WJ Chapter 117

No Clothes (1)

“Why say there are no clothes? I share my robe with you.

When the king mobilizes the army, I will repair my spears and halberds, and share the same hatred with you!”

——

It was said that many members of the Zhuyin Sect harbored the following misconception:

Whenever the next Zhuyin Sect Leader passed the trials of the Wuze Realm and emerged from it, they would surely have achieved the pinnacle of their martial arts and be brimming with heroic spirit — itching to throw their head back in laughter, swearing to lead the Zhuyin Sect to reign supreme over the martial world from that day forward.

Toward such misconceptions, every single Sect Leader would invariably show an expression of pained recollection, as though unable to bear looking back.

The Wuze Realm was simply too torturous. Whether it was the various trial formations within that tested one’s martial skill and wit, or the years of isolation from the world that ravaged the human spirit — all of it ensured that whoever finally walked out of the Wuze Realm had not half a breath of energy left for any “head-thrown-back laughter.”

Back in those days, when he was still the Young Sect Leader, Yun Guyan had spent years inside it. When he came out, he was covered in blood, disheveled and filthy, barely able to stand — he had practically been dragged out by Wen Huan and Leng Pei, one on each side.

Yun Changliu was evidently far more fastidious than his father. He waited until the realm’s mechanisms had ceased their rotation, then forced himself through sheer willpower to find water inside, bathed and changed his clothes, and made himself look like a presentable human being before emerging.

Yun Guyan and Wen Huan had been waiting outside until they were beginning to fear the worst, when at last they glimpsed a figure making its laborious way out of the Wuze Realm. But the moment Yun Changliu stepped out, the blinding sunlight hit him all at once; with his tension finally released, he pitched straight forward into his father’s arms and lost consciousness entirely.

In the end, it was Yun Guyan who condescended to carry him back to the Medicine Gate on his back.

When Yun Changliu woke up in the Medicine Gate, before he had even had the chance to beg forgiveness from his father — whom he had not seen in five years — for the matter of having privately taken the Candle Dragon Seal back then, he saw Yun Guyan set the sect seal — the Sovereign Seal that symbolized the Sect Leader’s supreme authority — down on the head of his bed with a firm thud.

“Here you are, Liu’er,” said Yun Guyan, pointing to the Candle Dragon Seal with perfect gravity. “The position of Sect Leader is yours from this day forward.”

At this point Yun Changliu was lying flat on his back, and though he had woken up, his mind had not yet fully cleared. He nodded in a daze and murmured, “Alright.”

Yun Guyan said, “Yangxin Hall is yours as well. This lord will move out tomorrow.”

Yun Changliu said, “Yes.”

Yun Guyan added, “Wen Huan, however, stays with me.”

Yun Changliu said, “But of course.”

Yun Guyan nodded with satisfaction and patted his eldest son with rare tenderness. “Very well then. Get some sleep, Liu’er.”

And so Yun Changliu drowsily closed his eyes, turned over, and went back to sleep.

The next morning, Yun Changliu opened his eyes and was struggling to prop himself upright when he saw his Uncle Wen walking in from the inner room carrying medicine, addressing him with warm and tender solicitude. “Sect Leader, time to take your medicine.”

Yun Changliu: “……………………”

The newly appointed Sect Leader of the Zhuyin Sect, having finally recalled what had happened the day before, sat in his bed with a cold expression and fell into silence.

……

Yun Guyan had indeed abdicated — thoroughly and completely, relinquishing all power with startling speed, leaving not a scrap of authority behind.

He and Wen Huan moved into the newly built Yanyun Palace, under the elegant pretext of: This lord has retired into the mists and clouds. Scram, all of you — don’t bother this lord. If anything comes up, go find your new Sect Leader.

As for the new Sect Leader Yun Changliu, who had been thoroughly played by his own father — he unexpectedly took it all in stride.

He could see plainly that Yun Guyan was truly weary, truly unwilling to go on bearing the mantle of Sect Leader. If that was the case, he would take the seat — after all, it was precisely to spare his father the burden as early as possible that he had entered the Wuze Realm in the first place.

And then things truly spiraled out of control.

Xifeng City erupted into chaos — a pot of congee stirred to a boil:

What was the meaning of this? Their mighty and awe-inspiring Sect Leader, their clouds-overturning, rains-reversing Sect Leader, their Sect Leader who looked down upon all under heaven — in the very prime of his years, had stuffed the Candle Dragon Seal into the Young Sect Leader’s arms and bolted?!

What utter absurdity!

This Young Sect Leader — or rather, as he ought now be called, the new Sect Leader — how old was he? Twenty years old. The age of capping. In the eyes of the old guard within the sect, he was still a child!

