Just as they were

Ding Songyan slowly withdrew his gaze and, following the routine he had planned for himself, walked back to the West Wing Room, stiffly but without any apparent abnormality.

Ding Qingyan was sitting beside his bed, leafing through the scripts of the Legend of the White Snake he had written earlier.

"Second Brother, you're nearly at the last installment, aren't you? Then you won't have to stay up writing by lamplight anymore, and you can tell me the whole story from beginning to end, in lots of detail." The girl smiled impishly. "Only then can I help you copy it out and take it to the Storytellers' Association for money."

Ding Songyan studied Ding Qingyan, looking her up and down, but found nothing unusual, just as before.

"What is it?" Ding Qingyan looked bewildered.

Ding Songyan forced out a smile.

"I only just realized how pretty my little sister is."

Ding Qingyan rolled her eyes and said disdainfully,

"Don't think you can fob me off like that!"

"All right, all right. Once I don't have to stay up writing anymore, I'll tell you one installment of the Legend of the White Snake every day," Ding Songyan said perfunctorily.

All he wanted now was somewhere he would not be disturbed, so he could think things through calmly.

Only then did Ding Qingyan smile. She thanked her second brother sweetly and returned to the inner space partitioned off by the screen.

Ding Songyan sat down and thought briefly. While the illusion-piercing effect brought by Qingmengmeng's "Seed" had yet to fade, he took the silver ingot Xu Chang'an had given him out of the wooden chest, crossed the main room, and knocked on the door of the East Wing Room.

"Who is it?" Liu Yuzao's cool voice sounded.

"Me. I need something." Ding Songyan's voice had steadied again.

Before long, the door creaked open. Dressed in white underclothes, Ding Shengyi looked at Ding Songyan in puzzlement.

"Second Son, what is it?"

In Ding Songyan's eyes, two feelers covered in blood-colored scales had sprouted from the corners of his father Ding Shengyi's forehead. His figure was gaunt and suffused with pale red.

This... A term suddenly surfaced in Ding Songyan's mind.

Moth Father!

His nerves instantly tightened. He lowered his head, masking his reaction with a show of embarrassment.

"Father, I helped Eldest Brother Xu with something earlier, and he gave me quite a bit of silver to thank me. Should I... turn it over to the household?"

Ding Shengyi, whose bearing was somewhat feminine, let his feelers quiver and chuckled softly.

"No need. Keep what you earned yourself."

"All right." Ding Songyan did not dare linger. He immediately turned and returned to the West Wing Room.

By the time he sat down again, that extraordinary clarity in his vision was gradually fading.

They don't seem to be demons... Drawing on what he had seen and heard lately, Ding Songyan reached a preliminary conclusion. They're more like outward abnormalities produced through methods such as opening orifices after reaching the Dayan Realm in martial cultivation-like Mr. Yu's ears, Doctor Shao's eyes, and Ren Youyang's dog ears.

He had initially suspected his elder brother's appearance was that of a half-demon, and that members of the Demon Race had abducted his mother back then. But Ding Shengyi's "Moth Father" form made him lean more toward the possibility that they were Dayan Realm martial artists.

Surely one "family" could not contain two half-demons?

And not even demons of the same kind!

So Ding Shengyi was the one controlling the Mothman that followed me? Heh, whether his name is even Ding Shengyi is another question... No wonder our courtyard has so many mosquitoes and moths. The Moth Father is right here, so his Hundred Insects Command trait naturally takes effect...

Was he also the one manipulating Chen Yuliang and Wang Yishu into putting on an act to deceive me and the Zhen Estate? Is he working with Yan Changqing's "old friend"?

Did the Secret Classic of Mountains and Seas come from Yan Changqing's "old friend"?

When my former self traded for the Secret Classic of Mountains and Seas, did he do it willingly, or was he forced?

Did my former self want to make that copy of the Secret Classic of Mountains and Seas, or did someone force him to?

There's no way these people are a family...

The more Ding Songyan thought, the more frightened he became.

He even began to doubt whether his former self had really been named Ding Songyan.

What if that was a false name too?

