The Five Mountains' Predicament

Having won the bout, Li Mu cupped his hands toward the dejected Zuo Lengchan and said lightly, "Brother Zuo, you were gracious."

To be frank, the bout had left him very disappointed. Among their generation, Zuo Lengchan was indeed outstanding, but that was all he was.

The Zuo Lengchan of today was merely a talented disciple of the Mount Song Sect, not yet the Five Mountains Alliance Leader from Smiling Proud Wanderer. His martial arts and temperament were both far from adequate.

It was just bad luck for him to run into Li Mu. Unless something unexpected happened, this future Five Mountains Alliance Leader would likely meet an untimely end.

To be frank, Zuo Lengchan was a pretty miserable fellow too. With a neighbor like Shaolin Temple, even getting a peaceful night's sleep was difficult.

Who knew what had gone wrong in the original story's thinking? He actually imagined that the Five Mountains could merge their sects to stand against Shaolin and Wudang.

Anyone with even a little common sense knew that the Five Mountains Sword Sects were scattered across the land. An alliance where they watched over one another was feasible, but merging their sects was a joke.

Did he think that just because they called it the Five Mountains Sect, everyone would risk their lives for it?

No matter how formidable the Mount Song Sect became, the others could still feign compliance while doing as they pleased. With the emperor far away, what could he do?

If an outside enemy came knocking, the disciples of those four coerced sects would make perfect guides—and could defect in the blink of an eye.

As if wrestling with himself, Zuo Lengchan remained silent for a long while. Then, his face dark, he said slowly, "Junior Brother's martial arts are peerless. I, Zuo, have not mastered my lessons. I deserved this defeat!"

Losing to "Cai" and "Yao" was one thing. They had both been cultivated with all the Mount Hua Sect's resources, and enjoyed advantages he could never match.

But losing to an ordinary, unknown Mount Hua disciple was hard for Zuo Lengchan to accept. The fact that he managed to keep his emotions from exploding was already commendable.

Li Mu swept his gaze across the crowd and found everyone remarkably calm, as if they had all expected this result.

Even the defeated Mount Song Sect disciples were merely a little disappointed, not surprised. They seemed to think it was only natural.

At that moment, Li Mu finally understood the Mount Hua Sect's influence among the Five Mountains. The other four sects had grown accustomed to relying on Mount Hua. After all, ambition needed strength to back it up. With such a vast gap in every regard, how could they dare entertain grand designs?

"Senior Brother Mo, please instruct me!"

Having won one bout, Li Mu didn't step down to rest. Instead, he issued another challenge.

It wasn't that Li Mu was arrogant. Their previous exchange had simply been too brief to drain much of his inner power, and he was still at his peak.

This contest was, after all, Mount Hua's routine show of force against the four sects, a reminder of who was in charge. Naturally, the more decisively they won, the better.

The bouts continued, but the attention of the five sect leaders had already wandered from the arena. The outcome had been decided from the start, so there was little worth watching.

Ning Qingyu, leader of the Five Mountains Alliance, said, "In recent years, our Five Mountains Sword Sects have grown increasingly prosperous, but we've also run into more and more trouble. I'm sure you've all felt it."

At the mention of "trouble," the floodgates opened, and everyone began to pour out their grievances.

Yuxuzi, leader of the Mount Tai Sect, was the first to complain. "The Demonic Cult has been stirring again in recent years, while the martial factions of Shandong have also grown restless, causing trouble for us at every turn.

"According to intelligence gathered by our disciples, Thousand Buddha Temple, Meng Mountain Sect, and Heavenly River Gang have recently shown signs of forming an alliance. The pressure on my Mount Tai Sect is immense!"

Shandong had no martial arts overlord. Orthodox and unorthodox factions were interwoven throughout the region. Though the Mount Tai Sect was the leading orthodox sect in Shandong, it lacked the strength to dominate all the others.

