Wang Ming's medicinal herbs were running low again. As usual, he carried a bamboo basket through the mountains, searching everywhere for useful herbs. This was a skill he had been forced to learn after coming to this world because practicing martial arts consumed too many resources.
Suddenly, a fierce roar echoed from the corner ahead.
"Who's there? Come out."
Wang Ming was startled. Listening closely, he recognized Yue Buqun's voice, so his heart slowly settled as he stepped forward.
"Greetings, Master!"
As soon as he emerged, Wang Ming saw Yue Buqun, who was on high alert with his sword half-drawn.
"Ming'er! What are you doing in the back mountains?" Yue Buqun gradually relaxed his defensive posture when he saw it was Wang Ming.
"Reporting to Master! Disciple came to the back mountains to gather some medicinal herbs," Wang Ming replied respectfully.
Yue Buqun glanced at the herbs in the basket on Wang Ming's back and believed his words.
"While gathering herbs in the back mountains, did you find anything unusual?" Yue Buqun asked.
"Unusual? I don't know if this counts." Wang Ming took a scrap of fabric from his person.
Yue Buqun took the scrap from Wang Ming's hand, then pulled another identical piece of cloth from his other hand, falling silent as he stared at them, lost in thought.
"Master! What is going on?"
"Alas! Someone is trying to find the Sword Sect's successor in the back mountains," Yue Buqun said with worry.
"Didn't the Sword Sect all die off?" Wang Ming asked, feigning ignorance.
"A centipede dies but never truly falls apart; there are always some fish that slip through the net. Don't worry about these matters, and don't come to the back mountains recently—it's not very safe."
Yue Buqun offered a word of caution, then walked ahead toward the Mount Hua Branch Courtyard.
Along the way, Yue Buqun occasionally asked about Wang Ming's cultivation progress, and Wang Ming handled the inquiries one by one. Before long, they arrived at the Mount Hua Branch Courtyard. Just as they were about to part ways, Yue Buqun suddenly called out to Wang Ming.
"Go gather all the disciples and wait for me at Siguo Cliff."
"Understood! This disciple will go right away."
Wang Ming returned to his courtyard, put down his basket, and went to notify all the disciples to head to Siguo Cliff.
"Mount Hua Nine Arts, Purple Haze first."
"To better pass down the sect's highest martial arts legacy, we must first examine Linghu Chong's progress," Yue Buqun said from his elevated position.
Wang Ming stood among the group of disciples, quietly watching Yue Buqun's performance.
Yue Buqun truly took great pains for the sake of Linghu Chong.
Directly passing down the Purple Haze Manual to Linghu Chong allowed no one to raise any objections.
However...
Doing this easily caused certain disciples to feel that Linghu Chong's status came entirely from Yue Buqun's favoritism rather than actual ability, which was detrimental to Linghu Chong's future leadership of the Mount Hua Sect.
It could be considered an exhaustive effort.
Therefore, he intentionally arranged for Ning Zhongze to act as a stepping stone to build up Linghu Chong's reputation.
Just as Ning Zhongze and Linghu Chong were about to exchange blows in the arena,
"Wait a moment, Madam. Wang Ming, you go spar with your senior apprentice-brother." Unsure of what suddenly crossed his mind, Yue Buqun interrupted the two of them.
Ning Zhongze did not understand Yue Buqun's intention, but she never went against his wishes in public to make him lose face, so she stepped back and used her Lightness Skill to fly up to the boulder where Yue Buqun stood.
Wang Ming obediently entered the arena to fight Linghu Chong, walking opposite him amidst the watching crowd of disciples.
"Senior Apprentice-Brother! Please enlighten me." Wang Ming held his sword and saluted.
"Junior Apprentice-Brother! Please!" Linghu Chong returned the salute.
Since Wang Ming was the junior, he initiated the first move.
Wang Ming used the most common foundational Mount Hua Swordplay, and Linghu Chong used the same basic swordplay. Neither of them held any Heart Strike, merely going through the motions in the arena, trading blows one after another.