No, there's no way a false name would coincidentally match mine from before I transmigrated. It makes more sense that sharing a name was one reason for the transmigration. Ding Songyan suddenly smiled, so angry that he laughed instead. So you all changed your false names to match mine, did you?

It reminded him of a conversation he had had with his little nephew, not yet three years old, while visiting his older cousin's home in his previous life.

"Uncle, what's your surname?"

"My surname is Ding."

"Oh, you took your surname from me too. Daddy did too."

Ding Songyan reined in his wandering thoughts and began seriously analyzing a question.

Just how difficult was it to conceal the various outward abnormalities caused by martial cultivation and keep people from noticing them in daily life?

It shouldn't be easy... If it really were, Ren Youyang wouldn't have to press those dog ears flat against his scalp and hide them beneath his long hair whenever he disguised himself...

A cultivation technique that conceals them? Surely Ding Daniu and Ding Shengyi can't both know the same technique? Their outward abnormalities are completely different...

Someone is helping conceal them? And today, Ding Daniu vented his desires and got so carried away that he forgot himself-or indulged in a woman and broke a vow of chastity-causing the concealment to partially fail?

That seems very likely...

In other words, there's another expert hiding in the shadows... Yan Changqing's "old friend"? Can the "qi" associated with that divine art also transform things and conceal them?

My former self said, "I won't run anymore. Don't kill me"... By running, he probably meant escaping this "family." No wonder he abandoned even the copy of the Secret Classic of Mountains and Seas... But Yan Changqing's "old friend" influenced his thinking, making him enter the Ruined Temple, where he died a horrible death...

No, wait. Why didn't Yan Changqing's "old friend" simply create Qingmengmeng's "Seed" in his mind, so he couldn't escape even if he wanted to? Just like me now-if I actually thought about leaving Dingjiang Prefecture, I'd forget it the next moment...

I'll ask Miss Xiaoqing later and see what cultivation techniques can conceal other people's abnormalities...

Ding Songyan stopped pondering, moved the wooden chests into makeshift furniture, and brought the oil lamp over.

While Miss Xiaoqing had yet to arrive, he took out the copy of the Secret Classic of Mountains and Seas and rapidly leafed through it by lamplight, searching for a mythical beast whose appearance matched Ding Daniu's.

He even thought that if Miss Xiaoqing happened to catch him and discovered this copy of the Secret Classic of Mountains and Seas, it might offer a way to wrest life from death. His only fear was that she, too, would "forget" as soon as she turned away.

A short while later, Ding Songyan settled on a mythical beast.

"Shuhu: a horse's body, a bird's wings, a human face, and a serpent's tail.

"Eating its flesh grants strength surpassing a hundred oxen, the power to travel ten thousand miles with divine speed, and the ability to sense Heaven and understand men."

Everything matches except the bird's wings... So Eldest Brother cultivates the Shuhu inheritance... Yet he told me he had innate divine strength and had never practiced martial arts... Well done, Ding Daniu. You look none too bright, but you certainly know how to lie...

Mother, too. She actually ate a steamed bun that had fallen on the ground that day. That's hardly a habit a young lady from a wealthy household would have. Our life now isn't rich, but it isn't that bad either... I actually overlooked that at the time. I still don't know her well enough. Thinking back now, either she never came from a wealthy household, or she's spent far, far too long crawling and struggling through the mud...

If it's the former, Qingyan's been lying to me too, going on about the Liu Family this and the Liu Family that. That little liar... Ding Songyan muttered a few words, finding a little amusement amid his misery.

He put away the Secret Classic of Mountains and Seas and began writing the final installment of the Legend of the White Snake.

In this installment, Xu Shilin first tried to sneak in and secretly destroy the pagoda, only to be thwarted once more because Fahai had anticipated him. Then he entered the Way through love and successfully broke through to the next realm. With help from the returning Green Snake and other experts, he finally broke the Arhat Formation, shattered Leifeng Pagoda, rescued Lady White, and brought Xu Xian back, reuniting the family of three. The ending featured Xu Shilin's wedding to the former ruler of the Maiden Kingdom, with everyone happy together.

"Good, good, good!" Xiaoqing, who had arrived at some point, praised it as she read.

