CH 52

“The Cheng family has always been loyal to the Suxin Sect, and it was wiped out, just like that… that’s just too cruel!”

“This really makes my blood run cold.” 

“But I think the real question is – why?”

Now that one question had been answered, many more questions followed. However, the Cloud Palace was only announcing one Tianwen today, and the Crow Wing didn’t say a single word more.

“That’s what happened?!” Chen Ziqi exclaimed in real shock. He suddenly remembered that back when Cheng Zhou had tried to kidnap Dan Yi, he had said that the Return Tablet conditions stipulated by the Cloud Palace had been to kill the Abbess Wuyin. At the time, Cheng Zhou had thought that the Cloud Palace was deliberately trying to be difficult because it knew that the Cheng family was a satellite sect of the Suxin Sect.

This was really karma. What went around, came around. 

This Tianwen was announced at the same time by the Crow Wings throughout the Empire, and everyone was stunned by this piece of news.

Immediately following this, the small satellite sects of the Suxin Sect all started being very fearful of the latter, and the large sects were simply dumbfounded. As to why the Suxin Sect wanted to kill off the whole Cheng family, the Cloud Palace didn’t say, and all sorts of wild guesses started circulating.

Some people said that the Suxin Sect did it because they wanted a peerless treasure kept by the Cheng family.

Some others said that the Abbess Wuyin and the Cheng family head were old flames, and the former harboured a deep hatred for him because he married women other than her and had children with them.

Yet others said that the Cheng family’s men were all the exclusive bedslaves of the Suxin Sect, and when Cheng Zhou started making a name for himself, the Abbess Wuyin was afraid that he would reveal this to the world. That was why she massacred the whole family to keep this secret safe.

… …

“When the Abbess Wuyin was young, she was known as Wuyin Xianzi, and she was considered one of the most beautiful martial artists in the world. Later on, she suddenly became a nun, and everyone assumed she had done so in order to be the leader of the Suxin Sect. Now, the rumour in the martial arts world is that she did so because of a man…”

Xunyang City was under the Lushan Sect’s control. The Lushan Sect was a sword sect, and the people in Xunyang could therefore talk bad about a Qi Sect with impunity. These few days, the storytellers in the teahouses started spinning tales based on the rumours about the Suxin Sect. The more raunchy and incredible the tale, the more popular it was, and these salacious stories became more and more widespread in the empire. 

This particular tale was called “The Secret of the Suxin Sect’s Kept Man”, and it was very much a crowd-pleaser. It was told practically every day in the teahouses, and often more than once a day.

Chen Ziqi sat in the private room, enjoying the story as he cracked roasted watermelon seeds between his teeth. He didn’t really like to eat these seeds, but he liked to crack them for fun. When the little red bird was with him, he would feed the seeds to the little bird. Today, the seeds all went into Dan Yi’s mouth.

He cracked one open, pulled the seed out of the cracked shell, then put it into a small plate to his side. A hand with graceful bones would then reach out and steal that little seed.

“Telling people part of the answer to the question and making them guess the remainder was brilliant. The effect is even better than telling them the full answer,” Chen Ziqi said, grinning as he watched the expressive storyteller continuing the tale. 

“The full answer was given,” Dan Yi said, picking up a cracked seed and popping it naturally into his mouth.

The answer to this question was exactly what was announced. Why the Abbess Wuyin wanted to wipe out the Cheng family was another question altogether.

“Then, why exactly did she do it?” Chen Ziqi asked. He stopped cracking watermelon seeds, and turned to look at Dan Yi. The latter remained silent, and Chen Ziqi pouted. “I got it. This is a Heaven-class question again, isn’t it?”

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Dan Yi stretched out a slender finger and ran it through the seeds on the plate. “It was because of a secret book,” he said slowly.

“Even the Cheng family has a secret book? If it’s such a great book, they’d have become a famous sect a long time ago,” Chen Ziqi said disbelievingly.

“Perhaps it wasn’t a secret book, but some treasure. I’m not very clear on this point either,” Dan Yi said, munching on the seeds. At that time, the Cloud Palace had investigated this matter in detail, and found out that the Abbess Wuyin coveted something that was kept in the Cheng family’s Jiuyin Mountain Villa. That thing couldn’t be made public, and that was why she had secretly killed off the entire family. 

“There are things that even the Cloud Palace doesn’t know?” Chen Ziqi asked, astonished.

“We’re not gods, and we can’t possibly know everything that happens in the empire. Our reputation for omniscience is really just hyperbole,” Dan Yi said earnestly.

Hyperbole? Chen Ziqi was dumbfounded.

“It’s like how people talk about ‘the foremost beauty in the world’ or ‘the most powerful sword in the land’. It’s just an appellation,” Wu Bujian explained. 

