CH 53

Lu Xiuqi drank the ceremonial tea offered to him by Chen Ziqi that was a necessary part of the ceremony to recognise the latter as his disciple, then brought him to meet the other disciples in the sect. With this, Chen Ziqi was now officially recognised as an honorary member of the Lushan Sect.

“Aren’t you the…”A group of second-generation disciples came to greet Chen Ziqi, and one of them recognised him. He had been one of the disciples who went to the dilapidated temple near Lushan that day. 

“Ling Fei, is this how you speak to your Shishu?” Lu Xiuqi said, glaring at that disciple.

Ling Fei immediately retracted the hand that was pointing at Chen Ziqi, then clasped his hands together in apology. “I acted inappropriately. Shishu, please don’t be offended,” he said.

Chen Ziqi might be a mere honorary disciple, but Lu Xiuqi held him in high regard, and the other disciples didn’t dare to treat him disrespectfully. They accorded him the same respect as their other core disciple Shishus.

“Shifu, there’s no need to walk me down the mountain. Please don’t trouble yourself. I’ll come to visit again at the New Year,” Chen Ziqi said, smiling as he pulled Lu Xiuqi back to stop him from accompanying him. 

Lu Xiuqi halted reservedly at the top of the steps as requested, and on hearing that Chen Ziqi would visit again over the New Year, his smile broadened considerably. “If you meet with any difficulties, just tell Shifu. Jianyang has not been peaceful of late. I’ll get Li Yuhan to bring some of our disciples and make a few rounds there,” he said.

“That would be fantastic. Please let my fellow Shixiong and Shizhi know that when they come to my fief, I will certainly entertain them with good food and wine,” Chen Ziqi said, flashing a brilliant smile. His purpose in coming today was precisely to get martial artists from the Lushan Sect to help patrol Jianyang and stabilise the situation there. The plans he had would go more smoothly with the Lushan Sect helping to ensure that his fief was secure.

The elders remained where they were, and Li Yuhan led five or six younger disciples to escort Chen Ziqi down the mountain.

Lu Xiuqi stood at the top of the steps, stroking his beard as he watched the little company disappear into the distance.

“Shixiong, why are you so good to that little whippersnapper?” one of the old men standing next to Lu Xiuqi said, frowning.

“Look at the guards by his side. Did you notice anything?” Lu Xiuqi said, smiling enigmatically at the old man.

“Their footsteps are unusually light, and their breathing is long and measured. The three of them are all highly skilled,” the two old men said, exchanging a look with each other as they tried hard to remember what those three guards had been like. “Especially the one standing right next to him…”

His tall, slender frame had exuded an extraordinary sense of presence. Even with his face covered and his eyes lowered, that overwhelming aura was impossible to ignore. 

“Fluttering like clouds chasing the wind, stepping lightly like birds on snow,” Lu Xiuqi said. He turned to leave after throwing down this ambiguous phrase, leaving his two foolish Shidi standing there in confusion.

“What on earth is Shixiong saying?”

“I’ve got it. It’s the Cyclone Step!”

“Eh?” 

The three guards with Chen Ziqi had moved in a manner that only people who had mastered the Cyclone Step could, and the two of them had actually not realised this. Only the Cloud Palace people knew how to use the Cyclone Step. Chen Ziqi managed to obtain Zhan Lu from the Cloud Palace to give to the Lushan Sect, and his guards were from the Cloud Palace… this could only mean that Chen Ziqi’s relationship with Dan Yi was truly exceptional.

The Cloud Palace’s revenge on the Suxin Sect this round was swift and sharp, like a bolt of lightning out of the blue, stunning the whole martial arts world. Everyone finally woke up and smelt the coffee; the Cloud Palace’s new Master might only be sixteen years old, but he was no less ruthless than his father – perhaps more so, in fact.

No one on this earth was completely clean; everyone had a secret or two that they couldn’t tell anyone about, and all the secrets in the world were in the palm of the Cloud Palace Master’s hand. If the Cloud Palace decided they disliked you, they could just broadcast a dirty little secret of yours to the whole world – there wasn’t a single person who didn’t feel threatened by this. The thing that was foremost in everyone’s minds, therefore, was making sure they were on good terms with the Cloud Palace.

The Lushan Sect disciples walked ahead, leading the way. Chen Ziqi hung back a few steps and sidled over to where Dan Yi was to whisper in his ear. “I hope you’re not mad that I made use of your name and reputation to get around,” he said a little guiltily. 

Dan Yi turned to look at him. “If you didn’t make use of my name and reputation, I’d actually be offended then,” he said, in that lovely, mesmerizing voice of his. He gave Zhan Lu to Chen Ziqi precisely to shock the Lushan Sect into submission.

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The cloth mask on Dan Yi’s face was the same shade as his clothes, and it hid the bottom half of his face completely, revealing only a pair of eyes. Those beautiful phoenix tail eyes were thrown into even sharper relief because his elegant chin and pink-tinged lips were hidden from view.

