The Smiling, Proud Wanderer, becoming a disciple of Yue Buqun

Page 447

Qu Yang nodded.

"Yes."

……

"Junior brother, today is your birthday. I wish you many happy returns of the day."

Linghu Chong cupped his hands in congratulations to Jiang Ning.

Yue Lingshan, who was standing to the side, complained.

"Senior Brother, why do you only know this one line? Every year on the birthdays of our senior brothers and sisters, you only say this one line. Can't you come up with something different?"

"hey-hey."

Linghu Chong laughed: "You know your senior brother doesn't have much knowledge, so the meaning is enough."

As he spoke, Linghu Chong handed the gift he had prepared to Jiang Ning.

"It's just a small token of my appreciation, junior brother, please don't find it offensive."

Linghu Chong gave him a wooden carving, but it wasn't a human figure; instead, it depicted Mount Hua.

Jiang Ning accepted the gift with both hands and smiled, "Thank you, Senior Brother."

Yue Lingshan seemed to remember something at this moment, and looked at Linghu Chong and kept laughing.

Linghu Chong looked completely bewildered.

"why are you laughing?"

"Senior Brother, do you remember what gift you gave Junior Brother when he was nine years old?"

Upon hearing Yue Lingshan's words, before Linghu Chong could even speak, the other Huashan disciples couldn't help but smile.

When Jiang Ning turned nine, Linghu Chong gave him a jar of wine for his birthday, saying that Jiang Ning was old enough to start learning to drink. As a result, Linghu Chong was severely beaten by Yue Buqun that year.

Linghu Chong looked completely bewildered.

How could he not remember? Of all the years, that was the time Yue Buqun beat him the most severely, breaking several rulers in the process, a memory he still vividly recalls.

"Junior brother, I prepared this for you."

After making fun of Linghu Chong, Yue Lingshan also took out the gift she had prepared: a sword tassel.

“I noticed that your sword doesn’t have a tassel, so I’ll prepare one for you.”

Jiang Ning accepted the gift and thanked her, saying, "Thank you, Senior Sister."

After Linghu Chong and Yue Lingshan presented their gifts, the other Huashan disciples also offered their blessings and prepared gifts.

Jiang Ning accepted each thank you, until Du Lanyin was the last.

"Junior brother."

Du Lanyin gave her another piece of clothing, the same as last year.

The clothes are light brown, with exquisite embroidery and high-quality fabric, showing that Du Lanyin put a lot of thought into them.

"Thank you, senior sister."

Jiang Ning accepted the clothes and thanked him.

Du Lanyin smiled faintly.

Qiao Jun, a disciple of Mount Hua, stepped forward and said, "Junior brother, Junior Sister Du spent a month embroidering this dress, sometimes until midnight. She worked so hard."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Ning quickly replied, "Thank you for your kindness, Senior Sister."

Du Lanyin waved her hands repeatedly, saying, "It's nothing, it's nothing."

What are you all talking about?

At this moment, Yue Buqun walked over.

"Master."

"Master."

Upon seeing Yue Buqun's arrival, all the disciples of Mount Hua bowed respectfully.

"Ah."

Yue Buqun nodded and walked up to Jiang Ning.

"Ning'er, today is your birthday. Your teacher is giving you a jade belt."

Yue Buqun also took out his own gift.

As expected of the patriarch of the Huashan family, Yue Buqun prepared a gift that was far superior to the strange and unusual gifts his disciples had given him.

"Thank you, Master."

Jiang Ning solemnly accepted it with both hands.

"Go to your teacher's wife's place later; she has also prepared a gift for you."

Yue Buqun casually remarked, and then moved on to another topic.

“A few days ago, Master Wang from the Golden Saber Sect wrote a letter saying that he wanted to visit us in Shaanxi. He should arrive in the next couple of days.”

When Jiang Ning left Luoyang, Wang Yuanba said that he would visit the Huashan Sect after he had settled his affairs. Jiang Ning originally thought it would be at least a few months later, but he did not expect that it would come so soon.

"I'm preparing to go down the mountain, and I don't know how long it will take. I might not be there when Old Master Wang comes, so you'll have to receive the Golden Saber Sect."

Jiang Ning was surprised to hear Yue Buqun's words.

"Where is Master going?"

Yue Buqun said, "I am preparing to go down the mountain to Xi'an and Hanzhong to hire a few teachers."

This time, more than 400 disciples were recruited, all of whom were children. Although they could not officially join the sect for the time being, it did not mean that Yue Buqun would let them grow up freely before they were formally accepted.

Yue Buqun planned to hire tutors from various prefectures to teach the children on Mount Hua to read and write from a young age.

Yue Buqun did not want the next generation of Huashan disciples to have the same extremely low level of cultural literacy as this generation.

Apart from Jiang Ning himself, the other disciples of Jiang Ning's generation were not very well-educated; they were only at the level of being able to recognize and write characters. This was always a knot in Yue Buqun's heart.

In Yue Buqun's mind, Huashan disciples should not only be skilled in martial arts, but also have knowledge. Even if their martial arts skills are not outstanding, they should at least have knowledge and literacy. This is what a disciple of a major sect should have.

But we can't blame Linghu Chong and the others. They didn't have the means before. The Huashan Sect was dirt poor back then, and only Yue Buqun and Ning Zhongze taught them to read and write. Yue Buqun himself had to find ways to cover the sect's expenses, so he naturally couldn't take care of them most of the time. But now that they have plenty of money, they can't do things the way they used to.

Moreover, such things should be done early, and education should start from childhood. Yue Buqun deeply understood this point.

Besides this matter, Yue Buqun also planned to purchase some houses and land in each prefecture as future residences for the Huashan Sect in each prefecture.

