Chapter 58: Good Things Don’t Come Easy

Looking at Yan Changqing’s bewildered and anguished remnant soul, Ding Songyan moved the hazy "seed" to his throat.

He produced a voice cold and eerie.

"Yan Changqing. Where is the lost Kunlun?"

He had long since confirmed through details like the Chaos remains that Yan Changqing had entered the Celestial Thearch’s palace, so he skipped straight past the "did you" and "have you" stage of questioning.

The wandering ghost of Yan Changqing turned its body to face him, gazing at him blankly, and answered in a hollow voice, "Kunlun has always been in its original location, between the Red Waters and the Black Waters. It was merely hidden."

At this, Su Qingli let out a small cry.

"I can hear it! I can hear it!"

Her excitement was plain to see.

Tao Wenshu, holding her scabbard and long sword, also nodded.

They can hear it? Well, of course. I didn’t even move the hazy "seed" to my ears, and I can still hear it too... This works out. Saves me the trouble of relaying everything, which might invite suspicion that the middleman is skimming benefits for himself by withholding key information... Ding Songyan relaxed and organized his thoughts.

"Then how does one enter Kunlun?"

Yan Changqing’s ghostly figure was semi-transparent, tinged with spectral green.

"First, one must be able to resonate with heaven and earth. Second, one must possess either an object that once flowed out of Kunlun or a relic of a Celestial Thearch. Third, one can use the Kunlun Secret Archive to locate a specific spot."

"The Kunlun Secret Archive?" Tao Wenshu and Su Qingli voiced the question simultaneously.

Ding Songyan didn’t need to think to know what to ask next.

"What is the Kunlun Secret Archive?"

The expression on Yan Changqing’s ghostly face shifted slightly.

"Ever since Xia Hou Qi failed to inherit the Celestial Thearch’s throne, every generation has produced seekers of Kunlun. The Kunlun Secret Archive is a compilation of everything these seekers obtained and recorded."

Ding Songyan didn’t linger on this point, heading straight for the main subject.

"Where is the Kunlun Secret Archive? And where is the specific spot it records?"

"After I was severely injured by the Chaos remains, I had no choice but to leave Kunlun prematurely. I lost this book in the outermost danger zone." The face of Yan Changqing’s ghost twisted slightly.

"Chaos remains..." Su Qingli murmured softly to herself.

Yan Changqing continued, "That specific spot is not directly recorded in the Kunlun Secret Archive. I found it myself—by studying the accounts of predecessors, separating wheat from chaff, distinguishing truth from fabrication, extrapolating through numerology, and conducting field surveys.

"I did not record it in the Kunlun Secret Archive. I kept it only in my mind, so that should I ever be imprisoned, I could use it to bargain for my life."

At this, a faint smile surfaced on Yan Changqing’s ghost, as if to say: "If you want to find the lost Kunlun, you can’t kill me!"

Too bad you ran into your filial disciple Ji Hanyi and an ordinary man like me with no martial arts. If you didn’t die, I’d most likely be the one dead instead. Compared to Kunlun’s secrets, staying alive takes priority... Ding Songyan found himself caught between amusement and wistfulness.

This also made one thing completely clear to him.

No wonder Yan Changqing’s face had shown fear when he saw that the Sage-Severing Way’s envoy was Ji Hanyi. Anyone else might still have held back on account of Kunlun’s secrets, giving him room to maneuver. But in Ji Hanyi’s eyes, killing him took precedence over obtaining the Celestial Thearch’s treasures or unraveling Kunlun’s mystery. In the end, the demoness hadn’t even asked where the lost Kunlun was.

Ding Songyan wasn’t sure whether Yan Changqing’s remnant soul harbored an obsession about guarding Kunlun’s secrets. He could only try rephrasing.

"Where is that specific spot?"

Yan Changqing’s pale, green-tinged face suddenly contorted.

"Yes. It was that person who guided me toward the correct extrapolation. Judging from the records he left in the Kunlun Secret Archive, he was already close to the right answer. There’s no reason he’d have left no further records—unless he died shortly after..."

Stop going off on tangents and just answer where the specific spot is... Only then did Ding Songyan realize that communing with the dead wasn’t simply a matter of asking a question and receiving an answer, especially with someone who had died so recently, whose thoughts and obsessions were still vivid.

He could only repeat the question, "Where is that specific spot?"

