A journey through the world of martial arts

Chapter 18 Birthday Celebration
After resolving the matter with the Kunlun Sect, Yu Lianzhou summoned Zhang Cuishan and his wife, along with Gu Xu, to his room.

"Fifth Brother, you should be prepared. Do you have any thoughts on the matter of Xie Xun, the Golden-haired Lion King?" Yu Lianzhou needed to know Zhang Cuishan's attitude.

"Second Brother, I have already sworn brotherhood with Brother Xie, and Wuji has also recognized him as his godfather. No matter what, I cannot betray him. I will take responsibility for my actions. If they want to know Brother Xie's whereabouts, then they should come after me."

Even at this point, Zhang Cuishan still wanted to preserve Wudang's reputation, but little did he know that things had already descended into chaos, and Wudang was deeply embroiled in it.

Upon hearing this, Yu Lianzhou was filled with disappointment and anger, and said, "Do you intend to commit suicide? You are a Wudang disciple. Even if you have made a mistake, it is up to your master to decide. Does Wudang not protect you? How can you be so careless about yourself? How can you face your master and your wife and children?"

After being reprimanded, Zhang Cuishan turned pale and was unable to refute. Yin Susu, who was standing to the side, felt bad seeing her husband's appearance and asked, "Second brother, do you have any ideas?"

She asked this question because she understood the meaning behind Yu Lianzhou's words; there must be a way to satisfy both parties.

Yu Lianzhou did not answer her, but instead had Gu Xu reveal Wudang's countermeasure.

Seeing that Zhang Cuishan and his wife were staring at him, Gu Xu smiled and said, "Actually, things are very simple. If Fifth Uncle's family goes to Wudang, then it's easy to deal with. As long as Shaolin and Kunlun are dealt with, the problem can be solved. Wudang has been preparing for this day for a long time. If nothing unexpected happens, Shaolin will be utterly defeated after the Ancestral Master's birthday banquet."

After hearing Gu Xu's words, Zhang Cuishan and his wife were incredulous. Although Shaolin and Wudang had always been the leaders in the martial arts world, there was still a gap between them. Gu Xu actually said that he would make Shaolin lose face. Was that possible? Zhang Cuishan looked at Yu Lianzhou with doubt. The latter nodded slightly, proving that what Gu Xu said was true and that Wudang did indeed have the ability.

"Fifth Uncle, the most important thing now is to return to the mountain as soon as possible. If we delay, things will change. I suspect that there will be other people trying to stop us along the way. You must take good care of Wuji. Leave the rest to us. We will discuss how to deal with the Golden Lion King after the birthday banquet." Seeing how confident he was, Zhang Cuishan and his wife felt reassured.

After discussing some details of the arrangements, everyone went back to their rooms to rest.

The next morning, as dawn broke, more than a dozen carriages and more than a dozen horses were parked outside the Heavenly Eagle Sect's headquarters. Yin Yewang's trip was not only to offer birthday greetings on behalf of his father, but also to support his sister. In addition to Wu Fu and the other two, he also brought more than a dozen elite disciples.

Gu Xu was not surprised by the formation of the Heavenly Eagle Sect. He said to Yu Lianzhou, "Uncle-Master, as we agreed before, we will go first and the Heavenly Eagle Sect will follow." Both sides had been worried about unrest on the way. Wudang was to attract attention, while the Heavenly Eagle Sect was to clean up any loose ends.

After giving a shout to the Wudang disciples, Gu Xu rode his horse and led the group towards Wudang Mountain. The procession was so large that it was hard to go unnoticed. Some smaller sects, upon hearing news of Zhang Cuishan, got carried away and, after being instigated, began to fantasize about becoming the supreme martial arts master after obtaining the Dragon-Slaying Saber. However, after killing more than a dozen people in succession at Wudang, those smaller sects gradually came to their senses and hurriedly withdrew, fearing that if they were a step too late, they would become dead.

As he traveled westward, he was constantly greeted by Wudang disciples along the way. Zhang Cuishan looked at the third-generation disciples who came to meet him. Any one of them was a master in the martial arts world. He had only been away for ten years, yet Wudang had changed so much.

"Sixth Brother, are all the disciples on the mountain so outstanding?" Zhang Cuishan asked Yin Liting, eager to know the reason.