Although the Huashan Sect only has a few people who are truly useful right now, and the remaining few hundred are all children, we still need to get things organized and make preparations as soon as possible.

Hearing Yue Buqun's plan, Jiang Ning nodded and said, "Don't worry, Master."

"correct."

Yue Buqun seemed to remember something else and asked, "Do you still remember Chen Lanjin?"

Jiang Ning paused for a moment, then thought for a moment before saying, "Is she the granddaughter of Dean Chen of Lingfeng Academy in Luoyang?"

Jiang Ning had some impression of this person. He remembered that when he took Lin Pingzhi to Meijian Manor to cause trouble for Zhao Tianlai, Chen Lanjin followed along to watch the fun. Later, she wanted to join the Huashan Sect.

"Ah."

Yue Buqun nodded: "Now that Abbot Chen and Old Master Wang have come together, and his granddaughter is with them, if his granddaughter insists on joining my Huashan Sect, you can just give her a few perfunctory replies."

Jiang Ning laughed.

"Yes, Master."

"Alright, I'm going down the mountain now. Your master's wife will take care of the affairs of the sect from now on, so you don't need to worry too much. Just focus on practicing your skills."

After giving his instructions, Yue Buqun went down the mountain.

Two days passed.

As expected, Wang Yuanba of the Golden Saber Sect has arrived.

"Nephew Jiang, it's been a long time."

Jiang Ning smiled and said, "Sect Leader Wang looks quite well."

During the exchange of pleasantries, Jiang Ning glanced behind Wang Yuanba and noticed that the Wang family members were carrying more than a dozen large boxes up Mount Hua, wondering what they contained.

Chapter 609: What is Jianghu?

"Sect Leader Wang, what is this?"

Jiang Ning inquired.

"These are what I brought for Pingzhi."

Wang Yuanba laughed heartily.

Jiang Ning didn't say anything more.

If this were filled with gold and silver and given to the Huashan Sect by the Golden Saber Sect, Jiang Ning would not accept it. But since it was given to Lin Pingzhi, he couldn't say anything.

Jiang Ning bowed to an old man next to Wang Yuanba and said, "Junior Jiang Ning greets Abbot Chen."

The old man was none other than Headmaster Chen of Lingfeng Academy, accompanied by a young girl, Chen Lanjin, whom Jiang Ning had met once two years ago.

“Nephew, there’s no need for such formality. I’m just an ordinary person. This is too much for me.”

Seeing Jiang Ning being so polite to him, Chen, despite his advanced age, still felt flattered.

Jiang Ning smiled and said, "Master Chen is a good friend of my master and also my elder, so I naturally accept this courtesy."

Seeing how polite the other party was, Dean Chen couldn't help but sigh that he was indeed worthy of being a disciple of a major sect, and his manners were different from those of ordinary people in the martial arts world.

Headmaster Chen smiled and asked, "How has Sect Leader Yue been lately?"

Jiang Ning said, "My master is doing well. A few days ago, my master went down the mountain and was delayed for a while. Before he left, he told me that if you two came to Mount Hua, I would be the one to receive you."

It turned out to be the case.

Wang Yuanba and Dean Chen nodded; no wonder they hadn't seen Yue Buqun.

But what followed was surprise.

"Sect Leader Wang, this is my master's wife..."

Jiang Ning then introduced Ning Zhongze, Feng Buping, Cheng Buyou, and others who were standing behind Wang Yuanba.

Wang Yuanba dared not be careless and quickly bowed.

"Miss Ning, I have long admired your name."

Ning Zhongze smiled slightly and then returned the greeting.

Wang Yuanba had also heard of Feng Buping and Cheng Buyou, but only from rumors in the martial arts world. The two were once members of the Huashan Sword Sect, but were later subdued by Yue Buqun, and the two sects merged.

After exchanging greetings with the three men, Wang Yuanba was shocked.

These three people included Yue Buqun's first wife and two other senior martial uncles of the same generation. All three were behind Jiang Ning, who led and received them. None of them had any objections, which shows that Jiang Ning's status in the Huashan Sect was extremely high, second only to Yue Buqun.

It seems that Ning Yanwang is a foregone conclusion that he will be the future leader of the Huashan Sect.

Wang Yuanba thought to himself.

Not only Wang Yuanba realized this, but even Chen Yuanzhu, an ordinary person who was not a member of the martial arts world, understood what this meant.

At this moment, Chen Lanjin, the head of the academy, stared intently at Jiang Ning with her bright eyes, but her gaze kept sweeping among the Huashan disciples behind her, as if she were looking for someone.

When Lin Pingzhi saw Wang Yuanba and his group, he wanted to go up and greet them, but since everyone was there, he held back and decided to catch up with his maternal grandfather's family later.

"Everyone, please follow me."

Jiang Ning received Wang Yuanba and Dean Chen in the main hall, while the Wang family members of the Golden Saber Sect scattered to admire the scenery of Mount Hua. Wang Jiaju and Wang Jiajun went to find Lin Pingzhi, while Chen Lanjin followed Dean Chen.

“Nephew Jiang, I must thank you and Nephew Linghu for saving my Wang family’s life last time. If it weren’t for you two, my Wang family would have been wiped out by the Demonic Sect long ago. Today, I’ve come to visit Pingzhi’s child and to express my gratitude to the Huashan Sect for their help.”

After exchanging pleasantries for a while, Wang Yuanba spoke.

"It was just a small favor, nothing to mention."

Jiang Ning smiled slightly: "I said back in Luoyang that the Demonic Sect is the mortal enemy of our righteous path, and naturally we will not allow them to harm others. Sect Master Wang, you don't need to take it too seriously."