Chapter 4 Punishment

  Under the command of Yue Buqun, Lin Pingzhi worshiped the ancestral spirit tablet of Huashan School, which was considered to be officially joining the Huashan lineage. From then on, there was one more true disciple of Huashan School.

  At this time, Lin Pingzhi had already retreated to one side. Yue Buqun's face suddenly turned stern as he said, "Chong'er, Jing'er, you two still haven't knelt down for me."

  Ling Jing smiled wryly in her heart, knowing that since she came down the mountain and started rescuing Yi Lin, she had indeed caused a lot of trouble. Her actions with Linghu Chong at the Returning Goose Tower, as told by Yi Lin, must have been known to all the Jianghu heroes in the Liu Manor. Although she and Linghu Chong had gained fame from this, they had also put the Huashan School in a precarious position.

  Moreover, he was well aware that Yue Buqun was a man who had always been tolerant and low-key in his actions on the Jianghu, despite having a good reputation. However, this time his own behavior and that of Linghu Chong were completely at odds with his usual principles, and he was naturally extremely displeased.

  He also learned about the Hengshan swordsmanship, and Yue Buqun had been resentful from start to finish. Now looking at his appearance, it seems that he really wants to punish himself and Linghu Chong.

  He had turned over several ideas in his mind, but his face remained calm and expressionless, kneeling with Linghu Chong in front of the ancestral spirit tablet, listening to the sermon with reverence.

  "We have seven rules in our Huashan School. You two should reflect on yourselves, how many rules did you break this time when you came down the mountain?"

  Linghu Chong was suddenly shocked in his heart, and he had always put the Door School first. Now, hearing his master's tone, it seemed that he had already been truly angry. He bowed his head and said: "The disciple knows his mistake, the disciple did not listen to the master's teachings, and broke the sixth commandment of arrogance and self-aggrandizement, and committed a sin against the same path. At Hengshan Queyuan Building, he killed Luo Renjie of Qingcheng School with his younger brother."

  Ling Jing glanced at Lin Hu Chung and said, "Master, the one who killed Luo Renjie was only one of my disciples. It has nothing to do with Big Brother. The one who broke the rules is also just me, your disciple. Please punish me, Master."

  He had already had no good impression of Linghu Cong in his heart, and naturally did not want to take the initiative. At this time, he put all the blame on himself. Moreover, if what he expected was not wrong, this punishment would definitely be facing the wall at the top of the cliff, which was a great opportunity for him. He was only afraid that Yue Buqun would not punish himself, and that would be a big deal.

  Yue Buqun let out a cold snort, his face extremely stern.

  Yue Lingshan looked at Ling Jing, a hint of worry flashing in her eyes, and said: "Father, Luo Renjie from the Qingcheng Sect is taking advantage of the situation to harm Ling Jing and Big Brother Shifu in the Returning Swan Tower. They only killed Luo Renjie by mistake because they were defending themselves."

  Yue Buqun glared at his daughter and said, "You stand quietly to the side and don't speak out of turn. This is a discussion about our sect's rules, you are a Huashan disciple, don't interrupt randomly."

  Yue Lingshan saw her father speaking very sternly, and she was a little afraid in her heart. Her eyes turned red, and she was about to cry out loud. At this time, however, she suddenly saw Ling Jing slightly shaking his head at her, so she covered her small mouth and retreated to her mother's side.

  Ning Zhong gently patted his daughter's hand, but didn't offer any more comfort. At this moment, her husband was discussing the sect rules as the leader of Huashan, so she naturally couldn't speak freely either.

  Yue Buqun said, "That Luo person was a hero who took advantage of others' misfortunes and humiliated you two greatly. You two rather die than yield, and mistakenly killed him, which is not a big mistake. But then you two spoke nonsense in the Returning Goose Tower, saying 'Whenever we meet a nun, we will definitely lose at gambling.' Many heroes in the Liu Manor heard this, isn't this harming the alliance between the Hua Shan and Heng Shan sects? People in the Jianghu world will only say that I, Yue Buqun, am a poor teacher, with disciples who are all reckless and speak without thinking."

  Linghu Chong lowered his head and remained silent, but Ling Jing explained: "Master, that day we thought we were no match for Tian Boguang, so out of desperation, we spoke recklessly. But our intention was only to hope that the senior sisters of the Hengshan Sect could leave that place of trouble as soon as possible."

  Yue Buqun coldly snorted and said, "Alright, let's not mention this matter for now. Then, in the group jade courtyard, why did you want to cover up that demonic cult little witch's escape?"

  Ling Jing's heart skipped a beat, but he had never expected that his actions of covering up for Yi Lin and Qu Fei Yan on that day would be seen by Yue Buqun. A chill suddenly rose in his heart as he thought to himself, the Five Mountain Sword Sect's grudge against the Demon Cult is as deep as the sea, if a disciple dares to associate with someone from the Demon Cult, Liu Zhengfeng's fate will be theirs too. Now that Yue Buqun wants to deal with him, what can he do?

