WJ Chapter 126

Ru Fen (4)

Guan Wujue had never expected it… The very next day, the Old Sect Leader Yun Guyan — who had remained secluded in Yanyun Palace ever since his abdication — would actually deign to lower himself and come to Qingjue Residence to find him in person.

Though unexpected, it was not entirely without reason.

After all, Yun Changliu held him in such high regard — not only had he let him lie in Yangxin Hall for ten days, he had also made an exceptional exception to promote him to the esteemed position of Protector. It was only natural that the Old Sect Leader would be uneasy.

When he saw that black-and-gold candlelight dragon robe sweeping toward him, Guan Wujue straightened and knelt down, offering a full formal bow.

Thinking back now to his childhood — when he had once been fearless by virtue of being the antidote to Fengchun Sheng poison, and had seized every opportunity to needle Yun Guyan day after day — Guan Wujue could not even find it in himself to laugh anymore.

At most, all that remained was a single rueful reflection: a newborn calf knows no fear of tigers.

“Four Directions Protector, rise.”

Yun Guyan spared him only a single downward glance before beginning to pace about, surveying the newly renovated Qingjue Residence.

The Sect Leader had commissioned craftsmen to refurbish and expand Changsheng Pavilion, making it considerably more spacious, and had personally inscribed the plaque. The furnishings inside had been stocked with everything one could need. The once desolate and lonely little courtyard pavilion — where not even a lamp had been lit on those long-ago nights — had nearly vanished without a trace.

Today, Wen Huan had come along with Yun Guyan, though he had remained outside. As for the Protector, he had cited being unaccustomed to such things and refused the servants the Sect Leader had offered to assign him. And so, at this moment, there were only the two of them. After rising to his feet, Guan Wujue stood to one side with eyes downcast, feeling uneasy in his heart, uncertain what Yun Guyan had come to do to him.

Come to think of it, he had once solemnly sworn that he was content to be nothing more than a Yin Ghost shadow protecting Young Sect Leader Changliu — and it was on the strength of that vow that he had obtained from Yun Guyan the right to enter Ghost Gate.

Yet now here he was: barely a few days after leaving Ghost Gate, he had been removed from the Yin Ghost register by Yun Changliu. This matter… was genuinely difficult to explain.

While Guan Wujue was quietly speculating to himself, something long and black was suddenly held out before him. Yun Guyan had already turned back to face him. With one hand cradling the object, he gave a light, airy hum and said, “Protector… this lord has come today specifically to give you something.”

Guan Wujue had noticed that Yun Guyan was carrying something when he arrived at Qingjue Residence; he simply hadn’t dared look closely before.

Now that it was right before his eyes, he could see clearly — the long object was unmistakably a black cloth qin case, and whatever lay inside would naturally be a qin.

Before Guan Wujue could react, the Old Sect Leader continued speaking as he reached out and drew open the mouth of the qin case before him. “Do you still recognize this qin?”

The wooden qin that emerged from the case was beautifully shaped, three chi and six cun in length. Once, a blue-clad youth had plucked its strings; now it could only lie sealed away in silence within that dark qin case — five years without seeing the light of day.

…It was Yun Shu.

The instant he caught sight of that beloved, familiar qin, Guan Wujue’s entire body went rigid. Alarm bells rang in his heart as a torrent of thoughts flashed frantically through his mind —

What did it mean, Yun Guyan bringing Yun Shu to him now?

What did he mean by giving it to him? Was this a test, or a display of power?

Wait, wait — he could not afford to respond carelessly.

One wrong word against the Old Sect Leader’s wishes, and this new Protector position of his might very well come to an end.

Guan Wujue had no desire to come to an end — if he was going to meet his end, it could only be at Yun Changliu’s hands. In the span of a breath his thoughts had turned over a thousand times. The next moment, he dropped to his knees heavily before Yun Guyan. His expression betrayed nothing, and his voice was steady:

“This subordinate begs the Old Sect Leader’s pardon — this subordinate has never seen this qin before.”

Yun Guyan’s composure cracked. He stared at Guan Wujue’s unperturbed face in disbelief, and his complexion visibly darkened until it was black as the bottom of a pot. “You — have — never — seen — it!?”

The knuckles of the fingers gripping the qin creaked as they curled, and in his towering fury he let out a laugh. “Say that again for this lord!?”

Guan Wujue knelt with perfect tranquility. “Indeed, I have not.”

