Chapter 209: A Chance Encounter

The twenty-meter reach of Ding Songyan’s Chaos Realm was not limited to the space around him. With the trait Establishing the Six Directions, he could also sense things within twenty meters above and below. Walls, earth, stone, water, and true qi could obstruct his perception to some degree, but could rarely block it entirely.

He now detected at least two cellar levels beneath the medicine shop. A man with a sinister aura was hiding on the second.

As the subtle disturbance arose in the Chaos Realm, the man also reacted to Banishing Demons and Warding Off Evil.

He fled like the wind along a secret passage toward the Treasure Market’s eastern side. There, the Xiaming River flowed northward into Golden Pool.

It happened too quickly for Ding Songyan to locate the entrance to the cellars or secret passage. He made a swift decision and shouted, "I’ve detected something sinister! It’s fleeing toward the Xiaming River!"

As his voice echoed, Martial Prohibition Bureau members searching nearby hurried out of shops, changed direction, or pushed through the crowd, all heading for the Xiaming River.

Fan Chunlin was rather bewildered.

He had noticed nothing, yet Brother Ding had already spotted traces of something sinister?

The Candle-Star Pupils really do live up to their reputation!

He was about to follow Ding Songyan out of the medicine shop and race to the riverbank when Brother Ding spoke, his voice heavy and urgent.

"Stay here and detain everyone in the shop!"

Right. If something sinister was hiding here, the shopkeeper or at least some of his staff must be involved. They might all be heretical accomplices!

Fan Chunlin stopped and whipped out his Emei piercers. He turned toward the assistants: some stood blankly, some panicked, and others fled toward the back of the shop.

Before Ding Songyan neared the Xiaming River, he saw a black-clad figure burst from a concealed exit, turn into a gale, and sweep halfway across an alley toward the water.

In the blink of an eye, the figure had covered dozens of meters.

Just then, an arrow wreathed in golden-red light flew from a nearby watchtower.

Swift as a meteor, the arrow burst into flame. Fierce golden light blazed from it like a plummeting sun, brilliantly illuminating that stretch of the Xiaming River.

In an instant, it reached the fleeing figure, leaving him no room to evade.

The figure abruptly halted in midair as a pair of invisible wings spread behind him.

Pressing the index and middle fingers of his right hand tightly together, he thrust them toward the arrow.

Wisps of black qi suddenly filled the air around him. Curses, wails, angry shouts, cries of pain, screams, and pleas for mercy rose from them as they revealed scenes of wickedness.

Betrayal, broken promises, wanton killing, rape, disloyalty, abuse, plunder, and destruction—all became streaks of light that converged in an instant on those two unremarkable fingers.

The fingers turned pitch-black, without the slightest gleam.

They struck the arrowhead squarely amid its blazing golden light.

The red-tinged golden radiance swiftly dispersed. The wisps of black qi nearby melted away.

The foul black fingers and coldly gleaming arrow hung motionless in the air, utterly silent.

Then the arrow shattered, scattering countless specks of light. The blackness faded from the fingers, leaving them ordinary once more. A few drops of dark-red, almost black blood trickled from them.

Using the arrow’s force, the figure plunged toward the river, splashed into the water, and sank to the bottom.

Another arrow struck the river, blasting water into the air.

That was the scene Ding Songyan arrived to see.

From farther away, he had used the fading light to conceal a flick of Unifying Sword Qi. But the force of the clash between arrow and fingers had dispersed it before the hidden projectile could reach its target.

The Yi Grandmaster on the watchtower and the Accumulated Evil Way Grandmaster escaping through the water are both outstanding even among first-rank Spirit Resonated Grandmasters. I might not beat either of them even at full strength... Ding Songyan watched several Martial Prohibition Bureau members skilled in water arts leap into the river to pursue their target.

He tossed willow twigs and other objects into the Xiaming River. Skipping across them on his toes, he reached a spot in the current and scooped up two drops of the Accumulated Evil Way Grandmaster’s blood.

As Ding Songyan returned to shore, he conjured faint, illusory starlight around him.

The points of light kept shifting, as though trying to indicate a direction.

He was using the target’s blood to track him through the secret art Northern Dipper Wayfinding.

Yet the two drops of blood seemed to possess a spark of awareness. They fiercely resisted any attempt to reconnect them to the body they had come from.

They had utterly betrayed their owner, rendering Ding Songyan’s Northern Dipper Wayfinding useless.

Is this another manifestation of destroying faithfulness and annihilating loyalty? The Accumulated Evil Divine Art really is profound... Ding Songyan marveled silently as his feet touched the bank.

Once the immediate business was dealt with, he and Fan Chunlin met a Director Hong of the Martial Prohibition Bureau.

Director Hong cursed as he spoke.

"The Accumulated Evil Way is planning something big. Not only has Evil Spirit Fei Biru come to the Flame Capital, but Evil Beyond Measure Sun Feiyang is here too."

Evil Beyond Measure Sun Feiyang... Ding Songyan was taken aback.

"That was him just now?"

"Who else could take an arrow from Deputy Chief Yi head-on?" Director Hong said regretfully. "A pity we only wounded him badly. We couldn’t stop him from escaping."

One of the Martial Prohibition Bureau’s deputy chiefs, Yi Beiwang belonged to the same generation as Yi Qincang’s uncles. Known as Sun-Shooting Divine Arrow, he was a first-rank Spirit Resonated Grandmaster who had entered the Dharma Realm thirty years earlier. When shooting down from high ground or up at a target in midair, he could unleash terrifying power approaching the Heaven-Man Realm.

The Martial Prohibition Bureau had specifically stationed him on a nearby watchtower to oversee the Treasure Market search.

