"Zhiping, word has come that the Mongol cavalry means to invade our Great Song once more. Guo Jing and Huang Rong are already in Xiangyang making preparations. Ever since your Grandmaster Chongyang founded our sect, the Quanzhen Sect has taken the defense of home and country as its duty—we cannot stand by and watch. You have cultivated quietly all these years without ever going down the mountain, and your master knows your martial arts are not weak. So I mean to have you lead Zhichang and a company of disciples to Xiangyang to lend aid."
Yin Zhiping had never thought to hide his martial arts—nor to announce them. But from a hundred small details, Qiu Chuji had still gathered that Yin Zhiping never used his full strength when sparring with his fellow disciples. He was plainly holding back.
He had guessed, too, that Yin Zhiping's martial attainment was considerable—first-rate at the very least, perhaps even Acquired.
First-rate alone would make him a formidable hand in the jianghu. And if he was Acquired—then so long as the Five Greats stayed home, he could go anywhere under heaven.
As for Innate?
Qiu Chuji didn't dare even imagine it...
"He's right, Zhiping. All these years, as senior disciple of the Sect Leader's line, we have watched everything you've done. It's time you went down and walked the world."
The speaker was Sun Bu'er, the only woman among the Seven Masters of Quanzhen. She and Ma Yu—who had died of illness five years ago—had been husband and wife before they entered the Quanzhen Sect, which was why the sect's rule against marriage had never bound them.
Sun Bu'er was straightforward by nature and said whatever she thought. It wasn't only Qiu Chuji who was pleased with Yin Zhiping—she was just as pleased.
Toward his junior brothers, Yin Zhiping rewarded and punished with an even hand, and among the third-generation disciples his prestige stood highest.
Toward the fourth-generation disciples, he was conscientious and impartial to all.
Everyone in the Quanzhen Sect knew: if you had a problem, go to Senior Brother Yin. As long as Senior Brother Yin thought your case had merit, he would help you.
And toward his elders especially, Yin Zhiping had always been respectful and dutiful. Whatever task they gave him, he completed it flawlessly.
Sending Yin Zhiping on this trip to Xiangyang was partly meant to temper him—to let him show his face before Guo Jing, Huang Rong, and the gathered heroes of the jianghu. It would announce to the world that the Quanzhen Sect had a worthy successor.
Wang Chuyi, Hao Datong, and Liu Chuxuan nodded along.
This was the result of their joint deliberation: Yin Zhiping's strength was more than enough for him to walk the jianghu.
As for the rest of them, they would not be going down this time. All those years running around the jianghu had left them weary. They were getting old; they hadn't the bones for the tossing about anymore.
Besides, Guo Jing and Huang Rong held Xiangyang. Even if the Quanzhen Sect went, they would only be trailing after Guo Jing as helpers.
Yes—even Qiu Chuji, Hao Datong, and the rest would rank as mere helpers there...
That much self-awareness they did have...
Qiu Chuji also carried a debt of guilt toward Yin Zhiping. After taking him as a disciple, he had scarcely looked after him, wholly occupied with Yang Kang—whom he had managed to teach crooked in the end...
By the time he came back meaning to finally do a master's duty, he discovered there was no need. The man had taught himself the entire Quanzhen curriculum—and the Quanzhen Swordplay he used most was in no way inferior to his master's.
The truth was worse: setting all else aside, in a pure exchange of sword techniques, Qiu Chuji had lost to his own disciple. It was only to save his face that Hao Datong, Sun Bu'er, and the others present had kept it quiet and called it a draw...
That had left Qiu Chuji gloomy for a long, long while...
"I shall obey, Master. Zhiping will do everything he can to help Hero Guo and Chief Huang resist the Mongol army!"
One turn of thought, and Yin Zhiping understood what his master and elders intended. This was paving the road for him to inherit the Sect Leader's seat.
He didn't particularly want to go down the mountain—it sounded like a bother, nowhere near as comfortable as staying put—but he had no wish to disappoint their kindness either.
And truth be told, he was a little curious about Guo Jing and Huang Rong.
The two had visited Mount Zhongnan before, but he'd never gotten to know them—deliberately so, back when Yin Zhiping wanted no trouble.
Now they were great figures whose names filled the land. He rather wondered what that magnificent spirit of theirs looked like up close!
"Zhiping, give your master an honest accounting. What realm are you at now?"
Guilt made Qiu Chuji worry. War was not like jianghu dueling—the battlefield was a meat grinder where one careless step meant death and the end of the road.
Even their master, Wang Chongyang the Central Divinity, had been defeated more than once by foreign foes, and left this world carrying that regret—the bitterness of being unable to drive out the invaders.
Sun Bu'er, Hao Datong, Wang Chuyi, and Liu Chuxuan all fixed their eyes on Yin Zhiping at the same moment. They too were deeply curious how strong this nephew-disciple truly was. They had long wanted to ask, to test him—but when even his own master hadn't broached it, it wasn't their place.
Now that Qiu Chuji had asked, one mystery would finally be answered.
The truth was, none of them had ever seen the bottom of Yin Zhiping's depths...
Yin Zhiping blinked, caught off guard. He hadn't expected Master to ask that.
But hearing the concern in his master's voice, Yin Zhiping smiled faintly and said nothing. He simply stirred the true essence within him, and Innate astral qi wreathed his whole body.
"Master, your disciple reached the Innate realm two years ago. But you always taught me to guard against pride and impatience and never think too highly of myself, so I did not report it to you and my martial uncles. I beg your forgiveness!"
In these twenty years, Yin Zhiping had studied more than martial arts at the Quanzhen Sect; he had never once set aside the Taoist classics. He would not claim mastery, but every one of them was etched in his memory.
His heart and mind stood firm because of it. He had never looked down on others for his martial superiority, never once used his strength to bully—Yin Zhiping had always known exactly what he wanted.
Qiu Chuji went blank!
Wang Chuyi went blank!
Hao Datong, Sun Bu'er, Liu Chuxuan—all of them went blank!
The scene before them left them stunned so long they could not find their way back to their senses. The Innate astral qi coiling around Yin Zhiping battered again and again at their fragile nerves.
Hao Datong and Liu Chuxuan actually began to tremble from head to toe, faces flushing crimson, steam rising from their crowns!!!
The signs of impending qi deviation!!!
Yin Zhiping had never imagined that the news of his being an Innate martial artist would hit them this hard. He dared not be careless!
"Martial Uncles!!!"
To Hao Datong and Liu Chuxuan, it was as if a great bell had been struck beside their ears, hauling them back from the very edge of qi deviation.
When the two came to themselves, their hearts pounded with the aftershock—followed by a flood of shame. All these years cultivating the Tao and tempering the heart, they had believed their Tao-hearts stood firm. Who could have thought...
Qiu Chuji, Wang Chuyi, and Sun Bu'er were startled awake by Yin Zhiping's single sharp cry as well. Only when they felt the turbulent auras beside them did they realize how dangerous Hao Datong and Liu Chuxuan's condition had just been.
They spun around at once to check on the two, and only after confirming they were unharmed did they turn back, dazed, to stare at the young man still standing there.
"Your master already thought as highly of you as he dared, and still I underestimated you. Zhiping, you have given your master and your uncles a great, great surprise. It seems I have nothing to worry about on this trip to Xiangyang. Zhichang and the others—I leave them to you."
There was nothing more Qiu Chuji could say. His heart held nothing but swelling pride!
Innate. My disciple. Got it?