Linghu Cong's life pursuit

  A middle-aged man's voice broke the silence.

  "Pi Xie Jian Pu!" Yue Buqun's eyes widened, "Indeed... you killed Lin Pingzhi and stole the Pi Xie Sword Manual! Tian Boguang, your disguise is shameless and your intentions are sinister, deceiving my Huashan School disciples. I, Yue Buqun, will not coexist with you!"

  Yue Buqun charged forward, deliberately feigning weakness and coughing up blood, yet painfully using his sword to prop himself up, slowly inching towards Tian Boguang.

  "Don't be stubborn..." Ning Shi hurried over to support him, "You're severely injured, you can't keep fighting..."

  Yue Buqun's heart ached and his head spun: "With such evil people mastering the Bi Xie Sword Technique, the martial world will no longer have peaceful days! How can we Huashan people just sit back and do nothing?"

  "Hahaha......" This laughter was emitted by Linghu Chong, who had spat out enough blood. "Yue Buqun, stop pretending... At this moment, I finally understand... The Smiling Proud Wanderer? You're not worthy!"

  "Shut up, it's not your turn to speak yet, Mount Hua."

  Linghu Chong shook his head and laughed loudly: "Ning Biwu, how is Yue Buqun's injury? You should be the clearest about it!"

  "......" Ning didn't say a word. Yue Buqun was weak for several days and hadn't gone out at all. Every day, his beard would fall out even more severely, and she had already sensed that something was amiss.

  Fang Xian also burst out laughing: "Ling Hu brothers, now that we're here, I'm afraid only you and I can see things clearly. How does this feeling strike you?"

  "Marvelous!" Linghu Chong burst out laughing, "Just now, Initial Sound's melody and Brother Tian's sword move have awakened me. Rather than entangling with these petty-minded people, I'd rather enjoy the pleasure of revenge and laugh proudly at the rivers and lakes! The world is vast, having one kindred spirit is enough!"

  "Alright, let's go drink and walk." Fang Xian didn't bother to explain anymore, there was no need for explanation anyway. Let Yue Buqun continue being the target here, his life would be taken away sooner or later, either by Zuo Lengchan or Murong Fu Lin Pingzi. At this time, he still wanted to be Zuo Lengchan's number one enemy, so that he himself could have time to enter the Five Mountains Sword Sect's power struggle.

  With that, Tian Boguang let out a long whistle and led Wang Yuyan and Lin Huocheng out of the main gate of Mount Hua with their heads held high. No one dared to stop them.

  "Spread the word... send out a flying letter - Tian Boguang and Lin Feng have mastered the evil sword technique, wreaking havoc everywhere. The orthodox martial arts world should unite to eliminate them!"

  Ning still didn't say anything.

  "They just saved Mount Hua... what evil have they committed."

  Yue Buqun sighed. His own daughter was still too naive. To the powerful Five Mountains, strength was evil, and such a strong enemy would surely attract Left Cold Saber's attention...

  Fang Xian led the two down Mount Hua, but instead of entering the Grand Map as expected, they arrived at a small town called Huayin.

  "Is this for our convenience in drinking?" Fang Xian burst out laughing and led the two of them straight to a wine house.

  Inside the wine house, guests were seated in twos and threes. Fang Xian chose a table by the window and sat down, also slapping some silver on the table like people from the jianghu often did. He shouted loudly: "Waiter! Bring us good wine and food!"

  The wine and dishes in a small village shop are naturally not as exquisite as those in Suzhou, but the atmosphere is bold and heroic.

  Fang Xian and Linghu Chong ate and drank heartily, enjoying themselves immensely. Wang Yuyan only picked at some small dishes, busy pouring wine for the two of them, still nagging like a little wife: "Drink less... don't ruin your body."

  Of course, Fang Xian had to wave her off like a big man: "Don't worry about it. I won't return with Leng Hu brothers until we're drunk!"

  Linghu Chong was originally fond of wine. The Huashan School disciples' capacity for liquor wasn't great, and no one could keep up with him in drinking. At this time, he was having a very enjoyable time drinking freely with Tian Boguang. Moreover, after throwing away the title of the eldest disciple of Huashan, his heart also surged with a kind of carefree and joyful feeling of being unrestrained and free-spirited.

  "Brother Tian. I still have to thank you for saving me at Mount Hua! Although I'm no longer a disciple of Mount Hua, after all, I'm still a person from Mount Hua. Younger brother offers another toast to you!" Leng Qiu had already lost count of how many times he had raised his cup.

