Cut for the Sake of Eternal Governance

Wang Ming took Lin Pingzhi in a carriage and headed toward Fuzhou City.

After a grueling month on the road, with his bones feeling almost rattled apart, he finally arrived in Fuzhou City.

With Lin Pingzhi acting as his own guide, they quickly found the old Xiangyang Alley residence, saving a lot of time and effort spent asking around for news.

After weaving through the crowded streets, the two of them arrived at the back door of the old Xiangyang Alley residence.

At first, Lin Pingzhi wanted to find a locksmith to open the main gate so they could enter from the front.

However, Wang Ming stopped him and instead led him around to the back door. The back door saw sparse foot traffic and was not easily noticed by others.

Then, the two of them channeled their lightness skill and vaulted over the wall into the courtyard.

Once inside the courtyard, Lin Pingzhi let out a long sigh. As the proud young master of the Fuwei Escort Agency, he had actually been reduced to sneaking in over the wall just to return to his own home.

In truth, Wang Ming was not at all afraid of walking in through the front entrance openly, but doing so would harm Lin Pingzhi, and besides, he wanted to avoid the trouble.

Since taking a few simple steps around and climbing a wall did the trick, why make a big fuss for everyone to know and attract a bunch of unliving flies?

Right now, the two of them were deep inside the Buddhist hall of Lin Pingzhi's ancestral home.

"Senior Brother, you brought me back to the ancestral residence—could my family's ancestral Bixie Sword Manual be right here?"

Looking at the furnishings inside the room, Lin Pingzhi asked Wang Ming with some doubt. He was far too familiar with this ancestral home; every year when he came back to offer sacrifices to his ancestors, he would stay here for a period of time, and he had long known the layout of these furnishings. There was simply no way a sword manual was hidden here.

Wang Ming tilted his head to glance at the impatient Lin Pingzhi, offered no answer to his question, and sprang up onto the ceiling beams.

It was broad daylight, and the light on the roof beams was plenty clear for viewing. The beams had not been cleaned in a long time and held a great deal of dust. After fumbling around up there for a moment, he smoothly located an old, dust-covered bundle.

The moment he grasped the item, a smile appeared at the corners of Wang Ming's mouth. Clutching the bundle in one hand, he leapt down from the beams, circulating his lightness skill to dissipate the downward momentum. He landed steadily on the floor, making very little noise underfoot.

Before Wang Ming even had a chance to open the bundle and inspect its contents, Lin Pingzhi lunged forward with an excited expression, extending a hand in an attempt to snatch it away. However, Wang Ming sidestepped and smoothly evaded him.

"What's the rush? We aren't even sure if it's the right thing yet. Don't be so monkey-keen," Wang Ming scolded.

His words instantly shocked Lin Pingzhi out of his agitated state. Realizing that offending Wang Ming might cause him to withhold the item entirely, leaving him miserable in the end, he reined himself in.

Lin Pingzhi had witnessed it firsthand back at Mount Hua: Wang Ming had beaten members of the Mount Hua Sect's Sword Sect and Lu Bai of the Songshan Sect. Especially on that rainy night, Wang Ming had slaughtered those men in black with absolute neatness and dispatch.

He certainly did not want to provoke his Fifth Senior Brother Wang Ming, lest the Bixie Sword Manual—which was now within arm's reach—fly away. Without this sword manual, many of the things he needed to do would remain impossible!

"I'm sorry, Fifth Senior Brother! Pingzhi suddenly saw our family's ancestral Bixie Sword Manual, along with the hope of avenging the entire Lin family. My heart was too stirred to suppress it, and I lost my manners. I hope Senior Brother will forgive me." Lin Pingzhi was quite capable of bowing and scraping when necessary, and he immediately conceded to smooth the atmosphere.

"Understood. Your senior brother isn't that petty."

Wang Ming watched the now-calmed Lin Pingzhi, then lowered his head to fixate on the bundle in his hands. Holding it with one hand, he patted the dust off its surface with the other, patting again and again as if the dust were endless.

"Senior Brother, stop patting. There's no dust left on it. Open it up and see if it's the Bixie Sword Manual. If it is, Pingzhi is willing to study it together with Senior Brother."

Seeing that Wang Ming had been patting away at imaginary dust for half a cup of tea's time without saying a word, practically shaking the bundle apart with no intention of opening it whatsoever, Lin Pingzhi caught on and quickly spoke up.

