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

Jiang Ning looked down and saw a skeleton blocking his way.

The clothes on the skeleton were in tatters, and there were several torches beside it.

Jiang Ning picked up two torches from the ground, lit them, and the red light from the torches dispelled the darkness before him.

"Junior brother."

Linghu Chong's voice came from behind.

Jiang Ning looked back, handed over one of the torches in his hand, and then began to explore the dark cave.

"Hoohoho!"

Linghu Chong's ghostly screams echoed in the pitch-black space, as if he were having a seizure.

His voice echoed in the dark space.

"There's an echo, so this place seems quite spacious."

Linghu Chong muttered to himself.

Ignoring the noise Linghu Chong made behind him, Jiang Ning walked into the pitch-black space.

This place is much bigger than he thought; from what he can see, it can hold at least a thousand people.

There are no exits from this place; the only exit is the same place Jiang Ning came from earlier.

I have no idea how this place was created.

However, this place is quite good; it's secluded enough. If the Huashan Sect were to face annihilation one day, its members could temporarily hide in this cave.

As Jiang Ning walked through the dark cave, he noticed patterns and inscriptions carved on the stone walls. Judging from the inscriptions, they were left by enemies of the Five Mountains Sword Sect.

"Huh, isn't this the sword technique of the Hengshan School? What's it doing here?"

"Huh, is this from the Hengshan Sect?"

"This is from the Mount Tai Sect?"

As Linghu Chong walked along, he kept exclaiming in surprise at the patterns carved on the stone wall.

He discovered that many of the sword techniques depicted on it were ones he had never seen before. Some he had seen before, but the sword techniques depicted on it were even more exquisite than those he had seen before.

"Huh? How come my Huashan Sect's sword techniques are here too?"

"The Five Mountains Sword Sects are shameless, despicable, and utterly shameless!"

"How dare you!"

"These dead men dare to slander my Five Mountains Sword Sect!"

Linghu Chong's angry voice rang out from not far behind.

Chapter 22: Five Mountains Sword Technique

Jiang Ning turned his head and saw some words carved on the stone wall in front of Linghu Chong.

“These dead people must have been imprisoned here by my Five Mountains Sword Sect. They harbored resentment and that’s why they insulted my Five Mountains Sword Sect like this. They must not have been good people either, otherwise, why would they all have died here?”

Linghu Chong walked towards Jiang Ning, still muttering defiantly.

"Zhang Chengfeng? He completely broke through the Huashan Sword Technique?"

"fart!!"

However, when he saw the words carved on the stone wall on the Jiangning side, he started cursing again.

"My Huashan swordsmanship is profound and extensive, and it is a top martial art in the entire world. Who dares to say it's broken? To say it's completely broken, to belittle my Huashan sect like this, Zhang Chengfeng must be a cowardly rat!"

At this moment, Linghu Chong saw a skeleton lying under the stone wall. He was furious and, like an angry young man, he kept cursing at the skeleton for more than ten minutes. It was hard for him to curse a dead person who had been dead for decades. After cursing, he was still not satisfied and kicked the skeleton away.

"Humph!"

Linghu Chong breathed a sigh of relief, and only now did he have time to look at the simple little figures carved on the stone walls.

The bodies of these little figures are represented by lines, and their heads are drawn as circles. Their postures are all crooked and distorted.

Linghu Chong sneered after seeing one of the pictures.

"With these ugly moves, you dare to claim you can completely break the Huashan Sword Technique? I'd like to see how you manage to do it."

After saying that, Linghu Chong was about to practice the strange poses of these little figures when he was stopped by a hand that reached out from the side.

Linghu Chong turned his head and saw that it was Jiang Ning.

"Junior brother, what are you doing?"

Seeing Linghu Chong's puzzled look, Jiang Ning replied, "Senior brother, we've been here long enough. This place contains the lost sword techniques of our Five Mountains Sword Sect. We must inform our master as soon as possible."

Linghu Chong then seemed to wake up from his dream.

"Oh, right, right, we must tell Master. Let's go now."

After saying that, Jiang Ning and Linghu Chong went out along the narrow path they had come from. After exiting the cave, Jiang Ning used the boulder to block the entrance, and then he and Linghu Chong went down the mountain together.

While Linghu Chong was cursing, Jiang Ning memorized all the sword techniques and counter-moves on the stone walls of the cave, so he could practice them on his own when he had time later.

However, when Jiang Ning searched the cave, he did not find any exit or any signs of human habitation.

Feng Qingyang shouldn't be in that cave.

But this is fine too. It doesn't matter whether he sees Feng Qingyang or not, since Jiang Ning has no intention of learning the Dugu Nine Swords from him anyway.

The Jade Maiden Peak was steep and difficult to climb, but the descent was much easier. Jiang Ning and Linghu Chong were both second-rate masters, so they descended the mountain even faster.