“Not all the disciples on the mountain are like Junior Nephew Gu Xu, but most of the inner disciples are similar to Zheng Xu who came to meet them. Speaking of which, Junior Nephew Gu Xu deserves credit for this,” Yin Liting, who was closest to Zhang Cuishan, recounted the events that had happened at Wudang over the past ten years.

After listening to Yin Liting's account, Zhang Cuishan looked at Gu Xu riding ahead and couldn't help but sigh that the martial arts world was truly a place where new talents replaced the old. He thought to himself, "Judging from this junior brother's words and actions, he is probably an ambitious person who values ​​Wudang. Perhaps things will take a turn for the better." Zhang Cuishan was more confident about the interrogations he would face from various martial arts factions in the future.

After several days of traveling and stopping, they arrived at the foot of Wudang Mountain. Looking at the majestic Wudang Mountain, Zhang Cuishan's eyes welled up with tears. Thinking of his master, he felt even more ashamed. Yin Susu held Zhang Wuji's hand and quietly looked at her husband. After a while, Gu Xu came over.

"Fifth Uncle, we'll be going up the mountain soon. But I'm worried that we shouldn't relax in a safe place. I've already sent someone up the mountain to inform our eldest uncle. We'll wait a bit."

Zhang Cuishan and his wife had witnessed Gu Xu's arrangements along the way. They were not only thorough but also extremely cautious. Now that they had arrived at Wudang Mountain, they were even more vigilant. Zhang Cuishan had no objections and said, "Thank you for your trouble, nephew."

Gu Xudao said he dared not utter a word, but looking at Zhang Wuji who was staring at the candied hawthorns, he smiled and said, "Wuji, do you want some candied hawthorns? How about your senior brother buys you a skewer?" As he spoke, he took out his money and bought an extra-large skewer of candied hawthorns, which he then handed to him.

The bright red hawthorns, coated with syrup, looked sweet and sour, making one's mouth water. Zhang Wuji's eyes showed longing. He had grown up on Icefire Island and had never eaten them before. After glancing at his parents, he took them and whispered, "Thank you, Senior Brother."

Zhang Wuji carefully bit off a candied hawthorn, a smile spreading across his face. After a while, he handed the candied hawthorn to Yin Susu, saying, "Mother, you can have this."

Yin Susu patted his head and said gently, "Wuji, be good, you eat. Mother doesn't like it." Zhang Wuji thought she really didn't like it, so he ate it by himself.

As everyone was waiting at the tea stall, Gu Xu suddenly noticed something amiss. He saw five masked men with ill intentions leading a group of people toward him. Yu Lianzhou and the others also realized something was wrong. To avoid unnecessary casualties, Yu Lianzhou instructed his disciples to protect Zhang Wuji.

Gu Xu stood still, sword in hand, and shouted, "Halt, you who come!" The leading old man didn't even glance at him. He took three quick steps and lunged at Zhang Wuji with both hands. The other four men entangled Yu Lianzhou and the others. Gu Xu saw the glint in the old man's eyes and knew that his martial arts were not weak. He also saw another old man holding a deer antler staff fighting with his second senior uncle and was sure that he was Hebi Weng.

Without a second thought, Gu Xu drew his longsword and charged forward, its cold light flashing and killing intent overflowing. A sharp pain startled Hebi Weng, who hastily retreated. He hadn't expected the young Taoist's swordsmanship to be so formidable. He immediately took out two crane-beak pens from his robes and met the attack head-on. The two blades clashed, and Hebi Weng felt a surge of immense power wash over him. Caught off guard, his face flushed red with shock. He then used the crane-beak pens to strike the blade, intending to break the longsword, but he was unexpectedly thrown back, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth. He staggered back three steps, leaving several footprints of varying depths. Gu Xu seized the opportunity and thrust his sword toward his throat.

Seeing his junior brother's defeat and imminent death, Lu Zhangke, who was fighting Yu Lianzhou, forced Yu Lianzhou back with a palm strike. He then threw his deer antler staff at Gu Xu, attempting to relieve the attack on Gu Xu's position. Gu Xu, seeing the rapidly approaching staff, drew his sword to protect himself, leaped into the air, and channeled his power into his sword. The staff spun around his sword, and Gu Xu used the force of the blow to strike the staff tip with his sword. To He Biweng's horrified gaze, the staff pierced through his body. The combined force of the two blows killed He Biweng instantly.

