Wuxia 1

Liu Zhong realized his identity in this life when he was a full month old.

Song Qingshu!

If the name was just a coincidence, then having a father named Song Yuanqiao, six uncles, and a great-grandmaster in his eighties or nineties surely couldn't be a coincidence, right?

Liu Zhong sighed. Had he transmigrated and been reborn as a minor villain in a wuxia novel?

Before the apocalypse, Liu Zhong preferred reading web novels with diverse plot structures online and rarely read traditional literature.

However, the works of Jin Yong were frequently adapted into television dramas, and there were many fan-fiction works online, which led Liu Zhong to read the original novels out of curiosity.

Liu Zhong actually preferred Jin Yong's novels and felt quite sympathetic toward some of the villains within them.

These villains were all forced into their roles by their surrounding environments—take Murong Fu, for example, or Lin Pingzhi, or even the Song Qingshu he had transmigrated into.

Because of his jealousy toward Zhang Wuji and his inability to obtain the love he desired, Song Qingshu was manipulated by villains, committed grave mistakes, and fell from a prestigious young master to a villain despised by all, which was truly lamentable.

However, Song Qingshu was seventy percent responsible for his own downfall, while the remaining thirty percent had to do with the attitudes of the people in the Wudang Sect.

Song Yuanqiao really didn't know how to raise a son; he was strict with him in every way, yet turned around to be gentle and kind toward Zhang Wuji. It would be strange if Song Qingshu didn't feel jealous.

The others in the Wudang Sect were also more biased toward Zhang Wuji because of the hardships he faced as a child.

How could the hot-blooded, young Song Qingshu not have his mindset unbalanced by this?

And Zhou Zhiruo's attitude was the final straw that broke the camel's back.

But in the whole affair, Zhou Zhiruo was the least at fault.

Aside from her mistake of using Song Qingshu and pretending to be his wife after she turned dark, the previous Zhou Zhiruo had done nothing wrong.

If she didn't like him, she didn't like him.

Why should she have to accept him just because Song Qingshu liked her?

Her preferences had absolutely nothing to do with Song Qingshu!

Liu Zhong let out a yawn, closed his eyes, and drifted off to sleep.

A child's body was far too prone to sleepiness.

As for the future, he would worry about it when he grew up.

In any case, he would never become the Song Qingshu from the original story.

Zhang Sanfeng picked up the tiny infant; this was, in a sense, his grandson.

He was so small, fragile yet adorable.

He smiled and tapped the child's nose with his finger, saying to his disciples, "This child is the first of our third generation in the Wudang Sect; we must teach him well."

The disciples nodded, and Song Yuanqiao was even more determined to educate Liu Zhong strictly.

Liu Zhong's infancy passed very easily, as he spent most of his time sleeping.

This tendency to sleep made the people of Wudang worry that there was something wrong with his health, so they examined him thoroughly and even invited a famous doctor from the pugilistic world to diagnose him.

After the examination, the doctor stated that the child was healthy—healthier than most children, in fact—and as for the sleepiness, he truly couldn't find a reason. Perhaps the child just loved to sleep.

Everyone: "..."

Everyone let go of half their worries.

At least the child was healthy.

Because Liu Zhong spent most of his time sleeping and neither cried nor made a fuss, he was the easiest child to take care of, which saved Song Yuanqiao and his wife a lot of trouble and gave the couple time to have another child.

Thus, when Liu Zhong was two years old, he gained a younger brother.

His mother suffered a difficult labor while giving birth to his brother, which damaged her health; she was unable to conceive again afterward and passed away when his brother, Song Qinghua, was ten years old.

Song Qinghua cried his heart out, but Song Yuanqiao didn't know how to comfort a child and only knew how to lecture his son sternly: "A man does not shed tears easily. What are you crying for? Dry your tears at once."

Song Qinghua wiped away his tears, feeling aggrieved; he was very afraid of this stern father.

Liu Zhong walked over, took his brother's hand, and led him away from Song Yuanqiao.

Possessing the mind of an adult, Liu Zhong understood Song Yuanqiao.

His own grief was no less than Song Qinghua's.

But Song Yuanqiao was truly not a qualified father!

Liu Zhong brought his brother back to their room and softly comforted him.

Song Qinghua held onto Liu Zhong's hand tightly, eventually drifting into a deep sleep amidst Liu Zhong's gentle whispers.

Liu Zhong also closed his eyes, but he did not sleep; instead, he practiced the Wudang Basic Internal Skill.

Because he and Song Qinghua were young, they only learned the Wudang Basic Internal Skill and had not yet begun the Wudang Nine Yang Skill.

Of course, this was also part of Liu Zhong's own planning.

It wasn't that he looked down on the Wudang Nine Yang Skill.

As the unique internal skill of the martial arts master Zhang Sanfeng, it was enough to rank in the top ten in the pugilistic world.

But that was only relative to the current martial arts world.

In the current martial arts world, martial arts are gradually declining, to the point where even fragments of the Nine Yin Manual are peerless secret manuals that many fight over.

What about the complete Nine Yin Manual?

What about the martial arts of the Xiaoyao Sect?

The martial arts world of Jin Yong is interconnected; perhaps there are still ruins of the Lingjiu Palace in this world.

Liu Zhong's plan is to head to Tianshan Mountain to search for the secret manuals of the Xiaoyao Sect and cultivate the Eternal Spring Skill once he has the power to protect himself.

It is said that Xiaoyaozi is a very mysterious existence, and it is very likely that he has already ascended.

The Eternal Spring Skill he left behind is actually a Taoist manual for immortality; if cultivated to the peak, one can become an immortal.

Liu Zhong is very interested in becoming an immortal.

Deep in his heart, there is a thought, as if he were meant to be an immortal.

Liu Zhong did not see that certain substances in the air—actually spiritual energy—entered his body with his breathing, a small portion remodeling his body, while the majority entered Liu Zhong's Purple Mansion.

His Purple Mansion is a vast ocean, with a small willow tree growing in the very center, working hard to absorb the spiritual energy entering Liu Zhong's body.

After Madam Song's funeral, life returned to peace.

Liu Zhong and Song Qinghua studied together with the other third-generation disciples, occasionally receiving tutoring in small classes from their uncles.

Song Qinghua is very clingy to his older brother, Liu Zhong.

In Song Qinghua's heart, Liu Zhong is the most important and closest person.

As for Song Yuanqiao and the uncles, Song Qinghua is polite but lacks closeness; it seems there is a natural barrier between them, making Song Qinghua respect his uncles but unwilling to be too intimate with them.

This attitude was not discovered by the others in Wudang; only Liu Zhong, who understands Song Qinghua best, noticed it.

He did not say anything, merely helping Song Qinghua cover it up.

Zhang Sanfeng's hundredth birthday was approaching, and the people of Wudang were preparing for the celebration while sighing in secret.

"For Master's hundredth birthday, the absence of the Fifth Brother is truly a great regret," Zhang Songxi sighed.

Yu Lianzhou said, "I have decided to head out to sea, hoping to find the Fifth Brother."

Everyone felt this hope was slim, but no one discouraged Yu Lianzhou; what if, just what if he really found him?

The return of the Fifth Brother would be the best birthday gift for their master.

The next day, Yu Lianzhou descended the mountain.

Liu Zhong heard this news from one of Yu Lianzhou's registered disciples.

Song Qinghua snorted coldly and said, "What is the point of finding him? To make things unpleasant for our grandmaster? To turn a perfectly good birthday banquet into a funeral?"

"What did you say?"