After arranging for a disciple to escort Chu Liuxiang to his residence for a discussion later, Fang Yunhua sought out Master Kumei to explain the misunderstanding that had just occurred.
Master Kumei nodded, in no hurry to press him for details.
The tangled romantic debts this wayward disciple incurred outside gave her no end of grief, but when it came to handling other matters, she had exceptional faith in her beloved disciple's abilities.
After all, Mount Hua had grown to boast over a thousand disciples, far surpassing even its former peak, and almost all of that was Fang Yunhua's doing.
Before she took over as sect leader, they had even faced the danger of being swallowed up by a trash gang like the Rakshasa Gang, and her master, Master Yinyu, had only ever taken seven disciples in total.
In fact, ever since Xu Shuzhen from the earlier story, The Proud Twins, took charge of Mount Hua, leadership of the sect had rested in women's hands. Every successive leader had strictly observed Xu Shuzhen's final instructions, choosing disciples with extreme care and preferring empty places to inferior recruits. Although this ensured to the greatest extent possible that no scoundrels entered their ranks,
it also constrained the sect's growth, causing the talent within Mount Hua to gradually dwindle.
Before his memories awakened, Fang Yunhua had proposed gathering some of the branch lineages that had split off from Mount Hua and reorganizing the entire sect's hierarchy of duties and authority into outer, inner, and core divisions.
Disciples with insufficient aptitude, for example, could establish escort agencies outside, take on guard work, or pursue a path from martial arts into commerce.
With Mount Hua's name serving as a gilded signboard, they could use its prestige and reputation to open up abundant sources of income, rather than struggle along on the few plots of farmland belonging to the sect.
The rigid Kumei naturally would not so easily abandon the traditions and rules passed down by her elders.
But for Fang Yunhua, the beloved disciple in whom she still placed great hopes at the time, she relented a little and gave him just three months.
Fang Yunhua personally took the reins in carrying out his plan, first successfully recruiting several branch lineages that had split away in the past but failed to make anything of themselves, then establishing the supervisory post of Huashan Envoy.
This had already begun to raise Mount Hua's standing in the martial world, and later, even branch lineages that were doing reasonably well came forward seeking to return to the sect.
The ultimate result was a steady stream of gold and silver that supported better cultivation resources for the disciples and elders within the sect.
After all, the saying "the poor study letters; the rich practice martial arts" had been passed down since ancient times. Whether scholars were poor was uncertain, but a martial artist without a coin to his name would certainly accomplish little-unless he was one of those chosen sons of destiny who could lie around waiting for rare medicines and precious pills to fall from the sky.
As the sect's fortunes steadily improved, Kumei also began personally overseeing the selection of envoys responsible for supervision, thereby quietly accepting the changes.
By then, everyone in Mount Hua had gradually grown accustomed to prosperity. They could hardly go back to their former bitter, hardscrabble lives.
Before awakening his past-life memories, Fang Yunhua had inadvertently taught Kumei a lesson, making her understand that individual strength could not withstand the crushing flood of a greater trend.
After that, Kumei began turning a blind eye to the reforms Fang Yunhua led within the sect. Of course, she still strictly followed the standards for selecting disciples left by her master, and so far had accepted only Gao Yanan, Hua Zhenzhen, and Fang Yunhua. This differed from the original story, in which she had taken seven disciples in total-another effect of the butterfly's wings.
In her heart, Fang Yunhua already counted as her final disciple.
After all, this wayward disciple's various antics had exhausted her mind and spirit. Rather than spend time teaching more disciples, she would be better off taking charge of the envoys' supervisory work.
Meanwhile, Fang Yunhua was sending the spectators on their way. Naturally, he also signaled to some loose-tongued outer disciples that they could discreetly spread the word outside that his spar with Chu Liuxiang had ended in an evenly matched draw.
Mount Hua needed prestige now, and he, Fang Yunhua, also needed a better reputation to redeem the amorous notoriety that had already spread.
After recovering his past-life memories, he had happened to realize that some of his original reform policies had problems. Certain methods were still too crude. Now that Mount Hua was on the right track and entering a period of rapid growth, he needed to make a few small adjustments.
Moreover, his former lack of experience had caused him to overlook one crucial point: although a martial sect and the imperial court seemed to occupy two separate worlds, mutual support between them was what would actually ensure Mount Hua's continued legacy.
There was no need to become entangled in the court's intrigues and schemes for power, but when problems arose, the sect needed a sufficiently strong voice at court to speak on its behalf.
This inevitably brought to mind The Legend of Lu Xiaofeng, another story set in Gu Long's world, where every sect that had made a name for itself was tied to a prince at court.
Choosing a princely household with enough influence, but without ambitions so great that it sought rebellion, and forging an alliance between the martial world and the court would greatly benefit Mount Hua's growth.
Mount Hua lay in Shaanxi, and the nearest princely household, the An Prince's Mansion, was a good choice.
Just as Fang Yunhua finished dispersing the disciples who had gathered to watch the excitement, Hua Zhenzhen approached, her large eyes blinking.
"Junior brother..."
Her soft tone carried a faint trace of resentment.
"Senior sister, what is it?" Fang Yunhua looked in puzzlement at Hua Zhenzhen, who had suddenly revealed such a plaintive side.
Even rabbits did not eat the grass beside their own burrows, after all. Previously, he had never intended to flirt with this senior sister of his. But now... as he watched her smile bloom like spring flowers, her crescent-moon eyes shone with a radiance that could put a whole sky of stars to shame.
He felt that a person at least could not-or should not-insist on binding himself to a rabbit's rules.
"Were you deliberately going easy on me when we sparred?"
Fang Yunhua blinked. He could swear he had absolutely gone all out before. Back when his thinking had yet to turn that corner, he had believed that narrowly defeating this senior sister in their spars would win her admiration.
After all, a young man in his early twenties was bound to possess a certain reckless youthful spirit.
Yet the result was that he had nearly worked himself into a genuine fury, only for Hua Zhenzhen to knock his past-life memories out of him with a single blow from her wooden sword.
Now, of course, he no longer needed to torment himself wondering why he could not beat this seemingly delicate little senior sister even with all his strength. As for Hua Zhenzhen's question...
"Senior sister, haven't you been going easy on your junior brother all along, too?"
Hua Zhenzhen started to speak, then stopped. The origin of her martial arts was tied to her concealed identity.
As the great-great-grandniece of Hua Qiongfeng, the Ruthless Fairy and a former leader of Mount Hua, she was also a hidden watcher responsible for monitoring the current sect leader. She had witnessed all the changes in Mount Hua, and therefore knew particularly well how much effort this junior brother of hers had put into its present prosperity.
He could even be called the foremost contributor to Mount Hua's growth.
Her love for the entire sect also made it easy for her to turn that admiration toward her junior brother.
Yet this identity of hers absolutely could not be exposed unless necessary. And with the next sect leader all but decided-certainly Fang Yunhua-it left her with a tangle of feelings she could not quite explain.
"Senior sister, then we're even this time!"
Fang Yunhua's words left Hua Zhenzhen, who had not known how to answer, a little dazed.
Without giving her a chance to keep thinking, Fang Yunhua tapped the longsword she still held tightly in her right hand with his scabbard.
"I need to see to the King of Thieves first. Next time we spar, neither of us is allowed to hold back. It's a promise."
Watching her junior brother's retreating figure as he strode away so freely, Hua Zhenzhen nodded, two rosy clouds having risen to her cheeks without her noticing, and softly murmured:
"Mm."
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