Chapter 202: Wuxia Style
Rong Yu had recently been waiting to audition for a role in 'The Wandering Swordsman' and had been diligently studying and practicing the character's lines.
Fortunately, Yin Chengjue had made it through his busiest period; the remaining tasks could be handed over to his staff, so he gave himself a few days off.
Of course, the main reason was that Rong Yu had been suffering from back pain these past few days and couldn't get out of bed.
Yin Chengjue placed the freshly cooked porridge on the bedside table to cool and picked up Rong Yu's script to run lines with him.
The role Rong Yu had his eye on was a villain in 'The Wandering Swordsman' — the Demonic Cult Leader.
The Wandering Swordsman is a wuxia novel that skillfully blends the popular modern elements of transmigration and a "system."
Told through the eyes of its female lead, Li Xiaochen, the story uses clever humor to paint a vivid and dynamic picture of the martial arts world.
It explores timeless questions: What is right and wrong? Who gets to decide what is truly righteous or evil? Can anyone really draw a clear, permanent line between good and bad, or black and white?
Even the monks living in secluded temples—who claim to have left worldly troubles behind to focus solely on Buddha—find themselves inevitably tangled in human affairs. They are caught in a messy web of everyday problems that can't be easily cut loose or neatly sorted out.
The novel strikes a humorous tone, but its comedy is far from shallow or fleeting—not the light, forgettable kind that disappears the moment you stop laughing. Instead, its humor carries depth, often weaving in sharp satire and clever wit that lingers in the reader’s mind long after the smile has faded.
And while it incorporates these contemporary twists, that doesn't stop all the classic wuxia drama from unfolding. It still features that essential, time-honored trope: the righteous sects uniting to crusade against the demonic cult.
In fact, it often feels like a wuxia story isn't complete without at least one or two grand assemblies where the righteous path marches against the demonic cult's stronghold.
If this were a harem-style wuxia story centered on a male lead, the demonic cult would inevitably include one or more female members who fall for him, eventually betraying their sect to aid his cause.
If it were a romance-focused wuxia tale, the female lead's charisma would undoubtedly ensnare not only the Demonic Cult Leader but also his trusted guardians, drawing them all under her spell. Any clash between the righteous and the demonic would then revolve around competing for her favor.
If it were a danmei novel, the Demonic Cult Leader would likely be fated either to form an unbreakable bond with the righteous path’s most brilliant rising star, to be entangled in a complex relationship with another figure, or to walk a lonely road to the end.
In short, as long as a story carries the label of a wuxia novel, the role of the Demonic Cult Leader is essentially a given—even if the character who holds that title can meet vastly different ends.
And The Wandering Swordsman is naturally no exception.
The Demonic Cult Leader role Rong Yu wants to audition for meets a solitary end in The Wandering Swordsman. It's not because this leader is ascetic, indifferent, or cold-hearted, but because he is arrogant, willful, unrestrained, and looks down on everyone.
Of course, his arrogance has its capital: he is a martial arts prodigy. The old cult leader's unique martial arts techniques—he only needed one glance to memorize them, a few practices to master them fluently. By age twelve, he had already learned all the old leader's skills. At fourteen, he descended the Demonic Mountain to gain experience. Within half a year, he had defeated all the top contenders on the martial world's power ranking at the time, as well as every famous martial arts master, throwing the entire martial world into chaos.
Many of the older generation he defeated couldn't bear the blow. Some chose to retreat into seclusion for cultivation; others secretly sent assassins after him. There were also sects that wanted to recruit him, all of which the fourteen-year-old youth refused.
Later, when some learned he was from the demonic cult, they immediately discarded their olive branches, accusing him of winning through unfair means, using evil arts and forbidden techniques.
In short, these people absolutely refused to admit they were defeated by a fourteen-year-old boy. They preferred to believe he was a little demon, one who used evil arts and forbidden techniques to defeat them.
So they jointly devised a trap, wanting to eradicate this "little demon" root and branch. The young Demonic Cult Leader, due to his lack of experience, indeed fell into the trap and was maimed in one eye and one hand by those self-proclaimed righteous heroes.
In the end, it was the old cult leader who intervened, fighting to retrieve his cruelly tortured disciple.
However, rescuing someone from so many martial arts masters was no simple task. The old leader desperately saved his mutilated, bloody disciple and brought him back to the demonic cult. But he himself was left dying, unable to survive that winter.
After that traumatic experience, the spirited, willful, and yet essentially kind, free-spirited young man was gone for good. The moment the old leader drew his last breath, the young man’s own spirit broke—and his personality twisted entirely.
From then on, he became known for his cruelty, ruthlessness, unpredictability, depraved indulgence, and wild mood swings. He held a deep hatred for those who called themselves the “righteous path,” scorning their shallow, hypocritical preaching. He delighted in peeling back their false appearances to expose the black hearts and rotten insides hidden beneath—exposing those filthy, ugly, rotten, and foul masses of decay to the sun.
And so, one event after another began to ripple through the martial world.
The above is the character background story of the Demonic Cult Leader in The Wandering Swordsman.
