Chapter 257: Helpless

Seeing that Ding Songyan had only mentioned hiding from the deduction of heavenly secrets, Twelfth Madam Luo sighed.

"Let’s talk in the back courtyard."

I wonder what this is about...

In the back courtyard, Ding Songyan explained the matter of the Ghost Yu Way renegade and said, "I dare not trouble you to come along again, Twelfth Madam. If there’s a way to hide from Demoness Ji’s Foresees Events to Come, I’ll go by myself."

Twelfth Madam Luo thought for a moment before saying, "When did you last see Demoness Ji? How many days ago?"

"The afternoon before I sent Wu Zheng off. Almost four days," Ding Songyan remembered clearly.

"That’s about right. Wait three more days, and once you disguise yourself with the Name and Reality method, she’ll be misled to some degree when she attempts to make a deduction of the heavenly secrets." Twelfth Madam Luo nodded slowly.

You’re deducing Ding Songyan’s whereabouts. What does that have to do with me, Ling Donglai? Ding Songyan understood, yet remained puzzled, and asked, "Then why did you personally accompany me to find Li Linquan yesterday?"

Twelfth Madam Luo explained, "Numerology of any kind grows more accurate the nearer it is. Beyond seven days, it usually yields only vague results: you know when and where something good will happen, but can’t guess what the good thing is or what twists lie in it, and it’s easily affected by the Way of Name and Reality.

"As for Li Linquan, I feared that if it dragged on, he really would deviate into madness. It happened that I had nothing on, so there was no need to wait."

"Beyond seven days, her grasp of the heavenly secrets turns very vague? But if Demoness Ji deduces today, and again tomorrow, and every day, wouldn’t it never exceed seven days?" With an eager-to-learn spirit, Ding Songyan discussed earnestly.

Twelfth Madam Luo said with considerable patience, "Deducing heavenly secrets isn’t like eating and drinking. You need a basis. Either a sudden flash of insight lets you foresee it, or you must have had contact with the person or matter you want to divine within seven days.

"The will of heaven is hard to fathom. In the old days, Yan Yong, the Sage-Severing Way’s leader, reached the Heaven-Man Realm through the Heavenly Secrets Method and was a master of numerology, self-proclaiming the title Sage of Arts. Even he never claimed to know everything within seven days, let alone beyond that."

From what I know now, Master Yan probably fell to overconfidence in his own Foresees Events to Come... "He who rises by something falls by it." Master Yan truly taught by word and example, sacrificing himself to leave me with a deep impression of this truth... Ding Songyan felt a sudden wave of sighing and emotion.

Master Yan truly lives up to being a treasure, still educating me after being dead so long.

He asked, unable to hide his curiosity, "The Heavenly Secrets Method? Is that the Heaven-Man method corresponding to the Sutra of Celestial Heart Wisdom?"

Twelfth Madam Luo nodded slightly.

"There’s also the Celestial Heart Method. Demoness Ji probably meant to take that path at first, but she became a Grandmaster in one step by eating Taowu flesh. That’s already harder than a martial artist who rose by normal cultivation reaching the Heaven-Man Realm, so failing for seven or eight years is normal. Yet she insisted on pinning it on, er, Feng Yining."

Ding Songyan glanced at Twelfth Madam Luo and said thoughtfully, "I figure she really was beaten by Feng Yining to the point of her Dao heart collapsing. Think about it, Twelfth Madam. As a young child she won out of all the scheming and life-and-death fights among so many Sage-Severing Way disciples and got the Taowu flesh. She must have a proud, lofty side, and her looks are enchanting enough to make the Peerless Beauties of the Jianghu. Who knew there was a Feng Yining in the world, universally acknowledged as the number-one beauty and number-one martial artist of her generation? How could she not feel the urge to measure herself against her?"

Listening to Ding Songyan, Twelfth Madam Luo swept her eyes over him, revealing a half-smiling expression.

"She deliberately challenged Feng Yining and lost badly. From my judgement, her state of mind must have been damaged, and the Sutra of Celestial Heart Wisdom has a demanding state of mind," Ding Songyan went on. "That damage to her resolve became an obstacle for her, but it also made her. Without all those years of torment, struggle, and insight, how could she have reached the Heaven-Man Realm in a single year after eating the Chaos remains and fulfilling her wish?"

This was exactly why Master Yan had been certain that Ji Hanyi would become a Heaven-Man within a year or two of switching to Chaos methods, and not only from deriving the heavenly secrets.

Of course, the premise was that he had to sacrifice himself to let his dutiful disciple fulfill her lifelong wish.

Twelfth Madam Luo laughed in dismay.

"So Demoness Ji has to thank Feng Yining?

"And Feng Yining has to take the blame by personally finishing off that scourge?"

"I meant no such thing," Ding Songyan quickly defended. "Demoness Ji would only hate Feng Yining. How could she be grateful? Feng Yining didn’t intend to bring this about. Clashes between the righteous and the heretics are unavoidable, each has their own fortune, and neither can blame the other."

Twelfth Madam Luo scoffed.

"I feel you’re hinting at something."

Ding Songyan switched his question.

"If I wait three more days, I won’t have to worry about Demoness Ji deducing heavenly secrets?"

The Ghost Yu Way assassin business may not be urgent...

Twelfth Madam Luo first nodded, then glanced at Ding Songyan cautiously.

"Unless there’s some other close bond between you two."

Close bond... Ding Songyan fell silent at once.

Does eating the Chaos remains together and sharing yin and yang between us count as a close bond?

