Book 15: Chapter 33
The Story of Daoist Yin’s Fall
Daoism and Buddhism had competed for supremacy for as long as the martial world had existed. They had both had terms at the top. Even though other sects had produced disciples who rose to fame or dominated a field, no one had yet to steal their thunder. Were Daoism and Buddhism to come together, they’d have made up the majority of the martial world.
At the top of Daoism in the current generation was the sect that had stood out from their establishment – Wudang. They had famous disciplines and outstanding members throughout their history, but Daoism never equalled Wudang. Before Wudang’s rise, several schools of Daoism had existed for centuries, many of which were eager to prove themselves superior to Wudang. Prior to Wudang, there were four schools of Daoism that were considered the leaders of Daoism.
Mount Guanfen’s Lotus Sanctuary, Mount Longhu’s Sage Manor, Luyi’s Ziji Palace, Xiandu’s Transmission Platform had still remained the pillars of Daoism teachings. Lotus Sanctuary messed up due to carelessness and fell from their prosperous days. Ziji Palace and Sage Manor exhausted themselves over the course of their prolonged competition. Still, their status in the martial world never changed even when Wudang rose.
When I was playing Daoist and running around on Mount Wudang with Chicken Yun, I often heard daoists conversing about the teachings of Daoism, so I had a complete map of the martial world. Due to my training in Tai Chi, I was always eager to visit the four sects and see what their elites were capable of. Never did anyone mention Daoist Yin, and you’d never find his name in any forest, shrine, building, or written record. I doubted even Wudang knew about him. I was one of the few people who knew him because there was a Daoist on Mount Daluo – Uncle Wushan.
Daoist Yin was the name Uncle Wushan used when he travel-. Let me restart because that’d be insulting Grandmaster. Daoist Yin was the name Uncle Wushan used when he harmed the human r-. Let me restart because that’d make him sound as powerful as Shifu. Daoist Yin was the name Uncle Wushan used when he sought vengeance against the human realm.
Although Uncle Wushan gave off the vibe of a master monk who could sit as still as a rock, he had some years in his youth where he was off his rocker, especially those few years. I believe it was the few years following me starting to grasp Yijin Jing and ending his manhood. Following his realisation, he cried at heaven and cried with his head in his hands all the time. To fight his depression, he’d leave the mountain to drink, gamble, watch plays, eat into the middle of night and cry when he passed a brothel. Drowning his woes in alcohol and then waking up in another city was commonplace. As well, he’d pick fights wherever he went.
Aside from drinking, Uncle Wushan picked fights – fight to the death type – whether it was to quell his sorrow or get revenge on the world. Those days, he was at every fight regardless of where they were held. As if that wasn’t bad enough, he fought dirty when he didn’t need to. After agreeing to start on three, he’d poke their eyes, trip them, or choke them on the count of one. He single-handedly ruined tournaments of all manner. People would be having respectable duels when a slovenly-dressed drunk Daoist would descend from the sky, spew a bunch of illegible words and then start fighting regardless if it was one on one or himself against a group. When he lost, he’d roll around on the ground as a bloody punching bag whilst eating a beating. When he won, he’d keep challenging people, disregarding the purpose of the gathering, event, tournament or whatever it happened to be. Ignoring all the martial arts tournaments, he won twenty-plus tournaments for husband selections, which resulted in twenty-plus ladies not being able to get married. He wasn’t afraid of death, so he challenged people out of his league. Unexpectedly, he kept improving as a result of surviving all the fights. When Uncle Wushan finally sobered up a little and realised Mount Daluo had a reputation to protect, he started going by Daoist Yin to continue his ways.
In his prime, Uncle Wushan went to the Western Regions to challenge Ximen Chuideng. He was sent back to Mount Daluo in a donkey cart. In his worst days, he challenged chickens. Due to him being severely injured to begin with and forgetting he didn’t have a beak, they beat him into a bloody mess, too. He was close to home that time, though, so he returned to the mountain on his own.
It wasn’t all bad news, though. Thanks to Uncle Wushan’s rampage, he inadvertently sabotaged a fair number of crooks’ plans and destroyed a number of criminals’ dens.
