The Previous Body

After leaving the back hills of Potter's Field, Ding Songyan's Yin Eye quickly failed.

He did not care about that, because he already had a reliable way to activate the Yin Eye.

He deliberately slowed his pace, not arriving at that ruined temple until the sky had completely darkened.

The temple was no different from a few days ago. The holes had not been repaired, cobwebs hung everywhere, and weeds covered the ground.

Ding Songyan did not rush to activate his Yin Eye. Instead, he looked toward the filthy, incomplete idol.

The idol seemed to be the Land God, but no one worshipped it anymore. Whether in Dingjiang Prefecture's city or countryside, people now worshipped Dang Kang and the Kitchen God. The incense offerings at Taoist temples and Buddhist monasteries mainly came from the middle and upper classes.

Only after Ding Songyan had paid his respects to that Land God abandoned by the people did he shift the hazy green "seed" in his sea of consciousness to the space between his brows.

His Yin Eye opened accordingly, and the temple's scene overlapped in his vision with an endless wilderness dominated by profound blackness.

Ghostly shadows wandered blankly through smoke-like darkness. The broken idol remained filthy, without blood or tears.

I was quite afraid that activating the Yin Eye would let me see an incense god cast down from the altar. That was why I bowed again and again, sincerely explaining the situation... Is it that this world has no incense gods, or has the one in this temple fallen for so long that he has already vanished like smoke and scattered like clouds? Ding Songyan turned his gaze toward the wooden pillar he had leaned against when he first awoke.

Black wind, nearly condensed into substance, coiled around that spot. A figure on the verge of dispersing lingered there, unable to move on.

Ding Songyan held his breath and approached.

The figure raised its head, revealing a well-proportioned, open face.

It was exactly the same as Ding Songyan's!

The difference was that the face was pale and sinister, its eyes bulging as mottled bloody tears streamed down. Its expression was grotesquely twisted.

So the original body really did return on the seventh day after death... I was truly afraid his soul had scattered and vanished, afraid that I had crossed over long ago and merely forgotten what came before... Ding Songyan swallowed, forcing his trembling hands to still as he moved the hazy green "seed" to his throat.

He asked in a cold, drifting voice:

"Ding Songyan, who killed you?"

The figure's twisted expression changed instantly, revealing an indescribable terror that seemed carved into its bones.

He began muttering without end:

"I won't run anymore...

"Don't kill me..."

"I won't run anymore...

"Don't kill me..."

"I won't run anymore!

"Don't kill me!"

His voice quickly sharpened into hysteria, filled with the terror of someone about to die.

Illusory tears, stained vivid crimson with blood, rolled down his face one drop at a time.

"Don't kill me!"

With that final shriek, the figure completely crumbled and dissolved, merging with the smoke-like darkness and boundless wilderness.

Ding Songyan watched quietly, his feelings exceedingly complicated.

He did not know whether it was the sorrow of the rabbit's death making the fox grieve, creatures mourning their own kind, or whether he had thought of how he himself still had not escaped those two words, still begged others not to kill him.

Once the Yin Eye naturally failed, Ding Songyan pondered the final obsession left behind by the previous body:

"So he really was running then... And the situation was so urgent that he could no longer spare any thought for the Secret Classic of Mountains and Seas in the wooden chest, or the disaster that book might bring upon his family...

"Where did his private savings go? I did not find them... Did he sense that he might need to flee on the spot, bring them with him in advance, and have them taken away? Or had he spent them earlier? Spent them on the Secret Classic of Mountains and Seas?

"Why did he enter this abandoned Land God Temple in the middle of such a desperate flight? It took him beyond the Watchtower's surveillance and cost him his final sliver of life...

"Was someone waiting for him here, forcing him to come meet them, or was he also 'unable to help himself'?"

Ding Songyan immediately thought of Chen Yuliang and Wang Yishu, of Vermilion Moths and the "Moth Species."