And when one thought further — this new Sect Leader had spent the years from fifteen to now inside the Wuze Realm, and before the age of fifteen had been an invalid besieged by a rare poison. Moreover, it was said that Yun Changliu had always been quiet and withdrawn as Young Sect Leader, his temperament utterly unlike his father’s. How could he possibly hold up a sect as vast as the Zhuyin Sect?

As for the five years in the Wuze Realm — it was certainly astounding. Yet sometimes when something was too astounding, no one believed it.

Every sect member who heard this news, without exception, assumed that Yun Guyan had sent his own people inside to protect the Young Sect Leader. Their contempt for this new Sect Leader, who they believed had relied entirely on his father’s protection, only deepened.

For a time, the hall masters, gate masters, and even the branch leaders who had received the news throughout the Zhuyin Sect all began to weep and wail, desperately beseeching Yun Guyan to come back.

The most fervent among them was naturally the loyal and straightforward Elder Xue.

…… And so, when Xue Duxing stormed into Yanyun Palace in an attempt to remonstrate, he was greeted by the sight of the former Young Sect Leader Changliu — now the new Sect Leader Yun — expressionlessly rolling up his sleeves to help his father move things.

The items the old Sect Leader was moving were not, in truth, very many — but most of them were relics left behind by Lady Lan, and Yun Guyan would under no circumstances allow ordinary servants to touch them.

Yun Changliu, feeling that he had recovered enough, had come over to lend a hand. One naturally could not do physical labor in those grand and stately robes, so he wore a plain white garment, and from a distance looked no different from that pair of attendants from the Wen family, father and son. Where was there even the slightest trace of a Sect Leader’s dignity?!

Xue Duxing was so incensed that his beard quivered and his eyes bulged.

He knelt before Yun Guyan and went on at great length about how young and inexperienced the Young Sect Leader was, how he was unfit for such great responsibility — and received not a single word of acknowledgment from either the father or the son.

By the end, Elder Xue was nearly worked up enough to point his finger at Yun Changliu’s nose and curse him out, while the latter stood off to one side, head meekly bowed, tuning the strings of his late mother’s qin.

And Yun Guyan’s response was even more blunt.

He waved his hand and had Wen Huan throw Xue Duxing out.

Attendant Wen Huan — who had been scurrying about day in and day out in the wake of the man who was formerly Sect Leader and was now retired Sect Leader, waiting upon him hand and foot — curled his lips in a smile of impeccable courtesy, and with a single palm sent the Ghost Gate’s Master flying out of Yanyun Palace.

…… What they called a true master concealing their depths. What they called the greatest of talents hiding in plain sight. This was it.

And that was how Yun Changliu came to be the Sect Leader of the Zhuyin Sect — no celebration, no formal obeisance, not even a ceremony of succession. Wen Feng had come to ask the Sect Leader about this, and Yun Changliu had found it too troublesome: what ceremony? Cancel it.

As it turned out, the senior members of the Zhuyin Sect who had been weeping and begging Yun Guyan not to leave…… were actually quite farsighted.

With Yun Guyan’s abdication and retirement, a young and gentle new Sect Leader now in place, and the Zhuyin Sect’s guiding pillar gone — internal troubles began mounting. In no time, the old Sect Leader’s former enemies could no longer contain themselves.

What a once-in-a-thousand-years opportunity for vengeance this was!

Under the banner of acting on Heaven’s behalf and slaying the evil dragon, the martial world began to stir. Beneath the flag of the so-called righteous path, it did not take long before three sects and five orders — eight forces in total — had gathered, marching in full force northward on a grand campaign, swearing to join hands and besiege Xifeng City, headquarters of the Zhuyin Sect on Mount Shenlie.

When word reached Mount Shenlie, there was uproar. Hearts were gripped with panic.

At this juncture, no one thought to place any hope in the new Sect Leader Yun Changliu. They all knelt before Yanyun Palace, imploring Yun Guyan with bitter tears to return to his position as Sect Leader and turn the tide in this desperate hour, kowtowing until the mountain rock outside Yanyun Palace was stained red with blood.

Yet Yun Guyan continued to pay no heed.

The next day, an order came down from Yangxin Hall — the new Sect Leader summoned all those holding authority over the various halls and gates within Xifeng City to come before him.

It was the first time Yun Changliu had issued a formal command since his succession.

The result was dismal.

With enemy forces closing in from the outside, no one took the slightest notice of this overly young new Sect Leader. Those who were wailing and lamenting continued to wail and lament. Those kowtowing outside Yanyun Palace continued to kowtow.

