Chapter 292: A Hint?
Chapter 292: A Hint?
Ding Songyan felt he had roughly made out the meaning behind his little sister’s words, but on closer thought he found she hadn’t really said anything.
This is a lot like my own methods of sophistry...
But I didn’t learn mine from Master Yan. I honed them in my previous life...
What Little Sister meant is probably that the dividing the Chaos consumption, with each side bearing yin or yang, really is tied to the Celestial Thearch’s palace and the heaven-earth severance, and will become a key link in someone else’s game. She doesn’t want to be a piece, and doesn’t intend to be a player either, so she hopes to flip the board? If she isn’t lying to me, we could at least cooperate on that. Unfortunately, she’s the leader of the Sage-Severing Way, and if even three words out of ten can be trusted, that’s already pretty good... Ding Songyan tried analyzing Sister Qingyan’s words, but for the time being didn’t take them at face value.
Just as he was about to keep fishing for more, Ji Hanyi curled her finger and flicked it lightly.
A ball of dark, murky Chaos true qi flew toward Ding Songyan, slow and steady, without losing any strength.
Ding Songyan reached out and caught it, letting the ball of true qi spin around in his palm.
Then he closed his eyes, wrapped his sister’s "gift" in his own Presence-Absence Myriad Forms Qi, and guided it to the "Returning Abyss" external aperture.
Ji Hanyi’s Chaos true qi quickly merged into the void’s energy, intertwining with the Presence-Absence Myriad Forms Qi, and rapidly refined the aperture, carrying yin and embracing yang.
In an instant, Ding Songyan felt the void around him darken, with a sense of heaven and earth sinking and all things returning to unity.
His soul was powerful and his spirit resilient. He resisted the collapse in time and held on to balance and stability.
Deriving all things and destroying oneself to return to unity coexist... This is Chaos... Ding Songyan opened his eyes to a field of darkness.
He had finally reached the perfected Dharma Realm.
Ding Songyan tried sensing Ji Hanyi’s energy through the "Returning Abyss" aperture but gained nothing. Conversely, she shouldn’t be able to use it to do anything to him either, since he had fully refined that ball of Chaos true qi.
As for whether there was any trick to it in the numerology arts, Ding Songyan, who wasn’t good at them yet, had no way of knowing. Either way, his ties to his dear little sister were already too many to guard against. When one was already deep in debt, a little more didn’t matter.
Besides, it was all relative. If one day Ding Songyan’s realm and strength surpassed Ji Hanyi’s, then it would be his dear sister who had to think seriously about how to guard against her brother’s tracking and locking on to her.
The only thing to worry about now was whether the two of them would really "unite yin and yang, each supplying what the other lacks, so that Chaos becomes one again." He feared a true merging, with Ji Hanyi as the main body forming the complete Chaos. But that wasn’t something to fret over now. He’d have to become a Heaven-Man first before thinking about it.
Ji Hanyi looked at Ding Songyan, her beautiful eyes shimmering, a smile at the corners of her mouth.
"You actually refined it right in front of me."
Her Chaos true qi could transform the energy and things around it, and it would linger for 15–30 minutes.
"Showing sincerity, you know," Ding Songyan answered with a smile.
Ji Hanyi chuckled.
"Our martial arts come from the same source, and now our true qi has merged. We’re truly brother and sister now, with Chaos as both father and mother."
So you know we were fake siblings before... Does a little true qi mixing today count as replacing a blood relationship? Ding Songyan couldn’t help grumbling inwardly.
Ji Hanyi continued with a bright smile, "In the ancient myths, Chaos divided into yin and yang. Yin was Sovereign Nüwa and yang was Sovereign Fuxi. The two were brother and sister, and also husband and wife. Their union produced all things. No, no, we siblings can’t do that..."
A bright, delicate flush rose on the stunning beauty’s face, and she raised both palms to cover her breathtaking loveliness.
Little Sister, you’re enjoying this act... and it’s more exciting this way, right? Ding Songyan’s expression stiffened for a breath.