"Junior Brother, I'm sorry! Your senior brother has a bit of obsessive-compulsive disorder. When I see dust on a bundle, I feel completely uncomfortable until I've patted it clean. Since you sincerely invite me to look, Junior Brother, I will reluctantly agree. Rest assured, Senior Brother isn't lacking in this single martial art; I'll only take a look and will definitely not practice it."

Although Lin Pingzhi wore a smile on the surface upon hearing this, inwardly he cursed Wang Ming as utterly shameless. Laozi has lived this long and never heard of an illness called obsessive-compulsive disorder. Coveting my family's ancestral sword technique is the real truth! Still, he knew he had to endure and let nothing show on his face.

Wang Ming unceremoniously opened the bundle to retrieve the kasaya inside, spread it out across a large table, and began reading and memorizing the technique of his own accord.

"To practice the divine skill, one must first castrate oneself?! What—what does this mean?"

Initially, Lin Pingzhi had been extremely nervous, terrified that Wang Ming wouldn't give it to him, and had anxiously crowded up against the table. Now, seeing the contents, he felt utterly bewildered. What on earth was this?

Wang Ming glanced at Lin Pingzhi, who had been so stimulated by the manual's contents that he was beginning to doubt the meaning of life. Ignoring Lin Pingzhi's frantic tirade questioning the heavens and his parents, Wang Ming continued memorizing the technique.

This martial art was indeed peerlessly exquisite, but Wang Ming dared not practice it. It wasn't because of the self-castration—Wang Ming was capable of changing bodies, so he had no fear of that whatsoever.

The most terrifying thing about this sword manual was not the act of swinging the sword to castrate oneself, but the way it twisted one's personality.

It forced a person's disposition to shift in the exact opposite direction. Look at Dongfang Bubai: he went straight over to the other side. Yue Buqun and Lin Pingzhi also turned effeminate in a very short span of time; turning crooked was only a matter of time for them, too. The mere thought of it sent a chill down one's spine!

There were plenty of eunuchs in the world, but most of them still liked women. The instances where castration actually turned a man homosexual were truly few and far between.

After practicing the technique, Old Yue and Lin Pingzhi both developed capricious and vicious temperaments. This was even more terrifying than Guihai Yidao's Hegemon Under Heaven.

The mind-control of Hegemon Under Heaven could at least be felt, but the Bixie Sword Manual worked subtly and imperceptibly. Practitioners themselves could not even sense the shift, but outsiders could clearly see the changes.

Worried that Old Yue would still end up treading the same old path, Wang Ming had simply decided to come and retrieve the sword manual ahead of time.

Just now, upon reading the manual, Wang Ming discovered that its ability to build inner energy was quite mediocre. Primarily, it functioned as an internal cultivation method that stimulated and developed human potential, much like the Heaven and Earth Great Shift.

The reason this martial art was so formidable lay entirely in how it conformed to a martial arts truth passed down through films in his past life: "Of all the martial arts in the world, invulnerability is unachievable, but speed is absolute."

The Lin family's sword techniques actually possessed a great many flaws, but under the enhancement of ultimate speed, those flaws simply ceased to exist.

In the original plot, Lin Pingzhi slaughtered Yu Canghai as if it were child's play, despite his inner energy still resting at a mere second- or third-rate level. That alone proved the point.

Wang Ming looked back at Lin Pingzhi, whose worldview had shattered and who was currently sitting on the floor questioning the meaning of life.

"You're still my junior brother, no matter what. I'll give you three choices: First, I will help you kill Yu Canghai. Second, you return to Mount Hua to practice martial arts for ten years, then seek out Yu Canghai to avenge yourself. Third, this Bixie Sword Manual can make someone rapidly grow strong, but the price—"

A short while later, Wang Ming's enhanced memory had retained every single word written on the kasaya. Memorizing them served merely to broaden his own martial arts knowledge.

"Have you decided?"

"I don't need your help. I want to exact my revenge with my own hands."

With those words, Lin Pingzhi picked up the kasaya from the table and made to head out the door.

"You don't need to leave; I'll go. Take care of yourself." Having finished reading the secret manual, Wang Ming found no point in lingering and intended to depart.

Just as he was about to step out through the doorway of the Buddhist hall, he thought of the entirety of Lin Pingzhi's life. Bringing the youth out and handing him the Bixie Sword Manual still felt a bit underhanded.

