Chapter 232: Young Master Brightstream
Chapter 232: Young Master Brightstream
"Meet whom?" Ding Songyan asked curiously as he followed Xie Fengchao into the family carriage.
Who could warrant such a formal introduction from Fifth Young Master Xie?
Xie Fengchao chuckled.
"You’ll know when you see him."
I’ll know on sight? Does this person have a distinctive appearance? Someone listed in Peerless Beauties of the Jianghu or the Martial World’s Jade Tree Rankings? Ding Songyan nodded thoughtfully and asked no more.
A surprise needs a little mystery. As long as it isn’t a bad one.
Incense smoke curled through the carriage. Xie Fengchao sat with his back straight and said, "I don’t know what’s gotten into Li Linquan. Lately he’s been asking everyone to spar, but he won’t use the Heaven-Splitting Thunderlight Sword. He sticks to the most ordinary sword moves, loses again and again, and still won’t give it up.
"If he weren’t Li Linquan, who would put up with such nonsense?"
The most ordinary sword moves? Is he trying to recreate the Unified Way Sword from his dream? Damn, have I led the Azure Thunder Exiled Immortal astray? He’s skipped every stage of learning and gone straight for the last one, where mountains are mountains again and water is water again. How could that teach him anything? The more he practices, the less he’ll understand... Ding Songyan had not expected Li Linquan to be such a martial fanatic.
You dare practice a sword art just because you dreamed it?
If I handed you the castration-needed Evil-Warding Sword Art, would you practice that too?
"Perhaps he had a sudden fancy. He’ll stop once he realizes those moves are useless," Ding Songyan replied casually.
They chatted as the carriage took them to Blossoms Mountain, northwest of Golden Pool.
It was called a mountain, but stood less than four hundred meters high. Its greenery had withered, and its plum blossoms had yet to bloom. The slopes looked desolate.
Ding Songyan stepped out of the carriage and followed Xie Fengchao up the stone steps. Before long, they reached a pavilion at the summit.
Household guards and attendants stood outside. Inside, several singers stood around two figures seated beside a stone table.
With one hand behind his back, Xie Fengchao strode into the pavilion, easy and debonair. He laughed.
"I’ve brought a guest."
He turned to one side and gestured toward Ding Songyan.
"Ding Songyan of the Brightnight Sect. He’s at the perfected Great Proliferation Realm and stronger than I am."
Fifth Xie is a real friend. He’ll lower himself to bolster my reputation, even if I don’t need the help... Ding Songyan cupped his hands with a smile.
"I was lucky, that’s all."
With a glance, he took in one of the two guests rising to greet him.
The guest wore a delicate bamboo crown and a loose, straight-cut robe of pale blue. Dark brows arched like distant hills above eyes clear as autumn water; a fine nose, soft lips, jade-pale skin, and white teeth completed the face. Bright patterns of many colors marked the body, though they formed no words.
As promised, Ding Songyan recognized the guest at once: someone from Peerless Beauties of the Jianghu—no, the Martial World’s Jade Tree Rankings. Young Master Brightstream, Jiang Lanting.
Are you sure you’re not a woman dressed as a man? Ding Songyan realized the portraits in the Martial World’s Jade Tree Rankings had been remarkably restrained. Jiang Lanting looked like a peerless beauty in men’s clothes, without even a trace of masculine bearing.
"I needn’t introduce this one, do I? Jiang Lanting, uh..." For some reason, Xie Fengchao trailed off.
"Young Master," Jiang Lanting supplied with a rueful smile. The voice was clear and bright, impossible to place as male or female.
"Right. Young Master Jiang." Xie Fengchao continued, "He’s Perfected Xiang’s final disciple in the Yin-Yang Order."
Perfected Xiang was the Yin-Yang Order’s Grand Elder, a Supreme Master who had not fought in decades.
Out of the corner of his eye, Ding Songyan glanced at Jiang Lanting’s throat. There was a distinct Adam’s apple, and it moved when Jiang spoke.
Apart from the Adam’s apple, that neck is long and graceful, pale and smooth... Ding Songyan withdrew his gaze rather than stare rudely.
