Dealing with Laodeno

Yue Buqun still insisted on examining Ji Boying's body, afraid he might have been left with some hidden injury.

He placed a hand on Ji Boying's back and gently circulated the Purple Mist Technique, sending his inner force flowing through Ji Boying's meridians in a full circuit.

Only after finding no internal injuries did he finally relax.

Yet even after letting out a breath, his face remained dark.

He whirled around in fury and glared at Linghu Chong.

Linghu Chong's eyes were filled with misery as well, and tears came streaming down his face.

But Yue Buqun had no pity for him. Taking three strides in two, he stormed over.

"Slap!"

He raised his arm high and struck Linghu Chong across the face.

"You beast! Are you trying to get your junior disciple brother killed?!"

The slap rang out so sharply that wild birds startled into flight from among the mountain paths.

Half of Linghu Chong's face immediately swelled high, and a thread of blood appeared at the corner of his bright-red lips.

Yet after taking such a heavy slap, he showed no resentment at all.

With tears in his eyes, he dropped to his knees on the mountain path with a thud.

Then he began kowtowing to Yue Buqun.

He showed no mercy to himself either. His forehead struck the stone steps with bang, bang; after just two or three blows, it had already split open.

Tears pouring down his face, he choked out, "Master, this disciple knows his mistake. It was all this disciple's fault. I gave in to the cravings of my stomach, and that allowed others to lay such a trap to harm my junior disciple brother. Master, punish me as you see fit. This disciple sincerely repents!"

Yue Buqun was so furious that anger surged from nowhere.

Seeing Linghu Chong crying so hard he could barely speak, he did feel a measure of pity.

But even more than that, he hated that iron had failed to become steel.

This was a child he had raised himself; naturally, he could not be without affection for him.

But after raising him for so many years, where was the bearing of a Senior Disciple Brother? Perhaps he would have been good enough in another sect, but in the Mount Hua Sect, he was clearly far from sufficient.

How could Yue Buqun not know that this had been a trap deliberately laid against them? Even without Linghu Chong, there would have been Lu Dayou or someone else.

But he was furious. His heart ran cold. The enemy's utter recklessness made him feel stifled and helpless, and he poured all that pent-up rage onto Linghu Chong.

How deeply afraid he was.

Ji Boying was the first hope he had seen in twenty-five years.

To Yue Buqun, revitalizing the Mount Hua Sect mattered more than his own lifeblood.

Ji Boying was the hope of revitalizing the Mount Hua Sect.

Today, through one moment of carelessness, that hope had nearly been destroyed right beneath his eyes. How could Yue Buqun not be terrified?

Especially when he saw Linghu Chong sprawled miserably on the ground, crying so hard he could barely make a sound, looking so pathetic—it only made him angrier.

His own abilities might indeed be limited, but Linghu Chong was someone he had raised himself. He should at least shoulder some responsibility.

Yue Buqun knew that Linghu Chong actually possessed the talent.

But he was already over twenty and still this pathetic. If only you would try a little harder, would I only care about Boying?

So enraged that Yue Buqun strode forward, he kicked Linghu Chong—who was still banging his head against the ground—into another tumble.

Behind them, Yue Lingshan was crying so hard she could barely speak as well.

She wanted to step forward and plead for mercy, but Ning Zhongze grabbed hold of her.

Silver pearls of tears rolled endlessly from Ning Zhongze's eyes, yet she kept her lovely face stern, doing her utmost not to reveal the slightest softness.

Watching Linghu Chong kowtow until his face was covered in blood, Ji Boying saw that Lu Dayou had already been frightened senseless at the side.

He sighed inwardly.

He stepped forward and pressed down Linghu Chong, who was struggling to rise and continue kowtowing.

Then he dropped to his knees and pleaded with Yue Buqun as well.

"Master, Senior Disciple Brother already knows he was wrong. Please spare him this once. Those villains harbored sinister intentions; even without Senior Disciple Brother, they would have found some other way to lure me down the mountain!"

Yue Buqun glared at Ji Boying.

"And you still dare speak! You went down the mountain without permission. I'll settle accounts with you later."

Thinking about it, Ji Boying felt some lingering fear as well. If the enemy who had come to assassinate him had been stronger—even if someone at the level of a Songshan Sect Thirteen Taibao had come—he and his senior disciple brother would likely both have met bitter ends.

"Quickly, tell me the entire sequence of events again!"

Ji Boying once more recounted every detail from beginning to end for Old Yue.

Ji Boying had already formed a suspicion. Before coming up the mountain, he had been completely innocent and had never made enemies with anyone. Since the enemy had come specifically for him, it was plainly because his martial arts had advanced so rapidly over the past two months.

He immersed himself in training every day and rarely went out. Even some of the senior disciple sisters on Mount Hua knew nothing of his situation.

So how had these outsiders obtained such intelligence, and who wanted to snuff out him, a genius of the Mount Hua Sect?

The answer was obvious—it had to be Laodeno, Zuo Lengchan's prized disciple.

Ji Boying had his suspicions, but he did not dare state them outright. After all, he had no evidence to prove it, nor could he explain why he suspected Laodeno.

Still, as he recounted the events, he deliberately emphasized Laodeno's presence, hoping Old Yue would catch his hint.

Yue Buqun naturally caught it.

Though he had yet to become that hypocrite, his meticulous mind and deep scheming had always been part of him.

Who would fear the Mount Hua Sect producing an invincible genius?

Shaolin and Wudang might not fear it. The Sun Moon Divine Cult perhaps would not wish to see it, but they would not go to such lengths over it.

Alliance Leader Zuo, ambitious and eager to swallow up the Five Mountains, could not escape suspicion.

And, by coincidence, there was a Songshan Sect spy right on their mountain.

Yue Buqun's face darkened like still water, shifting between light and shadow. He, too, was struggling within.

After the surprises his youngest disciple had brought him these past few days, his greatest hope was for Ji Boying to mature into a capable talent within five or six years.

Ideally, they could endure another five or six years—or at least two or three.

But to bare their fangs and claws now, reveal their teeth, and act so arrogantly—would that be good or bad? Yue Buqun had to weigh the gains and losses.

Was Yue Buqun afraid of Zuo Lengchan? It was not quite fear, but the reality was that he truly could not defeat him at present.

"Come with me!"

With a cold face, Yue Buqun led everyone to the House of Non-Action.

Everyone stood along the sides, while Linghu Chong alone knelt in the center.

Yue Buqun then summoned Ning Zhongze and whispered a few words in her ear.

Ning Zhongze's expression changed. Recalling what Ji Boying had reported earlier, she too nodded with a grim face and departed.

Everyone waited there. Before long, they heard footsteps outside.

Laodeno announced himself from beyond the door, and Yue Buqun told him to enter.

Laodeno had barely stepped inside when, after two or three breaths, Ning Zhongze also entered from outside and casually shut the door behind her.

Laodeno looked over everyone in the room, his expression unchanged.

"Master, you summoned this disciple. What are your instructions?"

Yue Buqun rose from the seat of honor and approached Laodeno with a cold expression.

"You have quite the nerve."

As he spoke, he drew the Precious Sword at his waist and held it against Laodeno's throat.

Only then did Laodeno show a trace of panic. He hurriedly dropped to his knees with a thud.

"Master, why is this? What crime has this disciple committed?"

Yue Buqun's face remained cold, while the expressions of everyone else in the room varied.

"Do you think I would not dare kill you just because you refuse to speak?"