Chapter 60: Result of Consuming
Chapter 60: Result of Consuming
North Water Street, outside the Zhen estate gates.
Su Chongxiao had learned from the gradually recovering Zhen household servants where Su Qingli had gone, so he took the wooden box containing the huai fruit and prepared to head to Chengyu Lane to find her.
"Second Uncle! Second Uncle!" Su Qingli came bounding cheerfully from the far end of North Water Street, like a bird in joyful flight.
The maidservant Yuyao was struggling to keep up.
"You’ve taken Ding Songyan home?" Su Chongxiao quietly let out a breath of relief, though his outward demeanor remained as breezy and otherworldly as ever.
Su Qingli blinked.
"How did you know?"
"Anyone who encounters you is bound to take a second look. And in doing so, they’d naturally recognize Ding Songyan beside you." Su Chongxiao often found himself exasperated. His niece was sharp enough when she wanted to be, but when she chose not to engage her brain, she was remarkably oblivious.
He raised his left hand, displaying the wooden box.
"Let’s return to Tianyang Hall. You can eat the huai fruit on the way."
"Ren Youyang didn’t want it?" Su Qingli was quite surprised.
Su Chongxiao glanced at her.
"He’s already become divine after death. The huai fruit is of no use to him anymore.
"Besides, didn’t you help him tremendously?"
"I just wanted to see if he could survive long enough to become a Grandmaster." Su Qingli would never admit she’d acted out of a moment’s soft-heartedness.
She took the box containing the huai fruit, her eyes sparkling, and beckoned to her second uncle.
"Second Uncle, I’ve learned an enormous secret!"
Su Chongxiao leaned his ear over with a puzzled expression.
"You mustn’t tell anyone else. I promised Sect Master Tao that this would only circulate within the Su family." Su Qingli laid down her condition first, then whispered, "The Zhen family affair involves the previous-generation sect master of the Sage-Severing Way, Yan Yong, who’s been missing for ages. He found the lost Kunlun and entered the Celestial Thearch’s palace..."
Su Chongxiao’s back went ramrod straight. He said to Su Qingli in a low, serious voice, "Wait until we’re on the boat."
How could such a thing be discussed in the street? Even in a whisper. Even with the Great Void Illusory Realm!
Giving Su Qingli no chance to argue, Su Chongxiao said to the mistress and maidservant with a stern expression, "Once we return to Tianyang Hall, I’m giving you a quarter of an hour to pack your things. Then we board the boat and depart."
"Aren’t we supposed to go to the docks this evening?" Su Qingli’s face was full of bewilderment.
Su Chongxiao glanced at Yuyao, then looked back at his niece.
"I trust Sect Master Tao’s word. But I don’t trust anyone else.
"If not now, when?"
Seeing her second uncle bring out his authority as an elder, Su Qingli said haltingly, "Then let me go see Ding Songyan one more time. He’s the first friend I made traveling the jianghu. I can’t just leave without saying goodbye.
"Yuyao—Yuyao, you go ahead and pack for me!"
As she spoke, Su Qingli gradually found her confidence, adopting a posture that said: you can agree to let me go, or I’ll sneak off on my own.
Su Chongxiao felt a headache coming on. He sighed.
"Go and come back quickly. If you take longer than one incense stick’s time, go straight to the east city docks. Yuyao will have your things packed and ready."
"Second Uncle, you’re the best~" Su Qingli praised him with laughter in her eyes.
She handed the box with the huai fruit back to Su Chongxiao and spun around, sprinting out of North Water Street.
"Take it and eat on the way, before something else goes wrong!" Su Chongxiao could no longer maintain his usual elegance and called after her.
Su Qingli turned back gracefully mid-stride, grinning.
"I’ll need time to adapt after eating it. I’m afraid I’ll smash Ding Songyan’s door!
"I’ll eat it once we’re on the boat~"
She left a trail of laughter behind and vanished from North Water Street.
Su Chongxiao shook his head helplessly. He could only blame his elder brother and sister-in-law for spoiling the child so thoroughly.
He turned and instructed Yuyao, "Return to Tianyang Hall immediately and pack the luggage."
......
The east city docks.
A tower-ship was gliding toward the center of the river, preparing to go downstream.
In a cabin on the top level, Qi Xiaoxiang sat by the window, gazing quietly at the city wall gates.
With a creak, the cabin door was pushed open. Qiu Chen walked in, once again dressed in a scholar’s round-collared robe and a square-edged cap.
After he and Qi Xiaoxiang had escaped into the grove, they’d made a wide detour, erased their tracks, then snuck back to the docks and boarded this tower-ship, which had been prepared under a certain merchant firm’s name.
Qiu Chen looked at Qi Xiaoxiang with tenderness and said softly, "My condolences."
