Chapter 115: Bathhouse

Mount Dique, the Two-Faced, Heaven’s Gate Lookout Island, the Demon Sovereign Tan Guanchan... What hidden connections exist between all of these... Ding Songyan’s thoughts raced as he considered the possibilities.

After a moment, he said carefully, "Could Tan Guanchan also be a seeker of the Heavenly Realm? He visited Mount Dique, came into contact with the Two-Faced there, and from that developed the Demon Seed path?"

"It’s possible." Zheng Zhuxi’s eyes moved slightly as she strained to recall history, testing Ding Songyan’s conjecture against what she knew. "The Two-Faced escaped from the foot of Mount Dique during the Hundred Species uprising. This happened only a few years before the Brightnight Sect was besieged by the heretics. Tan Guanchan should already have been a Supreme Master by then."

They talked it over for a while without reaching any firm conclusion. Zheng Zhuxi spoke up first.

"Let’s report to the imperial court first and see what they say. The Demon Sovereign has been active for nearly 300 years, longer than the Brightnight Sect’s history since its restoration. Many of his past deeds are unknown to me, and the sect has no reliable records of them either. But the court may. Combined with what we’ve discovered, perhaps something can be deduced.

"Once I’ve fully recovered, we’ll use sightseeing as a cover and pay Heaven’s Gate Lookout Island a visit. See if we can turn up any leads."

The current Zhao Kingdom had been reestablished by a branch of the original imperial family that had crossed south of the great river, and many case files and records had been lost in the process. But a large portion of the top factions—the Six Sects and Four Schools among them—were themselves based south of the river and had been less disrupted by that era’s upheaval. Their historical records were relatively well-preserved, and they had helped the Flame Capital’s Martial Prohibition Bureau fill in considerable information on major heretical figures.

Ding Songyan ran through everything in his mind, confirmed there were no details that might draw suspicion to himself, and agreed to Zheng Zhuxi’s proposal. He accompanied his senior sister to the county office and reported both the information and their speculations without delay.

With that done, the two of them strolled along the brightly lit, lively streets of the prefecture city, chatting and laughing from time to time or crouching by the roadside to browse through various wares.

Having just set down a scroll of calligraphy, Zheng Zhuxi noticed Ding Songyan pick up a thick stack of books.

"Three Hundred Han Poems, Pillow Wei Lyrics... Junior Brother, what do you want these for?" she asked, both puzzled and curious.

Obviously to play the part of a cultured person. I’ll pick out a few suitable lines to write back to Miss Xiao Qing... Ding Songyan laughed under his breath.

"A mind steeped in poetry carries its own elegance—the jianghu is no different. Senior Sister, have you forgotten how awkward it was when Xing Chang admitted he couldn’t recall more than a few lines of a verse during that poetry exchange on the river?"

"People of the jianghu don’t need to bother with such trivialities. Plenty of martial heroes can’t tell a poem from a lyric and are still celebrated throughout the world for their chivalrous hearts." Zheng Zhuxi tried to reassure him.

Something about it struck her as odd. Her junior brother had never cared about such things before.

She herself came from a family with a strong literary tradition and had a solid grounding in poetry and lyrics, though she had never devoted much energy to it. Reciting from memory was no problem; composing on the spot was another matter.

Ding Songyan glanced at Zheng Zhuxi and said quietly, "So I don’t end up clumsily borrowing your lines again the next time there’s a festival."

"Ah..." Zheng Zhuxi stood there blankly, watching as Ding Songyan paid four silver per volume—two qian of silver in total—and bought the books.

She quickly said with sincerity, "Junior Brother, I’ve thought about it since. The line you adapted that day suited the moment better than the original."

"Hopefully the next one will suit it even better." Ding Songyan stood up with Frostshade in one hand and the books tucked under the other, still smiling.

Back at Baoping Lane, the well-fed and well-rested Zheng Zhuxi engaged Ding Songyan enthusiastically in a discussion of martial arts.

The experience of cutting down Shen Wanli with a single sword strike, killing Lu Guangqing in close-quarters combat, and the mountain road pursuit where a body fell every ten steps—all of it had given her much to learn from and even more to puzzle over. She could have talked through it with her junior brother all night.

Senior Sister is quite the martial fanatic herself... Ding Songyan was quickly drawn in, and found himself gaining much from the exchange as well.

