Master's Return

Around noon,

Wang Ming and the remaining Mount Hua Sect disciples saw Yue Buqun and Ning Zhongze leading a group of disciples down to the mountain gate from afar.

Originally, Wang Ming was supposed to stay on Siguo Cliff for some time, but not long ago Yue Buqun had sent a letter saying he would return today.

"Welcome, Master! Mistress! Junior Sister! Senior Brothers! Junior Brothers! Welcome back to the mountain!" the disciples behind Wang Ming said in unison.

Yue Buqun said with a cold face, "Hmph! Let's go up the mountain first and talk."

Along the way up the mountain, Wang Ming observed and found that Linghu Chong was in low spirits, and Yue Lingshan was also constantly trying to strike up a conversation with him.

In the procession there was also a young man he had never seen before, who looked quite handsome, possessed a scholarly and refined temperament, and had a deep sense of melancholy between his brows.

Wang Ming thought to himself, To think this must be Lin Pingzhi. Able to poach the protagonist's love interest, this looks are indeed top-notch. It seems Old Yue still has his eyes on this Chicken Slicing Divine Skill! Judging by Old Yue's cold face just now, the trouble Linghu Chong caused this time must have made him very angry!

Wang Ming found Lu Dayou and asked him about their experiences down the mountain this time. Lu Dayou's words were filled with all kinds of exciting martial arts world encounters, and Linghu Chong had rampaged everywhere down the mountain this time, displaying formidable prestige.

Understanding Linghu Chong's experiences down the mountain, Wang Ming concluded that Linghu Chong had gotten into trouble.

He immediately understood why Old Yue and Linghu Chong did not look too good.

Linghu Chong was as troublesome as in the original work.

A single trip down the mountain successfully pushed the Mount Hua Sect into the spotlight.

Zhengqi Hall.

Mount Hua was steep and bore the name of "the most perilous mountain under heaven."

Yet everyone present practiced martial arts, so the mountain path was nothing at all.

Returning to Mount Hua and resting for a while, everyone was summoned to Zhengqi Hall, where Yue Buqun sat in the uppermost seat of honor.

First came a series of cumbersome disciple-admitting procedures.

Lin Pingzhi served tea and paid respects to the patriarchs, and then Yue Buqun had Linghu Chong impart the sect rules to Lin Pingzhi.

"Rule number seven: associating indiscriminately with bandits and colluding with evil demons. Junior Brother Lin, do you remember these seven taboos?"

"Junior Brother will remember them well," Lin Pingzhi replied with a respectful bow.

While Linghu Chong was still acting full of himself and putting on senior brother airs, Yue Buqun, sitting above, spoke up.

"Chong'er! You have memorized the Mount Hua sect rules quite fluently!"

Linghu Chong had not yet realized that he was about to meet his downfall, still maintaining that flippant appearance as he tried to be clever.

"Master! Naturally I am familiar with the Mount Hua Sect's rules."

Watching Linghu Chong's performance, Wang Ming wore no expression, thinking silently in his heart: Linghu Chong has caused quite a bit of trouble this trip down the mountain, bringing no small amount of vexation to Old Yue.

He is bound to be punished by being sent to Siguo Cliff.

Going up to Siguo Cliff also means that a turning point is about to occur in his life. This is the beginning of his losing everything he cared about and the person he loved in the first half of his life,

as well as the inception of his transformation from the successor of the Mount Hua leader into a puppet of Ren Woxing of Shaolin and Wudang.

Yue Buqun spoke with a cold face, "Calculate it yourself: how many sect rules did you violate this time down the mountain?"

Linghu Chong immediately realized that his master was going to settle accounts with him, so he instantly stepped forward, knelt down, and confessed his mistakes.

"Disciple knows he was wrong; disciple failed to heed the teachings of Master and Mistress. I violated the sixth rule: being arrogant and conceited, and offending fellow martial artists. At Huiyan Tower of the Hengshan Sect, I killed Luo Renjie of the Qingcheng Sect."

"Dad! That Yu Renjie took advantage of someone's misfortune, so he deserved to die," Yue Lingshan interjected to speak up for Linghu Chong.

"Silence!" Yue Buqun immediately reprimanded, cutting off Yue Lingshan's words.

"Sect rules are sect rules, where do all these extenuating circumstances come from?

That Luo Renjie took advantage of your peril and subjected you to heavy humiliation, and your refusal to yield even unto death was originally what a true man ought to do out of righteousness.

Yet how could you speak disrespectfully to the Hengshan Sect?

Uttering such words as 'the moment you see a nun, you are bound to lose your gamble,' and even saying that I am afraid of nuns?"

Wang Ming also understood the reason for Yue Buqun's anger.

It was not about killing Luo Renjie; after all, Linghu Chong was practically raised as a son, and since he had been insulted, killing Luo Renjie was no more than he deserved.

