WJ Chapter 108

When the Rooster Crows (6)

Deep within Yangxin Hall, all was still. Zhuyin Sect Leader Yun Guyan, who had just let out a single scornful laugh, sat high in his seat; Wen Huan stood behind the Sect Leader, while below them stood Young Master Yun Danjing.

Yun Guyan narrowed his eyes slowly, studying his second son with an air of amusement for a long moment, before finally offering six words. “You don’t know your own limits!”

“Father!”

The brocade-clad youth lifted his chin and clenched his fists, glaring at Yun Guyan with poorly concealed resentment. “Danjing only wants a chance! A chance to compete with Yun Changliu on equal footing! Won’t Father even give me that much?”

——In truth, a very long time ago, when Yun Danjing was still too young to understand the world, he had once called Yun Changliu “brother”…… Though it had been “mute brother,” “medicine-jar brother.”

But then one day, their father overheard him. He was dragged to the Punishment Hall, flogged ten times with a rattan whip soaked in cold water, and then left hanging half-dead for half a night.

After that, Yun Danjing never called Yun Changliu “brother” again — not even in front of Yun Guyan, stubbornly addressing him by name alone.

“You want fairness? Equal footing with Changliu?” Yun Guyan sat in his chair, one hand propped against his temple, and said coldly, “The day you can beat your elder brother is the day you come to this lord speaking of fairness.”

“But Father has never given me a chance since I was small!” The words drove Yun Danjing to the edge; the rims of his eyes reddened, and he roared with fury. “Transmitting skills, teaching martial arts, giving instruction — all of that was only ever for Yun Changliu! He was born the Young Sect Leader, born into a station of incomparable nobility. Father made up his mind long ago to let him keep me beneath his heel for the rest of my life — and now you tell Danjing, how exactly am I supposed to beat him?!”

His agitation mounted, and the still-youthful voice of the boy echoed endlessly through Yangxin Hall. Wen Huan’s expression tightened. Yun Guyan merely gathered his wide black sleeves and said with an offhanded air, “If you can’t win, then be a good boy and accept your fate.”

“What——!” Yun Danjing’s eyes went wide.

In that instant, it was as though he had been dealt the most cutting insult, the most contemptuous mockery imaginable. Every organ in his body felt as if it were being fried in boiling oil, and for a moment he was too furious to speak.

Yun Guyan gave a cold laugh. “Did you not say so yourself? This lord’s intention has always been to let Changliu keep you beneath his heel for life — so why would this lord ever bestow a chance upon you? If you have the ability, earn your own chance and show this lord what you’re made of. If you cannot, then you deserve your fate.”

Yun Danjing stared at his father in disbelief. “I——”

“A chance? Fairness?”

Giving his son no time to retort, Yun Guyan let a flash of mockery show in his eyes. He slapped the armrest of his chair and declared in a stern voice, “Laughable. Naïve. Where in this world does fairness come from?”

“This Xifeng City on Mount Shenlie, this Zhuyin Sect with its ten branch halls — did this lord build all of that by throwing tantrums like you, begging those righteous-path people of the jianghu to bestow their ‘fairness’ upon me?”

“Those practice-subjects you once wanted to use for your training — did they ever demand ‘fairness’ from you?”

“Changliu was born with deadly poison coiled through his body — and from whom should he go demanding ‘fairness’?”

Yun Danjing was left without a word to say. Yun Guyan flicked his sleeve and shifted his gaze away from his son with impatience. “Get out.”

The young master didn’t move. He stood there with his head bowed for a long time before finally trembling out one more line. “……C-can it be that Father treats me no differently than he treats enemies in the jianghu, than he treats slaves within the Sect, than Heaven treats the people of this world — that there is not even half a shred of fatherly feeling between us?!”

“Young Master Danjing.”

Wen Huan frowned; he truly could bear it no longer, and spoke in a calm, level voice:

“Allow Wen Huan to say one word out of turn. If the Sect Leader truly had no regard for you, he could simply have agreed offhandedly to let the Young Master enter the Wuze Realm, let whatever dangers come, and left you to fend for yourself — it would have saved him all this present trouble.”