"Junior brother!" A furious roar came from Lu Zhangke's mouth. "You little beast, you deserve to die!" Seeing his junior brother die tragically at Gu Xu's hands, Lu Zhangke was enraged. He used all his strength in both palms to strike Gu Xu. As the palm force struck his body, Gu Xu felt a chilling power. He dared not be careless and wielded his long sword with ease, engaging Lu Zhangke in a fierce battle.

Seeing that Gu Xu was not in danger, and that Yin Liting was losing a sword fight, while Zhang Cuishan, Yin Susu, and Yin Yewang were fighting two other people and were not in danger for the time being, and that the disciples seemed to be gaining the upper hand, Yu Lianzhou stepped forward to help Yin Liting stabilize the battle.

Just as the disciples guarding the mountain were about to report the signal from below, Song Yuanqiao and his two companions came down the mountain. Upon hearing that Gu Xu Mountain had been attacked, they immediately used their lightness skills to rush down the mountain.

Enraged, Lu Zhangke unleashed his Xuanming Divine Palm, its power formidable, howling like a roar and chilling the body. Gu Xu, however, calmly countered, wielding his longsword flawlessly, guarding the gate. After a brief stalemate, Lu Zhangke, seeing his side suffer heavy losses and his men almost wiped out, was filled with extreme rage and hatred, his attacks becoming even more ferocious. Gu Xu noticed that although the power of his opponent's palm strikes remained undiminished, he was running out of steam. So, he withdrew his sword, planted it in the ground, and unleashed a powerful palm strike at Lu Zhangke.

Seeing this, Lu Zhangke was not angry but happy. The two faced each other with their palms facing each other, and the wind and dust spread. Gu Xu raised his internal energy again, and the pure yang true energy broke through the power of the Xuanming Divine Palm and went straight into Lu Zhangke's body. As soon as the true energy entered, Lu Zhangke felt that something was wrong.

Gu Xu's pure yang true qi clashed with the yin and cold power, making Lu Zhangke extremely uncomfortable. As time went on, the yin and cold power in his body was about to completely dissipate. Just as Gu Xu was about to kill his opponent, he sensed someone attacking him. He then added force to forcefully push Lu Zhangke back, stomped the ground, and without turning around, gathered his inner strength. His robes billowed, and he launched a sneak attack, pointing a finger at Gu Xu. With a "pop," Gu Xu was unharmed, while the attacker groaned and retreated.

Gu Xu turned around and saw a bald, masked man. He guessed from the chilling finger strike that the man was Cheng Kun, the "Primordial Thunderbolt Hand," and also a Shaolin disciple.

Upon seeing Song Yuanqiao and his two companions, Cheng Kun immediately ordered a retreat. Lu Zhangke struggled to lift Hebi Weng's body and, with Cheng Kun's assistance, successfully escaped. However, the other three were not so lucky and were blocked by Song Yuanqiao and his companions who had arrived.

The swordsman who was fighting Yu Lianzhou and Yin Liting had excellent swordsmanship and initially had the upper hand, but he began to struggle after Yu Lianzhou joined the fray. Now, with Zhang Songxi and Mo Shenggu joining the attack, the four of them attacked him together, and in just a short while, he was struck by several swords and fell to the ground dead.

Ah Er and Yin Yewang were exchanging blows, and they fought quite well. However, when Song Yuanqiao arrived, Ah Er lost his composure and was caught off guard by Yin Yewang. Yin Yewang swiftly used his Eagle Claw Hand to rip off Ah Er's legs, and blood splattered in the air. Ah Er screamed in agony, and before he could even hit the ground, Yin Yewang shattered his heart meridian with a single palm strike.

Ah San was fighting Zhang Cuishan and Yin Susu. Relying on his strong skills and powerful Vajra Finger, he gradually gained the upper hand. However, after seeing Hebi Weng die tragically and Lu Zhangke seriously injured, he was shocked and hurriedly tried to retreat. However, he was entangled by Zhang Cuishan and Yin Susu. For a while, Ah San was unable to escape Yin Susu's dense net of hidden weapons. He watched helplessly as Ah Da and Ah Er fell to the ground one after another. Ah San was horrified. He thought that if he did not leave now, he would really have no chance. So he endured three hidden weapons from Yin Susu and one pen strike from Zhang Cuishan. With a muffled groan, he quickly escaped from the battle.