It wasn’t as if the Cloud Palace got their news by divining the stars. Even if they had spies all over the empire, there would always be things that they couldn’t find out about.

“… …” Chen Ziqi had no response; the explanation actually seemed to make sense.

They got someone to send a message to Li Yuhan, after which, Chen Ziqi made Dan Yi accompany him in listening to stories in the Xunyang teahouses for another two days as he waited for Ah Mu’s cheap uncle to come look for him.

Because the Cloud Palace had publicized this piece of news about the Suxin Sect, the Lushan Sect was very busy of late. They had to soothe their own satellite sects’ ruffled feathers, and assure them that they would never betray their own satellite sects, and at the same time, they also went to Suxin Sect’s side to try to fan the flames, the better to get some small sects to change their allegiance to the Lushan Sect. 

When the Lushan Sect leader heard that Chen Ziqi was going to pay a formal visit, he had originally intended to decline because they were so busy. However, he changed his mind after Li Yuhan said what Chen Ziqi had told him to say. “This King Jian is connected to the new Palace Master of the Cloud Palace,” he said.

The Lushan Sect leader ruminated for a moment before speaking. “We may be busy, but we should meet with a King who wants to pay a visit. Invite him here at once,” he said.

When Dan Yi saw that Chen Ziqi wanted to go to Lushan on his own, he was rather worried. “That Wife-Divorcing Lu pretends to have high morals…”

“What did you call him?” Chen Ziqi put down the sword box and dug his ear with a finger. 

“Wife-Divorcing Lu. He’s already divorced two of his principal wives,” Diao Lie said. This was the nickname that the Cloud Palace had given to the Lushan Sect leader.

The Lushan Sect Leader, Lu Xiuqi, had always been held in high regard by the people of the martial arts world because he was known to be an upright, virtuous person. He had divorced his first principal wife because she had been discovered to be abusing the disciples of his sect, and as to his second wife, he had terminated their marriage because she had implicated the Lushan Sect in the conflict between the various sects.

The people of the martial arts world called him a gentleman because every time he divorced his wives, it had all been to uphold justice and the honour of martial artists everywhere.

Divorcing your wife was something that could also be said to be done for the “honour of martial artists everywhere”? Chen Ziqi pursed his lips. The fellow was just pushing all the blame for what happened onto his wives; could he really be called a “gentleman” for doing that? It sounded more like he was an incredibly irresponsible person. 

Dan Yi sent Chen Ziqi to the foot of Lu Mountain. As he watched Li Yuhan approach from some distance away, he still was unable to set his heart at ease.

“Why don’t you come along with me?” Chen Ziqi asked suddenly, turning his head back toward Dan Yi. This was the first time he was going to greet a sect leader formally after leaving the palace, and he was rather nervous. If Dan Yi was by his side, he’d feel a lot better.

“Absolutely not. The Palace Master cannot show his face so easily,” Diao Lie said, vetoing this suggestion immediately.

“… …” 

As such, Dan Yi, Diao Lie and Wu Bujian used cloth masks to hide their faces and pose as guards. They left with Chen Ziqi, following behind him to go up the mountain.

Lu Mountain’s scenery was exceptionally beautiful, with many natural springs and a massive waterfall thundering down from the peak. The name of the waterfall was the Three-layered Springs.

“Cascading down three thousand feet into a silver river that flows for nine days.” This poetic phrase referred to the Three-layered Springs, and that was also where the Lushan Sword Sect’s Three-layered Sword Style got its name.

They climbed up the grey stone steps, and when they got to the Lushan Sect’s gate, they saw a man in indigo robes leading a group of young disciples in practicing their swordsmanship. Another man wearing grey coloured robes stood on a raised platform, watching these disciples with a face full of fatherly affection. This man was the Lushan Sect leader – Lu Xiuqi. 

“Wang ye, you’ve come a great distance to visit us. Please pardon my shoddy welcome,” Lu Xiuqi said, smiling as he walked over to greet Chen Ziqi.

“You’re most courteous, Sect Leader Lu. I arrived in Jianyang not too long ago, but I should have come sooner. The roads were too cold and icy, which was why I put it off for a while. I hope you don’t mind,” Chen Ziqi said, smiling back as he replied glibly. He was an expert in making this sort of polite conversation now.

“Hahaha! You flatter me. Wang ye, thank you for your kind regard of the Lushan Sect,” Lu Xiuqi said. He invited Chen Ziqi into the main hall to sit.

Four indigo-clad men were waiting for them in the main hall. They looked to be in the same generation of disciples as Li Yuhan – the eldest generation of disciples. There were also two grey-clad men in the room, likely the elders of the Sect of slightly lower rank than Lu Xiuqi. 

