If he really had been dead for two or three days, who had been following me?
Or did the state of his face reflect the actual time of death? But why had his body and organs rotted so quickly?
Had Chen Yuliang's body shown similar abnormalities?
Ding Songyan felt as though lightning had struck him. Thoughts flashed through his mind one after another, but his body remained rooted to the spot.
"Isn't this Second Brother Ding? Here to see Clerk Ding?" A constable beside the donkey cart spotted Ding Songyan standing nearby.
He stood just under eight feet tall, with thick eyebrows, large eyes, and a short beard on his chin. He looked to be over thirty.
Ding Songyan took the opportunity to approach.
"Officer, I just heard you saying that Chen Yuliang from the Small Boat Gang was like this man too?"
"Officer?" The constable looked startled, then laughed. "So it really is as Clerk Ding said. You got frightened and came down with disembodied soul syndrome. You always used to call me Brother Li. What's this 'officer' business?"
My predecessor had some standing with the constables... Xu Chang'an kept calling me Second Brother Ding not just because he wanted to curry favor with Qingyan, but probably because he valued this connection too. Tsk, you really can't judge a book by its cover. That kid isn't particularly scheming, but he still has a little cunning in him... Ding Songyan gave an apologetic chuckle.
"Brother Li, please bear with me."
Only then did the constable surnamed Li answer Ding Songyan's earlier question.
"Chen Yuliang was the same."
"What about the other Small Boat Gang member who died then? Was he like this too?" Ding Songyan recalled the wine-nosed man his elder brother had killed with a single punch.
"Why are you asking about this?" The Xiaoming Sect disciple present gave Ding Songyan a wary look.
He was in his twenties, with a square face and an air of grim severity.
Seeing that the constable surnamed Li and the other constable, who had walked around to the front of the donkey cart, were also scrutinizing him, Ding Songyan considered briefly before saying,
"I was caught up in what happened with Chen Yuliang."
He intended to give a brief account of that day's events, then try mentioning Yan Changqing in the Zhen Estate's secret dungeon at the end and see whether he could manage it.
The constable surnamed Li and the others all grew serious.
"My disembodied soul syndrome came from an excessive fright, and that fright came from someone trying to murder me." Starting there, Ding Songyan recounted his escape from death and his appeal to the Zhen Estate for help, then explained how he had bluffed the Wine-Nose Man, forcing Chen Yuliang, who had been secretly checking on the situation, to flee in panic with Mr. Yu on his trail.
Ding Songyan said nothing about the Secret Classic of Mountains and Seas. He merely said that as soon as the Wine-Nose Man appeared, he had demanded to know why Ding Songyan had returned to Dingjiang Prefecture instead of fleeing to the ends of the earth. In the few words that followed, the man had also let slip that something was wrong with Chen Yuliang. Before he could explain exactly what had happened, everything was over.
In his account, Ding Songyan did not conceal the possibility that something might be wrong with him as well.
He did this deliberately, hoping that the Xiaoming Sect and the Yi clan would question and investigate him from time to time in the days ahead!
If necessary, he would even accept being arrested and detained.
Hearing that someone from the Zhen Estate, concealed in a blind spot behind a tree, had killed the Wine-Nose Man, the Xiaoming Sect disciple gave an almost imperceptible nod.
"His name was Wang Yishu. When we received his corpse, his body and organs were also rotten and foul-smelling, as though he'd been dead for two or three days. His face... we couldn't tell from his face."
Well, remembering how Wang Yishu had died, Ding Songyan felt that "we couldn't tell from his face" was a perfectly reasonable statement.
Whether anyone could even tell that it was a face was another question entirely.
Having confirmed that the Wine-Nose Man, Wang Yishu, had also displayed abnormally advanced decay, Ding Songyan felt a chill welling up inside him. Though he stood in the sweltering dog days of summer, it felt as though he had plunged into the depths of winter.
He had previously believed that the main issue with that copy of the Secret Classic of Mountains and Seas was its dubious provenance, which might have led to his own death and that of Xu Chang'an's master, Zhang Rui.
Now, however, it seemed that the buyer was abnormal too.