He swiftly overturned that guess. If this body of his had truly been possessed by the "Moth Species," Doctor Shao's two examinations could not possibly have failed to find even a trace.

Then he thought of before, of how there had clearly been certain problems, yet he had still taken the initiative to stake out Beili Ward for an opportunity without noticing anything strange:

"Was the previous body also influenced in his thoughts, entering the Land God Temple 'of his own accord'?

"Could the person behind this and Yan Changqing come from the same source?"

Amid the jumble of thoughts, Ding Songyan's eyes suddenly lit up. He remembered something Yan Changqing had said:

"Looks like one of this old man's old friends has arrived, but I do not know which one..."

Fellow disciples could also count as old friends!

And there was no rule saying there could only be one person behind the scenes. It could entirely be experts from the Moth God Sect cooperating with Yan Changqing's "old friend" to lay out this scheme.

The more Ding Songyan thought about it, the closer this guess seemed to the truth. Through it, he also understood why Chen Yuliang and Wang Yishu behaved differently from ordinary "Mothmen."

There was likely a hazy green "seed" in their seas of consciousness as well!

By using the "seed" to inject thoughts, ideas, and lines, the "Mothmen" would naturally become livelier and more like living people!

"This should be why Yan Changqing guessed an old friend had arrived. But judging from his reaction, it is more likely they are enemies rather than friends... In that case, did he truly betray his own sect back then, causing his senior and junior brothers or sisters to come and cleanse the sect?" Ding Songyan walked slowly out of the abandoned Land God Temple, deep in thought, and returned to the main road leading to the city gate.

He realized that the divine cultivation method of Yan Changqing's sect and the Moth God Sect's cultivation methods complemented each other perfectly, fully achieving an effect where one plus one was greater than two.

What Ding Songyan was considering now was how to bypass the restrictions and inform the authorities, Miss Xiaoqing, and Brother Youyang of this discovery.

After returning to the city and turning into Chengyu Lane, Ding Songyan put a smile on his face and looked as though nothing had happened.

Beneath the dark blue sky carrying a faint glow, he spotted his father, Ding Shengyi, at once. Ding Shengyi stood beside the well with a folding fan in hand, chatting merrily with a group of neighbors.

After greeting them, Ding Songyan did not immediately return home. He stood beside his father and made small talk perfunctorily.

"Clerk Ding, what a pity your Third Miss Ding was a little too young and missed the imperial consort selection in Jianwu's fifth year. Otherwise, with her beauty, you would be the imperial father-in-law now," a woman said with both envy and regret.

Third Miss Ding naturally referred to Ding Qingyan. At times, she was also called Third Lady Ding or Miss Ding.

Before Ding Shengyi or Ding Songyan could respond, an idle fellow beside them laughed.

"Miss Ding comes of age next year, and the year after that will be Jianwu's tenth year. His Majesty might select consorts again then. Hehe, after cultivating the Fire God Cultivation Method to the end, his 'fire energy' must surely be quite strong."

Ding Shengyi waved his folding fan, driving away the mosquitoes buzzing about.

"I only hope Third Miss Ding marries somewhere nearby, so we can see each other often. I ask not for great wealth or high rank, only peace and safety, so we can look after one another when something happens."

"Haha, Clerk Ding, how about me?"

"You need to make progress."

"..."

After chatting with them for a while, Ding Songyan returned home and saw his mother, Liu Yuzao, setting down her needlework beside the oil lamp.

"Second Brother Ding, come try these new shoes. Your sister and I each stitched one." Liu Yuzao picked up a pair of black cloth shoes, gesturing for Second Brother Ding to sit so she could change them for him.

Ding Songyan suddenly felt a little embarrassed and hurriedly said:

"I'll clean up first. I walked quite a long way."

Being loved and cared for too much by his family was not entirely a good thing, after all. He had not yet completely settled into this identity.

After washing his feet, Ding Songyan tried on the cloth shoes himself.