When the Demonic Cult posed a threat, the Mount Tai Sect could barely unite the various sects to resist it. As soon as the Demonic Cult withdrew, everyone went their separate ways again.

In recent years, the Mount Tai Sect's rapid growth had made the other Shandong factions deeply uneasy, and they had all begun to pull at its legs.

After hearing Yuxuzi's complaints, Abbess Lingqing, leader of the Mount Heng Sect, smiled bitterly. "Senior Brother Yuxuzi, your situation is still better than ours. Our Mount Heng Sect has it far worse.

"Shanxi may not have many martial factions, but the Demonic Cult is powerful there. I hear Dugu Qingyun has taken control. Their internal struggle may soon be over.

"To be honest, I haven't slept soundly these past few days. I'm afraid that once the Demonic Cult ends its infighting, it'll make an example of my Mount Heng Sect!"

The Mount Heng Sect's misery was common knowledge throughout the land. As the major martial sect closest to the Demonic Cult's lair, the pressure it endured was easy to imagine.

Almost every battle between the orthodox and unorthodox factions left the Mount Heng Sect awash in blood. Often, they had to abandon their mountain gate and flee into the mountains.

Fortunately, the Mount Heng Sect was a convent and didn't attract much attention from the Demonic Cult. Otherwise, it would have been wiped out long ago.

Zhou Changlong, leader of the Mount Heng Sect, said, "Abbess, your burden is indeed the greatest, but we're hardly better off. Huguang may be a land of plenty, but it has Wudang looming over it.

"Wudang now controls seven-tenths of Huguang. My Mount Heng Sect, the Beggar Sect, Yuelu Sect, Lotus Sect, and dozens of other martial factions have to divide up the remaining three-tenths."

That was the price of living beside an overlord. As long as their interests clashed, they were bound to be suppressed. If the pressure weren't so great, the Mount Heng Sect wouldn't have joined the Five Mountains Alliance to huddle together for warmth.

"Alas!"

Zuo Jigao, leader of the Mount Song Sect, sighed.

"Our Mount Song Sect's situation is even worse. We share the same mountain with Shaolin Temple, and have to watch their every move.

"Even when recruiting disciples, we let Shaolin Temple choose first. As for our sect's businesses, we wouldn't dare compete with Shaolin."

The Mount Song Sect labored under the harshest restrictions, yet its strength had continued to grow. Zuo Jigao's abilities were plain to see. The Mount Song Sect's later prosperity in Smiling Proud Wanderer had, in fact, been built single-handedly by Zuo Jigao.

As his junior allies all voiced their grievances in unison, Ning Qingyu could only feel helpless. The Five Mountains Alliance looked imposing from the outside, but in truth, it was just five unlucky children huddling together for warmth.

"I understand the pressure you're all under. In truth, the Mount Hua Sect's situation is hardly any better. Though we command Guanzhong's martial world, the region has long since been exhausted.

"The Northwest is even poorer, and its situation is complicated by the mingling of Han and non-Han peoples. Going there would cost more than it gained. The road into the Central Plains is blocked by Shaolin Temple; heading north to Zhili would bring us face-to-face with the Demonic Cult; and if we moved west into Bashu, we'd be blocked by the martial factions of the Shu Region, including Emei, Qingcheng, and Tang Sect.

"Our Five Mountains Sword Sects are now like prisoners trapped in a vast cage, hemmed in on all sides by our enemies and unable to move at all.

"I called you all here this time not only to strengthen our communication, but also to discuss a common strategy and find a way to break out of this impasse."

Breaking out seemed simple, but putting it into practice was difficult. Their enemies weren't fools; they could form alliances of their own. Once one side made a move, it would set the whole board in motion.

In fact, this wasn't the first time the Mount Hua Sect had tried to break out. Unfortunately, every time Mount Hua made a move, the Demonic Cult would jump in to cause trouble. With Shaolin Temple also dragging its feet behind them, they had always been forced to call it off.