Chapter 222: Ditai’s Past

Night wind swept through the woods, stirring the fallen leaves. Beneath a dim moon, countless stars shone down on the travelers.

After protesting his innocence for a while, Ding Songyan, the bamboo basket on his back, asked with undisguised curiosity, "What Chapters are there in the Nine Canons besides Name and Reality?"

The world knew little of Ditai. Until recently, Ding Songyan had known only that it carried on the Celestial Thearch’s lineage and possessed the Thearch Scripture, also called the Nine Canons. Its Canon Keeper, Tang Yi, was one of the Gan Kingdom’s three Sages. Like Xiong Mo, the Tomb Keeper of the Imperial Ruins, however, he seldom intervened in worldly affairs.

Twelfth Madam Luo followed the murmuring stream downhill, walking stately one moment and lightly hopping over rocks and roots the next.

She gave an almost imperceptible nod.

"Way, Virtue, Presence, Absence, Mystic, Dharma, and Supreme."

The first four names made Ding Songyan even more certain that the Yellow Emperor Xuanyuan’s arts had grown out of Chaos. He must have written the other Chapters after uniting with the Great Way, branching out to forge a new path.

Twelfth Madam Luo continued, "Long ago, Ditai also split over a disagreement in principles. One faction held that, since the Celestial Thearch ruled all living beings, they could not ignore worldly affairs entirely. When necessary, they should send disciples out into the world or teach their arts to those with whom they had an affinity. The other believed that the heaven-earth severance carried on the Celestial Thearch’s will. With mortals and gods apart, they should govern through nonaction and never interfere unless someone sought to destroy heaven and earth.

"The faction that followed the path of nonaction left with the Way, Absence, Mystic, and Supreme Chapters and founded the Way and Virtue Temple. They live in seclusion and pass down their teachings in secret. As one of the Nine Reclusive Sects, they act only when the world falls into chaos."

Rumor had it that a cultivator of any martial art could switch to the Celestial Thearch’s legacy, and that its inheritors could cultivate other arts alongside it.

They teach those with an affinity so they can influence worldly affairs? Then Daoist Mingyu of Ditai must have had similar hopes for Twelfth Madam... I wonder whether I could be someone with an affinity too... The heaven-earth severance really has affected everything. Even the divisions within Ditai and Shennong Hall stem from it... Relaxed, Ding Songyan continued their idle conversation.

"Which are the Nine Reclusive Sects?"

He knew what the term meant: factions with Supreme Masters that shunned the world, each creating a secluded haven of its own. Their disciples were few, and only occasionally did one or two venture into the jianghu. Outsiders knew little about them, and the Brightnight Sect’s records did not list their names.

Twelfth Madam Luo glanced sideways at him and lifted her chin slightly.

"Can’t be bothered to tell you."

Ding Songyan was not discouraged in the least. His mood did not even change. After a moment’s thought, he asked, "Is the Imperial Vestments School one of them?"

Sun Yiguang, listed in Peerless Beauties of the Jianghu, was a disciple of the Imperial Vestments School.

"Yes," Twelfth Madam Luo said casually. "Of the Nine Reclusive Sects, only the Imperial Vestments School and the Auspice Gathering School lie south of the Great River. The Auspice Gathering School carries on the legacy of the celestial god Changcheng. Even a disciple who only reaches the perfected Great Proliferation Realm can live to three hundred."

Changcheng resembled a human with a leopard’s tail: master of auspicious fortune, embodiment of the nine virtues, ruler over calamity and malice, impervious to all evil, ageless and undying.

Ageless and undying... Now that’s something I’d love to learn... Mastering auspicious fortune, ruling over calamity and malice, impervious to all evil—could that be the ultimate expression of the Great Dream of Three Thousand Years’ control over misfortune and evil? Perhaps I could stroll through an army without so much as a hair being harmed... Ding Songyan let his imagination wander.

But he also knew that, with traits like those, meeting an Auspice Gathering School disciple would depend entirely on fate and whatever good fortune he had accumulated.

