Watching Chen Jindong’s retreating figure head toward the inn’s entrance, Zheng Zhuxi burned with fury. All she wanted was to stride after him, confront him face to face, and tear apart this villain’s facade.
But the moment she went to take her first step, she felt a hand catch her right sleeve. She stopped.
Zheng Zhuxi instinctively turned and saw her junior brother slowly shaking his head.
The young woman posed herself at once. Even if she confronted him now, it would acplish nothing. Words without evidence could not bring down the Huangliang Sect’s greatest hope.
If this were Dingjiang Prefecture, the Brightnight Sect’s reputation and her own credibility would be enough for the yamen to detain Chen Jindong while a Grandmaster from the Ministry of Justice and the Martial Prohibition Bureau came to discern the truth. But this was Qisong Prefecture, where the Huangliang Sect assisted in maintaining order.
Ding Songyan behaved as though nothing had happened. He offered the Lü siblings a few words of sympathetic fort, and together with Zheng Zhuxi each gave them two qian of silver as a condolence gift.
Then they made their farewells and headed back out onto the street.
Seeing the young woman walking in gloomy silence, Ding Songyan suddenly let out a laugh.
"Senior Sister, shall we chase him down and dispense justice right now?"
"Ah..." Zheng Zhuxi looked startled.
She had felt that impulse moments ago, but had quickly shot down the idea.
Without solid evidence, how could she kill someone purely on personal judgment?
Ding Songyan smiled.
"Due process exists to prevent wrongful convictions, and it is genuinely important. But some villains exploit its gaps. They make everyone know that they’re guilty, yet no one can convict them. What do you think should be done with someone like that, Senior Sister?"
Zheng Zhuxi fell silent, seemingly wrestling with the question.
"We are wandering heroes, not court officials. Sometimes we don’t need to think so much. We just need to act according to our conscience." Ding Songyan continued. "Senior Sister, if there were something you were certain was right and good, but doing it would inevitably lead to misunderstanding, slander, and condemnation from all sides, would you still do it?"
Zheng Zhuxi pressed her lips together. After a long pause, she said solemnly, "I will."
"And are you certain that Chen Jindong is guilty and steeped in evil?" Ding Songyan’s expression turned serious.
Zheng Zhuxi answered without hesitation, "I’m certain."
Her certainty came not only from Chen Jindong’s own words, but also from Junior Brother Ding’s sword intent, from the consistency between Chen Jindong’s behavior, his explanations, and the confirmed facts.
Ding Songyan smiled.
"Then what more is there to deliberate, Senior Sister? With a heart this clear, what else needs to be said?"
Hearing this, something surged inside Zheng Zhuxi.
Her gaze firmed. She lifted the hand on her sword and said in a clear voice,
"Then let’s go after Chen Jindong right now. Justice for the Lü siblings’ father, for the Shao family’s fourth daughter, for every innocent person he has harmed!"
Having made the decision, Zheng Zhuxi suddenly felt a touch of embarrassment.
"Junior Brother, I’ll hold Chen Jindong off. You deal with He Yuanzhi as quickly as you can, then e help me."
She wasn’t entirely confident in herself. Chen Jindong had been assessed as third-rank Form Transfigured for several years already, and had recently sensed the void’s qi, putting him on the very threshold of the Dharma Realm.
"Don’t sell yourself short, Senior Sister." Ding Songyan smiled. "The Huangliang Sect’s techniques and movement techniques are fairly general. In bat, they rely primarily on misfortune warding and embodying nightmares. The latter has a limited effect on someone whose character is cultivated and clear—and that is precisely your strength."
Zheng Zhuxi tersely acknowledged and accepted her junior brother’s assessment.
She had barely taken a step when she stopped again. She turned to look at Ding Songyan and said, biting her lip, "Junior Brother, I would only draw my sword like this for someone like Chen Jindong, someone whom I am utterly certain is steeped in evil. In any other situation, I would still follow due process, seek evidence carefully, and never let a villain escape, but also never wrong an innocent person."
She felt a little uneasy, afraid she could not fully bee the kind of wandering hero her junior brother described.
Ding Songyan’s gaze softened. He smiled at Zheng Zhuxi.
"Senior Sister, that is precisely what I admire most about you."