When the appointed hour arrived, Yangxin Hall was desolate and cold. Yun Changliu sat alone upon the Sect Leader’s throne, and there was not a single soul below him.

Yun Changliu’s expression remained still and calm. He sat there patiently and waited.

After more than half a shichen, reports began trickling in one by one: Ghost Gate Elder Xue was feeling unwell and could not get out of bed; Punishment Hall Master Liu’s beloved concubine was in difficult labor and he could not get away; Information Hall Master Zhao’s elderly mother had suddenly collapsed with a stroke; Medicine Gate Elder Guan had been testing medicines on himself and had accidentally taken the wrong one…… Well. That last one might actually be true.

“……”

Yun Changliu pressed two fingers wearily to his brow, his elegant lips drawn taut into a cold, flat line.

He had not slept a wink the previous night. The edicts he had drafted by the light of dawn were now stacked in neat order on the table before him, prepared for distribution to the various halls — yet it seemed that would come to nothing.

Wen Feng was shaking with fury.

No matter how he thought about it, he could not fathom it — that Young Sect Leader Changliu, who had carried Xifeng City in his heart since childhood, who had been willing to pour out his heart’s blood for the Zhuyin Sect, who had endured five years of torment inside the Wuze Realm and returned from the brink of death — that upon assuming the position of Sect Leader and issuing his very first command, he should be subjected to such humiliation by the entire sect.

“Sect Leader, they…… they have gone too far!” Attendant Wen gritted his teeth and cursed under his breath. Just look at those excuses — could they be any more transparent? Every single one reeked of undisguised contempt!

Had Yun Guyan still been in power, such brazen insubordination would have been sufficient to have every one of them executed by slow slicing — five times over.

Wen Feng felt a pang in his heart. Fearing that Yun Changliu was upset, he quickly spoke in gentle, soothing tones. “…… But the Sect Leader need not be angry. Wen Feng will go to Yanyun Palace at once — the old Sect Leader will surely stand up for you. We need only have these unruly insubordinates punished, and no one within the sect will dare look down on you any longer……”

Yun Changliu silently lowered his cool and distant eyes, and gave a slight wave to his attendant, indicating it was unnecessary.

His mind was clear as a mirror. This group of people had surely conspired ahead of time to give him this sharp lesson in humility. Each of these hall masters and gate masters prided themselves on their great merit and weighty authority, and commanded great prestige within the sect — that was why they dared to be so brazen. Their aim was precisely to force him into seeking his father’s help, so that Yun Guyan might once again take the reins of power.

And Yun Guyan’s insistence on assuming the posture of someone who had truly and completely retired, washing his hands of all sect affairs, was for the sake of giving his eldest son room to maneuver. Were Yun Changliu to go running to Yanyun Palace for help at this moment, it would be a betrayal of his father’s careful intentions.

Yun Changliu could not help sighing inwardly. The Zhuyin Sect had not been founded all that long ago, and was far less rigidly structured than the old martial clans and righteous sects. His father had always conducted himself with unbridled arrogance, and had fostered the same willful and unruly habits in all his subordinates. The only thing that could keep this pack of people in line was Yun Guyan’s own brand of iron-fisted methods. If they decided a leader was weak and useless, the Heavenly King himself could come and plead, and they still would not submit.

But the problem was — with the three sects and five orders on the verge of surrounding them, could he really start a mass slaughter now to establish his authority?

Yun Guyan’s subordinates — willful as they were — were all capable commanders within Xifeng City. If he broke them all, who would be left to fight the battle ahead?

Yun Changliu sat in the vast and empty Yangxin Hall, silent for a long time.

Then, suddenly, footsteps sounded outside the hall. It seemed someone exchanged a few words with the Zhuhuo Guards stationed outside, and was then shown in.

A young man’s voice rose outside the hall:

“Punishment Hall’s Xiao Donghe pays his respects to the Sect Leader. This subordinate is late in arriving, and knows his offense — I beg the Sect Leader’s pardon.”

Inside Yangxin Hall, Yun Changliu came back to himself. Sect Leader and attendant exchanged a glance — neither had anticipated that anyone would actually come at this hour.

Yun Changliu parted his lips. “Enter.”

The one who entered was a dashing young man in a sapphire-blue round-collar long robe, who at first glance looked to be no older than twenty. The moment he entered the hall he knelt and paid his obeisance, his etiquette entirely proper and thorough.

Yun Changliu remembered this person — he seemed to have just been promoted to Deputy Hall Master of the Punishment Hall a few months prior. Unexpectedly, the Punishment Hall Master himself had not come, yet this young Deputy Hall Master had come alone.

The great hall now held only three people, which was rather awkward. Yun Changliu dispensed with all pretense of formality, raised his hand to signal him to rise, and asked him directly, “Even your Hall Master refuses to answer this lord’s summons. What have you come here for?”