“…” Yun Guyan fixed Guan Wujue with a cold, venomous stare. After a long moment, he let out a cold laugh. “Don’t play your schemes with this lord — no one here is going to entertain your plots and machinations today. This lord came to listen to music!”

The tone of that last phrase was utterly like an unreasonable scoundrel. Yun Guyan slammed the Yun Shu qin down hard before Guan Wujue, pointed at it, and said, “You. Play it for me.”

The crash of the qin startled Guan Wujue’s heart as well. He thought to himself: how is it that after five years, not only has the Sect Leader grown even colder and more difficult, but the Old Sect Leader has become increasingly volatile, capricious, and ill-tempered as well?

He made up his mind to hold his ground and not yield an inch. With a quiet laugh, he said in a low, steady voice. “The Old Sect Leader is making things difficult for this subordinate. Wujue comes from the Yin Ghosts — I am nothing but a lowly death warrior. What would I know of playing the qin? An object of such refined elegance — if this subordinate were to lay hands on it, would that not be a desecration?”

“Oh… this lord wants you to play it all the more for that.” Yun Guyan let out a cold laugh, clasped his hands behind his back, and narrowed his eyes to icy slits. “Let me be clear — if you do not play today, don’t even think about keeping this position as Four Directions Protector!”

“…” Guan Wujue felt a throbbing at his temples. He thought: why is he being stubborn about this? Has this subordinate not made his position clear enough?

What on earth did Yun Guyan actually want? What more did he expect of him…

He had no choice but to lift Yun Shu with both hands and set it before him. The qin had gone untouched for five years; the strings had gone slack. Guan Wujue slowly tightened them back into tune, then looked at Yun Guyan once more with a complicated expression.

Yun Guyan gave the Protector a lift of his chin. “Play. Whatever you like.”

There was truly nothing to be done. Guan Wujue pressed his fingers to the strings with resignation. When the first note rang out, a soft, bitter sigh quietly rose within his heart.

Five years without touching a qin — he was out of practice after all.

Back then, his qin technique was not much inferior to Young Sect Leader Changliu’s…

Guan Wujue’s heart was heavy, but his hands did not stop. As his fingers moved, the music fell — at times gentle as winter snow, at others urgent as summer rain. As he truly played, he gradually recovered something of the feel from those former days, and the flowing melody poured from the wooden qin.

Yun Guyan had closed his eyes at some point without Guan Wujue noticing.

Guan Wujue had not been putting his heart into it; he merely drew from memory the piece Yun Changliu had dearly loved, “In Answer to Your Grace” — played through a single passage, and stopped. As the music fell silent, the Old Sect Leader gave an amused hum. “Not bad at all, is it?”

Guan Wujue offered a polite “I dare not accept such praise” aloud, while thinking privately: That all depends on the comparison. Against you, Old Sect Leader, even a few careless strums from me would come out as ‘not bad.’

At this, Yun Guyan’s mood seemed to improve somewhat. He said languidly, “Do you know why this lord came to find you?”

Guan Wujue sighed. “This subordinate dares not presume to guess at your lordship’s intent.”

“You are playing dumb while knowing perfectly well.” Yun Guyan smiled. “No matter — this lord can speak plainly with you.”

He gave a wave of his sleeve. “It is that one thing — you know it too, in the end. Do not forget the promise you made to this lord five years ago. As for Liu’er… you ought to have some self-awareness about where you stand.”

“Old Sect Leader,” Guan Wujue suddenly cut across Yun Guyan’s veiled threat. His voice was cool. “You are afraid.”

Yun Guyan paused slightly, and slowly turned to look at him.

Guan Wujue held Yun Shu in his arms, sitting sideways with a slight turn of his head, a faint cold smile hovering at the corner of his lips:

“You are afraid that the Sect Leader will remember that blood extraction carried out under deception. Not only afraid that remembering the past might bring him harm, but afraid that he will remember the guilt and pain Ah Ku has had to carry for a lifetime after damaging his own heart meridians for him — and even more afraid that the bond of father and son between you will be shattered beyond repair.”

Yun Guyan listened as he spoke. Strangely, though he had just been subjected to such pointed mockery, no anger crossed the Old Sect Leader’s face. Instead, he said, “And what of it?”

“In truth, you are worrying far too much,” said Guan Wujue, as though he had not even heard the conciliatory shift in Yun Guyan’s tone. He let out a soft laugh, gazing at the Yun Shu qin in his hands, and murmured quietly, “…What you fear, Wujue fears as well. There was no need for you to come and threaten this subordinate with such roundabout maneuvering.”