Looking at the shy, bashful Ji Hanyi, he suddenly had a thought.
Could my dear sister be hinting at something?
Chaos divides into yin and yang, with yin as Sovereign Nüwa and yang as Sovereign Fuxi... After I become a Heaven-Man too, one of us embracing the Fuxi art, the other merging into the Nüwa Way?
I hate people who beat around the bush. What can’t just be said outright...
In the earliest ancient myths, Sovereign Nüwa was Nüwa, the goddess who created humans and mended the sky, always named alongside the Five Emperors, while Sovereign Fuxi was the Azure Emperor, one of the Five Emperors.
Ji Hanyi lowered her hands, a trace of red still lingering on her cheeks, and asked, "Second Brother, what happened with the Celestial Thearch’s gaze that day?"
Her voice was soft and sticky, so supple as if it could drip water, and it made even Ding Songyan’s heart tremble.
He had known his little sister would ask about this and held nothing back. Starting from disguising himself as the male "Jade Maiden" and noticing Hu Chaohui’s strange reaction, he told it all the way through to the Demon Sovereign hiding in Shilin Temple, leaving out only the details of Twelfth Madam Luo’s action.
As for why her second brother had been disguised as a "Jade Maiden," his sensible, understanding dear sister surely wouldn’t ask.
While he talked, Ding Songyan looked openly at Ji Hanyi’s exquisitely beautiful face and watched her expression change, to see how much she knew about the Demon Sovereign.
Ji Hanyi listened quietly with a smile in her eyes. She neither commented on the Celestial Thearch’s gaze nor discussed anything about the Demon Sovereign. She only said easily,
"Some people like to simplify things, or you could call it going straight to the essence. They think that since the heaven-earth severance was created when Emperor Zhuanxu temporarily held the Celestial Thearch’s seat, bypassing or breaking the heaven-earth severance means starting with the mystery of the Celestial Thearch."
So some people want to change the situation of heaven-earth severance... What does that have to do with the ones who wiped out the Pan, Xiong, and Qu clans back then? Two or three hundred years have passed, so most of them should have turned to dust by now. Unless their lifespans were running out, few would be that radical, but perhaps a few have survived to this day... Little Sister did well this time. She’s stopped hinting and gone on to stating outright... But given the Sage-Severing Way’s credibility, should I believe it or not? Let’s believe it for now and verify later... Ding Songyan looked at Ji Hanyi and asked, "Aren’t you looking for a way to break the heaven-earth severance?"
Ji Hanyi smiled lightly.
"I’m a Heaven-Man not yet thirty, I can think about the Spirit Platform Realm too, and as leader of the Sage-Severing Way I have some life-extending items. I can live a few centuries. Why rush?
"What if I get tired of living by then?"
Before Ding Songyan could respond, the beauty, who combined a girl’s youthful freshness with a mature woman’s charm, stood up, strolled to the desk, and casually began leafing through Twelfth Madam Luo’s calligraphy and paintings.
You really don’t treat yourself like an outsider... Ding Songyan muttered and followed beside Ji Hanyi.
If she really tried to ruin Twelfth Madam’s things, he’d still have to talk her out of it and stop her.
While flipping through, Ji Hanyi took out a scroll Twelfth Madam Luo had finished some days ago and unrolled it.
The painting was neither expressive nor meticulous. It was more like a casual doodle.
In the upper left was a woman with a drooping-horse bun, apparently Twelfth Madam Luo herself, with a "sugar cake" in her mouth and her right arm outstretched, gripping a long spear whose tail extended past her opposite shoulder and up to the sky.
In the lower right was an ink-black little figure that seemed to have been defeated. It had no facial features, only a name written on it.
"Third Bull Ding"
Ding Songyan nearly lost it and almost burst out laughing.
Third Bull Ding, seriously?!
Seriously, knocking Third Bull Ding to his knees with a lollipop in her mouth?!
Ding Songyan suddenly remembered something Twelfth Madam Luo had once said about herself, "I’m still young at heart."
So Twelfth Madam really wasn’t lying...
What a delightful person...