The seller had problems, and so did the buyer. This deal had problems at every turn!
Could there be something wrong with me, the broker, too? Ding Songyan gave a bitter smile and said to the constable surnamed Li and the others,
"It's a shame I've come down with disembodied soul syndrome. Otherwise, I should be able to remember the crucial details."
What he meant beneath those words was: Please pay more "attention" to me, gentlemen of the authorities.
"The Four Waters Gang filed notice of their dispute with the Small Boat Gang last month. Wang Yishu's death will be handled according to the rules of the martial world. You won't be implicated. Once the higher-ups get back to us about these unusual deaths, we'll question you again." The constable surnamed Li patted Ding Songyan's shoulder. "Relax. Nothing major will happen."
Nothing major might happen, but whether I keep my little life is another matter... Ding Songyan put on a deeply worried expression, keenly picking out one sentence to repeat.
"The Four Waters Gang filed notice of their dispute with the Small Boat Gang last month?"
"Yes. They've had a lot of clashes these past two or three months. Once the notice is approved, it means blood is going to flow," the constable surnamed Li explained casually, then added, "My name is Li Wu. Don't you go forgetting it again, Second Brother Ding."
Ding Songyan thought for a moment.
"Does the Small Boat Gang have a Martial Grandmaster?"
"Yes, in the provincial capital." Li Wu frowned slightly, feeling that Second Brother Ding was asking too many questions.
"Then why would the Small Boat Gang go toe-to-toe with the Four Waters Gang in Dingjiang Prefecture? Couldn't Old Master Zhen crush them with one hand?" Ding Songyan voiced his doubts.
The Xiaoming Sect disciple beside them said,
"Perhaps the Small Boat Gang's Martial Grandmaster has slipped here in secret to lay a trap and eliminate the aging Zhen Qianfan first."
"Mm." Ding Songyan asked no more questions and bade the three farewell.
Only after leaving the street where the County Yamen stood did he realize that he had once again "forgotten" to mention the Zhen Estate's dungeon.
"My initial assessment is that Yan Changqing is the thief crying 'stop thief.' It's unlikely that the Zhen Family's covert agents could listen in on me at all times without my discovering that they were following me..." Rather than the anger and alarm he had felt earlier, Ding Songyan examined the matter with relative calm.
Because he had discovered that he really was surrounded by danger, just as Yan Changqing had said. The Zhen Estate was not his only threat.
He even wondered whether Yan Changqing had deliberately used divination to deduce that a visit to the County Yamen would bring him face-to-face with something that exposed these dangers, and had therefore used his words to manipulate him into making the trip.
"If Yan Changqing weren't so malicious, and the business with the Zhen Estate weren't so obviously dangerous, I'd genuinely want to learn that secret art of his, his divination methods, and the technique that lets him inject Qi into someone's brain and influence their mind.
"Leaving Yan Changqing aside for now, there's something seriously wrong with Chen Yuliang too.
"I can understand why Second Brother Ding sold the Secret Classic of Mountains and Seas to the Small Boat Gang rather than the Zhen Estate after obtaining it. After all, Cousin Nuansheng is only a concubine. Second Brother Ding is dispensable to the Zhen Estate, and there's a very good chance they'd kill him to silence him. The Small Boat Gang, on the other hand, would have to take the Zhen Estate into account and might not dare murder him. Mm, that choice only makes sense if Second Brother Ding didn't know that the conflict between the two gangs had already reached fever pitch and been registered with the yamen.
"But with the conflict between the Small Boat Gang and the Four Waters Gang so intense that they'd already filed notice with the yamen, Chen Yuliang still dared buy a rare edition of the Secret Classic of Mountains and Seas from Second Brother Ding, who was practically half a member of the Zhen household? What courage! Wasn't he afraid it was a pit the Zhen Estate had dug for him?
"If the Zhen Estate really were behind it, they could simply sell out Second Brother Ding, their expendable pawn, afterward and report to the yamen that Chen Yuliang was suspected of possessing a complete edition of the Secret Classic of Mountains and Seas. The entire Small Boat Gang would end up with more trouble than they could swallow.
"Considering how strange Chen Yuliang's corpse was, could he have been 'acting against his will'?