  At this time, he was shocked in his heart and hastily knocked his head, saying: "The disciple knows his mistake."

  Yue Buqun sneered, saying: "I didn't expect that. On that day, I was in the Group Jade Garden, if it wasn't for seeing you and that little demon girl only taking care of Chong'er, without mentioning anything about my Five Mountains Sword Sect, otherwise I would have gone in and killed you with a palm strike."

  Linghu Chong hastily said: "Master, my junior brother came to the Gathering of Jade Pavilion that day just to look for me and had absolutely nothing to do with that demonic sect's woman. As for that demonic sect's woman, she only happened to be there coincidentally, which is why she was in the same place as us. But I am willing to stake my life on it, we would never dare to collude with evil spirits and bring shame to our school."

  Ling Jing's forehead was already beaded with cold sweat. He had thought that his actions in the Jade Garden were sufficiently secretive, and apart from Mi Wei Yi and Xiang Da Nian, no one else knew about it. But unexpectedly, Yue Bu Qun had seen everything clearly from the side.

  Fortunately, he didn't say anything sensitive that day, but in his heart, he was still afraid. With his current strength, if Yue Buqun insisted on killing him, how many moves could he withstand?

  Yue Buqun listened to Linghu Cong's explanation and coldly said: "I naturally know these things, otherwise do you think the two of you could still be alive today?"

  Ning Zhongze, Yue Lingshan and others did not know what had happened. At this time, when they heard Yue Boguang mention it, they all secretly sweated for Ling Jing and Lin Hu Dang. If Yue Boguang really pursued the matter, it would be a big deal or a small one. The Five Mountain Sword Sect has always been proud of being a righteous sect, and has never coexisted with the demonic sects. If their disciples had any dealings with the demonic cultists, there was only one word: "kill".

  Fortunately, however, Yue Buqun's tone at this moment seemed unwilling to pursue the matter further, and everyone was slightly relieved.

  Yue Buqun paused, then said: "The people of the demonic sect have always been sinister and cunning. One Qu Yang was enough to bring about Liu Shidi's downfall and the destruction of his family. You two knew about this matter, so why didn't you kill that demonic woman with one sword when you saw her? Don't you know that these demonic people's methods of deceiving people's hearts are the most difficult to guard against? Even someone as skilled as Liu Shidi could unknowingly fall into their trap, and yet you two still don't take this as a warning?"

  Ling Jing and Lin Hu Dung could not defend themselves. Although Ling Jing did not care about the conflicts between the Devil Sect and the Orthodox School, he dared not say so at this moment, and could only bow his head and say: "Disciple knows wrong."

  Yue Buqun's expression remained calm and collected, but he suddenly asked: "If you two were to meet that demonic cult's sorceress again next time, how would you handle it?"

  Ling Jing and Lin Hu Dung stared at each other, for a moment they couldn't say a word. The meaning of Yue Buqun's words was that the next time they met, they would immediately take action to slay the demon.

  But in Ling Jing's heart, the two paths of righteousness and evil were never very different. Among the righteous, there were those who were corrupt and depraved, while among the evil, there were also those who were cunning and ruthless. However, if one were to categorize people solely based on their "path", this would be a gross oversimplification.

  Moreover, Qu Feiyan was just a young girl who had not yet come of age, and she was not wicked at heart. How could he bring himself to do it?

  Linghu Chong thought the same, that although Liu and Qu were from different paths of righteousness and evil, they were both infatuated with music and had never done anything to harm the righteous path of Jianghu. However, in the end, they still couldn't escape the ruthless hands of Mount Song Sect, and Qu Feiyan was just a somewhat willful little girl, so how could he bring himself to take action?

  For a moment, he was also perplexed by Yue Buqun's question.

  Yue Buqun shook his head and sighed, saying: "At this point, even if I forced you to answer, it would be useless. Your actions this time have greatly damaged the reputation of our sect. As punishment, I will make you face the wall for a year and think about this matter from start to finish."

  Ling Jing's heart skipped a beat, his spirit suddenly relaxed, and he muttered to himself: "Si Gu Yan, Si Gu Yan!" He secretly clenched his fists and thought, "No matter what, I must not let go of this opportunity."

  He had just been at the mercy of Yue Buqun, a feeling that made him feel like he was falling into an icy abyss. In his past life and this one, when had he ever suffered such humiliation? Although Yue Buqun was the master who had taught this body's skills, how could his own life be controlled by someone else?

  His eyes flickered slightly, and his determination for the future was already firmly made.

  PS: The first update is finally here, and I can finally go over the cliff. This chapter has too much dialogue and was written very awkwardly, but it should be much better from now on.