The following day, neither of them left the house. They alternated between earnest discussion, watching each other demonstrate swordwork, Zheng Zhuxi teaching the Celestial Stars Sword Art on behalf of his master and Senior Brother Wan, and pausing occasionally to offer pointers to Xu Chang’an and Yang Shiduo, who had arrived at some point unnoticed. If not for the housemaid reminding them, they would have forgotten about meals entirely.

In the afternoon, the gatekeeper came to the second courtyard and addressed Ding Songyan, who was standing side by side with Zheng Zhuxi.

"Second Master, a young gentleman by the surname of Xie has come to call, with two others. One of them is a Headless."

"Xie Fengchao..." Ding Songyan and Zheng Zhuxi, who had been gesturing through techniques with their fingers, exchanged a glance. He signaled the gatekeeper to bring the visitors through.

"Brother Ding, should we step aside?" Xu Chang’an asked nervously.

He worried that his low standing might embarrass Ding Songyan in front of the guests.

Yang Shiduo was also a little uneasy, though not from any sense of inferiority. It was simply the ordinary discomfort of being about to meet strangers.

Before long, the gatekeeper led Xie Fengchao, Xing Chang, and Pan Yunzhou into the second courtyard.

"Fifth Xie, what brings you here?" Ding Songyan said with a grin, making no effort at politeness.

Xie Fengchao, now in a loose cyan robe, looked around the courtyard and clicked his tongue.

"Not bad, Second Ding. But you could do better."

He smiled and continued, "We’re here to deliver your bounty money."

"The prefecture office approved it already?" Zheng Zhuxi hadn’t expected it so soon.

Xie Fengchao glanced at Xu Chang’an and Yang Shiduo nearby, then smiled.

"Word came through that what we’d done has been confirmed."

At midday, a spy had sent word back from north of the river reporting that the Three Fiends of Xiao City had been found dead in the mountains. The one who discovered them, Flame Spear Li Rui, had not claimed the credit for himself.

"18,000 taels total. Five of us split it evenly. There’s no need to haggle about the details." Xie Fengchao made the suggestion casually.

Coming from anyone else, that might have sounded greedy. But Xie Fengchao had personally killed Cao Yue, who carried the highest bounty. He was also the legitimate son of the Xie clan of the Flame Capital with the Liheng Bank under his family’s management. No one would think he was shortchanging anyone.

18,000 taels? Xu Chang’an’s eyes went wide. He nearly blurted it aloud.

He stared in disbelief at Ding Songyan and Zheng Zhuxi.

This was what they had described so casually as "going after a few fugitives"?

In just a single day and night, they had reaped 18,000 taels. Those fugitives must have been formidable!

Yang Shiduo felt slightly lightheaded.

In all his years, he had never encountered a sum so enormous except on wanted posters.

Then again, given Ding Songyan’s cultivation and ability, a bounty of ten thousand or so should be well within reach the moment he drew his sword, provided the target could be found.

"No objection from me." Ding Songyan looked toward his senior sister.

Since even her Junior Brother Ding, who had done the most, raised no objection, Zheng Zhuxi nodded and smiled as well.

"Okay."

She and Ding Songyan then silently cut off Pan Yunzhou before he could start protesting.

Xie Fengchao produced a thick stack of banknotes and counted out 3,600 taels for each person.

This haul made Ding Songyan’s existing savings look utterly negligible. It wasn’t even a rounding error.

That brought his total to 3,651 taels of silver and six qian, plus 590 coins.

Flipping through the banknotes—two valued at 1,000 taels, three valued at 500, one valued at 100—Ding Songyan found himself looking forward once more to their upcoming trip south to Qisong Prefecture.

Who knows how much they might accumulate from testing their swords along the way...

Not that he needed so much for daily life, but there was something deeply satisfying about simply having it.

Once the bounty money was divided, Xie Fengchao gave a laugh.

"Miss Zheng, Second Ding. Come on, my treat! We’ll go to a bathhouse, then a song house for music and drinks."

"A song house?" Zheng Zhuxi gave Ding Songyan an amused sideways glance.

"Weren’t you curious to see what it’s like too?" Ding Songyan replied with an easy smile.

Xie Fengchao blinked and quickly added, "Just music! Just drinks!"

"Fine, but I’m only having three cups." Zheng Zhuxi didn’t use her mother’s instructions as a shield; she simply stated it plainly and firmly.

Just then, Pan Yunzhou stepped forward and addressed Xu Chang’an.

"You must be Xu Chang’an. Brother Ding mentions you often. He says you’re one of his closest friends."

