The official road at the southern foot of Mount Hua was slowly winding southward. A procession of three carriages and more than a dozen riders traveled along it. The men and women alike wore fitted martial outfits and carried long swords at their waists, looking every bit the dashing, imposing heroes of the jianghu.
Naturally, the sight drew sidelong glances from passing merchants and travelers, constables, and farmers busy working in the fields on either side of the road.
But although people looked, no one dared approach them. Even the constables passing by were no exception.
It was obvious from their attire that these were martial artists who could leap over rooftops and scale walls. When it came to such jianghu figures, who were skilled in martial arts and killed without batting an eye, even government constables had to show them some deference. Ordinary merchants and farmers had even more reason to keep their distance.
Fortunately, though, the procession wasn't the sort to throw its weight around, yelling at or beating passersby at the slightest provocation. Whenever they came across another merchant's cart or a farmer's ox cart blocking the road, they waited patiently—or simply dismounted and helped push the cart aside so the way would be clear again as soon as possible.
And this was none other than the Huashan Sect's southbound procession!
Led by Huashan's leader, "Gentleman Sword" Yue Buqun, and Ning Zhongze, it included nearly twenty of Huashan's core disciples, among them Linghu Chong, Yue Lingshan, and Lu Dayou. They were traveling south in three carriages and more than a dozen horses, bound for Hengzhou to attend the Hengshan Sect's Liu Zhengfeng's Golden Basin Handwashing Ceremony.
To the other four of the Five Mountains Sword Sects, such a procession might have amounted to no more than a