The main issue was that Linghu Chong's words had offended the Hengshan Sect. Yue Buqun wanted him to stop running his mouth haphazardly, otherwise it would easily offend allies and impair the harmony among them.

"Disciple was discourteous! Disciple was discourteous!" Linghu Chong lowered his head, kneeling and repeatedly confessing his fault.

"You are truly far too frivolous right now," Yue Buqun said.

"Disciple acknowledges his crime!" Linghu Chong kowtowed to Yue Buqun in repentance, hoping this matter would pass quickly.

Yue Buqun did not grant his wish, continuing to reprimand him.

"You clearly knew that Qu Yang was an Elder of the Demon Cult, so why didn't you kill him with a single sword stroke?

Hmm?

And you even helped him deliver some zither! His saving you was a conspiracy in itself, with the objective of driving a wedge into our Five Sacred Sword Sects' relations—don't you understand this point?

You are utterly muddle-headed to the extreme. What kind of person is Liu Zhengfeng now?

He has already betrayed the Five Sacred Sword Sects. You can't even tell righteousness from evil and loyalty from treachery anymore—how can you still establish yourself in the pugilistic world?"

Yue Buqun furrowed his brow and said with heartache, "Chong'er, your actions are so reckless and willful, heedless of what comes before or after. Because those people of the Demon Cult treated you well, you told them things like sharing blessings and weathering hardships together.

I am afraid not a single one of those people is an upright figure; they are all fellows of Tian Boguang's ilk.

They rape, plunder, and pillage, yet you share blessings with them?

When righteous men like us want to exterminate these villains, you weather hardships together with them?"

Linghu Chong knelt there, not daring to utter a single word.

After venting his fury on Linghu Chong for a while, Yue Buqun's anger subsided considerably, and his complexion improved slightly. He looked back at Linghu Chong, wanting to give him a way out of the awkward situation.

"Now let me ask you: when you encounter people from the Demon Cult, can you manage to draw your sword and kill them without asking about right and wrong?"

After all, he was the chief disciple, and his martial arts prowess was also the top among peers within the Five Sacred Sword Sects. Yue Buqun still held high expectations for him.

Yue Buqun waited for a long time, and seeing that Linghu Chong merely kept mum and clearly had not taken his words to heart, he could only let out a sigh of disappointment.

"Incorrigible! Utterly incorrigible!! Linghu Chong, this trip of yours down the mountain has severely damaged the reputation of our Mount Hua Sect. Now I sentence you to face the wall on Siguo Cliff for a year, and reflect thoroughly from beginning to end."

The surrounding disciples were all shocked; the punishment was severe!

Subsequently, Yue Buqun dismissed the gathering on the spot.

Watching the disgruntled-looking Linghu Chong, Wang Ming could not help but shake his head inwardly.

Yue Buqun was actually just a tragic character, spending his entire life for the sake of Mount Hua.

At the very beginning he was still a good person; regardless of whether he was a gentleman in his heart, his actions in the early stage were truly those of a gentleman.

When Linghu Chong roamed the pugilistic world, regardless of who his opponent was or what the situation was, he would always state his affiliation first:

"I am Linghu Chong, the chief disciple of the Mount Hua Sect!!!!"

Then he would step forward and execute a few moves of Mount Hua's signature sword techniques against the other person to show respect.

Even when helping people of the Demon Cult against righteous allies, he would still grandly display his identity as the chief disciple of Mount Hua.

As the saying went: Arrogance also requires having a chicken, and my master happens to have one!

If Yue Buqun did not cultivate the "Chicken Slicing Divine Skill," he feared that before Linghu Chong could come out to execute righteous elimination of a relative, Yue Buqun would be killed by Zuo Lengchan, and Mount Hua would cease to exist—at least the Qi Sect would be gone.

During his trip down the mountain, he successively provoked Tian Boguang, Mu Gaofeng, Yu Canghai, Fei Bin...

It was only due to good fortune that Fei Bin was killed by Mo Da, and Tian Boguang was tricked into submission by him.

As for Mu Gaofeng and Yu Canghai whom Linghu Chong provoked, if Yue Buqun had not arrived in time—after fighting a battle with Mu Gaofeng and Yu Canghai, and cowed by Yue Buqun's strength—Mu Gaofeng and Yu Canghai were forced to compromise.

Otherwise, since Yu Canghai was capable of annihilating the entire Lin Family Biaoju, he certainly would not mind wiping out one more Mount Hua.

To fraternize with the lewd scoundrel Tian Boguang in broad daylight—when outsiders saw such a scene, they would not care about any inner circumstances; they would only say that the young sect master of Mount Hua and the lewd scoundrel were birds of a feather, and Mount Hua's reputation would naturally be ruined.

The Mount Hua Sect was actually propped up by the reputations of Yue Buqun and his wife. As long as the banner of righteousness did not fall, Zuo Lengchan and the others could not openly swallow up Mount Hua.