As a "continuation" of the most ancient Celestial Thearch, might I also attract the Quail Bird’s disciples, who tend the Thearch’s vestments, and Changcheng’s inheritors, who embody heaven’s nine virtues, unwittingly toward me? Still musing, Ding Songyan asked with a smile, "Twelfth Madam, have you ever met anyone from the Auspice Gathering School?"

"I have," Twelfth Madam Luo said, recalling the encounter. "Truly a virtuous person. Looked barely over twenty, but claimed to be seven hundred, with another century left before passing away in meditation."

Since the heaven-earth severance, even the ageless and undying could live no longer than eight hundred years. Many mighty figures had confirmed this limit.

As they chatted, something occurred to Ding Songyan. Enjoying the sharp night breeze through the woods, he asked casually, "Why isn’t the White Emperor’s lineage among the Five Sacred Grounds?"

The Five Sacred Grounds were Ditai of the Celestial Thearch’s lineage, Emperor Zhuanxu’s Imperial Ruins, the Flame Emperor’s Shennong Hall, the Azure Emperor’s Evergreen Island, and Nüwa’s Sovereign Wa Mountain beside Jianmu.

Twelfth Madam Luo chuckled.

"During the Youqiong Dynasty, they meant to name six. But the Everlasting School said, ’All we know is kill, kill, kill. There’s no need to call us a Sacred Ground.’ So there were only five."

"So the Everlasting School almost became a Sacred Ground." Ding Songyan remembered that school well. It was one of the first he had heard of.

The Everlasting School inherited the legacy of White Emperor Shaohao, cultivating the Seven Killings Scripture and the Golden Heaven Record. Its Grand Elder, Zhu Beidou, was one of the Gan Kingdom’s three Sages.

Jin Shaochong, a true-lineage disciple of its current generation, had set out to test his sword against the world, only to lose to Su Yunzhang of the Celestial Maiden School soon after leaving home. That was the first jianghu tale Ding Songyan had heard.

"No wonder Su Yunzhang called Jin Shaochong’s killing intent ’insufficiently firm.’ For an Everlasting School true-lineage disciple, there could hardly be a worse insult," Ding Songyan remarked with an amused laugh.

Twelfth Madam Luo murmured her agreement.

"It wasn’t necessarily bad for Jin Shaochong. A sword needs honing. How could a practitioner of Golden Virtue, Seven Killings, and Nine Weapons attain an unrivaled edge without suffering setbacks? If he can conquer his inner demons and see through his delusions, there’s no telling how far he’ll go."

I haven’t heard much about him lately. He’s probably still at the perfected Great Proliferation Realm, while Su Yunzhang is already a Dharma Realm Grandmaster... Ding Songyan chatted idly with Twelfth Madam Luo about the jianghu, occasionally sharing stories of their own experiences. They reached the Flame Capital just before the gates closed.

As soon as they entered Tiger Tail Alley, Ding Songyan spotted Chef Shi sitting on the ground in the darkness outside the Cheap Wine Shop.

Shi Wuyan’s gaze swept over Twelfth Madam Luo and Ding Songyan. After a moment’s silence, he nodded in greeting.

Then he turned and headed toward his lodgings near Pingnan Street.

"You’re always out roaming here and there, leaving the staff to run the wine shop. No wonder you hire so many people and pay them so well," Ding Songyan could not help remarking.

He even suspected that Twelfth Madam seldom checked the accounts and simply let the staff do as they pleased. Whatever the profits, the money was theirs anyway. The shopkeeper was only there for a meal, a taste of life’s many facets, and learning of jianghu news.

"What do you mean, roaming here and there? You make it sound awful." Twelfth Madam Luo rolled her eyes at him. "It’s called tempering my heart in the mortal world!"

"Yes, of course." Ding Songyan readily accepted the correction.

He lingered no longer, waving goodbye to Twelfth Madam Luo and heading back to the prince’s estate.

After the day’s events and their conversation on the way back, he felt that he and Twelfth Madam Luo had finally begun to form a genuine friendship.

Before, he had been more of a perceptive, thick-skinned young martial artist trying to cultivate a powerful acquaintance. He had noticed her unusual nature and helped conceal it, then used that connection, along with her easygoing kindness, to ingratiate himself without overstepping. He came by every day to become a familiar face and asked for help to draw them closer. That had hardly been friendship.