Those days, Mount Daluo was a household name, but we still remained a mysterious sect since nobody was active in the pugilistic world. Grandmaster was always snoring. Shifu was always courting women. Whenever Shifu hit someone with intention, he’d basically kill them. Those who survived took it as an honour and would spread their legacy everywhere they want. As a result, Mount Daluo’s reputation took a hit. That was why Uncle Wushan deserved to be credited with establishing Mount Daluo’s reputation in Beijiang. That being said, our reputation wasn’t stable until Second and Sixth were active.
At one point, Shifu tied up Uncle Wushan and dragged him back to the mountain for him to calm down. After several years of training and levelling up, Uncle Wushan left the mountain again.
Although General Manager Bai’s description of Daoist Yin wasn’t too detailed and she had only seen his true appearance a few times, everything she mentioned added up. I couldn’t imagine there being a second Daoist Yin with the same skill level and characteristics, but I couldn’t understand why he would teach her martial arts. Moreover, I never saw her perform any skills with Mount Daluo roots. Sure, I never learnt Mount Daluo’s martial arts, but I had seen plenty of the skills. My Night Net Book was the culmination of countless nights of burning the midnight oil to copy my predecessors’ classics to barely come up with.
Putting aside Bai Lian’s techniques, although she was flowery in execution and not exceptional in combat, her internal discipline’s mental cultivation did have the sophistication I’d expect from my uncle. My question was, when did he come up with the discipline and why I had never heard about it, especially since the internal discipline’s principles had no connection to Mount Daluo’s.
Uncle Wushan was a branch member of Mount Daluo. Therefore, he was far more restricted in what he could learn compared to me. Without permission from the patriarch, we weren’t permitted to teach outsiders martial arts. Their creations had to be recorded into the sect’s records. “We” included even me.
Yijin Jing and Tai Chi weren’t Mount Daluo’s disciplines, while Ancient King String was my own research. Though I did teach Tang Ye my Ancient King’s mental cultivation, I didn’t teach him the full skillset, so it was arguably only just giving him advice. Only “Flash” and “Night Steps”, which I taught Su Xiao, fell into the realm of things I needed to get approval on first. I was allowed to start teaching my successor ahead of time in order for them to succeed me; however, I still needed to report it to the patriarch in person. If Shifu didn’t approve, then I’d have to erase the skills from Shifu or beg him to let me. Bai Lian’s situation was different.
Bai Lian started learning from Uncle Wushan many years ago in the capacity of an official disciple. Uncle Wushan had returned to the mountain many times during that time, yet I never heard anything about him taking in a disciple from anyone. Either Uncle Wushan hid the fact, or Shifu knew about it but didn’t mention it to me. My gut told me there was more to it than what met the eye. I just didn’t believe Uncle Wushan would betray Mount Daluo, so I couldn’t figure out why he’d do this.𝑏𝘦𝘥𝘯𝑜𝘷𝘦𝑙．𝑜𝑟𝘨
“You sound like you know my shifu or something.”
I stared into Bai Lian’s eyes for a while before making up my mind to tell her the truth. Even though it was a sect secret, on account of her safety, I determined that hiding it would be riskier to her. Shifu cared for the sect policies as much as I cared for waking up in the morning – none at all. However, he was equally extreme in executing outsiders who learnt out knowledge without permission. In the event that Uncle Wushan taught her behind Shifu’s back, I had no way of predicting what he’d do to Bai Lian.
“I don’t know if it counts as knowing him, but… Let me be honest with you.”
I described Uncle Wushan’s appearance and all his feats, his habits, everything taking an interim in the middle to teach Lord Zi another nine techniques so that he was occupied. Of course, I gave her the full history of Daoist Yin’s origins, as well. It went without saying that she was incredibly shocked. She always thought her shifu was a modest recluse with no special interests, and she never questioned the origins of her skills.
“Ming Feizhen… I think… that is my shifu.”
Glossary
Ziji Palace – Ziji is the name of a star and the Jade Emperor’s palace.