The next day, you used helping Lin Pingzhi avenge his parents as an excuse to have him lure out Yu Canghai, the leader of the Qingcheng Sect.
Lin Pingzhi had long hated Yu Canghai to the bone.
When he heard that you were prepared to help him take revenge, he immediately agreed without even considering whether you were a match for Yu Canghai, and easily lured Yu Canghai into a mountain forest.
However, you did not hurry to act, because you discovered that the one Lin Pingzhi had lured out was not just Yu Canghai, but also Mu Gaofeng, who had captured Lin Zhennan and his wife.
Soon, after Lin Pingzhi revealed his identity and was knocked to the ground by Yu Canghai, Mu Gaofeng could no longer hold himself back and immediately leaped out to fight Yu Canghai.
Both of them wanted to take Lin Pingzhi away and learn the whereabouts of the Evil Warding Sword Manual from him.
Seeing that the time was right, you attacked without hesitation and slashed out two streams of sword qi.
Yu Canghai and Mu Gaofeng were both only at the Houtian Peak stage.
Although they could already be considered first-rate experts in the martial world, neither had even reached half-step Xiantian, so how could they withstand sword qi slashed out with your Innate True Qi?
Thus, nothing unexpected happened.
In an instant, the two razor-sharp streams of sword qi swept across their bodies, crippling their Dantian Seas of Qi and shattering most of the meridians within them.
After you crippled Yu Canghai and Mu Gaofeng, Lin Pingzhi immediately began forcing the two of them to reveal his parents' whereabouts.
Yu Canghai and Mu Gaofeng were not hard men to begin with.
Lin Pingzhi easily forced their parents' location out of them: Mu Gaofeng had hidden them in a dilapidated temple in the mountains.
After learning where his parents were, Lin Pingzhi immediately ended Yu Canghai's life with a single sword stroke.
Then he dragged Mu Gaofeng along and hurried off to find his parents.
The ruined temple was not far away, only a dozen or so li into the mountain forest.
When you found Lin Zhennan and his wife, the two had already been tortured beyond recognition by Mu Gaofeng.
Although they were not quite at the point of breathing in more than they breathed out, they were not far from it.
Seeing the miserable state of his parents, Lin Pingzhi flew into a rage and immediately sent Mu Gaofeng to join Yu Canghai.
Although you had rescued Lin Zhennan and his wife from Mu Gaofeng ahead of time, the two were already at the end of their strength.
After seeing their biological son, Lin Pingzhi, and learning that he had joined the Mount Hua Sect, the two finally passed away with smiles on their faces.
Before dying, however, Lin Zhennan still sent you away and told Lin Pingzhi where the Evil Warding Sword Manual was hidden.
He also made Lin Pingzhi swear that none of the Lin family's descendants would read it.
What he did not know was that, as a late-stage Xiantian expert, your five senses were extraordinarily sharp.
Even from thirty zhang away, you heard their conversation clearly.
However, you had known the whereabouts of the Evil Warding Sword Manual long ago, so whether you listened or not made no difference.
After Lin Zhennan and his wife died, you helped Lin Pingzhi bury them and erect a gravestone.
As for the corpses of Mu Gaofeng and Yu Canghai, you simply dug a pit and buried them.
Half a day later, your master, Yue Buqun, learned of Lin Zhennan and his wife's deaths.
With Abbess Dingyi of Mount Heng as witness, he formally accepted Lin Pingzhi into the sect, making him his Personal Disciple.
Three days later, Liu Zhengfeng's Golden Basin Hand-Washing Ceremony officially began.
Just as in the original story, Zuo Lengchan of the Songshan Sect sent his junior brothers Fei Bin, Lu Bai, and Ding Mian to disrupt the ceremony with five-colored command flags.
They even captured Liu Zhengfeng's wife and children as hostages, showing none of the conduct expected of a prestigious orthodox sect.
As the saying went, martial-world matters should be settled by martial-world people, and calamity should not be visited upon one's wife and children!
Liu Zhengfeng's friendship with Qu Yang, an elder of the Demonic Sect, truly deserved punishment, but it had nothing to do with his wife and children.
The Songshan Sect's actions had clearly violated martial-world morality.
Besides, you had long intended for your master, Yue Buqun, to become the new Five Peaks Alliance Leader, making the Songshan Sect the greatest obstacle.
Thus, when Fei Bin failed to force Liu Zhengfeng to submit and prepared to kill his wife and children to continue the coercion, you attacked without hesitation and stopped him.
Fei Bin was known as the Great Songyang Hand and was one of the Thirteen Protectors of Songshan.
He had been famous for more than a decade and looked down completely on a young upstart like you.
When he saw you interfere, he did not even bother to ask who you were and immediately swung his sword at your neck.
With his strength, if you really had been a fledgling junior, that sword would have been enough to cleave you in two!
As the killer would be killed in turn, and Fei Bin had already harbored murderous intent, you naturally had no reason to show him mercy.
You sidestepped his sword and casually swung your own, chopping off his head and leaving him dead beyond recognition.
After you killed Fei Bin on the spot, everyone present was instantly stunned.
Lu Bai and Ding Mian, who had come with Fei Bin, immediately summoned all the Songshan disciples to kill you.
You stopped your master and fellow disciples from helping you and charged alone into the crowd.
With your strength, dealing with these Songshan Sect disciples was as easy as chopping vegetables.
However, you had no intention of killing them all.
That would bring countless troubles to your master and the entire Mount Hua Sect.
Still, although the death penalty could be spared, they could not escape punishment.
You rampaged through the crowd as if no one stood in your way.
Wherever your sword flashed, blood sprayed and screams pierced the air.
In less than fifteen minutes, you had returned to your master, Yue Buqun's side.
By then, the hand tendons of every Songshan Sect disciple present had been severed, including those of Lu Bai and Ding Mian.
Your terrifying strength, displayed in those sudden bursts of movement, shocked everyone once more.
Even after Lu Bai and Ding Mian left the Liu residence in fear with their men, no one dared to come forward and criticize you.
This was strength.
This was the martial world.
At that moment, your understanding of the martial world deepened.
In your view, Liu Zhengfeng was simply out of his mind.
He had actually admitted before every martial artist present that he was friends with Qu Yang, an elder of the Demonic Sect.
Even if the two had only discussed music and never spoken of martial-world affairs, the various sects that proclaimed themselves righteous still could not tolerate them.
In the end, after obtaining your and your master Yue Buqun's consent, Liu Zhengfeng and Qu Yang, who had rushed over to rescue him, were both crippled and imprisoned.
During this time, Linghu Chong still wanted to do something, but you stopped him by sealing his acupoints in advance.
You had been together for more than a decade, after all, and you would not stand by while he acted recklessly and brought trouble to the Mount Hua Sect.
In the end, Linghu Chong secretly returned the qin to Liu Zhengfeng and Qu Yang.
After several days in prison, the two still managed to compose The Smiling, Proud Wanderer, a piece for qin and xiao.
When the music sounded, all the martial artists outside were moved.
They also believed that the two really had been connected only through music.
Unfortunately, the two were no longer tolerated by either the Righteous or Demonic Paths.
To avoid implicating their relatives, they gave The Smiling, Proud Wanderer to Linghu Chong and asked him to pass the composition down.
Then the two committed suicide together.
Only then did Liu Zhengfeng's Golden Basin Hand-Washing Ceremony finally come to an end.
As in the original story, Liu Zhengfeng and Qu Yang died.
Fei Bin, who had delighted in slaughtering innocents, died as well.
Those who survived were Liu Zhengfeng's wife and children, along with Qu Yang's granddaughter, Qu Feiyan.