Martial Arts 3

The three of them enjoyed a delicious meal, and Zhang Sanfeng gave the two boys a few pointers on the questions they had about martial arts.

As a science student in his previous life, Liu Zhong had many questions about the martial arts of this world.

It was difficult to reconcile materialism with idealism.

Fortunately, he had excellent aptitude. Even though he didn't fully understand the fundamentals of martial arts, his body could still practice them smoothly.

But if he wanted to understand advanced martial arts manuals in the future, he would need to learn more about martial arts theory.

And asking Zhang Sanfeng for guidance was the best opportunity to do that.

Liu Zhong had accumulated many questions he couldn't make sense of, and when he met Zhang Sanfeng, he asked them one by one.

Zhang Sanfeng explained things in clear, accessible terms, making them easy even for beginners to understand.

Although Liu Zhong studied science, that didn't mean he was bad at the humanities.

He was a top student with an exceptional ability to learn.

Once he accepted the idealist principles of martial arts, Liu Zhong was able to apply what he learned to new situations and fully grasp Zhang Sanfeng's explanations.

Zhang Sanfeng rose to his feet. "Think over what I taught you today. After my birthday banquet, I'll have Yuanqiao teach you the Wudang Nine Yang Skill."

"Thank you, Grand Martial Uncle," Song Qinghua said happily.

Liu Zhong put on a delighted expression as well, but in his heart, he thought that once Zhang Sanfeng's birthday banquet was over, he wouldn't remember the two brothers at all.

Half a month later, Yu Lianzhou returned to the mountain, bringing Zhang Cuishan and Yin Susu with him.

Zhang Cuishan excitedly embraced his fellow disciples. Then he caught sight of the two young boys standing off to one side.

He immediately realized who they were.

When he had gone out to sea, Liu Zhong and Song Qinghua had already been born. One was four years old, the other two.

Back then, they'd been at their cutest, fair and chubby like a pair of little rice balls. Zhang Cuishan had never forgotten them.

Zhang Cuishan walked over with a smile. "You must be Qingshu and Qinghua, right? It's been ten years, and you've grown into such handsome young men. Do you remember me? I held you both when you were little."

The two boys immediately bowed to him. "Greetings, Fifth Uncle."

Their manner was polite but distant.

Zhang Cuishan assumed they acted that way because they didn't remember him after ten years and thought of him as a stranger. He had no idea that neither of the boys standing before him liked him.

There was no need to mention Song Qinghua. Although he had no memories of his previous life, he was influenced by the emotions he'd felt back then and had no fondness for Zhang Wuji's parents.

As for Liu Zhong, he'd read the novel and watched the television adaptations, so he couldn't bring himself to like Zhang Cuishan and Yin Susu either.

As the protagonist's parents, the two were quite popular. Many people liked them and were moved by their true love, but Liu Zhong simply couldn't bring himself to feel the same.

Liu Zhong's dislike of Yin Susu had nothing to do with her being a demoness from an evil sect. It was because she'd killed people so recklessly.

The Longmen Escort Agency had failed to deliver Yu Daiyan safely back to Wudang Mountain, and that was certainly their fault. But the enemy had set them up, impersonating other members of the Wudang Sect to collect him. The people from the Longmen Escort Agency had never met the Seven Heroes of Wudang, so they'd been deceived.

They were only half to blame, yet Yin Susu had shown no mercy and wiped out the entire Longmen Escort Agency—more than seventy lives!

She was that ruthless!

A lot of people tried to whitewash her actions, saying that the Longmen Escort Agency had broken its agreement and deserved punishment. They said Yin Susu had stopped killing after meeting Zhang Cuishan.

But only the escorts had broken the agreement. What did everyone else have to do with it?

Many of those Yin Susu killed were innocent family members and servants, including children and the elderly.

People said she'd changed and stopped killing, so she shouldn't be criticized anymore.

Right. So if a modern-day murderer stopped killing, the law should forgive him and let bygones be bygones?

Liu Zhong liked Zhang Cuishan even less.

People said he was loyal to his friends, but Liu Zhong thought he was thoroughly unfilial and disloyal.

He'd kept faith with Xie Xun, but he'd also thrust his fellow disciples into a maelstrom of trouble, leaving the other six Wudang Heroes to bear the brunt of Xie Xun's enemies. That was disloyalty to his fellow disciples.

To keep Xie Xun's whereabouts secret, and because he felt he owed his Third Senior Brother Yu Daiyan, the man chose to kill himself. But he didn't even consider the time and place. He actually took his own life on his master's hundredth birthday, making Zhang Sanfeng suffer the loss of a child in his old age. That was unfilial!

What was there to like about someone so unfilial and disloyal?

In any case, Liu Zhong thought very poorly of him.

Liu Zhong took his younger brother and left, giving the long-separated fellow disciples some privacy.

He didn't want to spend time around two people who were already dead.

In Liu Zhong's eyes, Zhang Cuishan and Yin Susu were already dead.

He wasn't going to save them.

If they had chosen death, then let them die.

They had done wrong, so they could pay for it with their lives.

Besides, only after they died would the Wudang Sect's troubles be resolved.

No matter how skilled Zhang Sanfeng was or how senior his standing, he would still be in a difficult position if all six major sects pressured him at once.

A few more days passed in the blink of an eye. The day before the birthday banquet, Liu Zhong, Song Qinghua, and the other third-generation disciples thoroughly cleaned every corner of the Wudang Sect, inside and out, until everything was spotless and gleaming. They also put up red-and-black birthday couplets, giving the whole place a festive air.

Zhang Cuishan had written the couplets. Of the Seven Heroes of Wudang, he had the finest calligraphy. He'd blended calligraphy into his martial arts, and his weapons were the Judge's Brush and silver hooks. In the martial world, he was known as Silver Hook Iron Stroke.

The next day was the ninth day of the fourth month, Zhang Sanfeng's birthday. Everyone in the Wudang Sect rose early and put on new clothes to pay their respects to Zhang Sanfeng together.

A young gate attendant presented a calling card. People from the Kunlun Sect had arrived.

They claimed to have come to wish Zhang Sanfeng a happy birthday, but in truth, they were there to pressure Zhang Cuishan into revealing Xie Xun's whereabouts.

That was only the beginning. One after another, the other sects arrived at Wudang Mountain.

The people of Wudang felt their hearts sink. They knew their visitors meant trouble, but they couldn't refuse to receive them.

When they heard that people from the Emei Sect had arrived, the others smiled and asked Yin Liting to go with Zhang Cuishan to greet them.

Yin Liting blushed as he walked toward the Emei Sect party. His bashful manner made the Emei Sect's female disciples smile.

Bei Jinyi laughed. "Senior Sister Ji, this Senior Brother Yin is even shyer than you."

Ji Xiaofu didn't grow more bashful at that. Instead, her face turned pale, and tears welled in her eyes, threatening to spill.

She was already beautiful, and acting this way only made her seem more deserving of sympathy.

Liu Zhong frowned at the sight.

He neither liked nor disliked Ji Xiaofu, and he had no particular opinion about her relationship with Yang Xiao.

But Yin Liting was his Sixth Martial Uncle. He didn't want Yin Liting to pine for Ji Xiaofu for more than ten years, devote himself to avenging her, and then suffer a terrible shock when he learned the truth.

If you didn't like Yin Liting, Ji Xiaofu, you should have told him clearly.

You'd already had a daughter, yet you kept him around as your nominal fiancé. What was that about?

Liu Zhong walked over and spoke up. "Miss, is your daughter doing well?"