  "It's just a small matter, what's the point of making a fuss!" Fang Xian said with a drink, "Today's affairs. Brother also has his own mind, Tian Boguang has been hiding for a long time, and can't stay hidden any longer. It's time to make a name for himself and have a head-on confrontation with evil people."

  "Oh? What are your plans, Brother Tian?" As soon as Linghu Cong's words left his mouth, he slapped himself on the head, "Brother Tian is doing great things, how could we guess what they are? I'm to blame, let me be punished with a drink! Punish me with a drink!"

  "Heh heh......" Fang Xian also took a sip and then asked, "What are your plans from now on, Linger brothers?"

  Linghu Cong felt a slight bitterness in his heart, and after drinking a mouthful of wine: "The world is so big, there's no place for Linghu Cong to live, from now on I can only wander around the rivers and lakes, and be content with whatever I encounter."

  "Don't you have anything you're striving for?" Wang Yuyan asked in confusion.

  "Pursuit, huh... It's really true!" Linghu Cong's eyes lit up. "Linghu Chong loves music and can play the flute, but after learning martial arts, Mount Hua didn't have a good environment for studying music, so this hobby was put aside. Now that Linghu has no worries, he might as well find a music house to settle down in!"

  "Melodies... I have a lot of them?" Wang Yuyan flicked her braid, "Feng Qing Ge ~ Xi Jiang Yue ~ Tai Tai ~~"

  "Oh?" Linghu Cong exclaimed, "Just now when I heard your 'A Sigh in the Sea of Sorrow', it suddenly opened up the heroic spirit within my heart. Is 'The Ballad of the Throwing Chives' also a melody like that?"

  "Hmm... different styles, but all very interesting."

  "Great! Once Ling Hu's skills have improved a bit more, I hope Hatsune Miku will condescend to collaborate with Ling Hu on a song, and Ling Hu will have no regrets for the rest of his life!"

  Wang Yu Yan squeezed her eyes shut and nodded, giving a thumbs up.

  "Fang Xian coughed and said: 'And, do you have any other pursuits?'"

  "Others..." Linghu Cong sank into thought, "Linghu is fortunate to have become close friends with Brother Tian, and to have become bosom friends with Chuyin. In this life, that is enough."

  "You really are a carefree person...” Fang Xian downed another cup of wine with Linghu Chong.

  "Haha, Ling Huo has never liked being bound by rules since he was young. However, the path of the sect and power is full of restrictions and frameworks, requiring him to nod and bow against his will. Ling Huo can't do that, he just wants to be carefree."

  "Is it just for fun?... " Fang Xian raised an eyebrow and said, "Do you want to be a flower thief?"

  "...the flower that is pinched into existence will surely wither and perish, Brother Tian must know this principle? Don't laugh at me haha!"

  "How strange......" Fang Xian shook his head, "You must still have something on your mind, otherwise you would have given me 'The Smiling, Proud Wanderer' by now."

  "What is 'The Smiling, Proud Wanderer'? Brother Tian, are you referring to that melody?" Linghu Cong obviously still didn't understand the existence of 'The Smiling, Proud Wanderer', and it seemed his wish had not been fulfilled.

  "Linghu brothers, you and I have been through life and death together. At this moment, can you calm down and think carefully about what's left... and why things are still unfinished?" Fang Xian gazed at Linghu Chong, "Consider it helping your brother out."

  "Unfinished..." Linghu Chong lowered his head, his carefree exterior stemming from the desolation in his heart; his mouth said it didn't matter. In fact, he was driven to despair.

  Linghu Cong smiled suddenly: "Forget it, let's just go with the flow. Those things can't be forced."

  "It can't be forced..." Fang Xian raised an eyebrow and asked. "Are you saying... that emotions can't be forced?"

  "Haha……it's not just emotions." Linghu Chong raised his head, downing half a flask of Burning Blade wine in one gulp. A fiery sensation surged up inside him. "The person I love has abandoned me! The decline of my sect! The darkness of the Jianghu world! Tell me, which of these things can I, Linghu Chong, change? What else can I do but let go of everything?"

  Fang Xian snatched the wine jug from Ling Hu's hand and swallowed the remaining half bottle of burning knife.

  "There's a saying: when you're in the world, your body is not under your control. But I'd like to ask, if it's not under my control, then who is it under?"