After descending Jade Maiden Peak, the two headed towards the main peak, directly towards Yue Buqun's Suoyoubuwei Pavilion. They ignored the greetings from their fellow disciples along the way, leaving the Huashan disciples puzzled.

As they drew nearer, Jiang Ning and Linghu Chong could already see Yue Buqun standing in front of the Suoyoubuwei Pavilion.

At this moment, Yue Buqun had one hand behind his back and the other pointing at Yue Lingshan, speaking with a serious expression.

Yue Lingshan tilted her head, pouted, and looked defiant. Her eyes were wet, and she sniffed occasionally, as if she had just been crying.

Ning Zhongze, standing to the side, wore a helpless smile.

"Master~, Master~~"

Before he even got close, Linghu Chong started shouting and yelling.

Hearing the sound, Yue Buqun turned around and saw Linghu Chong running wildly like a big monkey, waving his hands.

Yue Buqun frowned slightly, and when Linghu Chong ran over, he scolded him: "Shouting and yelling like that, what kind of behavior is this!"

Linghu Chong, who was excitedly preparing to tell Yue Buqun the secret of the cave inside the Cliff of Contemplation, suddenly froze on his face and remained silent.

When Yue Lingshan saw Jiang Ning and Linghu Chong approaching, she raised the back of her hand to wipe her eyes, then took a deep sniff, as if nothing had happened.

Yue Buqun frowned as he looked at Linghu Chong and Jiang Ning and asked, "What's wrong? Is something the matter?"

Upon hearing the question, Linghu Chong blurted out, "Master, we discovered the lost sword technique of the Huashan Sect at the Cliff of Contemplation."

"what?"

Yue Buqun was immediately startled. He stepped in front of Linghu Chong and asked sternly, "Are you sure?"

Not only was Yue Buqun shocked, but Ning Zhongze and Yue Lingshan beside him were also dumbfounded.

"Uh-huh."

Linghu Chong nodded like a chick pecking at rice.

"It's not just the sword techniques of my Huashan Sect; the Hengshan Sect, Hengshan Sect, Taishan Sect, and Songshan Sect all have them."

"The lost sword techniques of our Five Mountains Sword Sect are all there."

Yue Buqun couldn't sit still any longer and immediately pressed, "Explain yourself clearly."

As he spoke, his imposing aura unconsciously burst forth, causing Linghu Chong to tremble and stammer, unable to even finish his sentence.

Upon seeing this, Yue Buqun frowned, then turned to look at Jiang Ning. Before he could speak, Jiang Ning said, "Master, the stone wall inside the Cliff of Contemplation is a hidden world. The inside of the stone wall is hollow, and below it is the belly of Jade Maiden Peak. There are many corpses that have been dead for decades in that cave, and many of the sword techniques of our Five Mountains Sword Sect are engraved on the stone wall of that cave."

Yue Buqun was greatly shocked and became anxious. After listening, he headed directly towards Jade Maiden Peak, leaving behind a sentence.

"Ning'er, Chong'er, Junior Sister, Lingshan, you all come along too."

Jiang Ning and Linghu Chong, who had just come down from Jade Maiden Peak, were about to accompany Yue Buqun on another trip.

Ning Zhongze and Yue Lingshan followed with solemn expressions.

The Huashan disciples outside had just seen Jiang Ning and Linghu Chong hurrying towards the Suoyoubuwei Pavilion when, not long after, they saw their master Yue Buqun and mistress Ning Zhongze rushing out of the pavilion and heading back out, ignoring their greetings and looking completely bewildered.

"Second Senior Brother, what happened to Master and the others?"

Lu Dayou asked Laudenuo, who was standing next to him, in a daze.

Laudenau frowned and shook his head.

"I do not know either."

……

"Ning'er, Chong'er, did you mention this to the other Huashan disciples when you came down from the Cliff of Contemplation?"

On the way to Jade Maiden Peak, Yue Buqun frowned and asked Jiang Ning and Linghu Chong.

Linghu Chong shook his head and said, "No, Junior Brother said that the cave inside the Cliff of Contemplation is of great importance and must be reported to Master as soon as possible. Before that, we must not tell anyone."

Yue Buqun was relieved and said, "Ning'er is steady."

Mount Hua is full of disciples of the Mount Hua Sect. Even if Linghu Chong had told Lu Dayou and Gao Genming about this beforehand, Yue Buqun wouldn't have thought there was a problem. But he was afraid that Lao Denuo would find out about this in advance.

Yue Buqun instructed Jiang Ning, Linghu Chong, and Yue Lingshan: "You must not tell anyone about what happened today except yourselves. You must not let anyone else know. If anyone asks, you must keep it a secret. Do you understand?"

"Yes."

"Don't worry, Dad."

Linghu Chong and Yue Lingshan nodded; they knew the gravity of the situation.

Jiang Ning was even less likely to tell anyone else.