After reading everything, she lightly brought her palms together in satisfaction.

"Very good. Before coming, I was thinking that if this wasn't the final installment, I'd have to invite you aboard our boat tomorrow night to tell us the rest."

"Miss Xiaoqing, are you leaving Dingjiang Prefecture tomorrow?" Ding Songyan asked, rather surprised.

Xiaoqing gave a sound of assent.

"The Zhen Estate has invited us to a banquet tomorrow at the beginning of the hour of the Goat. Matters should come to a conclusion then. Whether we gain anything or not, we can't stay long. As you know, we aren't from Great Zhao."

The banquet is tomorrow, also in the afternoon... Something stirred in Ding Songyan's mind.

"Did the Zhen Estate only invite you after the hour of the Monkey today?"

"Yes." Xiaoqing paused, but did not conceal it.

"Between a quarter and half an hour past the midpoint of the hour of the Monkey, I bought a dagger. Someone made me buy it." Ding Songyan tried speaking and found he could mention this matter.

Xiaoqing's lips parted slightly, and her eyes shifted.

"The two things are connected...

"I'll discuss this with Second Uncle shortly."

She then rose and pressed her lips together.

"I should go. If you have any difficulties, you'll have to hurry."

"I'll walk you part of the way and get some cool air while I'm at it." Ding Songyan had already put away his brush, ink, paper, and inkstone.

There were still things he had not asked Miss Xiaoqing, because right now, the "walls have ears" was all too literal.

Xiaoqing nodded and vanished from the room first, like a dream or an illusion.

As on the previous few days, Ding Songyan took his key, went out, and locked the door from outside.

In the courtyard, which had been clean and free of even a single mosquito or insect, moths once again swarmed and fluttered wildly.

Inside the pitch-dark East Wing Room, Ding Shengyi stood in his white underclothes beside the window covered with oiled paper and whispered with a hint of anger,

"He's noticed something wrong with us.

"Sister Xiaoxiang, that son of yours keeps breaking the restrictions and never learns his lesson. He nearly ruined our great undertaking. Fortunately, there are only a day or two left. Your sect master can still handle him."

Liu Yuzao, whose features were beautiful, whose bearing was serene, and whose apparent age was only in her thirties, was likewise dressed in underclothes. She glanced toward the main room and spoke with unruffled calm, as though discussing someone else's affairs.

"Back then, I thought about dashing him to death."

Ding Shengyi immediately fell silent. After several breaths, he said with unmistakable compassion,

"Even a vicious tiger won't eat its own cubs. Who could blame you?

"Once this matter is over, why not take the opportunity to ask your sect master to let you stop getting caught up in all these disputes? You're kindhearted, never suited to the affairs of the Heterodox Path. You're not like me. I'm long used to them, with no need to copy Buddhist scriptures and do good deeds to ease the barriers in my heart.

"If you want to retire from the martial world, I can do that too. Li Zhizhi is lustful and bloodthirsty; it wouldn't be hard for us to find ways to satisfy him. Brothels, moth species, mothmen-all would serve."

Liu Yuzao gazed at the window paper and slowly shook her head.

"Back then, I was trapped in a demons' den. Every time I tried to escape, I was caught and brought back. Nor could any righteous hero find that secret place. The one who finally rescued me was a titan of the Heterodox Path preying on his own kind. He not only saved me, but took pity on me, taught me cultivation techniques, and passed on his supreme arts, giving me a place to stand in this world.

"That day, I silently swore to repay that kindness with my life, until death itself.

"How could I leave the sect now simply because I cannot bear what we do?"

For a time, Ding Shengyi had nothing to say. Only after a long while did he let out a deep sigh.

"That divine art of your sect master's and my Moth Scripture complement each other perfectly. If he keeps his promise after this and truly gives me some guidance, I wouldn't be opposed to joining you. I abandoned my own sect long ago anyway."

At this point, Ding Shengyi hesitated before asking,

"Is that girl Xiaoyan your child with him?"

"Xiaoyan isn't my daughter." Liu Yuzao shook her head gently. "There is something special about her, and the sect master sought her out specifically. If Ding Songyan can't make contact with the target, it will be her turn."