The Smiling, Proud Wanderer: Yue Buqun of Mount Hua

I rode back to Huayin County, slowly walking along the streets, feeling the hardships of the people's lives, until I saw the signboard of Liu's Silk Shop, then I tied my horse to the door and went inside.

This is a two-story building near the street, with five rooms. Rolls of fabric and silk hang from the shelves behind the counter, allowing customers to clearly see the patterns and textures of the fabrics for selection.

The guests inside were all dressed in silk, looking extremely luxurious; it would be no exaggeration to say they were all wealthy and powerful.

Several waiters were very attentive, introducing the products to the guests with great respect.

Upon his arrival, a waiter came forward to greet him, but the plump and well-to-do manager waved him away and personally approached to inquire, "Sir, what kind of fabric would you like?"

However, his extraordinary demeanor made the shopkeeper realize at a glance that he was no ordinary person, so he came over to greet him personally, fearing that his staff might offend him and have the shop smashed up.

"I am Yue Buqun from Mount Hua, and I would like to order a batch of clothing."

"So it's Sect Leader Yue. I've heard so much about you. Please come in."

The innkeeper was taken aback. Having lived in Huayin County for so long, how could he not know the name of the Huashan Sect? He never expected it to be Yue Buqun in person. Not daring to delay, he warmly led him to the backyard, to the living room, and served him tea. Then he asked, "What kind of tea would you like? I'll have my men prepare it as soon as possible?"

"It's not confirmed yet. I wonder if you have anyone here who is good at fashion design?"

"Yes, yes, please wait a moment."

The shopkeeper went down and soon called Liu Qiaoshou over. Yue Buqun then discussed with her how to make the clothes.

Each sect in the martial arts world has its own costumes, including Mount Hua. Unfortunately, these costumes were established hundreds of years ago, and the styles are outdated and can no longer keep up with the times.

More importantly, the sword qi dispute nearly wiped out the entire Huashan sect, so who cared about clothing? Nobody cared. The attire of the dozens of people could only be described as plain gray linen clothes, hardly befitting disciples of a major sect.

A group of disciples walked out, each dressed in their own clothes, in a chaotic and disorganized manner. Who would believe that this was a prestigious sect?

Standing next to disciples of the same sect dressed in uniform, it gives the impression of a chaotic, low-level sect in the martial arts world.

One glance is enough to inspire contempt.

Now that they had come down the mountain, Yue Buqun wanted to take this opportunity to unify their attire.

As the sect leader, he mainly wore white, embellished with Taoist elements such as yin-yang, five elements, eight trigrams, and cloud patterns. For example, cloud patterns were embroidered on his cuffs, and a yin-yang eight trigram pattern was on his chest, indicating his Taoist identity.

Inner disciples decorate with Yin-Yang, Five Elements, and Eight Trigrams patterns, while outer disciples only use Yin-Yang and Five Elements patterns to clearly identify their status; one can tell whether someone is an inner or outer disciple simply by looking at the patterns.

This applies to male disciples as well as female disciples. Based on this, the focus should be on highlighting feminine grace and the demeanor of a chivalrous woman.

As for the colors, the outer sect is gray and the inner sect is cyan. The main point is not to use white. It's not to distinguish them from the sect leader, but because gray and cyan are less prone to getting dirty. If they wear all white, they will be filthy in less than a day, and washing their clothes will be exhausting.

He doesn't have to worry about washing clothes, so he can naturally do whatever is eye-catching.

White is the most eye-catching color in the martial arts world. Look at the chivalrous heroes in their white robes, so pure and beautiful, it's something to aspire to.

Try dressing all in black; who dresses all in black these days?

Liu Qiaoshou drew on paper and pen beside him, discussed and deliberated with him, and finally determined the style of the Huashan Sect disciples' clothing.

Looking at the paintings, Yue Buqun was very satisfied and ordered a thousand sets, ranging from outer disciples to inner disciples and even the sect leader. After discussing the details, he took his leave.

Once they've finished making them, they'll send them to Yuquan Academy and hand them over to Linghu Chong, who will then distribute them to each person in two sets.

As for the larger quantities, Huashan is expanding rapidly, and even a thousand sets are not enough. In the future, they will need to rely on custom orders.