At that moment, he didn’t know how to comfort her. He felt that any words would only bring fresh pain.
Qi Xiaoxiang gave a slight nod without speaking.
Qiu Chen thought and thought, finally finding something to say, "Where is your sect master?"
Qi Xiaoxiang withdrew her gaze from the window and looked at Qiu Chen.
"The sect master said earlier that he had his own means of leaving this place. He told us not to wait and to rendezvous in Xinfu City."
Xinfu City lay in the deep mountains north of the river, at the junction of the Zhao, Gan, and Yu kingdoms—a notorious lawless zone where none of the three held sway.
Qiu Chen sighed.
"I wonder how your sect master fared this time."
After all, he had a share in whatever was gained.
"Unknown for now." Qi Xiaoxiang stood up and said evenly, "I’m going to see our sect’s people."
Seeing that Qi Xiaoxiang’s state seemed somewhat improved, Qiu Chen gave a self-deprecating chuckle.
"I’ve always been silver-tongued, yet for some reason, whenever I’m alone with you, Sister Xiaoxiang, I become clumsy with words—I can never think of the right thing to say. It was the same just now. I clearly ache for you, yet I didn’t know how to express it."
Qi Xiaoxiang glanced at Qiu Chen without responding, her expression unchanged.
She walked slowly toward the door.
Qiu Chen hummed a line of opera to himself in self-mockery.
"When the false is taken for true, the true becomes false..."
As he hummed, he turned to face the window, gazing out at Dingjiang Prefecture’s city walls.
For him, this past half year or so had been quite wonderful—wonderful enough to make him entertain thoughts of retiring from the jianghu.
Suddenly, a sword tip emerged from his throat, trailing a stream of bright red blood.
"Hgh... hgh..." Qiu Chen struggled to turn, wanting to see who stood behind him, but the short sword pinning him made it impossible.
Thud. The life draining from him, Qiu Chen collapsed onto the small table by the window.
This allowed him to roll over and face Qi Xiaoxiang as she withdrew her short sword.
Qi Xiaoxiang told him without a ripple of emotion, "I cultivate the Scripture of Sage-Severing and Wisdom Abandonment. Of course you’d find yourself tongue-tied."
Tap. A drop of crimson blood traced down the tip of her short sword and fell to the deck. Then another.
Qiu Chen’s eyes were wide, filled with bewildered anguish and disbelief. From his eyes, ears, mouth, and nose, red ant-like "moth-seeds" crawled out one by one.
Qi Xiaoxiang regarded him with cold detachment.
"The Qi Xiaoxiang of old was indeed kind-hearted, resilient and strong—pitiable, and worthy of pity. But she died in that devil’s den. What lives now is nothing more than a devil who chose to fall, who aids the wicked, who is skilled at exploiting others’ compassion."
The faintest smile slowly curved the corner of this woman’s lips.
The light in Qiu Chen’s eyes froze.
He exhaled his last breath.
The "moth-seeds" fluttering about the room dropped to the floor one after another, motionless.
Qi Xiaoxiang wiped her short sword on the hem of her clothes, found a bound volume on the corpse, stepped out through the cabin door, and nodded to the Sage-Severing Way disciples standing guard at the top of the wooden staircase.
"Clean it up."
She put away her short sword, leafed through the volume, then turned and walked to the far end, arriving at the room at the corridor’s terminus. She pushed open the wooden door.
Inside, the floor was covered with a deep-brown thick carpet of western desert style. Underfoot, it was soft and silent. By the window, someone stood with their back to Qi Xiaoxiang—wearing a spring-onion-white jacket embroidered with silver trim over a pale goose-yellow gauze skirt. Black hair hung loosely down her back, long and lustrous.
Qi Xiaoxiang froze for an instant, then hastily bowed.
"Sect Master, when did you return?"
Ji Hanyi turned partway, smiling warmly, and nodded.
"I was here before you boarded. Well done."
Qi Xiaoxiang lowered her head and said with the utmost deference, "It is part and parcel of my job."
After studying Qi Xiaoxiang for a moment, the smile on Ji Hanyi’s face gradually faded. She turned back to gaze at the nearby east city docks.
"Did you obtain the Moth God Scripture?"
"I have it, but it lacks the aperture-forging method." Qi Xiaoxiang held out with both hands the volume she’d found on Qiu Chen’s body, waiting for her sect master to take it. "Qiu Chen also made alterations to parts of the text."
Ji Hanyi tersely acknowledged.
"No matter. Leave the scripture on the table and go."
"Yes, Sect Master." Qi Xiaoxiang stepped forward and placed the Moth God Scripture on the writing desk set with brush, ink, paper, and inkstone.
