Chapter 89: Clues
Chapter 89: Clues
The moment he fired the sleeve arrow at Ding Songyan, Xie Zi’an didn’t spare him another glance. He spun around, seized the square table in the main hall, and hurled it at Zheng Zhuxi, who was guarding the doorway.
In this veteran escort guard’s eyes, Zheng Zhuxi was far more dangerous than Ding Songyan.
The young man had just called Zheng Zhuxi "Senior Sister," which meant he had clearly just been recruited and was most likely still in the aperture-forging stage!
And Zheng Zhuxi was blocking the doorway, cutting off his escape. By every measure—feeling, logic, and tactical position—he had to focus his attack in that direction. That was his only chance of getting out alive.
There was still a Brightnight Sect disciple keeping watch outside, but once he was out of this cramped building, Xie Zi’an was confident that with the Seven Mysteries of Wind and Fire, even if he couldn’t win, he could certainly escape.
His plan was to rush out of the lane before the watchtower could react, jump into the river beneath Fengshui Bridge, use the water to flee to a property in the north of the city bought under someone else’s name, hide in the cellar until things cooled down, then find a way to slip out of the city.
He hadn’t considered fleeing through the river channels directly into the main waterway. Every sluice gate and water outlet in Great Zhao was fitted with a mechanism consisting of sharp rotating blades that spun with the current and shredded any large floating object to prevent blockages. This deterred everyone who might otherwise attempt to escape that way, unless they practiced an indestructible-body art.
The moment the table left Xie Zi’an’s hands, it cracked apart with a loud splintering into dozens upon dozens of fragments. Every piece burst into crimson flames, and in the sudden howling wind they surged toward Zheng Zhuxi like a sky full of burning arrows.
Wind fanning fire, her entire field of vision blazed red in an instant.
Autumnwater rippled into motion. Her sword traced a wide arc, force reined inward and candleflame intent held back, as though carving a considerable vortex out of thin air. The vast majority of the scattered burning fragments were drawn into it.
The fragments tumbled like fledglings homing to the trees, clattering as they fell limply to the ground or colliding with one another and raining fire down, while the remaining burning fragments flew over her head and past her sides out into the courtyard.
The Candlelight Illuminates All move of the Seven Swords of Candlelit Night.
Xie Zi’an seized the opening. His body became a howling gale, and he swept past Zheng Zhuxi to rush into the courtyard.
Though past sixty, his physical condition had not deteriorated much. He was still at the standard of fourth rank, Mortal Surpassed.
He didn’t doubt he could beat Zheng Zhuxi, who had entered the Great Proliferation Realm less than a year ago—he simply had no desire for a drawn-out fight that might bog him down and cost him his chance to escape.
Behind him, beyond his attention, the sleeve arrow he had fired was slowing with every passing instant—like a fly caught in a spider’s web—until in the blink of an eye nothing about it seemed threatening except its dark-green sheen.
With a ring of steel, Ding Songyan drew Frostshade and used the crimson tassel to flick the dark-green sleeve arrow aside.
Without a flicker of expression, he thrust the sword at the center of Xie Zi’an’s back.
A flash of light appeared. The thrust was arrow-fast, reaching the center of Xie Zi’an’s back before he could run out of the main hall.
Sensing the dangerous qi, the hair on Xie Zi’an’s back stood on end all at once. He forced himself to turn around and swung his right fist in a horizontal sweep, carrying a gale strong enough to send a child flying as he hammered it toward the blade of Frostshade.
Flames blazed up across the surface of his fist, their colors crimson to near-white.
The moment the fist met the blade, Ding Songyan withdrew Frostshade like a striking snake pulling back.
An instant later he thrust again swiftly like a meteor tearing across the sky.
Xie Zian did not dare to be negligent. With no time to be surprised at his opponent’s ability, he raised his left fist and swung at the blade in anticipation.
This time he would detonate wind and fire, create enough chaos to break free, and get out of the courtyard.
Just then, he noticed with a start that Frostshade had slowed in an uncanny way, as though rushing water had been frozen solid—all momentum gone.
Crack!
That deceleration sent Xie Zi’an’s fist swinging through empty air, and his qi and blood surged in turmoil.
Almost simultaneously, the crystal-clear blade miraculously "broke free" of the freeze and shot forward without warning.
With a cold flash, it grazed past his fist and sank into Xie Zi’an’s throat.
The tip drove upward, force surging forth without restraint.
Xie Zi’an clutched both hands to his throat, gurgling as he collapsed to the ground.
Frostshade withdrew and hung pointing toward the ground. Trickling bright red blood raced across the crystal-beautiful blade, gathering into beads that dropped one by one, blooming against the packed earth below.
Zheng Zhuxi had just deflected the sky-filling swarm of burning fragments when this scene met her eyes.
She froze.
In a daze, she let her gaze travel up from the blade of Frostshade to Ding Songyan’s face, which was as calm as ever.
Thud. Xie Zi’an’s body hit the door’s threshold.
"You..." Zheng Zhuxi blurted out instinctively, staring at Ding Songyan.
Xie Zi’an had been ranked at fourth rank, Mortal Surpassed. Even if age had caught up with him, he had to be at least fifth rank, Profound Discerned. And you killed him in the space of a few breaths?
He wasn’t using any demonic artifacts—there’s nothing for you to counter!
Are you still going to claim it was just luck, coincidence, or chance?
Ding Songyan, experienced as he was, made no immediate explanation. He said directly, "Senior Sister, we need to enter the yin-walking state quickly."
Xie Zi’an’s involvement might be connected to his own soul-hijacking resurrection, and he had no wish to bring the yamen into it—he intended to handle the questioning himself. So when the man chose to fight and run, he had used his true strength at the Dharma Realm level for the first time. Short of manifesting his external apertures to create a Chaos Realm, it was an all-out effort.