Of course, the story is not told from the Demonic Cult Leader's perspective but from that of a transmigrated female lead. Therefore, the overall style of the book is playful, funny, fresh, and brisk. If one doesn't read deeply, it might seem like a story you can just breeze through with laughter, and the same would apply if adapted into a drama.
"This Demonic Cult Leader role, though not the male lead and with even less screen time than the third male or female lead, has a character richness that might even surpass the male lead's," Yin Chengjue analyzed. "I suspect the author who wrote this story truly wanted to write about this Demonic Cult Leader. Although the male lead, female lead, and the main protagonist group appear frequently, the impression they leave might not be as strong as the Demonic Cult Leader's first appearance."
Since the story is written from the perspective of the system-transmigrated female lead, it naturally wouldn't detail the Demonic Cult Leader's childhood experiences. When the female lead arrives in the book's world, the Demonic Cult Leader is already twenty-four, ten years past those events.
The female lead in the story comes with a system. To complete the various tasks the system issues, she has no choice but to run around everywhere. During her journeys, she meets the male lead, second male lead, third male lead, second female lead, third female lead, and other key plot characters. Then, with the help of this protagonist group, her martial arts gradually improve, and she revives and expands her original sect.
During the process of the female lead getting to know the members of the protagonist group, her first encounter with the Demonic Cult Leader occurs during a trip into the mountains to gather herbs.
Since the world is seen through the female lead's eyes, this is also the Demonic Cult Leader's first appearance in the book.
Crimson red cords tied back some jet-black hair, while the rest of the dark locks fell like fine silk. The man's skin, rarely exposed to sunlight, appeared pale and bloodless, making his sword-like eyebrows seem even blacker and denser, his peach-blossom eyes enchanting and alluring. His pitch-black pupils were deep and dark, as if no light could penetrate them. Beneath his straight, tall nose, his thin lips were a vivid red, like dripping blood.
The man wore a robe of deep black, its collar embroidered with cloud patterns in gold thread. The waist was cinched with gold and red threads intricately embroidered with large clusters of spider lilies, the patterns so lifelike they seemed freshly plucked from the banks of the River of Forgetfulness in the underworld and inlaid upon the fabric.
[Spider lilies: flowers deeply associated with death, the afterlife, and final farewells in East Asian folklore. They are traditionally believed to grow along the banks of the River of Forgetfulness in the underworld, guiding souls and symbolizing loss, reincarnation, and the haunting beauty of memory]
In the middle of the golden belt was set a white jade glass bead, complemented by surrounding obsidian, making the white jade as clear as a cat's eye.
A gold and jade ornament, shaped like a circular ring and strung with red cords, hung from his waist. Beneath it dangled three red bells. With every step, the bells emitted a uniquely crisp sound.
When the female lead first sees this Demonic Cult Leader, she hears this distinctive bell sound first, then looks up to see the man leaning against a tree branch, propping his chin with one hand, looking down at her.
Because the author endowed the Demonic Cult Leader with absolute good looks, even though he lost his left eye and wears a half-mask and a wooden prosthetic hand on one side, his handsomeness remains undeniable.
So it is in the original work. Therefore, the most basic requirement for anyone wanting to audition for this Demonic Cult Leader role is—handsome, beautiful, so exceptionally handsome as to provoke heaven's envy, so stunningly beautiful as to topple cities and kingdoms.
Otherwise, they are destined to face public ridicule.
Thus, Yin Chengjue was certain that not many would dare to audition for this Demonic Cult Leader role.
Yin Chengjue looked carefully at Rong Yu's face again, somewhat worried. "I don't think I've seen you play a male role in wuxia attire before. I'm not sure if you can pull it off."
"How will I know if I don't try?" Rong Yu lay on his pillow, clenching his fists. "I really like this character. I want to give it a shot. If I don't get it, it's okay; at least I will have tried my best."
"Hmm, I have an idea," Yin Chengjue said, snapping his fingers.
"Shenming's next step is game development. I've done some research; web games aren't very suitable anymore. Mobile games are more convenient to download and play, so the target is mobile gaming. The character models will be based on anime-style characters." Yin Chengjue explained, "First, establish a broad framework—a relatively expansive story background. This way, on the foundation of the original game characters, we can also incorporate characters from various anime through 'crossover' events, forming a small collection within the 2D world."
Yin Chengjue continued, "However, the early-stage promotion for the mobile game still requires a lot of preparation. I want to find some celebrity artists to endorse it, specifically by wearing costumes of the game characters. So, if you want to try the wuxia style, you can first try wearing those game character outfits. This way, during the game's promotional phase, others can also see how well you suit this type of attire."
Rong Yu was almost dizzy from Yin Chengjue's explanation. "To see if I suit it, can't we just find an outfit and have me wear it for you to see? Why make it so complicated?"
Yin Chengjue shrugged. "In my eyes, you look good in anything. But if you just wear that outfit, take photos, and post them on Weibo, it would seem like you're absolutely determined to get that role. Then, whether you get the role later or not, people will have something to gossip about. It's better to first frame it under a different pretext."
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