After a few pleasantries, with Xu Chang’an still flustered by the attention, Pan Yunzhou turned to Xie Fengchao and ventured a suggestion.

"Why not bring them along to the bathhouse?"

"Sure, the more the merrier." Xie Fengchao, who had been carried on Pan Yunzhou’s back through the mountains, was hardly going to refuse such a small request.

"No, no, that’s really not necessary..." Xu Chang’an waved his hands repeatedly.

Hm, Brother Pan even knows the trick of deliberately befriending useful people’s associates... Ding Songyan turned his head toward Xu Chang’an and Yang Shiduo.

"Come along, both of you."

His main thought was to build some confidence in Xu Chang’an and Yang Shiduo. No one could train well in martial arts while shrinking back all the time. In a fight to the death, if your spirit faltered, you’d be lucky to draw on 70% of your ability.

A martial artist needed the nerve to take on the emperor himself and not flinch at the consequences!

Me too? Yang Shiduo glanced at Xie Fengchao, who was obviously a scion of a prominent family, and at Xing Chang, the Headless commander whose reputation was known across the prefecture city. He was genuinely surprised that Ding Songyan would bring him along as an equal.

He didn’t know Ding Songyan’s full intentions, but the support offered over these past days, piece by piece, could only be called a debt of rebirth.

Yang Shiduo didn’t decline. Xu Chang’an, who had grown used to following Ding Songyan’s lead, agreed quickly as well.

...

Crimson Sleeve Street, the Sweet Moon Bath House.

Ding Songyan rose from the herb-steeped pool, wrapped himself in a bath cloth, and ambled over to a wooden bed. He lay face down and let the attendant scrubber waiting beside it work his back.

He had asked for firm pressure, which the reasonably pretty attendants struggled to provide. None of them had trained in martial arts to speak of.

"Do you come to bathhouses often, Second Ding?" Xie Fengchao lay face down on the bed beside him.

You seem to know your way around the place...

"Not particularly," Ding Songyan answered perfunctorily.

He turned his head with interest and asked, "Fifth Xie, when you undressed just now, every piece of clothing felt heavy. I couldn’t tell how many hidden weapons you were carrying. Now that you’re, shall we say, fully candid, doesn’t that concern you? If an enemy attacked right now, you’d have nothing to defend yourself with."

Ding Songyan’s Frostshade was set beside him the whole time.

Xie Fengchao, enjoying the massage from a pretty attendant, gave a scoffing laugh.

"Be it a flying petal or a plucked leaf, anything can wound. When necessary, the teacup and silver tray beside me are my hidden weapons.

"Besides, how do you know I’m unarmed?"

While they talked, Xu Chang’an and the others filed in one by one. Zheng Zhuxi was in the women’s pool and chambers on the other side, which was separate from theirs.

Xing Chang, whose bronze chest had gone red from the soak, glanced at the carved head-hole on the wooden bed, decided it wasn’t for him, and found a stool instead, letting the scrubber work on him however they liked. Yang Shiduo and Xu Chang’an, for their part, were both too embarrassed with several pretty attendants present, too stiff and fidgety to relax.

Ding Songyan glanced at them a couple of times, then said to Xie Fengchao, "You’re still armed? I can’t see where.

"Unless... it’s hidden there?"

He pointed at Xie Fengchao’s backside as he teased him.

"Fuck off! What the hell is wrong with you, going straight to that!" Xie Fengchao burst out in indignant fury.

Ding Songyan smiled and said, "I once heard of a silver vault robbery where everything was smuggled out that way..."

Xie Fengchao suddenly noticed a shift in the way Xing Chang, Pan Yunzhou, and the others were looking at him. He rushed to clarify.

"Can’t I just hide things in my mouth or ears?"

"There you go, getting flustered again. Can’t take a little provocation without letting something slip." Ding Songyan clicked his tongue.

Xie Fengchao was quiet for a moment before saying, "Second Ding, I think I preferred you when you were polite..."

They joked and lounged until they finally emerged from the Sweet Moon Bath House, fresh and light, carrying a faint trace of herbal fragrance.

Once Zheng Zhuxi joined them, they crossed to the Emerald Willow House opposite, took a room on the top floor, and called for a few songstresses.

Just then, a light autumn rain began to fall. Ding Songyan and Zheng Zhuxi passed through the red curtains to the window and gazed out at the scene below.

Their eyes went straight to Heaven’s Gate Lookout Island in the river.

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