Leaving Huayin County, Yue Buqun spurred his horse to return to Mount Hua, but remembered something on the way and turned his horse around to head straight for Zhongtiao Mountain. Sword Sect disciples Feng Buping, Cong Buqi, and Cheng Buyou were living in seclusion there.

More than 20 years ago, the Sword Sect and Qi Sect held a grand sword competition at Jade Maiden Peak. The Sword Sect suffered a crushing defeat. Feng Buping vowed to avenge this humiliation and secluded himself in the deep mountains for 15 years, creating the 108-style Gale Swift Sword.

This guy has big ambitions. He fantasizes about taking control of the Huashan Sect with his amazing swordsmanship, and after becoming the leader of the Huashan Sect, he wants to go further and become the leader of the Five Mountains Sword Alliance.

He needed the support of the Songshan Sect to even become the leader of the Huashan Sect, let alone the Five Mountains Sword Alliance. Moreover, he died at the very first step, defeated by Linghu Chong before even becoming the leader of the Huashan Sect.

All I can say is that he has talent, but he's not very bright.

He originally didn't want to get involved with these guys, but Mount Hua was suffering from a shortage of talent. If he could persuade three of them to come out of seclusion, there was hope for the revival of Mount Hua. At the very least, it would provide three more laborers to help train the disciples.

As for those who disagree, there's still their senior uncle, Feng Qingyang. As long as he's strong enough, why should he care about their opinions? He could force them to agree anyway.

They traveled at a leisurely pace, stopping frequently along the way, and soon arrived at Zhongtiao Mountain. Looking up at the majestic mountains ahead, Yue Buqun frowned. He only knew that the three of them were living in seclusion here, but who knew their exact location? Zhongtiao Mountain was vast, and finding the three of them here would not be easy.

It seems we need to think of another way.

Yue Buqun turned and headed to the county town to inquire about the situation. He asked around in restaurants and other well-informed places about their hiding place, but no one knew.

Indeed, if it were so easy to know that the predecessor had already arrived to kill him and slaughtered all the disciples of the Sword Sect, how could he have allowed him to live in seclusion here and eventually become a great threat?

Just as they were getting anxious, they suddenly saw nine disciples of the Songshan Sect walking ahead. Eight of them were lined up in two rows behind the leader, swaggering through the city and frightening the people into a panic and hiding.

The leader was a middle-aged man with a goatee and a thin figure. He was dressed in luxurious brocade clothes and walked ahead with his hands behind his back, exuding an extraordinary air.

He Ying!

Yue Buqun was surprised. This person was He Ying, the thirteenth of the Thirteen Protectors of Songshan. Although he was a minor protector, he was actually a first-class master in the martial arts world. His Qingyun Sword was unparalleled in power and had killed several masters of the Demonic Sect.

Why is he here?

Yue Buqun frowned, hesitated slightly, and did not step forward to acknowledge him, but followed behind.

The group didn't linger in the county town; instead, they made a show of themselves and headed straight for Zhongtiao Mountain.

Yue Buqun raised an eyebrow. This is... you've come to find Feng Buping. Only by finding this disciple of the Sword Sect would Mount Song go to such lengths.

He had been worried about how to find Feng Buping's trail, but now it seemed that he only needed to follow behind the group.

He followed them quietly from a distance, wanting to see what these guys wanted with Feng Buping.

What he didn't expect was that these people didn't know where Feng Buping was hiding either. After entering Zhongtiao Mountain, they could only ask the villagers in the mountain village for directions, hoping to find out where the three men were.

Unfortunately, after searching for a long time, they could not find any trace of them. As darkness fell, they had no choice but to spend the night in the mountains and try to find them again the next day.

Yue Buqun found a tree branch, lay down on it, ate his dry rations, looked at the starry sky and the bright moonlight, using the sky as his blanket and the ground as his mat, and felt the beauty of the starry sky.

Listening to the chirping of insects and birds around me, and feeling the cool breeze blowing gently, I couldn't help but complain in my heart. This life is indeed not bad, but the problem is that there are too many mosquitoes. I was almost carried away by mosquitoes. Who wants to stay in the wild any longer?