Before long, they had exchanged thirty moves, drawing loud cheers from the junior disciples. Lao Yue's face, however, was turning black, as he could tell at a glance that they were just humoring him.
"You two, take this seriously!" Yue Buqun shouted aloud.
Hearing Yue Buqun's words, the two realized they could no longer coast. They exchanged a glance, knowing they had to get serious.
At that moment, Linghu Chong's swordplay was no longer the rigid, unchanging Mount Hua Swordplay from before. It became extremely fluid, with all sorts of bizarre moves emerging unawares, fully embodying the wondrous and perilous characteristics of Mount Hua Swordplay.
Wang Ming was suppressed in swordplay by Linghu Chong. Linghu Chong's talent for swordplay went without saying; as one could see from the original text, his talent was truly exceptional. Before learning the Nine Swords of Dugu, among the younger generation, only Ren Yingying could completely defeat him, and calling him the "number one expert of the righteous path's younger generation" was no exaggeration.
Feeling that it was about time, Wang Ming intended to casually execute a move and feign defeat by Linghu Chong's hand.
Perhaps getting carried away in the heat of combat, Linghu Chong suddenly unleashed a movement from the cave that cracked the Mount Hua Swordplay.
Linghu Chong thrust straight ahead with his sword toward Wang Ming's chest. Wang Ming also recognized this sword stance from the stone walls—specifically created by Demonic Cult elders to crack Mount Hua Swordplay, with every ruthless move aimed at taking a life.
Linghu Chong had inadvertently unleashed it in the heat of the moment. Given Linghu Chong's cultivation, he simply could not pull back this strike, and it would definitely injure Wang Ming.
Clang!
With no other choice, Wang Ming circulated his Primal Chaos Technique, forcefully altering the trajectory of the sword in his hand, causing it to defy physical inertia and hack toward Linghu Chong's blade.
Crack!
Suddenly, the arena fell completely silent.
Yue Lingshan dropped her jaw in sheer disbelief. In her impression, this fifth senior apprentice-brother of hers was mediocre at everything except reading, kept to himself, and blended into Mount Hua like an ordinary person.
Today, he had actually defeated the senior apprentice-brother. It was utterly unimaginable.
Linghu Chong also stood frozen in place, staring blankly at the broken half-sword in his hand.
On one hand, he felt some regret for almost injuring Wang Ming just now; on the other hand, he could not believe he had lost, and lost so decisively.
Yue Buqun and his wife on the high vantage point were equally astonished, but their expression management was top-tier, showing virtually no change except for a hint of puzzlement in their eyes.
Ning Zhongze was relatively calm, merely wondering why her fifth disciple's martial arts had improved by such a massive margin.
In that brief span of time, Yue Buqun considered many things.
Seeing Wang Ming snap Linghu Chong's sword, he knew Wang Ming had been concealing his strength. His first reaction was that Wang Ming was a spy from some faction, but a moment of reflection dismissed the possibility. Wang Ming was an orphan he had brought back personally, and his background was crystal clear. Furthermore, the disciple had never left the mountain since arriving, so there could not be any issues.
Without time for further thought, Yue Buqun looked at the situation before him, feeling both pleased and angry in his heart.
What pleased him was that Mount Hua had produced anotherpresentable disciple; what angered him was Linghu Chong's swordplay.
Yue Buqun collected himself.
He delivered a round of criticism to Linghu Chong, and then began recounting a story.
Listening along, Wang Ming knew this pertained to the feud between the Sword and Qi Sects, which was also the reason Mount Hua fell from its position as Alliance Leader of the Five Mountains to the very bottom of the Five Mountains.
Subsequently, just like in the original plot, Yue Buqun left without imparting the Purple Haze Manual, leading all the disciples back down the mountain.
Toward evening, just as Wang Ming was about to go to sleep,
suddenly, a figure in black appeared in his room and struck out with a palm toward him.
It gave Wang Ming a huge fright. Having lived carefree on Mount Hua all these years, he basically had no defensive awareness left.
