Chapter 672: Universal Renewal

Yue Buqun seemed prepared to run outside more often to spread the fame of the Huashan Sect—after taking the imperial examination once, Yue Buqun seemed to have made considerable progress in his martial arts despite his failure in the exam, which should still be a change in his mindset. According to Bai Lang's observation, this person had made significant progress in the Purple Mist Divine Skill, to the point that his sword technique had also improved by a notch.

"It's very likely that by the time the story officially begins, Sect Leader Yue's martial arts will only be three parts higher than they are now..." Currently, it was a period of rapid growth for Yue Buqun's martial arts. In the past few months, his martial arts had become twice as strong as before. "A rare period of enlightenment, but given the sect leader's aptitude, it's about time for it to end." Bai Lang sighed.

For martial arts practitioners, anyone who practices diligently will have a period of rapid growth where they suddenly "get it," but for some, it lasts a long time, while for most, it is short. As for what height a person can reach, their comprehensive quality and lineage seem to have a conclusion here—the vast majority of people are like this, and the few who can break through are ruthless people.

It's like the former Hero Guo Jing. If you talk about intelligence, there's nothing to say; his brain turned slowly, but his mind was simple and clean. The effort he put into martial arts was rare in the world. Even so, if it weren't for Ma Yu teaching him internal energy, and later being guided by Hong Qi, one of the Five Greats, he would definitely not have achieved what he did later.

And in this era, given Yue Buqun's aptitude, Bai Lang felt he was reaching his limit. "According to the description in the book, he is ultimately inferior to Zuo Lengchan in talent and temperament, and it's no wonder he was later forced into insanity by pressure. But the so-called layout to seize the Bixie Sword Manual is a joke—a layout full of loopholes?" Bai Lang felt that if such a person could be called a hypocrite, then hypocrites must be very stupid.

After returning to the mountain, Yue Buqun tested the martial arts of all the disciples and then sent Linghu Chong to the Cliff of Repentance—this kid drank and ruined things, and it seemed he even fought with disciples of the Five Mountain Sword Sects. Upon returning to the mountain, he was punished, and a few months later, Yue Buqun went down the mountain again to visit friends. This time, he took Bai Lang with him to familiarize him with the people.

Taishan, this was a Taoist temple and also the base of the Taishan Sect. Unfortunately, the entire Taishan was not run by the Taishan Sect—the ones with real authority here were the masters bestowed by the imperial court. They were proper Taoists who practiced Taoist magic and had status; the Taoists of the Taishan Sect were just a wild Taoist temple under them.

The senior brothers of the Taishan Sect were just so-so. In Bai Lang's view, they looked quite lifeless, and there weren't many of them—the main force was the truly ordained Taoists, and those lay disciples were not very good, which was the same as Shaolin. As government students, Yue Buqun and Bai Lang were quite good at keeping up appearances. Don't look at Bai Lang as having a background as a fierce warrior; he was once a civilized 211 university student.

"Just don't get a nickname like 'Little Gentleman Sword' in the future; if that happens, I'll lose face all the way to the Southern Heaven Gate." Bai Lang thought to himself. After staying in Taishan for a few days, they went to Songshan on the way back. They hadn't gone last time, and if they didn't go this time, it would be too disrespectful to Zuo Lengchan, the alliance leader. Of course, they also had to see Shaolin, the "North Star" of the martial arts world.

Bai Lang had never liked the "thieving baldies," and the thieving baldies of Shaolin Temple were still thieving baldies. As for the relationship between the Songshan Sect and Shaolin, it was hard to describe. "It's definitely not good." Bai Lang thought so. He saw Zuo Lengchan. "Isn't he just a middle-aged scum with some style? Great ambition but little talent is his portrait." He saw all thirteen of the Songshan Taibao, and Bai Lang didn't fear them in the slightest.

The ones responsible for receiving him were naturally disciples of the same generation. As for martial arts, everyone had a sparring match that stopped at the point, and Bai Lang easily won the victory. "I joined the sect with my own skills. As for this martial art, it's a family-transmitted martial art. The sword technique is the true Huashan sword technique, so I'm not lying to you." Before the sparring, Bai Lang answered all questions from these Songshan disciples, and their relationship was okay.

Although these few looked okay on the surface, their actual actions were to suppress disciples of other sects, acting as pawns for the sect leader to unify the Five Mountains. First was the hand-to-hand combat. Since the Five Mountain Sword Sects were called sword sects, they naturally didn't claim to be superior in fist and palm techniques. Huashan's fist and palm techniques were in the middle of the Five Mountains, definitely not as good as the Songshan Sect's Great Songyang Divine Palm.

Therefore, after Bai Lang won, he said this fist and palm technique was a family-transmitted skill he brought with him—and wasn't it family-transmitted? How could Huashan have such fierce and powerful fist and palm techniques? That domineering and majestic palm power, like a great bell, was integrated and unstoppable. Bai Lang struck out with one palm, and the Songshan disciple's Great Songyang Divine Palm power was immediately rolled back, along with Bai Lang's palm power. If Bai Lang hadn't retracted his palm and turned it into a suction force to dissipate those forces with his own strong physique, this Songshan senior brother would probably have died.

In terms of fists and kicks, none of the Songshan disciples could match Bai Lang, but they were quite confident in their sword techniques—the Songshan sword technique was known for being grand and majestic, and they thought it would be no problem against these Huashan disciples. Twenty years ago, Huashan was indeed the top chair among the Five Mountains. Even after the successive battles between the Five Mountain Sword Sects and the Demon Cult, and the ten elders and the older generation of the Five Mountains perished together, Huashan still occupied the top of the Five Mountains.

It wasn't until the "Qi-Sword Dispute" of that year that Huashan's experts withered away, leaving only Yue Buqun and two or three others, and most of the Songshan disciples had joined after that. Zuo Lengchan had also become the sect leader around that time. Therefore, they hadn't seen Huashan when it was at its peak, and since joining, they had only known that Huashan had declined.

Bai Lang had no intention of breaking their rigid perception, so in the sword sparring, he performed with the talent of a rigid sword technique, which couldn't be compared to the ease with which he defeated the enemy with one move during the fist and palm sparring. Bai Lang just unfolded the Yangwu Sword Technique, protecting himself move by move. That bunch of losers couldn't break through, so they had to settle for a draw.

With three Songshan disciples, Bai Lang didn't lose the first round, had to settle for not winning the second, and the last round was a draw. After the fight, the two sect leaders appeared. Bai Lang had long known that Yue Buqun and Zuo Lengchan were watching from the shadows. Sure enough, after coming out, Zuo Lengchan praised Bai Lang a few times and scolded his own disciples, while Yue Buqun could only smile bitterly to smooth things over for those Songshan disciples. Of course, in the end, there was guidance from the two sect leaders.

Bai Lang listened and forgot, while the other three were overjoyed.

The thieving baldies of Shaolin didn't spar. In this regard, they had quite a bit of the Buddhist style. Bai Lang saw that many of them also practiced external martial arts, also practicing internal energy from the outside in. Among the seventy-two stunts of Shaolin, there were probably many methods like this. "The Arhat Fist is quite exquisite, but that's about it." Bai Lang looked at these martial arts that were all below the Innate level and sighed.

Returning to Huashan, it was Bai Lang's turn to deliver food to Linghu Chong at the Cliff of Repentance. "Huashan Cliff of Repentance, what a big name. I really haven't had a chance to go up and see it in normal times. This time, I have to see it!" Bai Lang thought.