Dan Yi was really, really good looking, Chen Ziqi thought to himself. Only a god or saint or fairy could be this beautiful, surely… 

Chen Ziqi chatted with a few of the younger disciples as they journeyed on, and the reserved young swordsmen slowly started to open up. They hadn’t got enough of each other’s company when they got to the foot of the mountain, so they continued escorting him all the way to Xunyang City. When they got there, Chen Ziqi offered to treat them to a good meal at Zuixian Restaurant.

The swordsmen lived strict, ascetic lives up on the mountain, and the moment they heard that there was good food to  be had, their eyes lit up, and they practically charged toward Zuixian Restaurant with Chen Ziqi.

“Blim blam bam!”

“Clatter! Crashhh!” 

Just as they got to Zuixian Restaurant, they heard the raucous sounds of a fight going on. The Zuixian Restaurant’s owner stood outside, looking absolutely wretched as he watched the violent scene unfold inside his restaurant. When he turned and saw the people in the Lushan Sect’s signature attire walking up, he immediately ran over to beg them to help.

“Let’s see if you still dare to talk nonsense!” A few female disciples of the Suxin Sect were shouting as they chased a storyteller out of the restaurant.

Chen Ziqi could guess what happened with one look. They had probably heard the storyteller tell the tale of “The Abbess Wuyin Meeting Her Secret Love”, “The Kept Men of the Suxin Sect” or other stories of similar ilk…

“Cease and desist!” the Lushan Sect’s disciples shouted. They stepped forward immediately and started exchanging blows with the Suxin Sect disciples. 

The disciples from the Suxin Sect were three young ladies, and they were very quickly subdued by the six Lushan Sect disciples.

“Xunyang is at the foot of Lu Mountain, and it’s not a place for you Suxin Sect disciples to kick up a fuss!” the restaurant owner said angrily, leaping forward and pointing at the girls with an accusatory finger.

The storyteller had been shocked out of his wits, and was slumped in a corner near the door, gasping for breath. “This old bag of bones is just a storyteller. I don’t know how I have offended you lady martial artists?” he asked when he finally got his breath back.

“You’re not to talk nonsense!” the youngest girl said heatedly. She was only thirteen or fourteen years old, and her young cheeks were puffed out in anger. 

When the passers-by understood what had happened, they started pointing and whispering amongst themselves.

“Ah, they’re like that because they’re from the Suxin Sect.”

“Oh, so they’re not ashamed to keep boy toys, but they’re ashamed to let people know about them?”

“What do you know? The Suxin Sect leader is supposed to be a nun, but… tut tut…” 

The young girl couldn’t move as one of the Lushan Sect disciples was holding a sword to her neck, and she was so angry and frustrated that she started crying. Her two Shijie also had very ugly looks on their faces.

This was Xunyang, the Lushan Sect’s territory. When other sects caused trouble here, the Lushan Sect would certainly not look the other way. With the Lushan Sect people present, the commoners also became bolder, and the things they said became more and more unpleasant.

“The nerve of them to show their faces at this time.”

“If it were me, I’d have just jumped into a river and drowned myself long ago! I wouldn’t be so shameless as to come and make trouble here.” 

“You’re so pretty – why do you need to keep little boy toys? I’d sleep with you even if you didn’t pay me. How about that?” one of the local rogues said, smiling lecherously at them. The people around him laughed uproariously at this.

The young girl was sobbing even harder now.

Chen Ziqi frowned slightly. He didn’t like the Suxin Sect either, but humiliating a girl this way was really too much, and he decided to speak up. “If you want to fight, then fight; you’re not a decent man if you denigrate young girls with this kind of vulgar language,” he said.

Li Yuhan, who had remained motionless until now, suddenly unsheathed his sword. A few of the rogues turned tail and fled, and the rest of the commoners also got a shock. The Zuixian Restaurant’s owner saw that things were about to take a turn for the worse, so he quickly tried to get everyone to leave. “The Lushan Sect heroes are here now. You can leave now, off with all of you,” he said. 

In the end, the Suxin Sect’s people compensated the restaurant owner for the damaged tables and chairs, and the matter was considered closed.

After putting the only two tables that weren’t damaged together, Chen Ziqi and company feasted on the Zuixian Restaurant’s excellent food. Under the influence of their sated bellies, the disciples present all readily promised to go to Jianyang in a few days’ time to settle the situation there.

Chen Ziqi bade farewell to the Lushan Sect people after the meal and had just left the Zuixian Restaurant when he heard a sweet, girlish voice call out behind him. “Young sir…”

Dan Yi turned and saw the young girl from before, the one from Suxin Sect whom Chen Ziqi had spoken up for. She was staring unblinkingly at Chen Ziqi. Dan Yi frowned subconsciously, then pulled off his mask in a single tug. “What do you want?” he asked, his tone slightly hostile. 

“I…” the young girl looked at Chen Ziqi’s guard and suddenly forgot what she was about to say. That gorgeous countenance of Dan Yi’s was not a sight one saw every day, and anyone who saw him for the first time couldn’t help being stunned.