After Ding Songyan and Jiang Lanting exchanged greetings, Xie Fengchao gestured to the other guest.
"Brother Bai Qilin of the Tianyu Sect. We became friends after a fight."
Only now did Ding Songyan turn his attention to Bai Qilin.
He had to admit that Young Master Brightstream was extraordinarily beautiful. Dressed as a woman, Jiang Lanting could have made Peerless Beauties of the Jianghu.
Bai Qilin was in his twenties, with an ordinary face easily overlooked in a crowd. Wisps of cyan qi swirled beside his earlobes, the space between his brows protruded slightly, and tufts of grasslike hair grew along his cheeks.
Ding Songyan knew of him too. The Tianyu Sect was one of Great Zhao’s Six Sects and Four Schools, carrying on the legacy of the ancient god Tianyu. Its arts followed nature, concealed their practitioners, let them roam mountains and rivers, and commanded wind and rain.
Bai Qilin was twenty-five and at the perfected Great Proliferation Realm. After losing to Xie Fengchao, he ranked ninety-seventh on the Orchid Fresh List. Among his generation in the Tianyu Sect, he was one of the top three.
The Orchid Fresh List was compiled by Great Zhao’s Langhuan Bureau and favored Zhao Kingdom martial artists. Young talents from the Gan, Yu, and Feng Kingdoms rarely made it unless they were exceptionally famous or had reached the Dharma Realm before thirty.
Bai Qilin was not a man of easy conversation. He exchanged only a few pleasantries.
Once everyone was seated, he asked Ding Songyan with some curiosity, "You beat Xie Fengchao?"
Xie Fengchao hurriedly signaled to Ding Songyan with his eyes.
Don’t tell them you beat me in ten breaths!
"Fifth Young Master Xie was so eager to win that he grew overconfident. He tried to defeat me at close range, and that was how I beat him." Every word Ding Songyan said was true.
As for how many moves it took, never mind that.
Ding Songyan knows just what to say... Xie Fengchao relaxed.
Bai Qilin nodded slightly.
"I see. Young Hero Ding, we should spar sometime."
"I’d welcome it," Ding Songyan said with genuine feeling.
Four singers placed an incense burner on the stone table and set a thick incense stick inside it. A faint woody scent spread through the pavilion.
Xie Fengchao made no secret of the matter, even before the singers. He gestured toward Jiang Lanting and told Ding Songyan with a smile,
"Young Master Jiang is carefree and good company. There’s no need to be stiff around him. Just a few days ago, he put on a Jade Maiden mask to teach someone a lesson, and the Martial Prohibition Bureau never caught him."
Ding Songyan had just taken a sip of tea. He nearly spat it out.
You wore a Jade Maiden mask too?
Wait. Wasn’t I the only male Jade Maiden?
Young Master Jiang, do you like dressing as a woman?
Ding Songyan made no attempt to hide his curiosity. He asked deliberately, "Did he?"
He almost followed up by asking whether Jiang was the male Jade Maiden who had attacked Hu Chaohui of the Sea-Treading Gang. But that would be beyond someone at the perfected Great Proliferation Realm, so he swallowed the question.
"The Jade Maiden in an opera costume, playing a young-woman role," Xie Fengchao answered for Jiang with a smile.
Jiang Lanting smiled, radiant and refined.
"Actually, I played a Golden Boy these past few days too. Also the one in an opera costume."
Both Golden Boy and Jade Maiden? Are you trying to make a couple all by yourself? I wore both masks too, but that’s different, isn’t it? Ding Songyan kept his complaints to himself.
As the singers served tea and snacks, Xie Fengchao and the others settled into casual conversation.
Jiang Lanting’s bright eyes turned toward Ding Songyan with keen interest.
"I’ve seen the Celestial Stars Sword Art before and picked up a move or two. Might I ask you to show me more, Young Hero Ding?"
Ding Songyan had long coveted the Boundless Forms Art, which could also emulate myriad other arts. Jiang’s proposal was exactly the opportunity he needed. Of course he agreed.
Xie Fengchao watched with eager interest.
