Chapter 2 — Azure Cloud
劍問蒼天 · Page 2 of 4
This state of affairs persisted for a full four hundred years. The Canglan Sect showed no sign of recovery; one might almost call it "lingering on at death's door." In the end they were bullied even at their own gates: of the seven peaks of Qingyun, all but the principal peak, Jietian, were occupied by outsiders, among them bandits and fierce outlaws who made them strongholds and raided the countryside, running amok beyond all law. Those who did not know the truth often mistook the Canglan Sect for having fallen so low; the Canglan disciples argued their case at length, and some harbored the will to slay the foe and clear their name, but their will outran their strength—a pitiful, lamentable thing. To think on it even now, those were truly the bitterest days of the Qingyun lineage.
Not until thirteen hundred years before the present did the situation change.
Perhaps Canglanzi's art had finally proved itself, or Heaven had tired of tormenting the Canglan Sect, for at this time there emerged from the eleventh generation of disciples a figure of dazzling talent and peerless leadership: the Daoist Qingye. Qingye had been born to a poor family surnamed Ye, in his youth a destitute scholar of surpassing intelligence who nonetheless failed the examinations again and again. By chance he was taken as the final disciple of Wufangzi, tenth head of the Canglan Sect; he was then but twenty-two.
Within a single year of entering the sect, Qingye had grasped and mastered every sword art and method Wufangzi had to teach, standing first among all the disciples. Another year passed, and even Wufangzi could only fight him to a draw, and that by relying on his far deeper cultivation. Astonished and delighted, Wufangzi resolutely brought out the ancient scroll handed down from the founder and gave it to Qingye to fathom for himself. Qingye then sealed himself away in the "Huan Yue Cave" behind Jietian Peak, and this seclusion lasted thirteen years before he emerged.
It was said that the night he broke through, the moon was full. The cold moon hung high, and the whole of Jietian Peak was bright as day. Suddenly a great wind rose, and from the rear mountain came a dragon's long cry that shook the country for a hundred li; none who heard it did not pale. Then a pale violet auspicious radiance shot up into the sky, and with a mighty crash the Huan Yue Cave burst open. Qingye emerged with slow steps, his beard and hair entirely white, a smile on his face, a pure radiance about his person. The onlookers were struck with awe, and thought he had become an immortal.
Thereafter Qingye formally left the household life, taking the "Qing" of Qingyun and his family name Ye to call himself Qingye. That day he bade his master Wufangzi farewell with a laugh, saying: "Master, wait a little. Your disciple goes out to settle a matter; he will return within the day."
The others did not understand. A day and a night later Qingye returned flying on his sword, and the outsiders who had occupied the six peaks of Canglan had all been put to the sword. For the strength of his Daoist arts and the ruthlessness of his methods, Daoist Qingye's name shook the world in a single night, and the Canglan Sect's prestige soared.
Another year passed, and Wufangzi passed the position of head to Qingye and went off to cultivate in quiet, no longer troubling himself with the sect's petty affairs. Once in power, Qingye labored to bring order and strength, generously supporting his fellow disciples, strictly selecting successors; and with what he had comprehended from the nameless ancient scroll, he possessed a might beyond the reckoning of gods or ghosts. From then on the Canglan Sect flourished day by day. Within fifty years it was a pillar of the righteous path, and two hundred years later it led all the righteous sects and schools.