Seeing Ah San escape, Gu Xu shouted, "Uncle-Master, that's the murderer who hurt Master! We must not let him leave!" Upon hearing this, Song Yuanqiao and the others quickly surrounded Ah San, trapping him tightly. Dense sword light wove into a net of swords, and no matter how skilled Ah San was, he could only exhaust his strength in the end. In his hatred, Song Yuanqiao broke his limbs, leaving him only with a breath left for his disciple to guard.

After the battle, apart from three who were seriously injured, the other disciples were unharmed, thanks to Gu Xu's prior preparations.

Looking at A'da's corpse, Yin Liting removed his mask and pondered for a while. Suddenly, he realized that this was Fang Dongbai, the "Eight-Armed Divine Sword" elder of the Beggars' Sect. No wonder his swordsmanship was so profound. Yin Liting called over Song Yuanqiao and the others to identify the person together.

"Indeed, this is Fang Dongbai. I didn't expect him to come knocking on our door. The temptation of the Dragon Slayer Saber is really great," Song Yuanqiao sighed. Even a martial arts master like Fang Dongbai has gotten involved. Things are getting more and more complicated.

"Uncle-Master, I examined those bodies and found that they seem to be people from the imperial court," Gu Xu said, worried that Song Yuanqiao was going in the wrong direction.

Upon hearing that they were from the imperial court, Song Yuanqiao was greatly surprised. He then thought, "The imperial court is involved. It seems I'll have to inform my master. I originally thought it was just a matter of the martial world, but I didn't expect these people to be connected to the imperial court. And Gu Xu said there were monks among them... Could it be that Shaolin and the Beggars' Sect have already..."

Thinking of this, Song Yuanqiao couldn't help but feel a headache, but the most important thing at the moment was to take Zhang Cuishan back to the mountain. So, apart from Gu Xu staying behind to clean up the mess, everyone from Wudang went up the mountain, while Yin Yewang and the others rested at the inn at the foot of the mountain and would go up to offer birthday greetings the next day.

Zhang Cuishan was eager to return home, and the closer the time drew, the more excited he became. Song Yuanqiao led Zhang Cuishan and his family to the Zixiao Palace.

Before descending the mountain, he had already told Zhang Sanfeng to wait here. As soon as Zhang Cuishan entered, he saw that familiar figure and immediately knelt down and kowtowed, weeping as he said, "This unworthy disciple Zhang Cuishan greets Master." Yin Susu and Zhang Wuji also knelt down and kowtowed. Zhang Sanfeng was overjoyed to see Zhang Cuishan's family and quickly helped him up, saying, "It's good that you're back, it's good that you're back." He then asked Yin Susu and Zhang Wuji to get up and sit down as well.

Zhang Cuishan pulled Zhang Wuji over, saying, "Master, this is my son, Zhang Wuji. Wuji, this is my grandmaster." Zhang Wuji called out "Grandmaster," which pleased Zhang Sanfeng greatly. He called Zhang Wuji to his side, looked at him, and said with a smile, "Not bad, not bad."

Yin Susu watched as Zhang Sanfeng showed great satisfaction with Wuji, and felt relieved. Zhang Cuishan then mentioned that he had married the daughter of the Eagle Sect Leader. Zhang Sanfeng didn't care at all; marrying Zhang Cuishan meant becoming a Wudang disciple. Moreover, at his level, he no longer cared so much about the distinction between good and evil. Zhang Cuishan and his wife were greatly encouraged.

After recounting the events of the past ten years, Zhang Cuishan worried that someone would come to question him on his 100th birthday the next day.

Song Yuanqiao said, "Fifth Brother, don't worry. We have a plan. There's no need to say more."

As everyone was talking, Gu Xu came in, greeted them, and said to Song Yuanqiao, "Uncle-Master, your disciples have discovered that the Kunlun, Kongtong, and Huashan sects have arrived at the foot of Wudang Mountain, but they have not taken any further action. It seems they are waiting for important figures from their sects, as well as some leaders from smaller sects."

"Let them be. We'll see what happens tomorrow. Gu Xu, make the arrangements to guard the main road up the mountain. There can't be any mishaps on the birthday celebration tomorrow. If anyone misbehaves, show no mercy and kill them." Song Yuanqiao was certain that Shaolin would show up tomorrow, and then it would be a matter of who was more cunning.

Gu Xu accepted the order and went to make the arrangements. Zhang Sanfeng remained silent throughout, clearly acquiescing to Song Yuanqiao's actions.

(End of this chapter)