  "......This......" Linghu Cong pondered for a long time, "It should be because of the Jianghu."

  "The rivers and lakes are composed of people, the rivers and lakes are the embodiment of the will of millions of people in the rivers and lakes. And the will of the rivers and lakes can also react with the people in the rivers and lakes, the rivers and lakes and the people in the rivers and lakes are an inseparable and mutually interacting whole."

  "This tone...... is Hua Shao's possession again!" Fang Xian burst out laughing, "Ling Hu brother, Yu Yan said this although it sounds like a cliché, but there's no mistake. To sum it up, you are the Jianghu. The Jianghu is you. If you give up on the Jianghu, then the Jianghu will also give up on you."

  Linghu Cong hesitated for a moment: "It seems I understand but don't really."

  "Alright... I'll be more straightforward then." Fang Xian picked up the wine jug, "You're in charge of your own Jianghu! You don't want to drift with the tide, but you have to abandon yourself. Are you really willing to do that?"

  Linghu Cong silently picked up his wine cup and gazed at it intently.

  "It would be better to follow one's own path. I will follow my own way." Fang Xian's veins bulged with anger. He crushed the wine jug in his hand, and the wine splashed everywhere. "The mistake is with the Jianghu, not you."

  "Isn't it me?" Linghu Cong thought of the dirty sect, thought of the innocent little junior sister, and in an instant his eyes were moist. "Is it wrong with Jianghu?"

  "Yes! These things can't be forced, of course! What's lost must be taken back!" Fang Xian saw that Linghu Cong was already moved and also came up with a strong tone, "Hua Shan expelled you, then you should take Hua Shan back! Yue Lingshan abandoned you, then you should take Yue Lingshan back! A seven-foot-tall man stands tall on earth, how can he give up just because of the words 'can't be forced'?"

  "Snatch Huashan... Rob Shimei..." This was something that Linghu Cong had never thought of, didn't dare to think of, yet somehow always seemed to be thinking about. "Can I?!"

  "Haha!" Fang Xian drew his sword and laughed loudly, "I'm here, you can't!"

  Wang Yuyan also understood: "Not evading, not avoiding, not humble, not arrogant, not leaving, not abandoning, holding one's own rivers and lakes... is Laughing at the Jianghu."

  "I can!" Linghu Cong was also infected by Tian Boguang's heroic spirit. The debonair middle-aged man in front of him had already created miracle after miracle with his own hands, and if he said so, it really could be done.

  In the midst of grandeur, a melody on the guqin drifted over, perfectly fitting the scene.

  Her zither music is bold and adventurous, with a light touch that belies its depth. At times it's as delicate as a strand of silk, while at others it's like hot blood boiling over.

  Linghu Cong's heart was stirred and he couldn't help but close his eyes and listen intently.

  Fang Xian doesn't understand music, but he feels that it has a rhythmic rise and fall, with moments of tension and relaxation, which is very intoxicating.

  An outsider watches the excitement, an insider watches the gate. Wang Yuyan listened very clearly: "A song of 'The Smiling, Proud Wanderer' was originally played with a heroic spirit in my heart, but the sound of this piano is actually very delicate, smooth and soft when changing keys, and passionate yet elegant when reaching high notes. I didn't know there was such a way to play it!"

  Following the sound, it was a beaded curtain, and inside, there was a slender figure wearing a bamboo hat, intently playing the instrument.

  "Ah, a luxurious suite in a small wine house!" Fang Xian's eyes narrowed, probably already guessing who this person was, but couldn't understand why she was here.

  Although he was puzzled in his heart, Fang Yang didn't want to disturb the harmony between Linghu Cong and Wang Yuyan's listening skills, so he honestly sat down and listened blindly.

  The tune reached a high pitch, and at first, the young girl was so hungry that she couldn't bear it, but then she started humming along.

  All worldly things are noisy and mundane affairs are numerous. Who is like me, with a body as free as a flying bird, and a heart that is also lofty and distant?

  The beauty smiles, and the moonlight shines among the flowers. Traversing mountains and waters for a lifetime, hand in hand, stroking the zither and playing the flute.

  The rivers and lakes are old, the green blood stains the bow and sword. Struggling and fighting for fame and wealth, who can be carefree?

  With a proud smile, I'll let the world laugh at me. Joy and laughter are boundless, carefree and at ease, all grudges and favors have been repaid.

  The music stopped, and the sound of the zither faded away, lingering for a long time without dispersing.