Five Mountains Martial Gathering

With the two big bosses of Shaolin and Wudang refraining from stirring up trouble, the rest of the martial arts world naturally dared not act out, and the Mount Hua Sect martial arts tournament concluded successfully without a ripple.

Following the end of the tournament, the prestige of the Mount Hua Sect spread throughout the entire martial arts world along with the departing guests.

It was as if overnight, the saying "Fists belong to Shaolin, swords return to Mount Hua" had resounded across the length and breadth of the land.

As one of the protagonists of this tournament, Li Mu also rode the wave of popularity, being directly hailed as the "most gifted swordsman of the younger generation."

Purely in terms of age, this praise would have been more fitting for Feng Qingyang, but everyone had tacitly agreed to kick that cheater out of the "younger generation."

There was no helping it; a supreme master in his twenties was simply despair-inducing. One must know that many martial arts talents were still stuck at the second-rate realm at this age.

Compared to such a freak, there was no point in doing anything other than bringing trouble upon oneself. Since they couldn't compare, they simply kicked him out.

If you happen to hear peers in the martial arts world address Feng Qingyang as "Senior," do not be surprised; that is standard procedure. Having been hit too hard by reality, everyone had no choice but to grant Feng Qingyang seniority.

After seeing off the numerous guests, the Five Mountains tournament had only just begun. From this perspective, Ning Qingyu's methods were more than a notch above Zuo Lengchan's.

Even if one needed to discipline their subordinates, it should be done behind closed doors. If done in front of numerous fellow martial artists, while it might be imposing, it would also make a laughingstock of oneself to outsiders.

Since it was an alliance, everyone should be a single entity when facing the outside world. If the subordinates in the alliance lost face, the leader would naturally lose his own dignity as well.

Perhaps out of consideration for the unity of the Five Mountains, and fearing that the off-form Cai and Yao might cause trouble, Ning Qingyu temporarily changed the leader representing the Mount Hua Sect to Li Mu.

Leading a group of senior brothers to spar with the disciples of the four sects, the thought alone was intoxicating. Adhering to the principle of "as long as I am not embarrassed, the embarrassed ones are others," Li Mu directly stepped into the role.

"Senior brothers, with Senior Brother Cai and Senior Brother Yao in seclusion, the heavy responsibility of interacting with the four sects falls upon us. Regardless of anything else, for the sake of the Mount Hua Sect's reputation, we cannot lose these bouts."

"The four sects have sent their elites this time. Among them, Zuo Lengchan of Mount Song, Mo Da of Mount Heng, Tianmen of Mount Tai, and Dingjing of Mount Heng have all broken through to the first-rate realm; I shall take responsibility for them."

"The remaining elite disciples of the four sects shall be left to you, senior brothers. In principle, friendship comes first; everyone must be careful not to damage our cordial relations."

Consulting for opinions was out of the question; Li Mu did not want to look for trouble. Although he was the leader appointed by the sect leader, his prestige within the sect was still too shallow, and it was impossible to make everyone submit.

Since that was the case, he would simply make the decision himself. In any case, Li Mu was not afraid of anyone having different opinions; Zuo Lengchan, Mo Da, Tianmen, and Dingjing were simply not people they could handle.

Even if they wanted to have different opinions, they had to consider whether their own fists were hard enough. If they forcibly took on the task and lost in the bouts, there would be no good fruit to eat.

In fact, purely in terms of individual cultivation aptitude, the senior brothers present were not necessarily inferior to those four, and the martial arts of the Mount Hua Sect were even superior to those of the four sects.

But the problem was that these four were each cultivated with the full strength of their respective sects, and the resources they had enjoyed since childhood were much richer, naturally giving them an advantage in the early stages.

If this timeline were pushed forward twenty years, it would be hard to say who was strong and who was weak; after all, the martial arts of the Mount Hua Sect emphasized accumulation and slow release.

In the original work, if Yue Buqun had not been under too much pressure, suffered a mental imbalance, and had to be distracted by a large number of miscellaneous affairs that affected his cultivation, he might not have lacked the opportunity to reach the supreme realm and compete with Zuo Lengchan.

"Junior Brother Li's words are reasonable. With Senior Brothers Cai and Yao in seclusion, it is most appropriate for you to spar with these four. As for the rest, let us choose freely!"

Wang Buyao spoke up in agreement. This result was both outside everyone's expectations and within them.

Although he had lost face because he was defeated by Li Mu in the tournament, he had also found his path forward in that battle, and the gains were far greater than a little bit of face.

Feng Qingyang, standing to the side, said with slight displeasure: "Junior Brother Li's arrangement is indeed appropriate; let it be done this way!"

However, this displeasure was not directed at Li Mu, but at Wang Buyao. Li Mu had seemingly made an arrangement, but in reality, he had only arranged for himself, while Wang Buyao had made the decision for them.

To be represented, and by a disciple of the Qi Sect at that—it would be strange if Feng Qingyang, as a disciple of the Sword Sect, had no objections.

Unfortunately, his influence here was limited; other than venting his dissatisfaction through his tone, there was nothing he could do.

If he wanted to change Wang Buyao's proposal, he could, provided he went to the ring and fought it out; whoever won would be the one to listen to. That was how straightforwardly peer disciples handled problems.

Li Mu was already accustomed to this scene. Although the Sword and Qi sects within the sect fought fiercely, under the suppression of Ning Qingyu, the higher-ups still maintained restraint, upholding the principle of "gentlemen use words, not hands."

Down below, the situation was completely different. The hot-blooded young disciples of Mount Hua seemed to have skewed their talents, as they all preferred "gentlemen use hands, not words."

If you couldn't convince the other party, just find a place to have a fight. It seemed this bad habit had started with "Cai and Yao" and had continued for over a decade.

As the host, Li Mu was the first to leap onto the ring and issued a challenge to Zuo Lengchan.

"Senior Brother Zuo, please offer your guidance!"

One should pick the soft persimmons to squeeze, but when it came to kiwis, one had to pick the hard ones. Compared to Mo Da, Tianmen, and the others, the Five Mountains Alliance Leader from the original work was clearly more attractive.

Opportunities were rare; if he missed this chance, it would be difficult to beat up Zuo Lengchan in a fair and square manner in the future.

Zuo Lengchan, who did not yet know that he was about to face a miserable fate, replied politely: "Junior Brother Li, please!"

With numerous elders watching, neither of them was willing to strike first, and for a time, they actually stood in a standoff, competing in aura.

Logically speaking, Li Mu, who was only at the late second-rate stage, had internal energy far inferior to Zuo Lengchan's, so he was clearly at a disadvantage in an aura competition.

Unfortunately, there were exceptions to everything. Through the previous few bouts, Li Mu had further grasped the mysteries of intent; even if he could only use a sliver, it allowed him to not fall behind in the clash of auras.

Seeing that they could not do anything to each other, both struck almost simultaneously. For a time, lotus-like steps stirred the wind on the ring, appearing like flickering shadows; the scene was quite spectacular.

After exchanging a dozen rounds, Li Mu suddenly soared into the air, spinning his body and unleashing a brilliant curtain of light that looked like stars falling from the sky, heading straight for Zuo Lengchan's right arm, leaving him nowhere to hide.

Seeing that the disaster of a severed arm was imminent, the expressions of those under the ring became grave. In particular, Zuo Jigao, the leader of Mount Song, already had cold sweat on his forehead.

Li Mu smiled slightly, his sword suddenly turning ninety degrees to strike directly at Zuo Lengchan's right hand, knocking his longsword to the ground.