Ding Songyan glanced carefully at Ji Hanyi and saw no change in her expression. Her fingers rubbed the scroll in front of her, and she said nothing.
After a moment, Ji Hanyi turned her head and smiled sweetly.
"Second Brother Bull, have you written a few more Chapters of your Journey to the West? Narrate them to me."
"Sure," Ding Songyan agreed in a hurry.
He instinctively reached for a paperweight and a folding fan, then gave up the idea. That would make him seem too familiar with the place.
Once Ji Hanyi had sat down in a chair, he told her the next few Chapters of Journey to the West with plenty of embellishment, eloquent and flashing with inspiration.
The sky had fully darkened, and the customers in the shop out front went from fairly lively to unusually sparse.
Perhaps because Twelfth Madam Luo had given instructions, neither the waiters nor Chef Shi and the others came into the back courtyard.
After listening, Ji Hanyi said, still wanting more, "Second Brother, write a few more Chapters soon."
With a sweep of her beautiful eyes, she asked with a smile, "Why don’t you ask me about Heaven-Man methods?
"I became a Heaven-Man through Chaos methods, and what I know suits you better than what Twelfth Madam Luo tells you."
"As an elder brother, I naturally have to put my baby sister’s preferences first," Ding Songyan said, with the air of deep sibling affection.
Just as Ji Hanyi was about to say more, her expression stirred slightly, and she said with a smile, "It’ll have to wait until next time, Second Brother Bull."
When she said "Second Brother Bull," her teasing gaze swept over Ding Songyan’s crotch.
Then she stood up and walked toward the door, layers of darkness rising around her as her figure faded step by step.
Who taught you to use the Chaos Realm like that? Ding Songyan quietly let out a breath.
About ten breaths later, Twelfth Madam Luo pushed open the side door and walked into the back courtyard.
"That fast?" Ding Songyan asked with concern.
Twelfth Madam Luo shot the fellow a glance.
"Miss Zheng was worried about you. Once we got to Juque County and she was disguised, she kept urging me to return.
"Don’t worry. She’s settled in with a changed identity, found a caravan to travel with, and tomorrow morning she’ll wear a veiled hat and a disguise and set off for Changhua."
Changing someone else’s identity couldn’t be maintained for long.
The shopkeeper then glanced at the messed-up desk and the chaotic Go board, and asked, "She came by?"
"She did." Ding Songyan pointed at the desk. "And she saw this painting."
Twelfth Madam Luo walked over to look, and the corner of her mouth twitched.
She was silent for a moment, then said as if to herself, "Isn’t this... a little too childish?"
Twelfth Madam, you do have an "image to maintain" after all... Ding Songyan said with a smile, "For teenagers, it’s too childish, but for adults like us, it’s just right."
What’s done was done, and Twelfth Madam Luo no longer cared. Her eyes turned, and she asked with interest, "What was Demoness Ji’s reaction when she saw this painting?"
"She was quiet for a while, then changed the subject," Ding Songyan said honestly. "But she took the chance to call me Second Brother Bull."
She has the nerve to call you that? As expected of a demoness... Just hearing Ding Songyan relay it gave Twelfth Madam Luo goosebumps.
But thinking of Ji Hanyi’s silence at the time, the corners of her mouth curled up again, and her brows and eyes took on some smugness.
"What did you two ’chat’ about?" Since it involved the heretical path’s schemes, Twelfth Madam Luo sat down by the tea table and asked without holding back.
Ding Songyan sat down too and went through their earlier exchange from beginning to end, including the part where Ji Hanyi said anyone could be her sister-in-law except Twelfth Madam Luo, leaving out only the conversation around "Is that more exciting?"
Twelfth Madam Luo listened in a daze, then cursed with a laugh, "Don’t drag me into your sibling act."
The shopkeeper looked at Ding Songyan and asked sharply, "Seems like there’s something you haven’t told me?"
"Yeah." Ding Songyan didn’t deny it.
Twelfth Madam Luo raised her eyebrows thoughtfully.
"She badmouthed me?"