Chương 12: Chapter 11

Wu Nenqin would have loved to say he didn't know what it was about.

"Young Mistress! Wait up!" The panicked voice couldn't have announced the little girl who hopped out of the shadows better. Wu Lin was the Sect's genius. At barely thirteen, she already reached the top Foundation Establishment and was on her way to the Realm's end. Her talent for cultivation could be described only as exceptional, and the only reason it wasn't that she was holding the title of Deputy Master was her young age and their parents' will. She was also the bane of Wu Nenqin's existence.

"Heyyyy, big brother!" The little girl beamed, gravel spraying from under her feet as she came to a stop before him. A crate as big as her was balanced above her twin buns, whatever was inside dying an ugly death as momentum asserted itself. Wu Ninqin winced at the casual destruction of Sect's property.

"Greetings, sister," he said, desperately hoping for public composure. Wu Lin, obviously, would have none of that. The little girl balanced the crate on one hand and grabbed her chin, giving him the same thoughtful look she reserved for her collection of night butterflies.

"Ah!" She said with a triumphant smile.

"You've been moping again! Blue Nenqin at it again!" Behind me, Haoran made a choken sound. Wu Nenqin did his level best not to glare, already feeling a headache coming on.

"Don't call me that in public," he hissed. Thankfully, the road was mostly deserted. Heavens forbid Outer Disciples saw two Wu bicker like children! The gossip would go on for months! Wu Lin rolled her eyes. She actually rolled her eyes at his big brother and head of the family.

"Silly Blue!" she singsonged.

"People have better things to do than listen! And anyway, who wants to watch you getting all mopey?!" She peeked toward Haoran.

"Hello, Old Mountainbeard!"

"Greetings, Young Mistress," the old man replied, trying and failing to keep himself from smiling. Wu Nenqin sighed. He wasn't going to dignify that with an answer.

"What are you doing here, Lin?" Her answer was presenting the crate – something crackled inside – and beaming the widest smile imaginable.

"Helping!" That got him a headache. Of course she was.

"Wu Lin," he forced out.

"There are the Disciples for that. You're supposed to remain indoors, where you're safe."

"Nu-uh!" She exclaimed, launching her burden into the air and crossing her arms with a pout. Her shadow peeled itself from the floor to grab the crate, or, well, whatever was left of it.

"It's boring inside! And anyway, everybody is helping! So Wu Lin helps too! Praise me, Blue! Praise me, or I'll tell everybody that you mope all the time!"

"Wu Lin…"

"Nu-uh! Praise! Wu Lin helps three groups of Disciples, and an Elder praised her! So you do that too!" Wu Nenqin pinched his nose. There was just no talking sense with her sister when she put something on her mind. All Wu were stubborn, but Wu Lin brought new definitions to the word.

"And anyway, what are you moping about?" She asked, frowning at him like he was an enigma to unravel.

"We won! You should be happy!" Fist planted against her hip, she pointed a finger at him.

"Be happy! The Wu family genius commands it!"

"You can't command me, Wu Lin. I am the family head…"

"Not anymore!" She yelled, outraged.

"Grandma is back, so you're just Blue again! Act like it and stop moping!" Wu Nenqin froze. For a moment, his heart may have shot out of his chest.

"You… you aren't referring to the honored Founder, right, sister?" Wu Lin stopped her tantrum to frown. Then, she put up her best shit-eating grin, the one he had grown painfully accustomed to.

"A-ah! Blue didn't get permission! But Wu Lin did! She can call Grandma like that. That makes me the favorite!" She laughed triumphantly. Wu Nenqin prayed to the Heavens to smite him. What did he do so wrong to deserve such punishments?

"You… you can't call the Founder gr…" The word got lodged in his throat, refusing to come out.

"…like that. Wu Lin! It's the height of… of… It's not proper!" Wu Lin, who had clearly decided she'd rather be the death of him, made a dismissive gesture, chin lifted in the unflappable poise of a Wu princess.

"Silly Blue," she said, with the tone of a noble deigning a peasant an obvious philosophical answer.

"We can do that in the family. Grandma said so. And anyway, stop worrying! Grandma is here, so what danger is even there? Anything that tries to mess with Wu Lin gets zapped by the Night, no thought!"

"Wu Lin, it's not proper…"

"Young Mistress!" Wu Lin jumped, the movement mimicked by her clone, which sealed the ruin of whatever Sect property was held in the crate.

"Shoot!" She turned, and her eyes went wide as nurse Wen Song appeared from around the corner.

"AlrightgottagonowstufftocarrybyeBlue!" And before he could put in as much as a word, her shadow folded around her and Wu Lin turned from a ball of energy and mischief into an actual ball of darkness, energy and mischief, which jetted away so fast that waves of air punched out of its trajectory. …only to return and brake in front of him.