"They fit perfectly. They are very comfortable," he praised.

Liu Yuzao revealed a faint, relieved smile. She nodded and said as she put away the needlework:

"Then wear them tomorrow."

Seeing his mother's expression, hearing her words, and thinking of the lingering soul of Second Brother Ding he had just seen not long ago, Ding Songyan suddenly felt melancholy and distressed.

When Ding Shengyi returned, the family of five each tidied up and prepared for bed.

Ding Songyan naturally helped Ding Daniu move the wooden chest and spread out the bedding.

"Second Brother Ding, Second Brother Ding." Ding Daniu glanced toward the eastern wing where their mother was, then lowered his voice to Ding Songyan. "Help me with something tomorrow."

Ding Songyan straightened up. As he dropped the bar across the main room's door, he asked with amusement:

"Big Brother, what can I help you with?"

Ding Daniu hesitated for a moment before saying:

"Come find me at the docks tomorrow afternoon. Say you need my help with something, so I can ask the foreman for leave."

"Where are we going?" Ding Songyan faintly sensed something.

Ding Daniu grinned foolishly.

"Beili Ward."

"..." Ding Songyan thought it over and decided it would do.

Let him spend more energy, so he stops thinking about killing people all the time!

He then began considering the long-term plan. Once the matters on his side were settled, if he was still alive, he would speak to his mother and find his older brother a wife.

But with his older brother's nature, would that not be harming some other family's daughter? Ding Songyan suddenly felt he could not bear it.

He returned to the western wing and saw his younger sister, Ding Qingyan, sitting by his bed with a smile, waiting for him.

"You have something too?" Ding Songyan asked somewhat helplessly.

Ding Qingyan smiled sweetly.

"Second Brother, tell me another story tonight."

Compared to Miss Xiaoqing, Ding Qingyan's smile was sweeter and more approachable. It did not make others feel inferior.

Ah, it is only because I just saw the lingering soul of the previous body. Otherwise... Ding Songyan sighed again.

"Fine."

"Second Brother, you're the best!" Ding Qingyan praised him with a radiant smile, then obediently returned to the inner room and lay down on her bed.

Ding Songyan shook his head. Leaning against the wall at the head of the bed, he told the story from Lady White stealing the Immortality Medicine all the way to Xu Xian entering Jinshan Temple.

The night had grown deep, and obvious drowsiness entered Ding Qingyan's voice.

"Second Brother, Mother said that before I come of age, we have to rent a bigger house again. It needs five rooms. Then I will not be able to listen to you tell stories and chat with you before I sleep."

"Then I will finish telling you the story before returning to my own room." Ding Songyan was still quite professional when it came to coaxing little sisters.

Although he was an only son, his parents' siblings had given him two paternal cousins and three maternal cousins, the sort who visited often and frequently played together.

Ding Qingyan entered dreamland contentedly, while Ding Songyan continued his practice of burning the midnight oil to write.

This time, the sect was unwilling to help Xu Shilin deal with Fahai because Lady White was a demon. Only several senior and junior brothers and sisters aided him in their personal capacities. Fahai learned of it and set up the Arhat Formation in advance, causing Xu Shilin's first attempt to rescue his mother to end in failure.

As he wrote, Ding Songyan caught sight of Miss Xiaoqing from the corner of his eye.

Xiaoqing had changed back into the outfit she wore when they first met: a plain white short shirt with a round collar and side-fastened front, paired with a white skirt trimmed in green, her hair arranged into twin hanging buns.

Ding Songyan considered briefly, then spoke bluntly.

"Miss Xiaoqing, I heard someone say the stalkers were 'Mothmen' from the Moth God Sect."

"Them..." Xiaoqing was first startled, then slightly furrowed her brows. "Who told you?"

Ding Songyan wanted to speak, yet found himself without words.

"Can't say?" Xiaoqing's lively eyes shifted. "Just answer whether it was or was not from the Zhen Estate?"