The Smiling, Proud Wanderer: Yue Buqun of Mount Hua

"Where? Where?"

A group of villagers from the foot of the mountain, carrying shoulder poles and hoes, hurried along the mountain path; there were at least several hundred of them.

The villagers from several surrounding villages, upon learning of the destruction of Tiger Head Mountain, cheered and celebrated. When they heard that Mount Hua was going to distribute grain to them, they were even more excited and gathered together to come here in a hurry.

Yue Buqun stood atop the stockade wall, the mountain breeze blowing, his robes fluttering, exuding an extraordinary air, just like a gentleman.

Everyone looked up at him, speechless with shock. They never imagined such a person existed in the world; he was extraordinary from the bottom of their hearts. It was the village chief of Kaoshan Village who shouted, "This is Master Yue, who helped everyone defeat Tiger Head Mountain. He's the one who's going to distribute the food to everyone."

As he spoke, the village chief of Kaoshan Village knelt down and kowtowed. If it weren't for Yue Buqun, Kaoshan Village would have been slaughtered, and there would be no present. How could he not be grateful?

"Thank you, Sect Leader Yue."

"Thank you, Sect Leader Yue, for saving us from this great calamity."

A group of villagers knelt down and kowtowed, hoping he could give them more grain.

"Tiger Head Mountain has been exploiting the people and slaughtering the villagers. As the leader of the Huashan Sect, I should naturally uphold justice." Yue Buqun said, putting his hands behind his back, looking like a hermit sage, which made people bow down in gratitude.

"What the sect leader says is true, we are extremely grateful, but we don't know..."

The old village chief hesitated and didn't continue, but Yue Buqun already understood what he meant: what about the grain? They came here for the grain.

Since Bai Zhantian brought his men, they have wreaked havoc on the surrounding area. A large amount of grain in the village was looted and taken up the mountain. The villagers are not even able to get enough wild vegetables and bran to eat. This is why Kaoshan Village still resists even though they know they can't win.

If they don't resist, they'll starve to death.

Now that Yue Buqun says he wants to distribute grain, how can they not flock here, hoping to get some grain?

"These grains were looted from the surrounding villages by Tiger Head Mountain, and should naturally be distributed to the villagers to help the people," Yue Buqun said.

"Thank you, Sect Leader Yue. You're a good person."

The crowd couldn't help but kneel down and kowtow again, appearing even more enthusiastic and grateful than before.

Sure enough, when someone gives them something, they are more grateful than anyone else. If they don't receive anything, that's a different story. There's a saying that goes, "When an egg is given, faith is activated; when the egg stops, faith returns to zero," and we're not far from that now.

"Old Lin, you'll handle this personally. Distribute the tasks evenly among the village's population." Yue Buqun descended from the village wall, looking at Lin Yue as he assigned the task. His movements were as light as a falling leaf. Although he jumped from the several-meter-high wall, he landed easily in front of the villagers, shocking everyone who saw him. They hadn't expected him to have such strength.

"Please rest assured, Sect Leader."

Lin Yue readily agreed, indicating that there was no problem, and then, with two of his men, prepared to discuss with the village chiefs how to distribute the spoils.

Yue Buqun pulled one of his men aside and ordered him to go to the place where Bai Zhantian was killed and bring back his two fine iron longswords. They were priceless treasures, forged in a hundred times, and could not be wasted by being left to rot in the mountains.

Wootz steel, meteorite iron, and Wootz steel are the three great ancient steels. Although not as famous as meteorite iron, they are still rare and are known for their sharpness, earning them the reputation of being able to "cut a hair in two".

Its origin is even more mysterious. According to the Tongya, tin iron was produced by a divine beast that ate copper and iron.

As for what this "divine beast" is, that's uncertain. Sometimes it's a white tapir, sometimes it's a fire-breathing beast. In any case, it eats copper and iron and produces wrought iron.

In Journey to the West, there is a poem about Sun Wukong's golden cudgel: "The cudgel is forged from nine-times refined iron, its intricate patterns startling even ghosts and gods." Zhu Bajie's nine-toothed rake is also forged from refined iron. And the Bull Demon King's mixed iron cudgel is also forged from refined iron.