"Praise?" Asked the ball, which had a face scribbled on it and was smiling hopefully and challengingly. Wu Nenqin sighed, patting it.

"Praise. Blue praise." That got her beaming, and then off she was, rocketing away like the golden cloud of legends. Wen Song, a formidable old woman with flying skirts and a look that could pierce Grand Formations, stopped just long enough to offer her utmost respects to the Deputy Master, then off she was, in the impossible task of bringing the little thunder back to its home.

"Young Mistress! Get back here this instant!"

"You can't tell me what to do! I am a princess!"

"You'll see what I can do soon enough, you little scamp!"

"Ayeeee! Not the net!" Wu Nenqin bowed his head.

"She'll be the death of the family's dignity," he sighed.

"I only hope I'll be gone before that." Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. Haoran snorted, a rough, rumbling sound halfway to a chuckle.

"She's returned to her old self." That... Wu Nenqin had to admit he was happy about it. After the debacle with the failed relocation, Wu Lin had suffered her brush with the Sun-Eating Serpent. It was good to see her bouncing back from it, even if at the cost of his sanity. … and he had to admit that wherever she went, the Disciples smiled a little bit more, and worked a little bit harder. There was something worthwhile there, even if she would hear him saying it only when the Hells froze over.

Now, if Wu Yan was here as well… Dismissing the thought, Wu Nenqin gestured for Haoran to follow. Built atop an island of ink-black stone floating over the Night beneath like a coin over a waterspout, the Inner City was an administrative and gathering center first and anything else only a distant second. Only the Hand of Night, the Sect's organized military, and the Moon Scavenger Guild, charged with scouring the land for resources, had a sizable, permanent presence here.

Most of the grand palaces, opulent manors, airy plazas and elegant parks were reserved for clerks, ambassadors and, when the need called, military maneuvers. Amethyst and silver dominated here, the colors ingrained in soaring structures that defied conventional architecture. Delicate towers and gleaming compounds proudly displayed the colors of the Sect, and their roofs gleamed with the reflective black that only public buildings were allowed to wear.

Here, the elegance of the Night shone at its fullest, the squat, heavy shapes symbolizing the Sect's order and strength going hand in hand with elegant lines and graceful curves. Which made seeing how deserted it was only the more painful. No ambassador waited in the manors for appointments. The great palaces welcomed only dust. Groups of clerks and soldiers were present, but among the vastness of the spaces, they were like islets lost in a sea.

It was a relief when the already wide street opened further into the tiled expanse that was the mustering grounds. Wu Nenqin felt a familiar flicker of awe as the Cradle of the Hand loomed over them. The headquarters of the Hand was worthy of the Sect's military might. The massive fortress squatted like a tiger in the middle of the Inner City, projecting a brooding power that made the need for walls moot. By itself, the sheer threat gathered here was enough to cow the whole city into compliance.

Or it would have, once. Now, except for a handful of hardbitten guards, the compound's mighty walls and towers stood empty. Wu Nenqin stood a bit straighter as they neared the gates, emblazoned respectively with the characters Loyalty and Order. Dozens of Inner Disciples were busy training in maneuvers, their shouts echoing the snapped commands and the tromp of boots. That they kept at it with the siege just done spoke volumes about the standards that were demanded.

It was a heartening sight, but the Deputy Master's eyes were for the tall figure overseeing it. Sect Elder Chen Liwei was a Godless Night soldier, through and through. Tall and slender, the woman's silver hair was bound in a practical ponytail and her posture was nothing short of excellent. Dressed in the silver and black of the Hand of Night, with her pale skin and striking ruby eyes, she could have been called beautiful.

That is, until one noticed the sharp, calculating look in her gaze, or the frigid cold she seemed to emanate. As those eyes turned on him, Wu Nenqin had to repress the instinct to bow: Chen Liwei was a veteran who had served under his father for more than two centuries. She far surpassed him in cultivation, standing nothing short of the highest echelons of the Nascent Soul realm.

She had shown it during the civil war and the siege that followed, with a tally of felled enemies that hardly any other Sect member could rival. A shame then that, as a cadet branch of the bloodline, the Chen had always harbored ambitions to replace the main line as the Founder's direct descendants. Their silver hair and red eyes marked their bloodline as second only to the Wu, and they had never stopped reminding the Sect of it.

Chen Liwei didn't break the trend, and that made her a political unknown as much as an ally, one Wu Nenqin had learned to be wary of, even while he honoured her achievements. As a genius not seen in generations among the cadets, he didn't have any illusion about who would emerge victor, should they come to blows. Only Haoran could match her, one of the reasons he never met her without his old friend at his side.