“Wen Huan……?” Yun Danjing snapped his head up, his fury having long since curdled into something closer to bitter, manic laughter. There was no room in him now for anyone else’s words. The young master lifted his hand and pointed straight at the white-robed attendant’s face. “Don’t play the good man — you clearly also think I’m not capable, that if I enter the Wuze Realm I’ll die for certain. What is it — things Yun Changliu can do, I just can’t……I just can’t?!”

Wen Huan shook his head and sighed, saying nothing. Yun Danjing’s fury surged further, fury beyond his control, and he spat and went on pointing at the attendant. “And just what do you think you are? This young master is speaking with Father — what business is it of yours to——”

Before the words were finished, Yun Danjing felt as if his chest had been struck by a battering ram.

Boom!!

A burst of internal energy slammed into him; he spat blood and flew backward, crashing hard onto the floor of Yangxin Hall before rolling two more times.

Yun Guyan withdrew his palm with ice-cold eyes. His aura surged up around him like a dark, churning tide. “And just what do you think you are.”

Wen Huan was genuinely startled — he hadn’t anticipated that Yun Guyan would actually let real anger take hold. He rushed to grasp his master’s arm. “Sect Leader, please be merciful!”

Yun Danjing struggled to rise, only to violently clap a hand over his chest and vomit another mouthful of blood, then crumple back to the floor.

His mind was reeling, his lungs in agony. Only now did he realize his mouth had run away with him. Wen Huan had been at Yun Guyan’s side since childhood — though his station was that of an attendant, a great many of the Sect’s significant affairs had passed through his hands over the years; he was by no means an ordinary subordinate.

But then — what was he?

Was he not his father’s second son?!

Yun Danjing lay on his side on the floor, a thin thread of blood still hanging at the corner of his mouth. The pain kept him from rising. Through one blurred eye, he watched Yun Guyan brush Wen Huan aside and walk toward him step by step — and suddenly a strange, wild impulse surged through him.

He suddenly wanted to know…… if he kept hurling insults, would his father — for the sake of someone with a different surname — actually kill him?

“——Father, please calm your anger!”

Abruptly, an urgent and clear-cold voice rang out at his ear. Without any warning, snow-white robes swept into Yun Danjing’s field of vision, and upon them coiled the Candle Dragon emblem, blazing with dazzling gold-red light.

It was the Young Sect Leader Changliu, who had only just stepped through the hall doors and, seeing things had gone wrong, crossed the room in two strides and dropped to his knees before Yun Guyan, shielding his younger brother behind him. In a composed voice he said, “Danjing is young and does not know better — it is enough to have punished him, Father……”

Yun Guyan let out a cold snort, his expression still dark. Wen Huan had been desperately trying and failing to talk the Sect Leader down; upon seeing this saving star arrive, his heart finally eased a little, and he knelt beside Yun Changliu as well. “This servant begs the Sect Leader’s mercy.”

Yun Changliu shuffled forward another two steps on his knees. “Father, please be merciful.”

Yun Guyan clicked his tongue in irritation and waved his hand. “Go, go, go……”

Yun Danjing still lay motionless on the floor. Yun Changliu quickly turned and hauled him upright, discreetly channeling a thread of internal energy into him as he did, and murmured a low, mild rebuke. “Get out of here, quickly.”

Yun Danjing glanced at his elder brother. His lips pressed tight. He turned and wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand, then walked, swaying, toward the door.

After a few steps, a sharp and piercing gaze met him head-on. The young master lifted his head and found himself looking at the medicine-person youth named Ah Ku. Yun Danjing met the look with a cold sidelong glare — and the two of them passed each other without a word.

Watching Yun Danjing make it out of Yangxin Hall, Yun Changliu finally released a breath. Then, from behind him, a pair of hands scooped him up, and he heard Ah Ku’s complaint, “Young Sect Leader, he’s just the one brother you’ve got, and it’s still worth pleading on his behalf.”

……There was really nothing easy to say about it. Yun Changliu could only pat Ah Ku — by way of smoothing ruffled feathers. Then he stole a glance at his father and Uncle Huan. Whether it was an illusion or not, he couldn’t be sure — but it seemed that not only Wen Huan, but even Yun Guyan himself, looked as though he had let out a breath of relief.