The young man surnamed Xiao played innocent. “My Hall Master’s beloved concubine is in difficult labor——”

“……”

Yun Changliu looked down at him from on high, cool sleeves folded, his gaze icy.

Xiao Donghe gave up with a helpless sigh. He scratched his head and said resignedly, “Ah…… This subordinate begs the Sect Leader’s pardon. Truth be told, this subordinate had no intention of coming either, and Hall Master Liu forbade me from coming as well.”

He smiled then, shoulders lifted in a hapless shrug. “Only — I looked around and saw that everyone was truly refusing to come, and I thought to myself…… what if the Sect Leader truly had some important order to issue, and there was not a single soul to hear it? Would that not mean affairs of consequence would be missed?”

He had thought it over and over, and felt that he ought to come.

The Sect Leader’s brow rose ever so slightly, imperceptibly. He showed no anger.

He felt that this Deputy Hall Master Xiao was admirably bold and candid. Even without genuinely trusting the new Sect Leader, he had been able to think carefully and put the greater picture first — willing even to risk offending his direct superior and incurring the new Sect Leader’s displeasure to make this trip to Yangxin Hall……

This kind of character — Yun Changliu rather admired it.

A brief silence began to spread. Xiao Donghe’s gaze drifted quietly to the table before Yun Changliu, and his expression shifted subtly.

He reined in his easy manner somewhat and asked with careful tentativeness. “May this subordinate ask, Sect Leader…… is there some instruction you wish to give?”

Yun Changliu followed Xiao Donghe’s gaze back to those edicts he had written. But after a moment’s thought, the Sect Leader shook his head. “No need. You may withdraw.”

…… With the senior ranks of the sect entirely refusing to follow his orders, issuing these commands would be useless — and might even make things more troublesome.

A thought stirred in his mind. Yun Changliu changed his intention, feeling no grief whatsoever over the fruits of his painstaking labor, and waved his hand for Wen Feng to take them down and discard them.

Meanwhile, the great forces of the three sects and five orders had already swept at speed across the frozen Red River, scaled the precipitous cliffs of Mount Shenlie, and now stood with their armies at the gates of Xifeng City.

It was only when enemy soldiers truly arrived at the city walls that the senior figures of the Zhuyin Sect inside finally jolted awake.

They looked at Yanyun Palace, which from start to finish had not stirred in the slightest, and their hearts seized with dread: This is bad — the way things look, could it be that the old Sect Leader is serious……?

He has truly abdicated? Truly washed his hands of it all? Truly not going to step in?

Whatever were they to do?

Gradually, this group of the old Sect Leader’s most loyal subordinates had no choice but to drag their exhausted bodies and spirits away from Yanyun Palace and climb up to Xifeng City’s battlements.

They leaned against the lacquered black walls and looked down. What they saw was a clamor of men and horses, the cold gleam of blades. The combined armies of the three sects and five orders were in full battle formation five li outside Xifeng City’s gates, their disciples clad in a variety of different garb, yet all of them radiating murderous intent and righteous fury.

Then a wide banner unfurled in the wind — eight great characters inscribed upon it: “Acting on Heaven’s behalf — slay the evil dragon” — snapping and billowing in the fierce gale blowing off Mount Shenlie.

Punishment Hall Master Liu Wanjun slammed his fist against the city wall and burst out: “Ptui! What so-called three sects and five orders! When the…… when the old Sect Leader was in power, every one of them had their tails tucked between their legs playing the obedient grandson — and the moment that useless Young Sect Leader takes the seat, they all start howling and baring their teeth!”

Xue Duxing’s face was a ghastly shade. He regretted now that these past two days had been wasted time, that he had lost the initiative. None of them had anticipated that the enemy would move with such speed, nor that Yun Guyan would truly abandon Xifeng City to this crisis without a second glance.

Yet though he had some regrets, he was not in a panic. Even without Yun Guyan holding the line, the Ghost Gate Master did not believe the Zhuyin Sect could not fight this battle. And it was evident the two Hall Masters were of the same mind.

The three of them were just about to put their heads together and devise a strategy when footsteps drew near — someone was ascending the battlements and heading their way. They turned as one to look, and saw four Zhuhuo Guards flanking a slight young attendant in white — none other than the young man of the Wen family who served at the Sect Leader’s side.

Wen Feng strode forward with his head held high, and unrolled an edict freshly stamped with the Candle Dragon Seal:

“The Sect Leader commands: seal the city gates. No one is permitted to engage the enemy without authorization. Those who defy this order will be charged with the crime of treason and executed on the spot!”