Chương 70: The Young Lord Returns with a Xiwen!

As I followed Feng-Dao back toward the city in a jerky manner, he noticed my condition and placed my arm over his shoulder, using himself as a supporting pillar as we entered the near-ruined Daoshi. Every step sent fresh waves of pain through my torn leg and missing arm even if they are regenerating albeit slowly the pain was visceral, but I gritted my teeth and kept moving. The city that had once shone with crimson walls and violet rooftops now lay half-devoured by flames.

Thick black smoke curled into the sky like mourning banners. When we arrived in the center, the remaining soldiers were helping the commonfolk escape burning houses, running to the wells and throwing water to dim the flames. Women carried children on their backs while men formed human chains, passing buckets hand to hand. The moment we reached his elite unit those who themselves looked as though they had already fought hard and were all over still continued helping...

I sat down on the ground viewing it all, also taking in the community work of recovery. My leg still hurt. Pain rammed through my insides like a quaking withdrawal. I held back the vomit, a small amount already in my mouth, and forcefully gulped it down with a grimace. Feng-Dao came over with a small amount of water in a broken cup and a news vulture disappeared in the sky. I said, "Thanks."

Seeing my face covered in total sweat, he asked what had happened to me, since i should have been imprisoned or at least ran far from here... thats what he would have done in my position. I explained everything up to the point where I had lost consciousness, my voice hoarse and broken. When I finished he added, "You are then truly our hero, Erumes. You were labeled a Suren of evil nature, yet you killed those criminals and then attacked the Moyonge. Well done... i mean it, again."

He bowed with one fist and one open palm in utmost respect, thanking me. I argued, "I've done it for myself. All of it just happened by chance." I used another cup of water to clean my mouth. He unfortunately could not share more at the moment. I understood why... having seen the wells were being used to help close wounds as much as possible all around town. Looking far and wide, the damage to this once-beautiful city was near total destruction.

Half the pavilions stood as charred skeletons, roofs caved in, walls blackened by soot. While still twitching with pain, I had an idea. Looking over the street, I saw so many dead bodies making movement harder. I put my sword to use and began cutting the dead enemy soldiers into smaller pieces so they could be thrown more easily into a ditch. My sweat and determined struggle earned respect from the soldiers who stood and watched my actions for what they were. After the long ordeal, day finally came.

The city fires stopped completely. Soldiers carried the small pieces of the carcasses to a quickly dug ditch at the place where I had fought Doyin-Moyonge, for that was the best location. The smell of burnt flesh and ash hung heavy in the air. Feng-Dao took time to inform the other outposts of their leader's fall, sending the grave news by vulture along with an immediate summons to the city, with it being the highest priority. He also helped carry items from one point to another.

The day began with rebuilding as much as possible with no rest in mind for the inhabitants. With me on the other hand I lay on a makeshift bed, recuperating from the heavy withdrawals, trying to sleep them off with no real chance of success. The sounds of the city's revival were too hectic to allow for any type of rest. To escape the noise I slowly walked from the city square, where only hours earlier a battle of high intensity had filled the streets. The blood was now being cleaned away.

The public received rice balls and cakes as food. The dead would be mourned together later. That night, pamphlets announcing the incoming Outpost Armies from all around the region were posted. The big news: the young Lord was on his way back. Zixuan-Dao, the twenty-one-year-old, the exiled one, was coming back. One of the older people currently repairing a roof spoke with the man holding the ladder on an alley way, where i took my refuge at. I stood to the side and listened to their conversation.

"Zixuan-Dao coming back is good. We need someone stubborn who can show those Moyonge bastards, that we still have spunk and hit them where it hurts as hard as possible and the young lord can do it."

"But have you forgotten the reason for his banishment to the most eastern mountain outpost?"

"Yeah, I remember.... He killed a merchant of the liang clan because an argument erupted, and it hurt us financially to this day. Even if the slaughter was deserved for what the merchant was offering us, it still damaged our economy more even if three years have passed. I hope he has matured at least, when it comes to financial stability sometime you have to bow to injustice."

"Yeah, yeah… we can only hope." After the eavesdropping I walked toward the pavilion slowly and saw Feng-Dao opening the treasury from the cell, distributing coin to merchants so they could call for handymen and blacksmiths to repair the city as quickly as possible. After he finished giving them the coin, while he was also preparing for the arrival of all the forces, I interjected with the most important question that had been lingering in my mind.

"Why are 'Suren' hated?" He stopped, sat down, and took out a rice ball, ripping it in half.

"I need a break anyway sit here with me and listen. Let's start from two years ago." Two Suren men had come into our territory reaching our Daoshi and were offering their services, but the payment they demanded was not coin... they sought after humans. They claimed to be "scientists" who wished to improve humanity in any way possible. The now former Sect Leader declined. The two men with 1 more who joined them on the retreat then went over to the scum of the Moyonge Sect.

Ever since that day Moyonge had attacked our Sect, demanding people as tribute on every little victory they had over us. How deeply those Suren had embedded themselves into Moyonge remained unknown. While listening to his past history I remembered the incident in Hespericum in the Tharaj territory. I stood up while eating the food, munched, gulped it down, and added,"When you guys go to war I will not want to join... will join in, after I am healed.

