Yin Zhiping accepted the task. He would be the one leading the Quanzhen Sect's expedition to Xiangyang.
As for Qiu Chuji, Wang Chuyi, and the other three, they declared they were entering seclusion. They absolutely had to enter seclusion!!!
Consider: from the founding patriarch Wang Chongyang to now, the Quanzhen Sect was taking in its fourth generation of disciples. The first generation had produced Wang Chongyang the Central Divinity, number one under heaven, and the Old Urchin Zhou Botong—both prodigies of rare talent, both of whom entered the Innate realm and stood at the summit of their age.
Zhou Botong might fall a shade short of the others among the Five Greats, and his character might be... unreliable. But Innate was Innate. The strength spoke for itself.
These days his strength lagged not a hair behind the Five Greats.
Then came the second generation—the Seven Masters of Quanzhen themselves!
Qiu Chuji and the others had always felt they hadn't disgraced their master's name. The Seven Masters' reputation rang loud through the jianghu, and arrayed in the Heavenly Big Dipper Formation they yielded little even to the Five Greats.
They had once traded blow for blow against Huang Yaoshi, the Eastern Heretic himself.
But now, with Yin Zhiping for comparison, everything changed.
The third generation had produced an Innate at a tender age. It made the second generation look downright mediocre, thank you very much...
Qiu Chuji, with his fierce pride, felt it worst of all. He had planned to rest a while and do some teaching; now all he wanted was to seal himself away and train. Of the five, he was the most desperate to enter seclusion.
No one could have held him back...
A disciple surpassing his master should be a joyous thing—and Qiu Chuji was joyful, and also wanted to cry.
He had never actually taught Yin Zhiping anything!!!
His greatest contribution: rescuing the boy from bandits all those years ago, carrying him up Mount Zhongnan—and then tossing him a few Quanzhen manuals.
Wang Chuyi and the others had likely done more real teaching than the boy's actual master.
Qiu Chuji's face could not hold...
And now it was too late even to try—at this point, who would be teaching whom?
For the honor of the second generation—and so he could straighten his back and tell the world, "I, Qiu Chuji, taught Yin Zhiping"—
The moment Yin Zhiping left Chongyang Palace, Qiu Chuji tossed off a farewell and bolted into seclusion.
Wang Chuyi, Hao Datong, Liu Chuxuan, and Sun Bu'er all had much the same idea. The four exchanged glances.
Then Hao Datong, Liu Chuxuan, and Sun Bu'er all turned their eyes, in unison, toward Wang Chuyi.
Wang Chuyi's face darkened. He pointed at himself, deeply aggrieved.
"Come now, Senior Brother, bear with it. Or you could always keep Zhiping home to manage the sect's affairs and go into seclusion yourself."
The minority yields to the majority. Victorious, Hao Datong needled Wang Chuyi with a grin.
Liu Chuxuan and Sun Bu'er nodded together. Go on—dare to keep Yin Zhiping home, and Qiu Chuji would come straight out of seclusion and beat your dog head in...
Wang Chuyi had no way out. Whenever the rest were away, it had always been Yin Zhiping managing the Quanzhen Sect from top to bottom, everything in perfect order, never a slip.
They had all grown used to it—used to dumping the sect's affairs on that steady third-generation disciple. Indeed, they were already grooming him to be the next Sect Leader.
That was the whole point of having Yin Zhiping lead the Xiangyang expedition: to pave his road.
And with Innate-realm strength, one could foresee it—the moment he acted in the jianghu, his name would thunder across it.
The Quanzhen Sect's name would ring out again too. Perhaps climb a rung higher still.
Keep Yin Zhiping home? Hao Datong was only teasing—even were it twice the toil and hardship, Wang Chuyi would never do such a thing.
"Fine. Off with you all, then. I'll mind the sect's affairs for now."
Wang Chuyi accepted his fate—and felt himself positively radiant for it. Compared to those four self-serving martial siblings, he was a very model of virtue. The whole Quanzhen Sect ought to take him as its example.
"Senior Brother is righteous!"
"Senior Brother has worked hard!"
"Senior Brother, goodbye!"
Wang Chuyi shot a glare at Sun Bu'er. That last line was hers...
***
Since Yin Zhiping had been the first to know of the Xiangyang expedition, choosing how many disciples to bring—and which—fell to him as well.
In that, he was given every convenience.
Only one name was non-negotiable: Li Zhichang. Qiu Chuji and the elders insisted he come along.
Because in ordinary days, it was this junior brother who helped Yin Zhiping with sect affairs the most.
Zhao Zhijing had tried to worm his way in to help too, and Yin Zhiping had even given him a chance—but his handling of matters was hopelessly partial. He loved tipping the scales, and left many seething in silence.
Once Yin Zhiping learned of it, he refused his help thereafter.
Zhen Zhibing was a capable hand as well, much like Yin Zhiping himself, with a fine reputation among the disciples.
But his martial talent was also excellent, and without a cheat code like Yin Zhiping's, most of his time had to go into training; what energy he had left over was limited.
So Yin Zhiping hadn't planned to bring him—if Master or the uncles got too busy, Zhen Zhibing could lend them a hand at home.
In the original story, Zhen Zhibing had really only committed that one sin, his true heart lost to the single word "love."
Had he never met Xiaolongnü, he might well have achieved no small things—and he wouldn't have died at her hand trying to atone for his mistake.
With Yin Zhiping and Zhen Zhibing both in this world now, who could say which of them would fall for that fairy who stood above the mortal world's smoke and fire!
Yin Zhiping did not intend to bring many people.
The purpose of this trip was to help defend the city.
In any era, defending a city beat besieging one.
As for manpower, Xiangyang had its army—more than enough. And if it wasn't enough, then even if the whole Quanzhen Sect marched out, it would be a drop in the bucket.
So the company would be elite, not large.
There was another reason: Yin Zhiping had no confidence he could bring every one of them home safe.
A battlefield shifted by the second. Even a man as mighty as Guo Jing would die at Xiangyang twenty years from now.
Granted, that had much to do with Guo Jing fighting to the death and refusing to retreat. Perhaps, had he wished to leave, his martial arts could have carried him out.
But it spoke plainly enough of a battlefield's dangers. "Meat grinder" was not a name given idly.
One narrow encounter, one lapse of attention, and your life stayed there.
So Yin Zhiping picked from the third-generation disciples whose martial arts ranked near the top—if not first-rate, then second-rate at the least.
All told, he chose twenty. Adding Yin Zhiping himself, twenty-one set off down the mountain at dusk that very day, bound for Xiangyang.
Not many—but every one of them a solid hand.
It had to be said: the Quanzhen Sect had its rat droppings, Zhao Zhijing for one, but most of its disciples burned with love for their homeland.
The moment word spread that they were going to Xiangyang to defend home and country, disciples scrambled over each other to volunteer. If Yin Zhiping hadn't held them back, then by the time Wang Chuyi next looked around, the Quanzhen Sect would have held nothing but the five remaining Masters, the aged kitchen gramps and cleaning aunties—and Zhao Zhijing with a scant few others who clung too dearly to their own lives.