"Deputy Master," the woman greeted, performing a perfect version of the army's gesture of loyalty. Somehow, it managed to convey just enough not to appear disrespectful, and not one iota more.

"General," Wu Nenqin replied. As appointed leader of the Hand of Night, Chen Liwei had always shown a predilection for that title compared to the one of Sect Elder. He was doing her a courtesy by choosing it. If she was impressed, the woman didn't show it. Folding her hands behind her back, she watched him critically, like a trainer with an unruly recruit.

"Are you hurrying to the honored Founder's side? I'll be brief." An eyebrow as sharp as a blade went up, and Wu Nenqin had to repress the instinct to stand straighter, again.

"I've received reports claiming that the Dark Star's return was facilitated by the Second Princess's… resourcefulness. As the one tasked with the Abyss' security, such talks put doubts into my mind regarding the efficiency of the defense apparatus. I'd love to hear the First Prince's opinions on this regard." Wu Nenqin repressed a wince.

Of course Chen Liwei would have heard about Wu Lin's escapade, and of course she would think it was connected with the Founder's reawakening and that he would be the first person he asked about it. Disturbing the Ancestor's secluded cultivation had long been declared forbidden in the Sect's laws, the last act of a failed Sect to put the seal on the main branch's failure. Wu Nenqin himself couldn't have brought himself to do it, despite the contrary opinion of experienced commanders like Chen Liwei herself.

He knew the general already had a very low opinion of him for it, something he couldn't fault her with, seeing how grossly he had underestimated the forces arrayed against them. But the chance that he had gone around her back and sent his youngest sister to do the same thing he swore against in the councils? Risking her life in the process? That was the kind of action that would make the soldier matron an enemy of him for decades and centuries to come. Wu Nenqin felt his pulse speed up.

The Founder's return may have secured the Sect's survival, but he had his family and his father's legacy to think about. He couldn't allow himself to alienate the Chen matriarch, not if he wanted to avoid the main branch risking their position even more than they did at the moment. He forced himself to think. She had put him on the spot, but he had angles to work with, didn't he? The General could have avoided that confrontation.

She could have confided her sources to the Founder while keeping him in the dark, and used the information to discredit him. But she hadn't. Instead, she was here, demanding an explanation. It was her way to give him the benefit of the doubt, Wu Nenqin realized. But it was a demand as well: the General's loyalty to the Sect was legendary, the main reason for sticking by them through war and betrayal.

The Chen branch had retained their position beside the main branch by peerless martial efficiency and loyalty, and Chen Liwei embodied those virtues at their finest. They had been the only reasons why the stormy relationship with his father, a leader she never respected, had never degenerated further. But for the same reasons, she wouldn't accept another unworthy leader. The Founder may have awoken, but that was no reason for the subordinates to slack off.

On the opposite, they had to prove themselves worthy of her trust and bounty, now more than ever. And if the Wu couldn't pick themselves up, the Chen would do so, seeking the Ancestor's favor to replace them as the main branch. Wu Nenqin picked all that in a few moments, thanking the memory of his mother for the long lessons in statecraft and intrigue. He should have felt intimidated and anxious, he supposed, but a strange mix of relief and gratitude washed over him instead.

It would have been easy for Chen Liwei to read him through the lens of his father's long reign, and the great mistakes of a very short one, dismiss him as a lost case and grab the Chen's long-awaited chance for ascension. Instead, here she was, giving him a chance to prove himself through words and deeds.

"This Wu Nenqin offers the Night General his utmost gratitude," he said, holding his fist and bowing. Chen Liwei said nothing, but he was sure awareness had flashed in her cold gaze for a moment.

"Rest assured," he continued, voice steady despite how he felt inside.

"My sister's resourcefulness flies above my means to contain it like a swallow above a puddle. As for the Abyss' security, the General's doubts are purposeless: none but the Founder herself could breach them, and I, Wu Nenqin, would die rather than send a loved one to test them." For a long moment, Chen Liwei said nothing; she only met his eyes, a sharp searching beneath her expressionless veneer. Whatever she found must have been to her satisfaction, because she nodded.

"The Deputy Master's words soothe every doubt. Please, do not linger on my account. I am sure the Ancestor will appreciate the main branch's presence. I will join you soon." And just like that, they were dismissed. Wu Nenqin walked away in a daze, a feeling far too close to having survived a spirit beast encounter dawning over him.

"Not too bad, Young Master," Haoran said gruffly.

"The old iceberg was quite impressed." Wu Nenqin threw him a startled look. The last thing he needed now was his adjutant to start breaking etiquette like that! Haoran noticed it. He snorted, a sound far too close to a guffaw for his comfort. And Wu Nenqin couldn't even delude himself into thinking the General didn't hear that!