I think I know what they are up to and its nothing good for "humans"... they are hypocrites." Grateful for the information, he helped me back to the rest area. It was located in a different place than before, further away from the loud noise, and had a nice, comfortable bed. But just as I wanted to lie down... A loud noise came from the city gate, by then one thousand soldiers had already amassed in the city from an other outpost.

They saw its ruined state, yet also the active people still trying to restore it swiftly. The first to arrive was a war veteran named Xhinpe-Dao. The second was another war veteran named Zahyun-Dao. The third was the young leader Zixuan-Dao, the one who had been in exile. Next came Fixun-Dao, a strong general. The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Last to arrive was another general, Doyhou-Dao.

They gathered in the outdoor area of the pavilion, sitting on the newly prepared eight seats, and began talking about who would now become Sect Leader and what should be done about Moyonge Sect. A serious debate started. As we arrived i stood on the pond as Feng-Dao told me i could not go in further and can stay here as i wanted to see this young lead myself. Feng-Dao then remained as the only neutral party, as he arrived carrying the Sect Banner high placing it on the entry dedicating his will for Dao itself.

I saw it for the first time myself in a close up position. The Dao-Sect Banner was a violet-red field with dark crimson borders, featuring a mysterious black shadowy male silhouette facing forward in a martial stance, with glowing obsidian-black eyes as the central emblem. He brought the banner to the discussion group, hoping that looking at the flag would motivate them for Dao and bring prosperity back.

Instead, the tea drinkers sat with stern faces; the devastation caused by the fallen lord had pierced their souls. It filled them with a momentary flare of anger, though their true rage was directed at one another around the table. After all, every single one of them sought the role of Sect Leader, driven entirely by ego and greed. Feng-Dao with few close aids of the former lord brought out the voting box made of bronze. Everyone took a white sheet of paper. Before voting, each spoke of their aspirations.

Some spoke of revenge. Others spoke of holding their inner anger in check and remaining reasonable. When it was the young exiled leader's turn, he released a strong wave of Animo that broke through their arguing faces or cowardice approach.

"I am not a man of politics, but of the sword (looking at the placed flag). I want the role only so I can fight under our rightful banner, since you should know the banner of our Progenitor Wujiren-Dao, the man who shook this nation and in just thirty-seven years brought it all under his name and changed the name to have the Dao in it.

If he could see what we, the last of his line, have become, he would spit on us and kill us himself for cowering in fear before a new sect that came from a different nation and now wants the last of our remaining lands. Under no circumstance should we waste time here playing house while our own Daoshi, our beautiful city, looks like this." He looked around at the gentlemen present.

"The Moyonge are laughing at us right now... celebrating their win and our failures and i do not stand for THIS AND YOU SHOULD NEITHER!" With his rant finished he sat down, wrote his own seat number on the paper, and smashed it into the box. Swayed by his emotional dedication to the Sect, the others quickly voted him into leadership. His constant display of a powerful Animo presence functioned as a form of silent blackmail, yet it was highly persuasive.

As a result, he was swiftly elevated to the powerful role of Sect Leader. Feng-Dao handed him the old man's glaive. the twenty-one year old Zixuan-Dao gripped it and burst it with his Animo. He muttered under his breath, full of disdain for his former master: "You old fool. Killing that merchant was righteous… just as getting vengeance for our people will be. Just watch how I will reconquer the lands in the name of the Dao."

"I want you all to call in the Vulture´s. For the first time we go on the offensive right away. I call for the Xiwen. Bring me all of Age. It is time for the biggest Act of the Dao-Sect since the splitting." And so he first ordered all the men to send the vultures across the entire Sect-land brining the call for Xiwen to every village and outpost possible. The biggest army in quite a while would be gathered into one heavy cauldron to burn the enemy. But before that, he put on white clothes.

All the soldiers present followed his example. He took a white water vase with golden outlines, placed a branch of brown-red toned petals into it, and dunked it inside. Then he walked from the Great Pavilion all the way to the newly built graveside, giving out the Great Compassion Water while sprinkling it upon all the nearby citizens and the buildings around them. Everyone listened in silence to the newly elected Leader, who had not yet formally announced himself to the people.

The respectful death-blessing ritual lasted one hour and eleven minutes until he finished. He then took off the white clothes and burned them with a torch near the gravesite. Raising his voice, he solemnly swore:"I, Zixuan-Dao, am on this day chosen as the new Sect-Lead. I will not promise peace or goodwill, but a chance for all our recently taken and murdered brothers and sisters to receive vengeance. From this day onward I call for a Xiwen, (檄文) the war manifest.

Not for my personal gains, but to show every other Sect that this Sect still carries, in my honest opinion, the heart of the Progenitor inside it... just as this flag does." (pointing at the Banner, which was waving on top the half burned charred pavilion) He then hammered also a banner into the ground with a single strike, creating a huge surge of wind. The banner flapped wildly.

"I believe the other Sects and Clans have forgotten who conquered them, who created their right of legacy, and who protected them. It is time for Dao to be Dao again!"

"XIWEN!" the citizens screamed. War had already reached their hearts. A great storm was now heading toward the Moyonge Sect, who were currently celebrating their recent victory with great rice wine and rice cakes. They had lost one general, yet had nearly reduced the Dao Sect to smithereens... at least in their minds.

The Moyonge Leader, Huanze-Moyonge a forty-two years old man, short brown hair, short beard that gave him a rough appearance, and two scars on his forehead earned from his own massive axe that rested on his back has celebrated the hardest of all. He had no idea what fire had just been awakened.