Zheng Zhuxi relaxed, her dimples surfacing as she said sincerely, "I’ve always felt that judging good and evil purely by one’s own standards is a very easy way to go down the dark path."
"Thank you for the reminder, Senior Sister," Ding Songyan said, half joking and half sincere.
Zheng Zhuxi quickly pulled her thoughts back to the matter at hand and said, almost to herself, "We should go back and change first, then put on those opera masks or cover our faces. We can’t let anyone know we’re from the Brightnight Sect..."
"There’s no rush," Ding Songyan said reassuringly.
Seeing his senior sister’s questioning look, he laughed.
"I was only presenting an extreme scenario to help you clarify your own path. Things haven’t actually reached that point."
"What..." Zheng Zhuxi was momentarily lost.
Ding Songyan grinned.
"As long as I’m by your side, Senior Sister, I’ll do my best to keep you from having to face that kind of dilemma."
With that, he turned down a street leading away from Chen Jindong’s direction.
"You have a plan?" Zheng Zhuxi caught on. "Where are we going?"
Her mood lifted at once, and an inexplicable energy came into her expression.
If Junior Brother Ding said he had a plan, then it was a real one!
"Back to Marshal Zhong. This still needs the court’s involvement. Legitimacy has to e first," Ding Songyan said without hurrying.
...
Inside the Xuande County yamen.
Zhong Pinglan was still troubled by the matter of Chen Jindong. He looked at Zheng Zhuxi and Ding Songyan standing before him.
"What is it now?"
Ding Songyan stepped forward, his expression full of remorse.
"Marshal Zhong, we may have misjudged Young Hero Chen."
"What?" Zhong Pinglan was momentarily dumbstruck.
You’re the ones who said Chen Jindong was steeped in evil. And now you’re the ones saying you misjudged him?
Zheng Zhuxi felt as though she were in a dream, with no idea what her junior brother was up to.
Ding Songyan continued with sincere anguish, "Young Hero Chen is not a villain. He is simply ill."
Without waiting for Zhong Pinglan to respond, Ding Songyan pressed on.
"I once suffered from Soul Departure Sickness myself. I went through many ancient texts and was treated by several renowned physicians. I know a great deal about conditions like this.
"I didn’t remember it at first, but after encountering Young Hero Chen again just now, it finally came to me. He has Soul Displaced Sickness—what is monly known as Two Souls in One Body!
"Marshal Zhong, we cannot stand by and do nothing while an evil soul clings to Young Hero Chen and drags him toward darkness!"
Watching her junior brother’s performance of vivid emotion, Zheng Zhuxi’s mouth fell open slightly. She was beginning to piece together what he was after.
Zhong Pinglan’s eyes lit up.
"Soul Displaced Sickness?"
"Exactly," Ding Songyan said with conviction. "This condition will not only cause Young Hero Chen to mit evil acts without realizing it—it may also cause the Fuyu Mountain Cinnabar Grass’s Resolute to fail. If that happens, Young Hero Chen could very well lose himself in the Dream Tribulation and perish from qi deviation.
"Marshal Zhong, we must save Young Hero Chen!"
At this point, Zhong Pinglan also had some inkling of what Ding Songyan was getting at.
He was inwardly stunned.
This is the personal disciple of the Sword of Rectitude Tao Wenshu?
This is the junior brother of Candle Heart Sword Zheng Zhuxi?
How can he be so utterly different from what I expected!
And yet, I am quite impressed!
"What should we do?" Zhong Pinglan reined in his excitement.
Ding Songyan asked with concern, "Who is the most respected physician in the prefecture city right now?"
"That would be Divine Physician Zeng of the Medicine King School," Zhong Pinglan replied quickly.
Ding Songyan let out a breath.
"Then we must fetch Divine Physician Zeng to examine Young Hero Chen at once. He is on his way back to the sect to enter seclusion. There is no time to waste!
"If I am wrong and Young Hero Chen is perfectly healthy, I will apologize to him on the spot. But if it truly is Soul Displaced Sickness, we will have saved his life. That’s worth more than building seven-tiered pagodas!
"If Young Hero Chen were to perish in the Dream Tribulation because of Soul Displaced Sickness and never enter the Dharma Realm, I would carry that guilt for the rest of my life."