And so Young Sect Leader Changliu felt a fresh wave of worry come over him.

When he counted it out carefully — Father and Danjing practically came to blows every time they crossed paths. Father and Ah Ku crossed paths, and cold mockery ensued. Wen Feng and Ah Ku crossed paths, and they would argue and make a fuss. Even when Ye Ru had still been here, before he returned to Medicine Gate, he and Ah Ku together had been a source of turmoil……

Was there truly no way this whole crowd around him could simply get along?!

With the young master gone, the atmosphere in Yangxin Hall gradually eased. Wen Huan brought the Sect Leader some cool tea, and after several cups, Yun Guyan’s temper was at last quenched.

Yun Changliu could only set aside his scattered thoughts and ask, “This son does not know what orders Father has for Changliu and Ah Ku today?”

In the ordinary way of things, even when Yun Guyan personally guided his and Ah Ku’s martial arts, it was never done here in Yangxin Hall. A summons like this clearly pointed to something important. Indeed, he heard Yun Guyan say, “Wen Huan should have already spoken to you before about the matter of the Wuze Realm. Today this lord will have this lord’s contract-shadow take you two to look it over once — get slowly acquainted with the passages within, consider it early preparation.”

With that, the Sect Leader called out in a carrying voice, “Leng Pei! Come out and meet your Young Sect Leader!”

Before Yun Changliu had the chance to petition his father about keeping Ah Ku out of it, Yun Guyan’s shout drowned him out entirely.

In an instant, a strange and complete silence fell over Yangxin Hall.

Wen Huan gave a helpless sigh. Ah Ku’s mouth twitched as though suppressing a laugh. Even Yun Changliu’s expression had gone somewhat off.

Leng Pei……

Wen Huan? Leng Pei?

(TL: 溫環 (Wēn Huán)

溫 = warm, gentle, mild

環 = ring, loop, something that encircles

冷珮 (Lěng Pèi)

冷 = cold

珮 = jade pendant (a decorative jade ornament worn at the waist in ancient times))

Could it be — because he already had an attendant called Wen Huan, he simply went ahead and named his shadow assassin Leng Pei?!

……Everyone knew that a Sect Leader’s shadow assassins were mostly selected from the finest Yin Ghosts of the Ghost Gate, and Yin Ghosts were often orphans. By convention, it was entirely normal for a master to bestow a name upon them.

But this — this, what manner of god-forged naming sense was this?!

It was a match, in its own way, for the Sect Leader’s skill at the qin.

Yun Guyan called out sternly. “Leng Pei! Leng Pei?!”

In an instant, a black-clad figure dropped down behind Yun Guyan like a ghost.

The figure was solidly built and tall, face covered by the black armor of the Yin Ghosts. A deep male voice came from beneath the dark visor. “Reporting to the Sect Leader.”

Ah Ku burst into unrestrained laughter.

Such an eight-foot man — and his name was Leng Pei!

But in the next moment, a chill ran through him. The shadow assassin raised his eyes, and a killing intent soaked in blood instantly enveloped Ah Ku’s entire body.

The laughter faded from the blue-robed youth’s face, and he felt a secret shock: What fearsome presence. It was said that a shadow was the hardest card, the sharpest blade, and the sturdiest shield in a master’s hand. A man like Yun Guyan — the shadow he chose would naturally be extraordinary.

Yun Guyan, however, settled back leisurely into his seat. He tapped the armrest, and with great gravity addressed his shadow. “Hmph. This lord said as much, didn’t he? When this lord gave you that name back then, it was precisely to temper your character! After all these years, you still haven’t rid yourself of this habit of releasing killing intent at the slightest provocation? You have truly let down this lord’s painstaking efforts!”

As the Sect Leader spoke, he tilted his head and pointed at Leng Pei with a manner of deep disappointment — the very picture of someone grieved at a promising talent gone to waste.

“……Yes.” The black-clad man bowed his head stiffly, his voice seeming on the surface calm and steady, though on closer listening it carried the faintest note of teeth grinding. “……Leng Pei, acknowledges his fault. This one asks the Sect Leader to administer punishment.”