Returning openly to the side courtyard, Ding Songyan found Wu Mo, Fan Chunlin, and Li Baima sitting at the stone table.

"Still awake?" Ding Songyan chuckled.

"Where have you been, Brother Ding?" Fan Chunlin could not help asking.

Ding Songyan answered casually, "I went with Twelfth Madam Luo to Purple Cloud Mountain. If we’re putting on an act, we have to make it convincing."

"Why didn’t Twelfth Madam ask me to play along?" Wu Mo muttered.

Ding Songyan pointed to himself.

"You’re all smooth talkers looking to take liberties. How could Twelfth Madam trust you? We Brightnight Sect disciples, on the other hand, have a spotless reputation. Everyone knows that."

Fan Chunlin and the others already knew the Brightnight Sect’s reputation and believed him at once. After a few questions about the outing, they went back to their rooms to sleep.

Ding Songyan checked his room first, then sat cross-legged on the bed, closed his eyes, and began cultivating.

Daily homework could not be neglected.

He recalled watching Twelfth Madam Luo brew tea atop Purple Cloud Mountain, and his thoughts slowly settled once more. Like the sun, their brilliance faded into a magnificent afterglow, then into the stillness of all things beneath a sky so deep a blue it was almost black.

Some time later, Ding Songyan’s wandering awareness sensed another external aperture.

He swiftly finished condensing it and slowly opened his eyes, filled with quiet joy.

"Only three left..." Then Ding Songyan remembered that one of those three was the Returning Abyss aperture, and that Demoness Ji would very likely force her true qi on him to harmonize it. His worries came rushing back.

Much of his newfound serenity vanished at once.

He sighed inwardly in resignation.

This undeserved sister of mine really is my fated nemesis...

She was trouble when I first transmigrated into this world, and she’s still trouble now...

......

The next morning, Ding Songyan and his three companions were again on duty at the southeast corner gate.

Sometime after ten, they noticed what seemed to be quite a commotion at the main gate.

"What’s happening?" Li Baima asked, unable to hide his curiosity.

Ding Songyan and the other two shook their heads in unison.

"I’ll go and find out," Fan Chunlin said eagerly.

Normally, only two people were needed to guard the corner gate. The other two had more flexible duties: carrying messages inside, handling odd jobs, and watching for trouble. They could leave the gate for a while.

A short while later, Fan Chunlin emerged from the shadows and told the others with a smile, "Yu Chongyuan has come to visit."

"To see the princess consort?" Ding Songyan asked, puzzled.

The princess consort was a Five Saints Sect disciple.

"No. The Five Saints Sect is very strict about propriety. Yu Chongyuan is on the Martial World’s Jade Tree Rankings, and he’s so powerful too. How could he visit the princess consort in the inner quarters?" Fan Chunlin lowered his voice. "He’s here to see the prince."

"Oh." Understanding dawned on Li Baima’s face.

Seeing the others look his way, he explained quietly, "A few years ago, I heard Eunuch Zhang mention that Yu Chongyuan is a close friend of His Majesty and the prince. They’ve faced death together, roaming the jianghu, venturing deep into the Gan and Yu Kingdoms, and fighting their way across hundreds of miles. When they returned to Great Zhao from that journey, Yu Chongyuan entered the Dharma Realm and became a Grandmaster. His Majesty returned to the capital to take the throne soon afterward.

"Because those stories concern His Majesty’s past, the Martial Prohibition Bureau has forbidden people to spread them. No storyteller dares tell them, and only a few people know."

Friends who’ve faced death together... No wonder Yu Chongyuan came to the capital to help... Ding Songyan nodded thoughtfully.

With a trace of concern, he asked, "Did any other Five Saints Sect disciples come with him?"

I hope they don’t decide on a whim to use the southeast corner gate. I can’t afford to face All Colors Under Heaven Gather Unto You.

"It seems Miss Zhang came along too," Fan Chunlin said, his face lighting up.

Hiss... Ding Songyan suddenly felt a slight headache.