Once she had left and closed the door, restoring the room to quiet solitude, Ji Hanyi turned her gaze toward another tower-ship that was weighing anchor and setting sail.
That ship’s sails were half-filled with wind as it slowly pulled away from the east city docks. On its deck stood a tall, elderly man.
The old man wore a fine-cloth straight robe and a Huayang kerchief, his hair and beard entirely white and his features austere and archaic. In his hand he held a writing brush, jotting entries in a ledger.
As though sensing Ji Hanyi’s gaze, he raised his head and looked in the corresponding direction.
Ji Hanyi gave a faint smile and nodded.
The old man inclined his head slightly, withdrew his gaze, and returned to writing in his ledger.
......
Chengyu Lane, in the Ding family courtyard.
Zheng Zhuxi had returned to the watchtower after confirming Ding Songyan’s condition. Only Xu Chang’an remained, sizing up Ding Songyan with disbelief.
"Brother Ding, when did you get to know Zheng Zhuxi?
"You two seem to be... actually acquainted?"
Ding Songyan gave the fellow a sidelong look.
"I met her when I went to the Brightnight Sect to report a case."
"The Zhen estate business?" Xu Chang’an made a big show of surprise.
Ding Songyan smiled. "The Zhen estate matter is settled."
Xu Chang’an relaxed at this, enlightenment dawning.
"I knew it. I was wondering why only that part of the city got thunder and rain."
After his exclamation, he sneaked a glance toward the house.
"Is Little Sister Qingyan not here?"
Why won’t you leave already? I need to eat the Chaos remains! Ding Songyan answered impatiently, "She went to help my mother copy sutras."
The warm feelings he’d had moments ago had now transformed entirely into agitation.
"Oh, oh." Xu Chang’an’s face fell with disappointment.
"I have things to attend to. Head back first," Ding Songyan urged.
Without Qingyan around, Xu Chang’an left without the slightest reluctance.
Ding Songyan swiftly shut the courtyard gate and dropped the latch. Then he went back inside and carefully inspected his surroundings.
He genuinely feared the demoness might pop out at any moment.
......
Inside the tower-ship cabin.
Ji Hanyi withdrew her gaze from the surging, undulating river waters and sat down. Facing a silver mirror with a glass face, she carefully put up her hair in a neat bun.
Then she took out a silver hairpin, one decently crafted though unadorned with pearl or flower, before slowly sliding it into place.
Ji Hanyi checked her reflection from both sides as a smile appeared on her face. She stood, lightly raised her pale wrist, and stuffed a large lump of yellow, sac-like substance into her mouth.
......
Feeling the afternoon stillness and heat, listening to the cicadas and dog-barks outside the window, Ding Songyan shut his eyes, clenched his teeth, and swallowed the small lump of Chaos remains.
His mouth, his throat, and his stomach immediately felt a searing heat, as though set ablaze and caving inward.
A few breaths later, a mysterious and overwhelming power erupted, surging toward every corner of Ding Songyan’s body, pulling everything toward its core, bringing intense pain.
Ding Songyan’s spirit and soul felt the same, yet he discovered that part of his consciousness had dissolved into the void, gazing down at his own body from above, watching its changes with cold detachment.
At the entrance to Chengyu Lane, Su Qingli tapped on her toes in a series of nimble steps, arriving lightly outside the Ding family courtyard.
She was about to knock on the gate when an overwhelming sense of dread surged up within her, and she instinctively retreated.
She couldn’t help raising her right hand to shield her eyes.
Inside the house, Ding Songyan endured the violent agony and saw his skin taking on deeper hues of yellow, his five organs visible through the air between, red as fire.
Within his body, clusters of phantom radiance coalesced, along with strange new organs and meridians that had never existed before.
That formless power spread outward, creating still more points and orbs of light in the void beyond in a countless manner, outnumbering the stars.
Ding Songyan’s legs first turned dark, then extended four more legs, nearly invisible.
They planted themselves in the six directions—above, below, left, right, forward, and back—freezing the air currents in the room completely.
On Ding Songyan’s back, four phantom wings of different colors burst open with a thump: one was spring, lush with budding green and vital growth; one was summer, sweltering and ablaze with lingering fire; one was autumn, golden with abundant grain, the sky high and air crisp; and one was winter, a thousand miles of ice and drifting snow.
Finally, at the center of Ding Songyan’s brow, a mass of dark chaos rapidly took shape, spinning ceaselessly, drawing his features into its depths.
Hundun, Chaos: the result of consuming it? Establishing the Six Directions, Dividing the Four Seasons, Manifesting the Way and its Virtue, Banishing Demons and Warding Off Evil, and Bringing All Things Into Unity.
End of Volume 1—Those Carefree Days of Youth