A look of terror inexplicably surfaced on Yan Changqing’s contorted face, as though recalling some revelation from just before his death.

"According to Jiang—"

Before the ghost could finish, from the sky above the smoke-dark netherworld, a bolt of spectral green lightning fell without a sound, striking Yan Changqing’s remnant soul—which had not yet fully entered the underworld proper.

Yan Changqing let out a piercing shriek that sent stabbing pain through Ding Songyan’s eardrums.

The green lightning coursed rapidly across the ghost. In the blink of an eye, Yan Changqing’s remnant soul grew thin and faint, dissolving into nothing, leaving no trace behind.

"What happened?" Su Qingli, who had her hands over her ears, asked urgently. Tao Wenshu likewise showed a look of bewilderment.

Once Su Qingli lowered her hands, Ding Songyan described exactly what he had seen—the scene and Yan Changqing’s fate—without omission.

He was equally baffled.

Was this karmic retribution for Master Yan’s grave sins, or simply his bad luck? In the middle of communing with the dead, the target had been struck by nether-lightning and scattered into oblivion!

Su Qingli blinked.

"Was it a violation of heavenly law, a breach of the netherworld’s statutes, or did someone use this to silence him?"

"Someone... could... silence him like this?" Ding Songyan was so startled his words came out in halting fragments.

Su Qingli’s eyes turned as she assumed a look of recollection.

"Sects that can reach the netherworld or borrow its power all have some possibility of accomplishing something similar. But who could produce a scene so close to miraculous—that I don’t know."

"The True Spirit Sect’s Useless Divine Art and its ’becoming divine after death,’ the Three Perils Sect’s cultivators of the Codex of Yin Law, the Mangshan Sect’s extraordinaires of the Burial Mystery, the Earth Mother Sect’s masters capable of ferrying souls, every lineage of the Impermanence Sect, the Dizang Sect’s senior monks who hold the Dizang Sutra of Subduing the Netherworld, the cultivators of the Nine Arts of the Nether Capital from the Nether Capital Gate, as well as the Imperial Ruins who hold the Codex of Celestial Law, and the Shamanism Sect who are adept in sorcery—all of them could do it. And those with similar peculiar abilities are not few; my list isn’t even exhaustive. But to accomplish what just happened would require at least a Heaven-Man Realm Supreme Master," Tao Wenshu spoke after some thought.

Of the sects his master had mentioned, Ding Songyan had so far only heard of the True Spirit Sect, the Earth Mother Sect, and the Imperial Ruins.

The True Spirit Sect was one of Great Zhao’s Six Sects and Four Schools. The Earth Mother Sect was one of the world’s Nine Great Sects, with its headquarters in the Gan Kingdom, founded on the principle of saving the world and delivering the people. Great Zhao had believers too. Great Zhao’s own Two Faiths and Three Clans likewise included two of the Nine Great Sects—the Kitchen King Sect and the Yin-Yang Sect.

The Imperial Ruins was one of the world’s five great holy grounds and one of Zhao Kingdom’s two. They claimed to be the tomb-keepers of Emperor Zhuanxu.

"I can’t think of who it could be..." Su Qingli slowly shook her head. Her clear black-and-white eyes looked at Tao Wenshu with a thirst for knowledge. "Sect Master Tao, who could this person surnamed Jiang be? It should be Jiang, right? Why would merely mentioning him bring nether-lightning down on one’s head?"

Without waiting for Tao Wenshu to answer, the girl continued thinking aloud, "The only famous person surnamed Jiang I know of is Jiang Lanting of the Yin-Yang Sect. He’s in the top ten of the Martial World’s Jade Tree Rankings. But Yan Yong disappeared at least thirteen years ago, and Jiang Lanting was only ten at the time—it couldn’t possibly be him... His parents’ generation? His grandparents’?"

Tao Wenshu thought for a moment and said, "Jiang Lanting’s parents and grandparents are not prominent figures in the martial world."

"Hmm... I’ll ask my second uncle later. And my father. And my aunt." Unable to puzzle it out, Su Qingli simply handed the problem off to her elders.

Tao Wenshu turned her gaze to Ding Songyan.

"Though we didn’t learn how to enter Kunlun, obtaining these clues is still quite valuable. You deserve the foremost credit.