"Establish the Six Directions" to slow the sleeve arrow, "Divide the Four Seasons" to create the change in speed, and the "Deceive" technique to instill a belief with the first thrust. Hence, in three moves, a fourth-rank Mortal Surpassed was dead.
As for how to explain this to his senior sister later, that could wait.
He could think through his phrasing while in his yin-walking state.
"All right." Zheng Zhuxi recognized that questioning the soul was the more pressing matter.
"Junior Sister Zheng, Junior Brother Ding, what happened?" Xue Xian, keeping watch outside, called out upon hearing the commotion within.
The courtyard gate was half-open, and all she had seen were burning fragments flying out and landing nearby.
"Senior Sister Xue, it’s over now. We’ll explain later," Zheng Zhuxi called back. "Watch the gate. Don’t let anyone in."
While she spoke with Xue Xian, Ding Songyan, still with his yin-eyes activated, turned to Xie Zi’an’s trembling ghost and let a chill creep into his voice.
"In the second half of June, who was secretly coming and going through your courtyard?"
He was following the script of his earlier bluff. By invoking Qu Zhongheng’s name, the words he had fabricated from guesswork had proven unexpectedly persuasive. It tore through Xie Zi’an’s defenses in an instant and drove him to lash out.
"I don’t know..." Xie Zi’an’s ghost answered, bewildered and not daring to resist.
Don’t know—not "there was no one"... Ding Songyan’s spirits sharpened.
"Why don’t you know?"
Xie Zi’an hung his head, his voice trembling.
"The person came from the underworld, went straight into the west wing’s room, rested there, and then left back through the underworld. I never saw them and didn’t dare pry. I only did as I was told—leaving food at the door each day. They would take it when the time suited them and return the dishes later. I don’t even know whether it was a man or a woman."
Moving freely in and out of the underworld? That’s on the level of Brother Youyang. Some kind of ghost-deity, perhaps? Or a special art? Ding Songyan suddenly recalled something.
According to his master, Ji Hanyi had vanished from the Zhen estate without a trace—the constables, soldiers, and Brightnight Sect disciples stationed outside had all failed to detect her departure.
Could it be that Demoness Ji had escaped from the Zhen estate and from Dingjiang itself through the underworld? As soon as the thought came, more followed.
Back then, Demoness Ji had walked the stretch from Chengyu Lane to Fengshui Bridge with me several times. The masterminds were still there at that point, so nothing had changed yet. And Demoness Ji possessed the Celestial Heart herself. There was a real chance she had sensed the anomaly and discovered the person hidden in Xie Zi’an’s room!
And with her Celestial Heart and perfected Dharma Realm, had she seen something during my soul-hijacking resurrection? Was that one of the reasons she had spared my life?
Had Demoness Ji then made contact with the masterminds, colluded with them, and used their power to escape Dingjiang Prefecture through the underworld?
His thoughts raced, but his voice was pressing.
"Who told you to prepare a room for this person and bring food each day?"
"World Scorcher Envoy of the Renewal Way, Jing Fei," Xie Zi’an’s ghost answered truthfully.
The Renewal Way—one of the Upper Nine... After his time at the Brightnight Sect, Ding Songyan had developed a solid understanding of the Twenty-One Heretical Ways.
The Renewal Way was said to have split off from Shennong Hall—one of the five great Sacred Grounds in the world—and carried on the legacy of the Flame Emperor’s Book of Renewal.
They did not go out of their way to do harm, yet they were deeply extreme. They proclaimed that only by returning all things to their origin could everything be renewed, only then could the present state of severed heaven-and-earth connection be changed and the age of diminished powers transcended. To that end, they were devoted to destroying the mortal world and every nation within it. In ordinary times they did nothing evil, but when they moved, they brought catastrophe.
This brought to mind one of the descriptions of the Flame Emperor’s legacy: "Renewing All Things."
Moreover, because the physical anomalies produced by Renewal Way’s martial arts were identical to those of Shennong Hall and related orthodox lineages, the authorities found them difficult to distinguish. They frequently slipped into cities undetected.
Another one of the Upper Nine lurking behind the Zhen estate affair? Ding Songyan said in a low voice, "What is your connection to Jing Fei, the World Scorcher Envoy of the Renewal Way?"
At the same time, Zheng Zhuxi, listening from the side, offered Ding Songyan a reminder,
"The Renewal Way’s sect leader, Perfected Wuxuan, is one of the four Sages of the Unorthodox."
A Sage is indeed involved... Ding Songyan ruminated over Zheng Zhuxi’s words while he listened to Xie Zi’an’s answer.
"I was an escort guard, so I had dealings with bandits and heretics from all over. When conveying shipments, we tried our best to pass through by reputation, connections, or paying a toll rather than fighting. If we forced our way through every time, even an iron body wouldn’t hold up.
"That’s how I came to know Jing Fei. I would help him out from time to time in exchange for favors."
"Did Jing Fei say anything else when he gave you your instructions?" Ding Songyan pressed.
"Nothing." Xie Zi’an’s lingering soul was fading steadily.
Ding Songyan thought for a moment and asked, "During that period, did you notice anything unusual? Did anything strange happen?"
After a moment’s silence, Xie Zi’an’s lingering soul spoke.
"During that period, I kept dreaming of a strange sound. It was like— like—I can’t put it into words."
"Try to imitate it." Both Ding Songyan and Zheng Zhuxi grew very focused.
Xie Zi’an thought back, then opened his dark-green-tinged mouth.
"It sounded like this— like—yes, like a bird’s call..."
Then, after a pause, the lingering soul let out a birdcall—neither clear nor bright.
"Scree!"