Yun Guyan frowned. “So long as you keep to your place, this lord can overlook everything else. As for this qin…”

“This qin…” Guan Wujue shook his head, his expression falling somber. “Back then, this subordinate simply forgot. Had I remembered… you would not have needed to come remind me like this, Old Sect Leader. It would have been burned along with that wooden house long ago.”

“Though as for mending the fold after the sheep are gone — it is not too late even now.”

(TL: 亡羊补牢 (wáng yáng bǔ láo) literally: “mend the pen after the sheep are lost” = It means fixing a mistake after it happens—still better late than never.)

Before the words had fully left his mouth, in the span of a single breath — the red-robed Protector suddenly rose to his feet, channeled his internal energy, and without a shred of mercy swung the long qin up and brought it crashing down upon the ground with all his force!

CRACK!!

Yun Guyan’s expression changed violently. There was a sharp splintering sound — Yun Shu struck the ground and the strings snapped, the body of the qin split into four or five pieces, scattering across the floor in a burst of broken wood.

Guan Wujue stood among the debris with downcast eyes. He remained there in a daze for a long moment, then swayed slightly. His right hand trembled as he pressed it to his chest, and he bowed his head, drawing two steadying breaths.

After a moment, he managed to barely lift the corners of his mouth. His voice was so low and hoarse it was nearly inaudible: “Like this… can you be at ease now…”

The sound of the shattered qin had startled Wen Huan, who had been keeping watch outside. He rushed in and, upon taking in the scene before him, was so shaken he could not get a word out. He had only just composed himself enough to call out “Old Sect Leader” when he saw Yun Guyan, his face dark and grim, sweep his sleeve and walk out of Qingjue Residence without looking back.

Wen Huan was overcome with both distress and anxiety. He looked back and forth between Guan Wujue and his own master. The former didn’t spare him so much as a glance before turning and heading further inside; the latter simply walked on without a care, his retreating figure on the verge of disappearing from sight.

Wen Huan hurried forward several steps and caught up with his master halfway, lowering his voice in urgent appeal. “Old Sect Leader, what has happened here…? Did you not say that as long as he agreed to never mention the past before the Sect Leader, you would return Yun Shu to him…”

Yun Guyan’s expression grew even more forbidding. He said not a word and quickened his pace. Wen Huan was filled with regret, and sighed. “It was Wen Huan’s fault… I should have come inside with you.”

The two of them walked all the way to the gates of Yanyun Palace before Yun Guyan suddenly ground out through clenched teeth. “When Liu’er said his brain was ill, this lord did not believe it at first…”

“Now I see — not only is he ill, he is gravely ill!”

****

That year, the greatest variable to emerge in the jianghu was the Zhuyin Sect.

Yun Guyan, the Zhuyin Sect Leader who had brought catastrophe across all four corners of the land, had suddenly abdicated and gone into seclusion. His successor was his eldest son, Yun Changliu, who was still quite young.

Word had it that this new Sect Leader favored white robes, was temperate and composed by nature, rarely showed himself in public, and differed greatly from his father in conduct and manner.

The position of Four Directions Protector — which had been abolished through several successive tenures — was reinstated by the new Sect Leader. The one bestowed with the title was an obscure young man by the name of Guan Wujue. Ink-plum red robes, twin swords of dark gold, his martial arts supremely refined — seemingly someone held in deep regard by the Sect Leader.

Guan Wujue, Four Directions Protector of the Zhuyin Sect. In barely half a year, that name had already made a name for itself throughout the jianghu. They said he was ruthless and calculated, cold and resolute, decisive in killing — and indeed one could find in him a few traces of Yun Guyan from days past.

Of course, no one knew that this Four Directions Protector — whose rising fame had left many of the Zhuyin Sect’s enemies seething in silent rage — was at this very moment lying in Medicine Gate, barely clinging to consciousness in a half-faint.

By the time Yun Changliu received word and rushed to Medicine Gate, Guan Muyan had already withdrawn the needles and was administering medicine to the patient in the bed, who looked as though he had only a single breath left. He had been about to pay his respects upon seeing the Sect Leader enter, but Yun Changliu waved him off.

Guan Wujue lay in the bed with his eyes deeply closed, sunken in unconsciousness, his complexion ghastly pale — so pale that even the decocted medicine was nearly impossible to get him to swallow.

Yun Changliu drew close and looked at him. A gentle ache stirred in his heart, and he murmured in an anxious tone, “This lord is to blame… next time, no matter what, I cannot let him go out so carelessly again.”