In truth, the only character throughout the entire The Smiling, Proud Wanderer World who truly deserved to be called a hero of chivalry was Lin Pingzhi before his family was slaughtered; even Linghu Chong did not measure up to that title.

"Sigh."

Wang Ming still could not harden his heart. Reaching into his tunic, he retrieved the Illusion Sword manual he had additionally copied out before leaving Mount Hua, and flicked it toward Lin Pingzhi with a concealed weapon technique.

"You..." Lin Pingzhi wanted to say something, but knew not what words to use.

"Take care of yourself!"

With that, Wang Ming turned and left, walking straight out of the Lin family's old residence.

He vaulted over the courtyard wall and cast one final glance back at the old Lin residence. Letting out a helpless sigh, he strode off into the distance.

The choices Wang Ming had offered Lin Pingzhi inside the house just now, while not deceitful, had merely served to ease his own conscience.

In the original plot, Yue Lingshan had mentioned on several occasions that she went to plead with Yue Buqun to help Lin Pingzhi exact his revenge, only to be refused by Lin Pingzhi every time.

For Lin Pingzhi, revenge was an obsession and an inner demon.

His desire to avenge himself stemmed not merely from love for his parents, but even more so from self-hatred and guilt toward the entire ruined Lin family.

In his heart, he believed he was the root cause of all this; without revenge, he could never attain inner liberation.

Over the course of a single year, having witnessed the coldness of human relationships and the sinister nature of the jianghu, he was long past being that naive young master of the Lin family's Fuwei Escort Agency.

In reality, Lin Pingzhi's path had only one outcome and choice from beginning to end. The jianghu had long since spread the rumor that Linghu Chong's Nine Swords of Dugu was actually the Bixie Sword Manual, and everyone in the jianghu coveted it. The moment he left Mount Hua, he would be hunted down.

Lin Pingzhi's misfortune was essentially a massive pitfall dug for him by his own father. Lin Yuantu had left three martial arts manuals to them, yet Lin Zhennan lacked the ruthlessness to castrate himself and practice the Bixie Sword Manual, while simultaneously looking down upon the Heaven-Overturning Palm and Silver Feather Arrow techniques.

Relying entirely on Lin Yuantu's lingering prestige and wealth to clear the path whenever he escorted goods through the jianghu, Lin Zhennan had never encountered trouble. He grew arrogant, laboring under the delusion that the un-castrated Bixie Swordplay was immensely powerful.

Had Lin Zhennan diligently practiced the Heaven-Overturning Palm and Silver Feather Arrow, even if his strength wasn't towering, he would have been a match for Mu Gaofeng, and he certainly wouldn't have lacked even the ability to counterattack when Yu Canghai wiped out their clan.

Wang Ming had known Lin Pingzhi's personality well in advance, which was why he brought him here to retrieve the Bixie Sword Manual.

Only by bringing Lin Pingzhi out early could he allow Linghu Chong to step into the void, while simultaneously keeping Yue Lingshan from sinking any deeper.

Initially, Wang Ming had no intention of interfering in any of this. His original plan was to acquire the Nine Swords of Dugu and leave the Mount Hua Sect, leaving behind a letter detailing the sword techniques on Siguo Cliff and the existence of Feng Qingyang, before washing his hands of the matter entirely.

As for Yue Lingshan, Wang Ming had no desire to manage her affairs either. While Linghu Chong's behavior toward Yue Buqun was indeed atrocious, he had done nothing wrong to Yue Lingshan. It was she who had transferred her affections and fallen in love with Lin Pingzhi; she had chosen her own path, and she would have to walk it to the end even on her knees.

He remembered how, in the original plot, Linghu Chong had risked his life to save her on multiple occasions. Once, he had even suffered injuries while saving her, yet when he begged her to come see him, she refused—showing a remarkable degree of ruthlessness.

However, when Yue Buqun suddenly transmitted the Purple Haze Divine Skill to Wang Ming, that weight of favor became immense. It was tantamount to grooming Wang Ming as the next generation's sect leader.

Since Wang Ming held no interest in becoming the leader of the Mount Hua Sect, his only option was to hitch Linghu Chong to the Mount Hua chariot and force him to shoulder that responsibility.

And so, he brought Lin Pingzhi away to prevent him from destroying the relationship between Linghu Chong and Yue Lingshan. No matter what, Yue Lingshan was his master's daughter, so this could also be considered saving her life.

As for finally handing the sword techniques to Lin Pingzhi—well, his heart still wasn't hard enough after all.