This shows the reputation of wrought iron.

It's actually just high-quality steel with a patterned surface, not much different from the famous Damascus steel.

But at this point, it was already a rare and priceless weapon, so how could it be discarded so easily?

He had just slashed Bai Zhantian's neck with his sword and left without even glancing at whether the other was dead. His movements were relaxed, graceful, and unparalleled. He simply forgot to pick up his weapon.

Sometimes you really can't be too pretentious.

His subordinates obeyed and left, while Yue Buqun watched from Tiger Head Mountain as the villagers busily distributed grain and land, each with a smile on their face.

Even Tiger Head Mountain is within the allocation area.

The mountain stronghold was built on a strategic mountaintop. If it were well-defended, even a thousand soldiers would find it difficult to breach. The stronghold consisted of more than a hundred mud-brick houses arranged in a neat and orderly manner. With a little renovation, it would be a decent village.

There is also land cultivated by mountain people nearby; how can we waste it?

Distributing land to villagers for farming and living is a good option.

Upon seeing the grain being distributed, some villagers returned to their village and gathered all the men, women, and children to go up the mountain to carry it. Adults carried grain and tables and chairs, while children held chickens and led sheep, their laughter and chatter filling the air.

They were deeply grateful to him, addressing him as "Master Yue" repeatedly. They felt that without him, they would never have such a thing. They were truly grateful from the bottom of their hearts.

Looking at their bright smiles, Yue Buqun felt that his mission to eliminate thieves and help the people had indeed been worthwhile.

Indeed, my efforts here were not in vain. At least they have made them extremely grateful to Mount Hua, which will make it much easier for them to recruit disciples from the village in the future.

After a busy half-day, as the goods were being distributed, several village chiefs arrived together. Before they could even speak, they knelt down with a thud.

Helpless, Yue Buqun bent down to help the men up, saying, "Please get up, gentlemen. Let's get down to business. There's no need for this."

"Please inform the sect leader that we wish to send the village's children to Mount Hua. We request your permission."

After this incident, they greatly admired Mount Hua and wished their child could become a disciple of Mount Hua.

"This..." Yue Buqun looked embarrassed and did not agree. It was one thing to want to take on a disciple, but it was not a business to rush things. I was not in a hurry at the moment.

"Please grant our request, Sect Leader. We don't expect them to learn many skills, but at least we hope they can protect the village from bandits."

The group became anxious and knelt down again.

The surrounding people also gathered around, knelt down on the ground, and begged repeatedly, wanting their children to go to Mount Hua to learn martial arts.

"Well... alright then. If you wish to become a disciple of Mount Hua, you can go to Yuquan Temple first."

Yue Buqun looked helpless and reluctantly agreed at the villagers' request.

"Thank you, Sect Leader."

The group wanted to express their gratitude again, but Yue Buqun reached out and helped them up, telling them to take their belongings and head down the mountain first. What followed was the most exciting moment.

After everyone left, Yue Buqun turned his gaze to the treasure vault.

After a flurry of activity, Tiger Head Mountain was completely emptied, but the treasure vault was locked and not opened. Even the weapons and valuables of the White Tiger Hall members were stored inside, and now they have become the spoils of Mount Hua.

"How was today's harvest?" Yue Buqun asked Lin Yue. He had spent half a day taking inventory in the treasure vault and should have a clear count by now.

"Sect Leader, we've struck it rich!" Lin Yue's face was full of excitement.

How many?

"A rough estimate is at least 120,000 taels of silver."

Sure enough, it's still the same old story of the wicked eating the wicked. Cough cough, upholding justice is what we should do. These underworld figures and evil people kill without hesitation and bully the common people. How can we let them get away with it? They must all be killed to avenge the people.

Incidentally, it can also contribute some funds to the construction of Huashan.

Yue Buqun coughed and said, "You should arrange for someone to escort the silver back to the mountain as soon as possible."

"Please rest assured, Sect Leader. What's next?"

Yue Buqun waved his hand: "I have other important matters to attend to."

This is what his subordinates should do. Look at which young hero is escorting silver and going through all the trouble of returning to the mountain with the group. This is not something he, as the sect leader, should be doing.