“Sect Leader, let it go, Sect Leader,” Wen Huan smoothly stepped in to mediate, practiced as he was. “It is rare for Leng……cough, for Ah Ying to meet the Young Sect Leader for the first time.”

He glanced down at the two youths below — they had already begun whispering to each other.

Ah Ku leaned quietly toward Yun Changliu’s ear. “Young Sect Leader, your name……”

Yun Changliu said without expression. “My mother gave it to me.”

Ah Ku immediately produced an expression of “ah, that explains it.”

After all this, Yun Changliu was in the end unable to keep Ah Ku out of it as he had wished. The two of them were led by Leng Pei to go over the entrance and passages of the Wuze Realm in full.

The entrance to the Wuze Realm was concealed within an utterly unremarkable great boulder on the shaded face of Mount Shenlie. It took a full hour of circling about before one could find the spot.

The key to activating it was the Sect Leader’s Candle Dragon Seal. Leng Pei had borrowed it from Yun Guyan, and opened the entrance gate hidden beneath the rock’s disguise, so the two youths might have a look inside.

In truth, there wasn’t much to see — inside was a pitch-black passage, and an eerie cold air drifted outward from within…… It was said that if one walked deep enough into the darkness, light would eventually appear.

By convention, Leng Pei disclosed no further details, only saying that from this point on, the Sect Leader had appointed him to conduct specific training with the Young Sect Leader in preparation for the Wuze Realm.

And when Yun Changliu and Ah Ku returned from the Wuze Realm, they happened upon a pleasant surprise as well.

Two young foals — one jujube red, red as glowing coals; one snow white, like a jade lion. Both were graceful in form and full of spirit, and one could tell at a glance they were no ordinary animals.

Wen Huan led them over, smiling. “They were just sent as tribute from a branch hall. Reportedly mixed with bloodlines from the foreign lands beyond the border — both are prime stock fit to be thousand-li horses. The Sect Leader already has his own mount, and so he says to give these two to you both, to practice your riding.”

Both youths broke into pleased expressions. Wen Huan added, “If you like, you might give them names. These divine steeds are spiritually aware — if you keep them long enough, they will come to know their names.”

Yun Changliu turned to Ah Ku. “You choose first.”

Ah Ku stepped forward and took the red foal’s lead from Wen Huan. He didn’t deliberate long — he simply felt that the white horse suited the Young Master better, and so he chose the other.

As it happened, the little horse had quite a lively temperament; before long it was already nuzzling up to him. Ah Ku was delighted, and gave it a fond scratch behind the ear. “Autumn is coming soon……” he said with a smile. “Yue liu huo — the moon moves, the fire flows. Let’s call it Liuhuo.”

Yun Changliu took hold of the white horse’s lead, thought for a moment, and gave it a name. “……Feixue.”

They looked at each other and both gave a quiet laugh.

……

Yet merely half an hour later, within Xiaoxiang Palace, Yun Danjing sat with one hand pressed to his face, laughing low and bitter.

Lin Wanxia sat across from him, coolly and detachedly laying out for this youth a reality that was unbearably cruel.

In truth, Yun Danjing had received word of these two priceless divine steeds the moment they had arrived as tribute from the branch hall — two days ago, he had already quietly set his heart on them.

And yet now, having heard from his mother where they had gone, Yun Danjing found it laughable — laughable beyond measure!

Ha, how had he dared to imagine…… that with two divine steeds, a father would naturally give one to each of his two sons?

When his dear father had always been the sort — who would sooner give fine things to Yun Changliu’s medicine person than to his own son.

At times he even wondered whether his father had, in some perverse way, come to regard that medicine person as the true son.

“Danjing! Lift your face.”

Lin Wanxia’s voice fell over Yun Danjing’s bowed head like something cold.

“……Mother.” His voice came out hoarse.

And then the woman’s slender hand came to rest gently against his injured cheek.

Lin Wanxia stroked the scrape on her son’s face with tender concern — the wound that had come when his father in name had struck him to the ground.

It had already been treated with medicine and neatly bandaged…… No matter what, Yun Danjing was still the Young Master of Zhuyin Sect, and his food, clothing, and medicine were naturally all of the finest quality.

“Listen to me, Danjing.”