Chen Ziqi turned around. For some reason, seeing that girl staring vapidly at Dan Yi’s unmasked face soured his mood immediately. “Miss, were you calling me?” he asked.

“Oh, ah, yes,” the girl said, looking at Chen Ziqi now. She couldn’t help blushing. “Thank you, young sir, for speaking up for me. You must be from the Lushan Sect, and I don’t know how to address… Um, I.. my name is Yuhu, Liao Yuhu. I am one of the Suxin Sect’s second generation disciples. Actually, what those people said just now…”

She herself wasn’t sure what she was saying any more. She had wanted to explain that those rumours were untrue, but she started tripping over her own words and mixing everything up. She started crying again because she was so nervous and embarrassed. 

“My name is Chang Qi, and you can consider me a member of the Lushan Sect,” Chen Ziqi said, smiling warmly as he offered a black-coloured handkerchief to the girl. “The world is a difficult place, and there will always be problems that you cannot solve. Don’t cry any more. You had better go back with your Shijie.”

Liao Yuhu accepted the handkerchief and wiped the tears off her face. She stared at Chen Ziqi’s smiley peach blossom eyes and nodded dumbly.

Chen Ziqi turned and left in a grandiose manner. Dan Yi, on the other hand, had a dark expression on his face. “How can you just give out your handkerchief to someone so easily?” he asked in a foreboding tone. A personal item like a handkerchief should not be given to others randomly, especially not to a girl.

“That’s Wu Bujian’s handkerchief,” Chen Ziqi said, an innocent look on his face. When he finished eating earlier, Wu Bujian had given him a handkerchief to wipe his mouth, and he’d given that handkerchief to that girl after wiping his mouth with it. That handkerchief probably still had the smell of roast meat on it… 

The world was a difficult place, and there would always be problems that you couldn’t solve. That was something Xiaoru told him in the past. Earlier, one of the reasons he had taken pity on that girl was because she had looked a little like Xiaoru. He wondered how the people in Jiuru Town were getting on these days…

Chen Ziqi paid the Wind Wing and got them to look in on Xiaoru of Jiuru Town’s Scarlet Robe Court, just to know how she was doing. Those two fellows he used to associate with – Da Chen and Xiao Chen – they didn’t have a fixed place to stay, and he didn’t know their real names, so they would be very difficult to find. Xiaoru was the lowest hanging fruit since she was always at the Scarlet Robe Court, so he decided to focus on her.

Before the Wind Wing reported back on Xiaoru, the Second Prince’s reply to his letter arrived.

The Second Prince, Chen Zijian, the present King Wan, was much more pleasant to associate with than the Tiande Emperor, as usual. The messenger was a disciple from the Huangshan Sect, and he personally handed over a wax-sealed letter and a small box to Chen Ziqi. There were silver notes worth fifty thousand taels in the box. 

The letter spoke briefly about his current situation. Chen Zijian’s fief was very near the Huangshan Sect’s lands, and he had his maternal grandfather, who was the leader of the Sword Alliance, looking after him, so his life was fairly comfortable. The letter then spoke about recent events in the martial arts world – the news about the Suxin Sect and the Cheng family.

“… It’s public knowledge now that Cheng Zhou left the palace before the ten years were up. Be careful about this Suxin Sect business…”

When Cheng Zhou found out that his personal enemy, the one who massacred his family, was precisely that supposedly noble and virtuous Abbess Wuyin, and also the one whom the Cloud Palace had asked him to kill in exchange for the answer to the question he asked, he screamed as if he were possessed by the devil himself.

The Tiande Emperor didn’t dare to keep him, and thus consented to release him before the agreed period of service ended. 

King Wan’s motive in telling Chen Ziqi this was to get him to pay attention to Cheng Zhou’s movements, and also see if Chen Ziqi knew anything about why the Suxin Sect had exterminated the Cheng family.

Chen Ziqi rubbed his chin thoughtfully. ”This Second Prince has a really long arm,” he mused. The Second Prince knew in excruciating detail what had happened in the palace, which meant he was still very well connected to the people there.

“Tweet.” The little red bird chirped lazily as it napped on the table.

Chen Ziqi narrowed his eyes and looked at the little fluffball. The little creature had appeared shortly after he and Dan Yi split ways. He had returned to Jianyang, and Dan Yi had said he was heading back to the Cloud Palace. He couldn’t believe that this was mere coincidence any more. He raised a hand and put the fifty thousand taels of silver notes in front of the little bird. 

“Divine chicken, I’ve got money to open a chicken farm now, but I’m lacking a stud rooster, don’t you think you could…”

“Tweet?!”

—

The author has something to say: Mini-theatre 

“The Catfights of the Martial Arts World”

Commoner A: The Suxin Sect actually dares to do this sort of thing

Commoner B: That’s right, I hear they have a boy toy for every member of their sect

Suxin Sect: It’s not like that! Only our Shifu has one, the rest of us are innocent 

Commoner C: You still dare to argue in this situation? Stop putting on an act

Commoner D: Exactly! In this sort of situation, you should be as quiet as mice