Revitalizing Mount Hua Is Our Unshirkable Duty

"Brat, you nearly talked me dizzy. I naturally have my reasons for speaking of Senior Dugu's past. Why are you rambling on and muddling the issue?"

Although Feng Qingyang was no longer angry and had come to admire Ji Boying quite a bit, there was no way he would surrender so easily.

Feng Qingyang's eyes gleamed as he stared at Ji Boying. "Hmph, let me ask you this. You've brought up so many great seniors. What does it matter whether they used Dragon Subduing Palm or Toad Style, whether they were Zhang Wuji or Zhang Sanfeng? Would they teach their martial arts to you?"

Ji Boying obediently shook his head. "Of course not."

"Then stop going on about them. Just tell me—on Mount Hua, is sword training more powerful, or is qi cultivation more powerful?"

Ji Boying said, "Senior, why are you at it again? Does practicing the sword mean one does not cultivate qi? I'd say your internal energy is quite profound."

Feng Qingyang seemed to have found an argument to refute Ji Boying with, and he was slightly pleased with himself.

"Why do you care whether I cultivate qi or not? This old man nearly got talked dizzy by you. When did I ever say not to cultivate qi? It was merely... merely that there were some especially extreme people back then. Speaking only of Mount Hua's martial arts, your master has honestly cultivated qi, yet he is not much to speak of in the martial world today!"

Ji Boying wanted to speak up for Old Yue. "Senior, my master may indeed be of ordinary talent, but who could have known that a plague over twenty years ago would nearly wipe out all of Mount Hua? In the end, among the foremost Mount Hua disciples in the world, only my master and Mistress remained. At that time, my master's martial arts were likely not much better than Senior Disciple Brother's. In the martial world, he would have been even less of a figure."

"But think about it. How many people secretly coveted such a vast Mount Hua? How many bore grudges against it? Was there not a constant risk that the entire sect might be wiped out? It was precisely my master, a man of ordinary talent, who struggled to maintain things through all these years and brought Mount Hua back from the brink. Now it has several dozen disciples, and he himself has gained a foothold in the martial world. With such accomplishments, no ancestral master would look down on him for his ordinary talent, would they?"

Feng Qingyang could not help snorting in displeasure. He wanted to blame the Qi Faction, but neither faction could escape responsibility for this matter.

Back then, if Yue Buqun had been injured any more severely, Mount Hua would not even have had this master of ordinary talent left. The sect truly had nearly been destroyed. Had that happened, neither the Sword Faction nor the Qi Faction would have had the face to meet their ancestors in the afterlife.

Yue Buqun's efforts to hold things together truly counted as great merit earned through hardship.

But when Feng Qingyang saw Ji Boying acting as though he were claiming credit for that fool Yue Buqun, he felt deeply annoyed. Back then, if this old man had not repaid injury with kindness and secretly protected Mount Hua, your mediocre master would have had his head taken long ago.

Still, Feng Qingyang cared about his pride and was not the sort to contend for credit. He could only snort coldly. "Your master has some merit, I admit that. But that has nothing to do with whether one should practice the sword or cultivate qi first. What matters is strength!"

"Mount Hua Swordplay is exquisite. If your master were willing to study it deeply, its killing power would certainly surpass what he has now. But that fool presumably lacks such talent."

Ji Boying was somewhat unconvinced. "Senior, that is not right. I have also heard that sword training progresses quickly. Just like me today, Mount Hua Swordplay can already be used to kill, while qi cultivation is still difficult to put to great use. Yet those who cultivate qi grow stronger with age. At my master's age, he should be surpassing sword practitioners."

"Then why did your master not practice the sword during his first twenty years, when times were at their hardest? Besides, those who roam the martial world cannot avoid fighting and killing. Youth and middle age are when the fighting is fiercest. Most people rarely meet a good end. Who can wait until your qi cultivation reaches sixty years of age?"

At this point, Ji Boying no longer wished to argue further.

His tall body stood upright in the courtyard, and he was actually much taller than Feng Qingyang.

With a faintly proud smile, he said, "Senior, whether one chooses glory in one's youth or chooses to flow on endlessly like a great river is a personal choice. In the end, there is nothing worth arguing over. They fought because they lacked talent. They were all mediocre. Sword and qi could not both be attained, so they could only focus on one."

"But I do not need to consider such things. My talent is high; I am destined to be invincible under heaven! Though I have no Dragon Subduing Palm or Toad Style to learn, I can still bring Mount Hua Inner Skill to its peak! At worst, I can create my own in the future! If one merely wants to make a name in the martial world, it is enough to train one's killing arts well. But if one wants to become number one under heaven, one must cultivate qi!"

"Since those who cultivate qi lack sufficient talent and must train until old age to accumulate enough true qi, then a genius like me will naturally reach great mastery in internal energy by my twenties or thirties—perhaps even earlier! If so, why should I seek the glory of my younger years by focusing solely on martial techniques? I should be like Zhang Sanfeng and Wang Chongyang. They are my models. What we pursue is the Great Dao, a greater future!"

"That is why I say I have never looked down on swordplay. I have merely placed swordplay where it belongs! All external techniques are but my support. Only practicing martial arts, cultivating qi, and strengthening my own foundation are the fundamental choice!"

His solemn bearing and awe-inspiring ambition, his powerful confidence and air of unmatched supremacy, came crashing toward Feng Qingyang, making his breath catch. Then boundless heroic spirit surged within him, and his blood began to boil.

As Feng Qingyang looked at the high-spirited Ji Boying, how could he not recall the glorious years of his own past?

Back then, he too had been so dashing, so full of the conviction that none could match him!

Only, alas... only, alas...

Sigh...

All his tangled emotions turned into a long sigh in his heart. Though the night was deep, Feng Qingyang could still see the white streaks in his beard.

For a long while, neither spoke. The two stood silently in the courtyard, yet their hearts remained unable to settle.

Feng Qingyang raised his head to gaze at the pitch-black sky. The moonlight was hidden tonight, while the stars were numerous.

"You... you must strengthen Mount Hua in the future, so that you do not fail... do not fail your master's expectations. And... and redeem us sinners as well."

Ji Boying felt a trace of bitterness at Feng Qingyang's appearance, but even more strongly, he felt confidence. This confidence did not come merely from his cheat and Golden Finger, enabling him to speak such grand words.

Ji Boying's greatest confidence had always been in his own talent. At the very least, compared to the countless transmigrator seniors who began as useless trash, his natural endowment was absolutely first-rate.

When Yue Buqun took Ji Boying as a disciple, he had examined Ji Boying's bones and meridians before discovering this uncut jade. Only after learning that Ji Boying possessed exceptional, rare natural talent did he decide to accept him as a disciple. At that time, Ji Boying had not yet had the chance to use his Golden Finger cheat to display his extraordinary learning ability.

"Rest assured, Senior. Revitalizing Mount Hua is Boying's unshirkable duty!"