Chapter 49

The history of the Mount Hua Sect stretched back a long way. Though Qin Wujiu seemed to have betrayed Mount Hua, he still spoke of it with affection. After all, he had grown up there, studying and practicing martial arts alongside his fellow disciples, with his teacher guiding him for more than a decade. How could he not feel attached?

As it turned out, the Mount Hua Sect was the direct line of Hao Datong's Quanzhen Sect from the Southern Song. It should have been a Daoist lineage, but by the end of the Yuan Dynasty, it had become a lay tradition. According to Qin Wujiu's research as a scholar, it probably no longer counted as the true lineage of Hao Datong's branch. "Guangning Zhenren ascended to immortality. How could he have passed down a lay Daoist tradition? In truth, the real Mount Hua lineage had already moved south again in the middle of the Yuan Dynasty." Qin Wujiu was rather proud of this, calling it one of his great achievements as a scholar.

Of everyone at Mount Hua, this apostate was still the most learned. He had pieced together his conclusion from the sect's records and scraps of information in various books and notes, but hadn't dared mention it to anyone there. Now that someone was finally willing to listen to his research, he was naturally quite pleased. "So, this is basically a 'fake' Mount Hua Sect?" Bai Lang was genuinely interested in this kind of history. It was fun.

Gossip had always been one of humanity's greatest pastimes, and Bai Lang and Qin Wujiu were no exception. "No, you can't call it fake. The Mount Hua Sect's techniques also contain the principles of the Quanzhen tradition." Qin Wujiu hesitated slightly as he spoke, but Bai Lang pretended not to notice. "It's a pity I've heard the sect's inherited divine skill has been lost." Qin Wujiu sounded regretful.

Bai Lang didn't ask more about the Mount Hua Sect. Qin Wujiu clearly still had plenty he wouldn't say. But there was no harm in discussing other sects. "There really is a Shaolin Sect?" Bai Lang sounded astonished. Qin Wujiu had painted him a whole picture of the martial world.

Shaolin and Wudang were still the two great pillars of the martial world. There were also the Five Mountains sects, such as Mount Song and Mount Heng. Every famous mountain seemed to have its own sect. There were even Qingcheng and Emei. In truth, the martial world was far more active than Bai Lang had realized when he first arrived. It was just that the world was vast, and he hadn't met anyone from it.

It really was a coincidence. "What a strange thing! I never met a single martial artist before meeting you, sir," Bai Lang said. Both host and guest laughed. "Exactly, exactly. Well said, young hero. Before I went up the mountain, I'd only heard of the Mount Hua Sect. Yet after I came down, I met quite a few martial artists. But after I passed the Xiucai and Juren examinations, when the realm fell into chaos, I hardly saw any martial artists again."

Could this be one of those webnovel rules? No matter what level you reach, people at that level are everywhere? Like how you never run into a single gangster until you become one yourself? Bai Lang thought to himself. He decided not to pursue the question. Their conversation ended on good terms, and once Qin Wujiu had achieved his aim of recruiting Bai Lang, he took his leave. Bai Lang agreed that when the time came, he would lead the charge at the head of the army, taking elite troops to strike the bandits.

Governor Sun understood this sort of thing well. In the end, a man had to be willing. A military order wouldn't do—not when there was a layer of separation between them. Even among his own subordinates, a man who wasn't willing couldn't summon the courage to smash through the bandits' elite forces in a single charge. It required total commitment, risking everything. Could the Great Ming still stir this fierce warrior's sense of loyalty and righteousness? It seemed possible, for now.

Bai Lang didn't think that far ahead. He simply wanted to cultivate through battle and slaughter. He had already reached this point in his martial arts, and there was no turning back. A hero who mastered martial arts could defy the law; once you carried a sharp blade, the urge to kill arose on its own. Bai Lang had grown fond of honing himself on the battlefield. Was that the poison of war?

Tempering his killing intent amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood would only make this tiger-like man more terrifying. But that didn't mean his martial arts would keep growing stronger. Bai Lang felt that if there were Xiantian Masters, they could probably kill him with ease. But if everyone charged into the ranks of an army, he felt he might hold his own. His martial arts were, if anything, well suited to that kind of battle.

When he'd worked as a hired fighter, Bai Lang had seen that almost none of the men around him used heavy or long weapons. Even his own pair of iron maces had been a rare sight. As for the gang's leaders, he didn't know what they used, but he doubted anyone wielded an Azure Dragon Crescent Blade. Still, perhaps someone on the Heaven Earth Human Rankings really did use weapons like that. If so, Bai Lang hoped he'd get to meet them someday.

For now, he was following Governor Deng toward Xiangyang at full speed. Zhang Xianzhong should have taken Xiangyang the previous year, but he hadn't. Instead, he had brought his army to surround the city only this year. He wasn't launching a surprise attack; he was besieging it. Morale inside Xiangyang was low. A few days earlier, General Qin had been defeated outside the city and had fled inside to make a last stand, while Zuo Liangyu's army watched from outside, too afraid to approach.

Governor Deng went to Zuo Liangyu's camp. Zuo Liangyu was so arrogant that he didn't even come out to welcome his superior. But Governor Deng couldn't complain under the circumstances. He had only three thousand troops, and they were hardly loyal to him. All he could do was try to persuade Zuo Liangyu to send troops to relieve Xiangyang. Zuo Liangyu's army was as undisciplined as the bandits, though it had plenty of men. Its method of expanding its forces was much the same as the bandits'.

Once they entered the camp, Zuo Liangyu received Governor Deng in the central tent. The officers on either side of him sat with their backs straight. Zuo Liangyu had come out to invite Governor Deng to the seat of honor, then called for women to perform songs and dances at a banquet. He didn't mention the relief of Xiangyang at all. The officers in Zuo Liangyu's army all wore fake smiles, and none of them cared in the slightest about rescuing the city. Perhaps they hoped that after Zhang Xianzhong took Xiangyang, they could claim great credit for retaking it—or even profit by taking a cut from Zhang Xianzhong.

Bai Lang smiled. "Governor Deng, forgive your subordinate for his rudeness." With that, he took a step forward. The tent was lavishly decorated. Aside from Zuo Liangyu, his personal guards, and a few officers and their guards, no one who had accompanied the governor had brought weapons. But Bai Lang had no need of a weapon. The moment he moved, the aura he had been desperately suppressing burst free.

A gust of bloody wind swept through the tent. The dancing women collapsed in terror as a striped tiger flashed past them. The officers and guards managed to react, though Bai Lang's pounce wasn't particularly fast. If anything, he had deliberately slowed down a little.

"Bold of you! Looking to die?" One officer, whose name no one knew, had been staring lustfully at the dancers. When he saw Bai Lang pounce toward Zuo Liangyu, he sprang forward to block him and shouted. Before he could finish, Bai Lang's claw had already seized his head.