Sage-Severing Way’s hideout in the Flame Capital was, and, as he had expected, didn’t get any more information.

After using Bringing All Things Into Unity to dispose of the bodies and delivering the ghosts to the afterlife, Ding Songyan left the woods, helped his senior sister clean up the remaining traces, and then returned to the Flame Capital with her.

As they neared the city gate, both of them grew more alert, but nobody paid attention to Ding Songyan. They only had eyes for the beauty.

The place was as bustling as ever.

Little Sister’s mind is hard to read... Ding Songyan shook his head and wound through streets and alleys with his senior sister back to the Cheap Wine Shop.

"What’s this?" Twelfth Madam Luo, who had been painting at the desk, looked up.

Ding Songyan told her everything that had happened today in detail, and Zheng Zhuxi added her side of the story.

Twelfth Madam Luo raised her eyebrows slightly, as if pondering Ji Hanyi’s intent.

After a long while, she huffed and said to Ding Songyan, "Someone as scheming and full of tricks as Demoness Ji is something only you can figure out."

"I’m clueless this time either." Ding Songyan admitted that he had been outplayed this round.

"Forget it." Twelfth Madam Luo sighed. "I’ll take Miss Zheng to Juque County first, then change her reality to match a name and have her go back to Changhua with another caravan."

The shopkeeper glanced at Ding Songyan.

"You don’t come along. It’s easy for Demoness Ji to deduce your future, but hard to figure out the two of us together.

"Go visit Jiang Lanting at the Yin-Yang Temple and come back tomorrow."

This was to guard against falling for Ji Hanyi’s diversion tactic, only to discover that Ding Songyan had been taken away after sending Zheng Zhuxi off.