The black-robed assailant's palm force grew stronger and stronger. By now, Wang Ming had already circulated the ninth tier of the Primal Chaos Technique to its fullest, yet he still found himself outmatched.
Seeing that the black-robed figure showed no signs of internal energy depletion whatsoever, Wang Ming figured his Primal Chaos Technique probably wouldn't hold out much longer and prepared to channel the internal energy of his middle dantian's Indestructible Vajra Body.
Suddenly, the black-robed person stopped and increased the distance between them.
The assailant removed the face covering, and upon closer inspection, it turned out to be Yue Buqun, followed shortly by Ning Zhongze.
Instantly, everything clicked for Wang Ming, who thought to himself, It seems my snapping of Linghu Chong's sword aroused their suspicions. No wonder they didn't ask me anything during the day—they were waiting for me here.
True to being a top-tier schemer in the actual The Smiling, Proud Wanderer, their traps ran deep; they almost exposed my very underwear.
"Master! Mistress! What is the meaning of this?" Recovering from his initial shock, Wang Ming asked immediately without lingering on the thought.
He wanted to probe their intentions so he could formulate a response.
"You took over a dozen of my palm strikes. Not bad!" Yue Buqun paced around the room, stroking his beard.
"Your Primal Chaos Technique must have reached the ninth tier, hasn't it?" Yue Buqun asked.
"Master's eyes are like torches; this disciple has indeed reached the ninth tier." Since the exchange of blows had already exposed it, Wang Ming saw no need for denial.
"Mn! Very good! Mount Hua has successors, heh heh!" Yue Buqun said in high spirits.
"Wife!" Yue Buqun called out to Ning Zhongze standing at the side.
"Memorize the manual and return it to your master immediately. Make sure not to let it leak out," Ning Zhongze said as she handed a booklet to Wang Ming.
Wang Ming looked down and saw Purple Haze Manual written on the cover. This left Wang Ming momentarily dazed, and by the time he snapped out of it, Yue Buqun and his wife had already left the room and walked far away.
"Respectfully sending off Master and Mistress!" Wang Ming quickly said.
Back in his room, it didn't take long for him to figure out Lao Yue's mindset: since the eldest disciple had turned out to be a flawed investment, he had decided to start raising a backup account.
However...
Regardless, the benefits given were genuine. Looking at the manual on the table, his thoughts were somewhat chaotic.
Elsewhere,
Yue Buqun and his wife walked along the path of the Mount Hua Branch Courtyard in the night.
"Wife! Fetch the wine I've treasured later, and let's have a proper drink tonight," Yue Buqun said with high enthusiasm.
"Alright, Senior Brother! How did your test go just now?" Ning Zhongze asked.
Yue Buqun turned to glance at Ning Zhongze and smiled. "Through exchanging palm strikes with him, I tested that Ming'er's Primal Chaos Technique is extremely pure, with no trace of practicing other sects' martial arts. His swordplay during the sparring with Chong'er during the day was a bit mediocre, but that doesn't matter; presumably, he put all his energy into internal cultivation."
If someone had cultivated other internal arts, their internal energy would carry a degree of impurity, which Yue Buqun would have been able to sense. What Lao Yue didn't know, however, was that Wang Ming stored his Indestructible Vajra Body in his middle dantian—an entirely separate system—so utilizing the Primal Chaos Technique would not leak out the internal energy of the Indestructible Vajra Body.
"Ming'er! Why did he conceal his cultivation?" Ning Zhongze asked with some confusion.
"Ming'er's nature has always been averse to contention. I suppose he just didn't want any conflict with Chong'er!" Yue Buqun said casually.
"It's been hard on him all these years, too." Ning Zhongze concurred with the answer.
"Ah, Wife! Ever since I became sect leader, I've walked on thin ice every moment, terrified that Mount Hua would be ruined in my hands. Now that the younger generation has finally grown up, we can relax a little."
"Indeed..." Ning Zhongze said with emotion, gazing at the sea of clouds in the distant horizon.
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