Chapter 19

Chapter 18. Was it because of me that the Huashan Sect fell apart? (3)

"Managed to save the two of them for now."

Qingming, who had been looking down from the eaves, lay down right there. Next to him was a rice ball.

'Ugh. I wasn’t this kind-hearted before.'

If he went into the dining hall now, the junior disciples would be so nervous they wouldn’t be able to eat properly. He had to at least let them eat in peace. That’s what a person should do, right?

Qingming patted his stomach and sighed.

'This started more loudly than I expected.'

Originally, he planned to play dead for a while and observe the situation. But those guys didn’t just pull the whiskers of a sleeping tiger; they shoved a lit stick into its mouth.

So, what could he do? There are things you can tolerate and things you can’t.

"There’s nothing you can do about the past."

Fortunately, Yunjian was someone he could reason with. When he subtly probed, Yunjian understood perfectly and pushed Qingming. Thanks to that, things went more smoothly than expected.

Of course, he had plans in case Yunjian went in a different direction, but it would be a bit troublesome.

'Thought he was smarter than this.'

Smart.

"…Smart?"

Yunjian was Qingming’s great-uncle, but also his senior disciple. Calling a great-uncle smart might be disrespectful, but calling a senior disciple smart is a compliment, right?

"Ugh. Complicated."

He needed to spend more time to sort things out. His position within Huashan was still unclear.

By the way...

"Those two are definitely smart."

Qingming’s gaze turned to Yunzhong and Zhaoge, who were entering the dining hall.

When so many people gather, there are bound to be those who stand out. In Qingming’s view, these two would be the core of the third-generation disciples.

"They have a solid foundation."

They were quite remarkable. Normally, after such a beating, they should be complaining non-stop, but not only were they not complaining, they were showing enthusiasm. This was something Qingming couldn’t help but admire.

Especially Zhaoge.

It was impressive that he could look at the situation calmly, setting aside his grudges. Even more impressive was his belief that following Qingming would make him stronger. If he had some money left, he’d consider training him.

"Raise them well, and they’ll be useful."

Qingming chuckled and bit into the rice ball.

Those two were one thing, but the most important person was Qingming himself.

'First, I need to build my body.'

He had laid the foundation roughly. There was still a long way to go, but he had passed the most dangerous part. Now, he needed to seriously start learning martial arts.

What was the most important thing at this point?

A perfect body.

With all that knowledge, couldn’t he become strong through meditation or sword discussions?

Absolutely not.

"Martial arts are honest."

Theory is theory, and reality is reality. No matter how profound the martial arts, if you can’t internalize them, you can’t unleash their full power.

Cultivating inner strength and internalizing martial arts can’t be done with your mind. You have to sweat and train your body.

For that, the most important thing is strength.

Huashan’s sword techniques are fast and flashy, right?

In other words, Huashan’s sword techniques require swinging a sword imbued with inner strength in 108 directions using only the wrist. The sword is flashy, not the body.

To bloom beautiful and flashy plum blossoms, you need a strong root. In martial arts, the root is the body.

'You can’t just see what you want to see.'

The world is captivated by Huashan’s flashy swords. But because of that, they don’t see the hard work behind the flashy plum blossoms.

- Damn sword techniques! Why are they so complicated? Can’t I just stab and kill?

- Why do I have to twist three times when stabbing straight? My wrist will break!

The legs of a swan gliding gracefully on the water are flailing desperately. If Huashan’s flashy sword techniques are the swan’s body, the body that wields the sword is the swan’s legs.

So, he needed to train and train again.

If those kids could absorb even a quarter of what he was doing, they could become the most powerful young talents in the world in about three years.

By then, Huashan might not be the most beautiful sword school but a powerful school like Shaolin.

Qingming chuckled and stood up.

'The problem isn’t the chicks but the upper ranks.'

The chicks would fall into line if he disciplined them, but the problem was that he couldn’t control the upper ranks. So, he needed to make them strong on their own.

Thinking of Yunjian made him sigh.

'His potential isn’t bad.'

The aura emanating from his body showed how hard Yunjian had been working.

It’s not easy for someone who hasn’t received proper sword training to reach his level. If he could learn proper sword techniques before it’s too late, he could definitely become a good swordsman.

'But how do I give it to him?'

Qingming scratched his head.

This was a dilemma.

It would be great if he could just hand it over, but that would cause chaos. He had no confidence in dealing with the aftermath. So, he needed to pass it on naturally without drawing attention. This...

"Ugh."

Qingming scratched his head.

He didn’t think his mind was bad, but he hadn’t lived a life of scheming, so it was hard to find a solution at times like this.

"Should I go back and check?"

To find a solution, he needed to accurately assess the situation.

What martial arts were actually being practiced, and whether the remaining martial arts were being properly transmitted.