Chen Ziqi sat down in the host’s seat, then raised a hand, signalling to Wu Bujian to bring the sword box forward. “I’ve just assumed responsibility in my fief, and I don’t have anything good to give, but I managed to find a good sword. I hope you won’t look down on my gift,” Chen Ziqi said.

When the two elders saw that Chen Ziqi had only brought a treasure sword with him, their lips curled slightly in disdain. This King was really poor – didn’t he know that gifts should be given in pairs?

“Oh? What treasure sword is this? Can I have a look?” Lu Xiuqi asked. He might have been a morally suspect person, but he was still a swordsman at heart, and was very much obsessed with swords. The moment he heard that the gift was a sword, he couldn’t wait to have a look at it.

Chen Ziqi smiled as he gestured to Lu Xiuqi to do as he pleased. 

Wu Bujian put the sandalwood box down on the table and opened the lid. He lifted the red silk cloth covering the sword to reveal a bright silver hilt set with a brilliant blue jewel on its pommel.

For many famous swords, the only thing authentic about them was the blade; the hilt was usually made more recently by someone other than the person who first forged the sword decades ago. As such, one usually couldn’t recognise a sword by its hilt. Lu Xiuqi came closer and held the sword up for a look. When he saw the two words etched on the blade, his hands suddenly shook with emotion. “Zhan Lu… It’s actually Zhan Lu!”

“What? Zhan Lu?”

The two elders were shocked. They rose to their feet immediately and crowded round to  have a look. One of them had risen so quickly that his chair had fallen over in the process. 

Lu Xiuqi pulled the sword out of its sheath, and the treasure sword hummed with a metallic sound. He flourished it fancifully in the air. The three old men were huddled together and crying with joy at this sight.

“… …” Chen Ziqi saw their reactions and cursed inwardly. Did that silly Dan Yi give him some really rare and famous sword for him to present to the Lushan Sect? He elbowed Dan Yi, who was right next to him. The person being elbowed didn’t react at all, as if he hadn’t seen Chen Ziqi grinding his teeth in frustration.

“Wang ye, did you get this sword from the Cloud Palace?” Lu Xiuqi asked, turning to look at Chen Ziqi. He took a deep breath to calm himself down.

“Uhuh,” Chen Ziqi said vaguely. 

Lu Xiuqi looked at Chen Ziqi with newfound respect.

This sword, Zhan Lu, was the Lushan Sect’s most precious treasure. A previous sect leader had traded it for the answer to a Heaven-class question three generations ago. Lu Xiuqi had assumed that Chen Ziqi’s connection to the Cloud Palace was just a superficial one, but his ability to obtain this sword proved otherwise.

Lu Xiuqi instructed people to take the sword into safekeeping, then put on an even warmer and more welcoming expression than he had before as he declared Chen Ziqi to be a guest of honour. “Wang ye, you have already been made a King, and you can learn the martial arts of other sects now. Would you be interested in learning the Lushan Sect’s sword techniques?” he asked.

Chen Ziqi’s brows twitched. He knew that Lu Xiuqi was trying to get on his good side, and he certainly wasn’t going to miss this golden opportunity. He put on a sincere look. “My innate abilities are too poor, and I’m afraid that I would spoil the good name of the Lushan Sect. However, I really do admire the Lushan Sect’s swordsmanship. I wonder if I could be an honorary disciple instead? That would make it easier for me to come and call upon you as well,” he said. 

The two hit it off as they exchanged these polite pleasantries for a while more. Lu Xiuqi waved a large hand. “Wang ye is of royal blood. If you want to be an honorary disciple, then you should be my honorary disciple,” he said.

“Shifu…” Li Yuhan spoke up after having been silent all this while. He highlighted that he was Chen Ziqi’s uncle, and if Chen Ziqi also recognised Lu Xiuqi as his master, it would not be appropriate, generation-wise.

Chen Ziqi rubbed his chin. If he was to be given a generation-appropriate discipleship, then he would effectively be in Lu Xiuqi’s grandson’s generation of disciples. He didn’t want that at all. “Let’s not conflate the two issues. When we’re in the sect, I’ll address you as Shixiong, but otherwise, I’ll address you as Jiujiu,” he said, smiling.

— 

The author has something to say: Mini-theater

Qiqi: I’m taking advantage of your powerful reputation and using it for my benefit. Is that okay?

Birdie Gong: Of course

Qiqi: You know that I’m hugging your thigh, right 

Birdie Gong: (extends leg) Here, hug this

Qiqi: Why are you giving me a chicken drumstick?

Birdie Gong: = v =