He wanted to see whether Jiang Lanting, ranked forty-ninth on the Orchid Fresh List, could gain an edge over Ding Songyan.
He had yet to gauge Ding Songyan’s true strength, and he was keen to find out.
"Let’s spar with the incense smoke. No need for a serious fight." Jiang Lanting smiled, dazzling the singers across the table.
Once the singers set out a second burner and lit another stick, Young Master Brightstream pointed his right index finger. Sword qi shot out with a whistle, driving the nearer wisp of cyan smoke toward Ding Songyan as fast as Flying Star Piercing Dawn.
A fair imitation... but no double pupils... Ding Songyan watched Jiang Lanting’s eyes, then pointed a finger. Sword qi flashed out, sending the cyan smoke before him to intercept the oncoming wisp.
Though Ding Songyan moved second, his smoke arrived first. Jiang had no time to adjust course before the two wisps collided.
Jiang Lanting’s smoke scattered at once. Ding Songyan’s retained its force, curved through a tight arc, and shot toward Young Master Brightstream.
Even as they fought, Ding Songyan assessed what he saw.
It resembles Myriad Star True Qi, but has only about seventy percent of the power of Myriad Forms True Qi at the same realm...
And his eyes have never shown double pupils...
Does the Boundless Forms Art emulate other martial arts while keeping its own foundation unchanged? No matching alien apertures or nonhuman viscera appear, even temporarily?
The advantage is that he can use whichever art he wants without switching between them. The drawback is that the result is only a likeness, reproducing 60–70% of the original...
If he forces it with the Boundless Forms Art’s own true qi, he can probably bring the emulated art’s power close to the original. But he would lose its subtle variations and some of its distinctive traits...
Seeing his smoke dispersed, Jiang Lanting pointed his left index finger. Fresh smoke from the incense stick drifted forward as he tried to use Stars Turn, Constellations Shift to turn aside Ding Songyan’s attack and send it back.
Ding Songyan did not change his move. He merely poured more Candleflame True Qi into it.
The two wisps of cyan smoke collided again. Ding Songyan’s carried such weight and force, such overwhelming sword intent, that Jiang’s could only disperse most of the attack. It had no strength left to rebound it, and soon scattered again.
Jiang Lanting strained to raise more smoke in defense. Ding Songyan attacked straight on, letting one sword break all arts. He was taking full advantage of the fact that Jiang’s Boundless Forms Art could reproduce only 70% of the Celestial Stars Sword Art’s power.
"I’m done!" After a dozen exchanges, Jiang Lanting dispelled his sword qi with a show of wounded pride.
Teeth clenched and bright eyes blazing, he glared at Ding Songyan.
"How can you fight like that? We agreed to spar with the Celestial Stars Sword Art, but you used the same move over and over!"
Bro, do you realize how feminine you look and sound right now? Not that it’s unpleasant to watch... Ding Songyan chuckled.
"That was the Celestial Stars Sword Art at its most profound: one sword breaking all arts."
Jiang Lanting thought back over the exchange, then grew angrier still.
"You were only taking advantage because the Boundless Forms Art’s version of the Celestial Stars Sword Art is weaker than the real thing!"
"If I don’t exploit a weakness, why practice the sword at all?" Ding Songyan asked lightly.
Jiang Lanting had no answer.
"Young Master Jiang..." Bai Qilin tried to ease the tension.
Jiang Lanting cut him off with a resentful glare.
"Young Master Jiang lost. Now I’m Miss Jiang!"
What? Ding Songyan was taken aback.
Xie Fengchao leaned close to his ear and whispered, "Young Master Brightstream was born with yin and yang in one body, both male and female. No one could be better suited to the Yin-Yang Order’s arts."
Yin and yang in one body, both male and female? After his first shock, Ding Songyan realized which strange divine creature had given rise to the Yin-Yang Order’s arts:
The Xiangshe was a bird shaped like a hen pheasant, its body patterned in five colors. The result of consuming it? Harmonizes yin and yang, grants the power to emulate myriad arts, makes one both male and female, and allows one to reproduce alone.