Does having once addressed each other as brother and sister, and still saying it all the time, count as a close bond?

Does swearing to the Celestial Thearch never to abandon Little Sister and to take her wherever I go count as a close bond?

With just the oath "take her wherever I go," it wouldn’t be hard for Demoness Ji to deduce my whereabouts...

I’m doomed...

Can I never shake Demoness Ji in this lifetime?

Only two options remain: either my own strength decisively surpasses hers, or after I reach the Heaven-Man Realm, I invite many helpers and set a trap to eliminate the threat...

Seeing Second Ding at a rare loss for words, silent for a long time, Twelfth Madam Luo asked, amused, "There really is some close bond?"

Ding Songyan nodded heavily.

Twelfth Madam Luo was silent for a while, then sighed.

"After I disguise myself anew with the Name and Reality method, Demoness Ji won’t be able to deduce my whereabouts.

"Sigh, go deal with the Ghost Yu Way renegade today."

Ding Songyan caught her meaning at once.

She’ll hide in the shadows and follow quietly. If Demoness Ji appears, she’ll frighten her off again.

That way, if Demoness Ji wants to intercept me while I look alone, she’ll have to consider whether Twelfth Madam Luo is hiding nearby. Given the Sage-Severing Way’s cunning and caution, she’d rather guess wrong than act rashly.

Twelfth Madam is truly beautiful and kind-hearted...

What is an orthodox heroine? This is it!

Adoptive mother? My real mother!

After eating lunch together, she disguised Ding Songyan as "Ling Donglai" again and watched him leave the Cheap Wine Shop through the shadows. Standing in the courtyard, Twelfth Madam Luo looked up at the golden-red sun that shed light but could not drive off the chill, and suddenly felt irritated.

She sighed softly.

I said only once...

......

On Huaiyuan Street, Ding Songyan, in a scholar’s cyan robe, hands clasped behind his back, held an ordinary sheathed longsword.

With gray temples and elderly features, he had a godlike, demonic charm. He was "Ling Donglai," who had just guided Li Linquan down the path of the sword immortal.

Having no physical anomalies, he drew little attention and strolled leisurely to Mianheng Rice Shop.

"Is Cui Tieshan here? Someone asked me to deliver something to him." Ding Songyan’s voice was low, with a trace of metallic ring.

The rice shop’s owner glanced up.

"He’s moving goods in the back alley. Go find him yourself. He’s the darkest one. His mother was a Kunlun slave."

Ding Songyan nodded lightly, went around to the back alley, and spotted Cui Tieshan at a glance.

Cui Tieshan wore a short jacket and had dark skin, a short build, thick lips, and deep-cut features. He was marking different rice sacks with a charcoal pencil.

Ding Songyan did not rush up to ask about the lead.

He remembered the impression the Ghost Yu Way renegade had left on him.

Bold yet careful, ruthless in method, alert in nature. He even killed He Jianyun, one of the Ghost Yu Way’s "bookkeepers" in the Flame Capital, and peeled off his face...

Would a person like that notice Master Xiaozhang and the others’ inquiries?

And if he noticed, what would he do?

With this in mind, Ding Songyan took a step sideways and hid in the shadow cast by the wall.

After moving goods, Cui Tieshan took his charcoal pencil and busied himself with other tasks.

He stayed busy for well over an hour before he finally got a little free time and ducked into the warehouse where rice sacks were piled, hoping to slack off for a moment.

Ding Songyan was nearly out of patience. If it were only him, he could wait until night, but with Twelfth Madam hiding in the dark to protect him, how could he make her wait in vain?

I’ll wait another hour... Ding Songyan said silently to himself.

After the time it took to finish two cups of tea, Cui Tieshan stretched his shoulders and was about to leave the warehouse when he suddenly saw the shadows of the rice sacks come alive.

The shadow shot out, and a dagger tip pressed against his throat, pricking in slightly and letting a little red seep out.

Cui Tieshan was so frightened he couldn’t speak.

He saw that the person before him had plaster stuck at the corner of one eye, stretching his small eyes much wider. Wax paste or deliberate self-disfigurement on the nose, mouth, and face had removed many physical anomalies, so at a glance he looked like a hired hand injured at a workshop.

"Ge, Ge Heng..." Cui Tieshan recognized this man.

All the information gathered with him recently pointed to this man named Ge Heng!

Ge Heng lowered his voice and asked in an even tone, "Who asked you to look into my situation?"

His dagger pushed in a little further.

The moment Ge Heng finished speaking, fear suddenly gripped him, and a black shadow appeared before his eyes.

The shadow had a turtle-like face and three legs. Hidden in the darkness, it approached step by step, as if rising from the underworld to kill people and snatch their souls.

At that moment, Ge Heng felt as if he had returned to the Ghost Yu Way, facing the terrifying Way Master.

His body and mind trembled. He wanted to resist but was trapped in a nightmare and could not break free.

Am I going to die? The thought flashed through him, and he thought of the person he could least bear to part with.

Courage and ferocity suddenly surged in him, and he finally woke from the nightmare. He gave up the chance to kill Cui Tieshan, instantly slipped into the dim shadows, and fled into the distance.

Ge Heng kept changing direction and laying false trails one after another, and escaped to a hideout that had never been exposed.

He planned to disguise himself anew and leave this area for good.

In this courtyard housing six whole families, Ge Heng had just taken off his short jacket when his gaze froze.

On his brown jacket, someone had drawn several crude stick figures with a charcoal pencil at some point.

Each figure stood at an opening he had shown before his escape, each posed in a different sword move.

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