Lin Wanxia drew her son into her arms. Her gestures were so tender, her gaze so full of love — yet her voice alone was cold and dark. “You are in no way inferior to Yun Changliu…… How could the son of this mother be lesser than the get of some singing-and-playing qin girl?”

That cold, dark voice was heavy with hatred, thick with grief and resentment. “It is only that your father is far too partial…… It is not your fault. It is not your fault.”

Yun Danjing said nothing.

He also wanted to win back a measure of dignity for his mother, wanted to see shock break across his father’s face — that face which was always so hard and cold. But no matter how his mother tried to comfort him, he knew the truth: he could not surpass Yun Changliu.

Lost in thought, Yun Danjing heard Lin Wanxia’s tone shift abruptly. “——But you need not lose heart. When you become Sect Leader in the future, what fine things will not be yours?”

Yun Danjing was a little dazed, and then gave a dry, wan smile. What Sect Leader could he possibly become?

Lin Wanxia looked at him, and said quietly, “Danjing — think. What sort of person is Yun Changliu?”

“Someone born sickly, who has never once set foot off Mount Shenlie, a medicine-jar through and through. Soft in character, too — he can’t even string a few clever words together. And isn’t it said…… that these days he spends all his time playing around with some lowly medicine person? A child without ambition, who wallows in petty private attachments — how could he possibly be a match for you?”

“Even if he is truly propped up into the Sect Leader’s seat by Yun Guyan, what of it?”

Lin Wanxia’s slightly upswept peach-blossom eyes filled with cold light. She rested her hands on her son’s shoulders, the corners of her red lips curling up in disdain. “Ha — with Yun Changliu, do you think he could hold that seat?”

A few words, and Yun Danjing’s mind was thoroughly churned into a mess. His heart said: No, that isn’t right. But looking at his mother’s face — so beautiful, so ruthless, so decided — he could only nod vaguely to appease her.

Lin Wanxia rose to her feet and leaned close to Yun Danjing’s ear. “Your father will not give it to you — then go and fight for it! Not now, though. For now, you must endure…… In time, what is yours will be yours to reclaim. Do you understand?”

Yun Danjing gave a sharp, violent shudder!

His back went suddenly ice-cold, as though a poisonous scorpion were crawling across it.

What did his mother mean by this?!

Endure for now, reclaim what is yours — was she saying that after Yun Changliu took the Sect Leader’s seat, he should stage a rebellion and seize it——

Yun Danjing stopped breathing. His heart slammed wildly. He watched his mother walk past him with a composed and casual air, leaving his room.

The door gave a faint creak and fell shut.

The young master stood there, drained of all sense, for a very long time.

No — no, that wasn’t it……

Something like that — no matter what — could never……

Suddenly, that same door was flung open again with great force from outside!

Yun Danjing gave a startled cry — it truly frightened a cold sweat out of him — and then he turned to find it was his younger sister.

Yun Chanjuan, in a floating pink skirt, came rushing in and threw her arms around her brother’s neck with affectionate ease, grinning. “Danjing! What were you and Mother talking about for so long? You wouldn’t let me listen!”

Yun Danjing stood dazed for a moment, then recovered himself. He reached up and ruffled his little sister’s hair, forcing out a smile. “……Little one, it was nothing.”

Looking at the girl’s soft, bright smile, the young master squeezed his eyes shut.

……Earlier today, in Yangxin Hall, an elder brother not so many years his senior had put himself between them and begged their father for mercy.

The two of them were brothers bound by the same blood; and the three of them had grown up together as siblings from childhood.

Yun Danjing’s eyes stung suddenly. He bit down, forcing back the tightness in his throat, and made himself smile at Yun Chanjuan. “In the future…… when your elder brother Changliu becomes Sect Leader, Brother Danjing will be his most capable subordinate. Doesn’t that sound good?”

Yun Chanjuan’s eyes shone bright, and she nodded eagerly again and again. “Yes, yes! That would be wonderful! Then our Xifeng City will be even more formidable!”

Yun Danjing smiled again, stretching his lips wide, then reached out and gathered his little sister into his arms, and said gently:

“And then…… your two elder brothers will dote on one little sister between them, and make you the most carefree young lady in all the jianghu. How’s that?”