"Before long, the Yi family patriarch and the Gold and Silver Twin Swords of the Self-Revering Sect will arrive. By this evening, Senior Tian of the Divine Empyrean Sect should also arrive. Although I personally witnessed your exchange with Yan Changqing’s remnant soul and have some credibility to speak on your behalf, avoiding the need for them to approach you directly, you should still be prepared to be questioned.

"Miss Su, would you kindly escort my disciple home, lest he be caught up in any lingering chaos? I need to go to Riverwaves Hall and lend my fellowmen a hand."

As she spoke, Tao Wenshu produced a gilt token and handed it to Su Qingli, explaining that North Water Street was cordoned off and the token would grant passage in and out.

Ding Songyan listened in something of a daze.

Master isn’t even going to check what I have on me before sending me home?

And afterward she’ll answer the Supreme Masters’ and even Sages’ inquiries on my behalf?

Isn’t this her way of hinting that whatever gains you may have made, use them as you see fit, hide them well, and don’t let anything slip? Though Sages and Supreme Masters may not come to question you in person, it’s best to be prepared just in case.

Sensing the meaning hidden beneath Tao Wenshu’s words, Ding Songyan felt another surge of warmth.

She’s already treating me as a true disciple!

Moreover, he roughly understood why his master hadn’t asked what he’d gained. Her character and the art she cultivated were both known for being upright and transparent. If she learned something and was then questioned face-to-face by Sages and Supreme Masters, it would be very difficult for her to lie or conceal it. Better not to ask at all.

This also shows that Master is someone who understands flexibility, who has finesse, not someone who’s rigidly hidebound... Good, good... Ding Songyan thanked his master solemnly and watched her stride out of the courtyard with sword in hand, leaving only the gently swaying scene behind.

Su Qingli turned back to face him, excitement written all over her features.

"Let’s go find Yuyao first. She’s nearby. We can then take you home. On the way, you have to tell me what happened earlier!"

Only now did Ding Songyan learn that the little maidservant was called Yuyao.

He thought and said, "Miss Xiao Qing, I’m worried there might be chaos on the road. Why don’t you go find Miss Yuyao first, and I’ll wait here? Once there are two of you, you won’t have to fear any disturbance."

His real intention was to send Xiao Qing away so he could hurry up and consume the Chaos remains.

Su Qingli’s eyes turned briefly in thought.

"Fair point."

She hurried toward the doorway and out into the courtyard.

Ding Songyan, taking advantage of the yin eyes’ lingering effect, swiftly moved the hazy "seed" to his wrist, then reached behind him toward the dark stone pillar and retrieved the small lump of Chaos remains. It was rough yet slippery to the touch.

Before he could even raise his hand, Yuyao’s voice came from outside the courtyard.

"Miss! Miss! Did you find him?"

"He’s here, he’s here!" Su Qingli called out while turning back to look at Ding Songyan.

Ding Songyan jumped with a start, gripping the lump of Chaos remains tightly and hiding his hand behind his back.

"Let’s go." Su Qingli beckoned to him with a crescent-eyed smile.

Ding Songyan walked over. He wasn’t overly nervous; after all, this was his fox-friend, and he knew very well what kind of person she was. Truthfully, even if he ate the Chaos remains right in front of her, it probably wouldn’t cause any real problems.

His only concern was that Xiao Qing had a habit of inadvertently letting secrets slip through careless remarks. And his small portion of Chaos remains was very likely insufficient in quantity. By the time his "Grandmaster trial card" ran out, he hoped to have genuinely advanced to the corresponding level. Until then, it was best to develop quietly. The fewer people who knew, the better.

Su Qingli noticed nothing. She grabbed Ding Songyan by the shoulder and carried him lightly over walls and through courtyards, almost as though riding the clouds. The maidservant, Yuyao, followed alongside, alert for chaos and mishaps.

Seeing that even Xiao Qing couldn’t sense the Chaos remains clenched in his palm, Ding Songyan quietly let out a breath of relief.

Once they’d left the Zhen estate and departed North Water Street using the token, Su Qingli set Ding Songyan down and said with a smile, "We’ll walk to your house. You can tell me what happened earlier along the way.

"Don’t worry. No one around us, including Yuyao, will be able to hear or bump into you. I know how to use the Great Void Illusory Realm!"

Ding Songyan, who had resolved to swallow the Chaos remains at the first sign of trouble, steadied his nerves, gave a small nod, and said, "Okay."

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