"Was the wine-nosed Wang Yishu the same? Right, when I bluffed him, I never expected him to answer so many of my questions in such detail. He practically treated me like one of his own. Hiss... was he 'acting against his will' too?"
To concentrate on his thoughts, Ding Songyan found a secluded stretch of roadside and sat down without even lifting his robe.
He now wanted to work through one possibility: if he had never transmigrated and Second Brother Ding had died for good, what would have happened afterward?
"The Ding Family would certainly have gone weeping to the Zhen Estate. The Zhen Estate would have examined Second Brother Ding's corpse, and without a transmigrator interfering, they might really have discovered something.
"If I were Old Master Zhen, with the notice already approved, I'd rake up the grass and catch a rabbit along the way. Whether or not the clues pointed to Chen Yuliang, I'd aim the spearhead at the Small Boat Gang and use revenge as a pretext for an all-out clash, with every justification on my side. At that point, if the Small Boat Gang's Martial Grandmaster really had slipped into Dingjiang Prefecture, Old Master Zhen would have no choice but to act...
"That means he'd very likely leave the Zhen Estate.
"If he weren't at the Zhen Estate, someone could take advantage of the opening to slip in?
"Would it be for whatever brought Miss Xiaoqing and the True Spirit Sect to Dingjiang Prefecture, or for Yan Changqing in the dungeon?"
At this point in his deductions, Ding Songyan's spirits lifted.
"In that case, was whoever's behind all this the one who killed Second Brother Ding?
"Let's assume that whoever's behind this really does want to intensify the conflict between the Four Waters Gang and the Small Boat Gang, forcing Old Master Zhen, who's been retired for years, to leave his estate and take action. What would he-or they-think after I, the cuckoo, took over the nest?
"They'd find my return from the dead strange. If the situation wasn't urgent yet, they might hold back for the time being and watch how things developed, to avoid encountering something too dreadful to speak of.
"Is that why the other group was following me?
"To halt the original plan, they'd have to confine the matter to Chen Yuliang's purchase of the Secret Classic of Mountains and Seas. That's why the wine-nosed Wang Yishu held nothing back and told me everything he knew. That's why, even if he and Chen Yuliang hadn't been killed on the spot, they would have 'disappeared' afterward. That's why Xu Chang'an's master died shortly after I came back to life. He should originally have been a clue whoever's behind this left for the Zhen Estate.
"And since the Secret Classic of Mountains and Seas was involved, the Small Boat Gang probably wouldn't make trouble over it.
"But the problem is, the Small Boat Gang is now on the verge of being uprooted in Dingjiang Prefecture. Why haven't they reacted at all?
"Also, did Chen Yuliang actually report the matter of the Secret Classic of Mountains and Seas to his superiors?
"Or was the person who identified that copy of the Secret Classic of Mountains and Seas as a complete edition neither Chen Yuliang nor the Small Boat Gang's Martial Grandmaster, but the one behind all this?
"What was his purpose in saying it through Chen Yuliang's mouth?"
Ding Songyan thought until his head felt swollen, then stood and paced slowly along the street.
Now that he had an overall grasp of the situation, he felt that whether most of his guesses were right or wrong, he at least had several avenues to probe and verify.
What he feared most was being surrounded by fog, with nowhere to apply his strength even if he had it.
"Now, I'm no longer someone too weak even to truss a goose. That strand of Qi Yan Changqing gave me can be used twice, and it should be quite powerful.
"As for Falsehood-Piercing, I need to be cautious. What I see might not be the truth beneath an illusion. It could be another layer of illusion Yan Changqing uses to mislead me. Falsehood-Piercing, Falsehood-Piercing—what gets pierced might not be falsehood at all."
"Mm, Yan Changqing is unlikely to have lied about its ability to preserve my life and injure others. My death would do him no good whatsoever. I can trust that much."
Just as Ding Songyan's thoughts began to wander, a familiar call suddenly sounded beside his ear, the voice kept very low.
"Second Brother Ding..."
Miss Xiaoqing? Ding Songyan looked around quite naturally, but saw no sign of the figure who would inevitably draw every eye.
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