* * *

Zhaoge swallowed hard as he looked at Qingming, who was sitting cross-legged in front of him.

'Did I make a mistake?'

Becoming stronger? Training?

All good. All good.

But to do that, he had to continue living with this guy.

'Can I endure this?'

The more he thought about it, the more he felt something was wrong.

"So..."

"Yes."

"Use informal language, senior brother."

"Okay."

"So, this is all of it?"

"Yes."

"Use informal language."

"Okay."

Qingming frowned as he looked at what Zhaoge had written.

"Is this really all there is?"

"Yes..."

"Use informal... No, do as you like."

He would adapt and use informal language eventually. What was important now was something else.

Qingming grabbed his head as he looked at the paper with ink still wet.

"So, this is all the martial arts in the Wushuguan?"

Zhaoge nodded silently.

"Damn, this is crazy."

"..."

Qingming slumped in his chair. Zhaoge, as always, couldn’t even guess why he was acting this way.

'What’s wrong with him?'

Suddenly, he asked Zhaoge to write down all the titles of the martial arts in the Wushuguan, but now he was fuming at the list.

"Is this all there is?"

He kept repeating the same thing like a parrot.

'He’s not in his right mind.'

His great-uncle said that to become stronger, you had to give up a lot.

But this guy had given up too much, hadn’t he? He should at least maintain some humanity...

"Senior brother."

"Uh?"

"Is this all there is? There must be some limit to where you can go, right?"

"Reading isn’t allowed, but looking is fine. That’s all there is."

"..."

Qingming’s gaze scanned the list again.

When he heard about the Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword Technique being lost and the Taiyi Mysterious Sword Technique being learned, he had some idea of the situation. But this was too much.

"Wait, what’s missing?"

Especially the important sword techniques.

Who would deliberately destroy Huashan like this?

"So, the current top disciples are focusing on the Taiyi Mysterious Sword Technique and the Tiger Subduing Qingyang Sword Technique?"

"That’s what I know."

"Damn."

Qingming scratched his head.

'This is worse than I thought.'

This wouldn’t do.

Of course, people are more important than martial arts, but there’s a limit, right? If the enemy comes with a well-polished sword and you give them a stick to fight with, you’ll get beaten before you can even hand over the stick.

At the very least, he needed to do something. At the very least.

But by Qingming’s standards, the Taiyi Mysterious Sword Technique and the Tiger Subduing Qingyang Sword Technique didn’t meet the minimum requirements.

'At least the Seven Plum Blossom Sword Technique should be there.'

Huashan wouldn’t be in this state if it were. The more he thought about it, the angrier he got.

Qingming was trying to suppress his boiling anger when Zhaoge suddenly spoke.

"I heard that..."

"Uh?"

He was spilling out information without being asked.

"When the demon sect attacked, the library caught fire."

"Library caught fire? Wait, the demon sect attacked?"

Why would the demon sect attack Huashan? Weren’t they in disarray after the death of the Demon King?

Zhaoge asked another question before answering.

"Do you know the Plum Blossom Sword Sage?"

"Of course."

I know him very well. No one knows me better than I do. I know him very well.

"The great-uncles said the Plum Blossom Sword Sage contributed to the death of the Demon King."

"Contributed? I cut off his head, what do you mean contributed?"

Qingming’s face flushed. To belittle the achievement he had accomplished at the cost of his life!

"Well, it’s understandable."

"What’s understandable? The Plum Blossom Sword Sage cut off the Demon King’s head!"

"Really? Who said that?"

"Who said it? It’s all..."

Huh?

Qingming’s head tilted slightly to the side.

'Wait, hold on.'

"Can’t be sure, because everyone who went to Mount Dasha died. So, no one knows how the Demon King died."

"..."

That’s right. They all died. Qingming was the last one to survive and cut off the Demon King’s head.

So, no one saw it... Right. No one saw it.

Right.

Qingming realized.

'So, then...'

He risked his life to bring down the Demon King for Huashan’s honor, and no one recognized it?

What kind of dog’s life is this?

"Anyway, after the Demon King fell on Mount Dasha, the remaining demon sect remnants went crazy and pushed into the Central Plains. Despite the huge losses, they eventually made it to Huashan and burned everything down."

"..."

Cold sweat started to trickle down Qingming’s body.

But Zhaoge, unaware of Qingming’s change, continued calmly.

"No one knew why they did that. There was no particular grudge against Huashan."

"Uh... Well, that’s..."

Why did they do that? I know why.

"Hehe."

So, summarizing this.

Huashan fell apart.

'Because of me?'

Huh?

Because of me?

"Hehehehehe."

"Why are you laughing all of a sudden?"

"Hehehehehehehehehe."

Oh, man, life is really...

Hehe. Hehehehe.