"Excellent!" Zhong Pinglan slapped the table.
On the way out of the yamen, Zheng Zhuxi drew close to Ding Songyan and asked with a whisper, "Can Divine Physician Zeng actually detect the evil will inside Chen Jindong?"
"Whether he can actually diagnose it doesn’t matter," Ding Songyan said softly with a laugh. "What matters is making Chen Jindong believe he can."
Zheng Zhuxi gave a slight nod, thoughtful.
...
The moment he heard the words Soul Displaced Sickness and Two Souls in One Body, Divine Physician Zeng—a man past seventy—moved faster than even Marshal Zhong.
Over his disciples’ protests, he swung himself into the saddle and rode out of Xuande County with Ding Songyan, Zheng Zhuxi, Zhong Pinglan, and two constables, heading after Chen Jindong toward the Huangliang Sect’s mountain gate.
They rode hard, changing horses at every post station. In less than an hour they caught sight of He Yuanzhi and Chen Jindong riding at a steady pace ahead.
"Marshal Zhong, what brings you here?" He Yuanzhi reined in his horse with a puzzled look.
Chen Jindong looked at Zheng Zhuxi and Ding Songyan with flickering eyes, his expression slowly darkening.
Zhong Pinglan cupped his hands and said, "Elder He, this is Heroine Zheng Zhuxi of the Brightnight Sect. She had dealings with Young Hero Chen recently and noticed a potential problem that may affect his advancement to the Dharma Realm. She specifically requested that we e and inform you."
"A potential problem?" He Yuanzhi was skeptical, but this concerned the most critical step in his disciple’s path to being a Grandmaster. He couldn’t afford to be careless.
Whether there was truly a problem was for him to judge. There was no harm in hearing them out.
Ding Songyan spoke on Zheng Zhuxi’s behalf.
"Senior He, Young Hero Chen appears to be suffering from Soul Displaced Sickness. His behavior has been full of contradictions. We have specifically brought Divine Physician Zeng to examine him."
"Preposterous!" Chen Jindong burst out.
He Yuanzhi found it somewhat amusing as well.
"What makes you say that?"
"Young Hero Chen told me himself when he entered my dream last night. You see, he doesn’t remember it now," Ding Songyan said with earnest sincerity. "Senior He, this is not something to be taken lightly. If we are wrong, a reprimand from you costs us nothing. But if Young Hero Chen truly has Soul Displaced Sickness and it interferes with his advancement to the Dharma Realm, there will be no undoing that.
"Even if you don’t trust me, do you not trust Marshal Zhong and Divine Physician Zeng?"
He Yuanzhi found the argument reasonable. What was there to lose by having a look?
Speaking of it in a dream?
That does sound like something we as Huangliang Sect cultivators would do...
Marshal Zhong would have no reason to single out Jindong without cause, right?
Divine Physician Zeng is a man of great renown and has no grievance with the Huangliang Sect. Why would he harm Jindong?
Even if he says there’s something wrong, I won’t take it as final. I’ll find other physicians to verify.
When it es to Jindong’s path to being a Grandmaster, no amount of caution is too much...
With that decided, He Yuanzhi urged his horse closer and turned to Chen Jindong.
"For everyone’s peace of mind, let Divine Physician Zeng take a look."
"Master, just because they say I’m ill doesn’t mean I am. This is nothing but empty words!" Chen Jindong’s face was a mixture of grievance and fury. "I never entered their dreams!"
Ding Songyan offered earnest reassurance, "Young Hero Chen, even without evidence, when it es to illness, the wise approach is to catch it early and guard against what hasn’t happened yet. The Medicine King School, where Divine Physician Zeng hails from, once treated me for a similar condition. There’s no harm in letting him take a look.
"If there’s no Soul Displaced Sickness, there will be nothing but joy for everyone. If there is, it can be treated before it affects your advancement to the Dharma Realm.
"Surely you don’t think Divine Physician Zeng would harm you?"
Chen Jindong naturally had no grounds to question Divine Physician Zeng’s integrity. He could only say angrily, "Why should I see a doctor if I’m not ill?"
His resistance was written plainly across his face.
Ding Songyan said with weight and warmth, "Young Hero Chen, a quick examination won’t cost you anything.
"We’re only doing this for your sake!"
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