To pull out Qu Yang's zither in full view of everyone, hand it to Liu Zhengfeng, and shout that he was helping deliver it—how could fellow martial artists not suspect Mount Hua of colluding with the Demon Cult?

Anyone detested traitors, and Linghu Chong's approach showed a complete lack of the consideration expected of a young sect master.

Later on, he successively offended Yu Canghai, Ding Yi, and Tianmen, creating rifts with allies.

The most disastrous thing of all was still taking Lin Pingzhi as a disciple.

Old Yue had an interest in the Bixie, but he did not want to invite trouble onto himself.

He only wanted to quietly acquire the "Bixie Sword Manual," and taking Lin Pingzhi as a disciple was something he had never even thought of.

Yet Linghu Chong arbitrarily took Lin Pingzhi as a disciple, Yue Lingshan openly took the blame for the annihilation upon herself, coupled with Abbess Ding Yi's moral blackmail, forcing him to grit his teeth and swallow this bitter fruit.

Wang Ming estimated that Zuo Lengchan's energy was entirely focused on Mount Hua now, and there would not be many peaceful days ahead.

Back at the Hengshan Sect,

Yue Buqun genuinely did not want Liu Zhengfeng to die, and even promised to take Liu Zhengfeng's place in killing Qu Yang.

Battles between peers of the same level were dangerous, yet he still made that promise.

Yet Liu Zhengfeng was unresponsive to reason! What could he do?

Wang Ming was very certain that Old Yue did not want to save Liu Zhengfeng out of loyalty, but rather because of the stance that when the lips were gone, the teeth would be cold.

If Liu Zhengfeng died, Hengshan would exist in name only, and Mount Hua would be next in line.

Linghu Chong ran amok outside without any sense of proportion, leaving his master to shoulder such a massive burden.

When the Songshan Sect besieged and killed Liu Zhengfeng this time, he jumped out right in front of the Five Sacred Sword Sects, loudly proclaiming that he was helping Qu Yang deliver a zither, and even joined forces to attack the Songshan Sect (CCTV version).

How did that make the righteous heroes feel? This caught Old Yue completely off guard!

In the original plot, Yue Buqun also framed Linghu Chong several times, but those were basically asking for trouble.

The words Lin Zhennan asked to be passed on, Feng Qingyang...

Everything he did was purely to cause misunderstandings.

As long as Linghu Chong was willing to explain, the misunderstanding could be resolved.

Yet he allowed the misunderstanding to grow larger and larger until they turned against each other.

Disciples like Wang Ming and Lu Hou'er were all tool-men nurtured by Old Yue, arguably raised as hired muscle for Linghu Chong.

Linghu Chong, however, was not!

Yue Buqun ought to be considered a master to Linghu Chong.

This master was not like the tuition-charging teachers from Wang Ming's past life,

but rather someone who raised him from childhood, provided food and drink, taught him a specialized skill,

and even prepared to marry his only biological daughter to him,

along with passing down the Mount Hua Sect for him to inherit.

What concept was this?

Mount Hua might not look like much, but it was equivalent to a top-eight enterprise in the world!

Yue Buqun's daughter was also a top-tier beauty.

One could say that perhaps only biological parents could go to such lengths.

Linghu Chong was an orphan; without Old Yue, he might not have survived. Linghu Chong also remembered his master's grace, but he would not repay it.

His way of repaying was to disrupt things while Yue Buqun was working, and sparing his life—that was considered having a conscience.

Judging from the later deduction by Mu Renqing in "Sword Stained with Royal Blood" that the patriarch's surname was Feng, after Yue Buqun was plotted to death by Linghu Chong, he simply shook off his dust and walked away. The reason Mount Hua could continue its lineage unbroken was mostly because Feng Qingyang came out to prop it up.

In summary, Linghu Chong was not a bad person, but he was mentally deficient.

Yue Buqun had also been screwed over too many times, squeezed into an increasingly narrow living space. If he did not do something, he would soon become the Mount Hua branch of the Songshan Sect.

Of course Yue Buqun was not a good person either, but toward Mount Hua and toward Linghu Chong, he truly tried his absolute best.

And Linghu Chong was truly a disaster.

As for how things would develop afterward, Wang Ming had neither the time nor the effort to pay attention; the ending was, in any case, facing the wall on Siguo Cliff for a year.

Some readers asked why the protagonist didn't hand over "Illusion Sword" and "Indestructible Vajra Body" to Yue Buqun to boost his strength.

What I want to tell you is that the protagonist's system is just for show.

The only advantage in this world was the martial arts brought by The First Under Heaven, which was equivalent to a golden finger.

Sharing a golden finger with someone else is quite poisonous.

Don't talk about the protagonist watching Yue Buqun turn dark and then going to kill him for pretense; I don't have such morbid tastes.