Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance of characters to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. The Author holds exclusive rights to this work. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Also, Wuxia universe is a shared universe, I do not own the concept of basic Wuxia techniques. Anyway, the specific techniques, the characters, and the setting all belong to me though. But not the idioms I've used as the name for specific techniques. Aaah whatever.

Warnings: Cousinly incest, dub/non-con, violence, confusion (as in there will be a considerable amount of foreign terms). Lame attempts at action and politics. Not a lot of romance, and not a lot of sex. The story could also use some hefty revision, especially near the end, but I don't have time to do it.

Oh yeah, since I'm the author, the chances of this not ending idealistically are slightly on the higher side. If you must know, well...this story is completed.

A/N: If there are any Chinese History geeks who find something strange, feel free to help out my feeble knowledge. I have also westernized the general storytelling (of course), as the full name should be written all the time but I found it very awkward and redundant so I just write their first names when I refer to them. I'm basing this story (culturally etc) off the Southern and Northern Dynasty~Tang Dynasty (in which the main character's country is based mostly off Tang), so if something is strange, please help me out!

And of course, special thanks to my beta, diluain!

雲譎波詭

Deceiving Clouds, Cunning Waves

浮雲變幻無常，波瀾起伏不定
Floating clouds are ever changing,
Towering waves are ever fluctuating.

Prologue

"Your Excellency, please return to your throne!"

Ignoring the pleading, Bai Lingyun continued to storm down the hallways. It was bad enough that he had been called back to take the emperor's throne when he didn't expect to, but to find that the bastard was actually from the Xuan family and worst of all, going to be the General? Things couldn't have gotten any worse.

That smile was what he hated the most. That smile, that infuriatingly fake smile was definitely hiding cunning deceit.

He would never forget what that bastard had done to him!

If only he could get rid of that insufferable bastard…yet he couldn't. The Xuan family had too much power in the royal court, not to mention, he wasn't about to declare his lifetime scar to the entire world.

TBC