Ding Songyan suddenly recalled Sun Feiyang’s portrait on the wanted notices and in the Nine Hells Ranking.

Black markings formed the character for "evil" on his forehead. His sagging cheeks gave him an aged, savage look, like a gaunt tiger. His brows were short and thick, the whites of his eyes visible on three sides. Gray streaked the black hair around his mouth, and some wrinkles were as deep as knife cuts.

The foremost of the ten Malevolent Envoys, he had been a Grandmaster for over sixty years. Cruel by nature and guilty of countless atrocities, he was said to have some hope of reaching the Heaven-Man Realm. At his age, though, hope was all it amounted to.

To Ding Songyan, however, Evil Beyond Measure Sun Feiyang meant one thing above all.

He had incited Bai Zhaolin to go to Alpine Lake Mountain and challenge Ding Songyan’s master to a death match, and had arranged it all.

"A pity he got away..." Ding Songyan echoed Director Hong’s regret.

Though nearly a hundred years old, Evil Beyond Measure Sun Feiyang still ranked seventh amongst those in the Malevolent God Prison. His strength had not declined in the slightest. He remained among the very best first-rank Spirit Resonated Grandmasters. In another setting, without the terrain against him, Sun-Shooting Divine Arrow Yi Beiwang might not have been his match.

After all, the person currently ranked first in Malevolent God Prison was Ji Hanyi. Sun Feiyang stood seventh on that same list.

Director Hong gave a few more instructions and told Ding Songyan and the others to keep searching for the burial-object vendor a little longer.

Ding Songyan and Fan Chunlin continued through the Treasure Market, filling their stomachs with steamed bread.

As they turned out of a narrow alley, their gazes fell, one after the other, on the face of a man in coarse work clothes.

By the lantern light, he appeared to be in his thirties, with a square face. Apart from the slightly untidy outer ends of his eyebrows, his features were entirely ordinary.

That’s...

That’s the man who sold the burial objects!

Fan Chunlin was surprised and delighted. Ding Songyan, however, felt an inexplicable chill.

We just run into him like that?

Isn’t that a little too convenient?

Two warm yellow candleflames suddenly lit Ding Songyan’s eyes, surrounded by tiny stars.

The Candle-Star Pupils revealed something strange about the burial-object vendor.

His skin was distinctly red, and a moth resembling a large red ant seemed to be hiding in his ear.

The moth extended antennae covered in blood-red scales, then swiftly drew them back inside.

Ding Songyan’s hair stood on end.

He knew those signs all too well.

The Moth God Scripture. Moth patriarchs, moth matriarchs, and moth seeds!

The burial-object vendor was a moth-man!

A moth-man with lively expressions, normal behavior, and perfectly fluent speech!

Noticing Ding Songyan and Fan Chunlin studying him, the moth-man made no attempt to flee. Instead, he turned toward them and gave them a brilliant smile.

That smile made Ding Songyan’s scalp prickle.

He knew who was behind the burial objects now!

Has Demoness Ji mastered the Moth God Scripture and incorporated the Celestial Heart imprint into it?

That’s a little too terrifying...

Why did she send this moth-man to sell burial objects at the Pingnan Street night market?

I encountered the evil entity in a burial object and remembered that the Silver Hook Gambling House was also on Pingnan Street. That led me to Accountant Ma and the Envoy...

This vendor frequented the Treasure Market, so we came to investigate and happened upon Evil Beyond Measure Sun Feiyang...

Is that Demoness Ji setting up the Accumulated Evil Way?

The Sage-Severing Way and the Accumulated Evil Way have always been at odds...

But I’m the one who keeps running into them. That means... Get away, don’t come any closer...

Ding Songyan was not merely recoiling from the thought of Ji Hanyi lurking nearby. He also wanted to keep the burial-object vendor from approaching them.

The man was walking toward them, still smiling.

Even Fan Chunlin, slow as he was to catch on, now sensed something amiss.

Suddenly, the vendor’s head tipped back. He toppled over and hit the ground with a thud.

He died right before Ding Songyan and Fan Chunlin. His body rapidly rotted, and a moth resembling a large red ant darted out from between his mouth and nose.

"What... Brother Ding..." Stunned and inexplicably frightened, Fan Chunlin looked to Ding Songyan for help.

Ding Songyan sighed.

"Call the Martial Prohibition Bureau. Let them handle it."

After some commotion, the vendor’s corpse was carried to the Martial Prohibition Bureau. Ding Songyan and Fan Chunlin were questioned for a while, then sent back to the estate for the time being.

As they passed the Pingnan Street night market, they suddenly heard the plaintive notes of a bamboo flute playing Bai Suzhen at the Foot of Qingcheng Mountain.

"This tune sounds better on a bamboo flute than on a pipa..." Fan Chunlin remarked without thinking.

Ding Songyan stiffened. He scarcely dared look toward the sound.

When he did, he recognized the street musician who had heard him play Bai Suzhen at the Foot of Qingcheng Mountain on the bamboo flute before.

Phew... Ding Songyan could not tell whether this was an ordinary encounter or his undeserved sister finding yet another way to frighten him.

He remained on high alert all the way back to the estate. Only after entering the side courtyard did he relax a little.

He entered his room and had just lit the oil lamp when an amused voice suddenly sounded beside his ear.

"Second Brother, why are you back so late? I almost fell asleep waiting for you."

His expression frozen, Ding Songyan looked toward the bed. A figure sat there in a short, straight-collared jacket of onion-white, edged in silver over a gauzy goose-yellow skirt.

Under the yellow lamplight, her features were as lovely as a painting, fresh and lively, her beauty beyond compare. Her graceful figure blended youthful innocence with allure, as exquisite as an immortal maiden’s. With her head tilted slightly, she watched Ding Songyan with a smile.

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