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

Upon hearing the answer, Ning Zhongze's smile deepened, and her expression became even more satisfied.

After answering, a smile appeared on Jiang Ning's face, like ice melting away.

Unlike Jiang Ning, Yue Buqun's gaze swept over Jiang Ning's entire body while his wife and apprentice were talking. He found that there were no wounds or signs of internal injury on his body, and his expression calmed down.

At this moment, Yue Buqun said calmly, "How was your trip down the mountain? Did you manage to rescue Wang Yuan's wife and daughter?"

Jiang Ning was not surprised to hear this. Yue Buqun must have learned the reason why he went down the mountain from Lu Dayou and others. Since Yue Buqun asked this question, he did not intend to pursue the matter of him going down the mountain without permission in disobeying his master's orders.

Jiang Ning nodded: "Reporting to Master, Wang Yuan's wife and children have been rescued safely, and his property has been recovered."

Yue Buqun nodded, then asked, "Were there any setbacks along the way? Did you encounter any difficulties?"

Jiang Ning smiled and said, "After I went down the mountain, I went to Yunmeng County with Wang Yuan. Later, I learned from others that Wang Yuan was not lying. I also personally confirmed this with the steward and those people. After that, I helped Wang Yuan rescue his wife and daughter and take back the part of the family property that the steward had embezzled. Then I went to the county government and found the magistrate of Yunmeng County and recovered the other part of Wang Yuan's family property. Wang Yuan wanted to give the family property to me to repay the kindness of my Huashan Sect, but I did not accept it."

Yue Buqun asked again, "Were his wife and daughters humiliated?"

Jiang Ning shook his head: "No, before I went there, the Wang family steward and those thugs tried to force themselves on Wang Yuan's wife and daughter, but they resisted to the death. The steward first seized the family property, and if he forced the family members to commit suicide, he was afraid that the people of Yunmeng would be ashamed. So he did not force them anymore, but locked the two women in the woodshed and gave them only thin porridge every day in an attempt to make them obedient. They were only rescued after I arrived."

Yue Buqun nodded in satisfaction and commented on Jiang Ning's actions, "Not bad, you did a great job."

"You didn't rush to attack someone just because you listened to Wang Yuan's one-sided story. Instead, you verified the facts from multiple sources before offering your help. One-sided listening leads to belief, while listening to both sides leads to clarity."

"Afterwards, they went to the county government to recover part of the Wang family's property, showing no fear of power and upholding justice."

"Well done."

Yue Buqun said "very well" twice in a row, which means he was very satisfied with Jiang Ning's actions.

Jiang Ning maintained a smile throughout, standing there without showing any joy despite Yue Buqun's praise, which pleased Yue Buqun even more.

"Master, what's going on with my fellow disciples?"

Jiang Ning then spoke, his gaze fixed on Lao Denuo, Lu Dayou, and the others who were still kneeling on the ground, his eyes filled with questions.

Upon hearing this, Lu Dayou raised his head and gave Jiang Ning an ugly smile, then lowered his head again, not daring to speak.

From the time they went up the mountain in Jiangning until they talked with Yue Buqun, they didn't dare to say a word. Yue Buqun wouldn't let them get up, so they didn't dare to stand up and just knelt there obediently.

However, after kneeling for a long time and on a hard ground, their knees started to hurt, like being pricked with needles. The younger Lu Dayou and Gao Genming were okay, but Lao Denuo was in a lot of pain.

He's old, with frail arms and bones. Even though he's skilled in martial arts, he could still kill a master with a flurry of punches. He couldn't bear to kneel like this.

At first, he could kneel upright, but after a while, he couldn't hold on any longer. His legs started to tremble, and he had to use his hands to support himself on the ground, which made him feel a little better, but it was still uncomfortable. His legs were trembling as if they were about to take off. Ying Bailuo, kneeling next to him, kept his mouth tightly shut, his lips pursed again and again, his shoulders were shaking, and his face was flushed red. He wanted to laugh but dared not.

"Humph."

Upon hearing this, Yue Buqun snorted coldly, but not at Jiang Ning; rather, it was directed at Lu Dayou, Gao Genming, and the others.

"Those few, all disciples of Mount Hua, let their junior brother go down the mountain alone to deal with the villains, stubbornly obeying their master's orders, but they didn't understand the principle of acting expediently in times of emergency. They insisted on waiting for me to come back first. By then, Wang Yuan's family would have already been killed by the evil servants. What use would I be if I came back? To collect their corpses?"

"As fellow disciples, they don't even understand such a simple principle."

Yue Buqun snorted coldly again, looking at them and said in a cold voice, "It's fine if Ning'er can return safely this time, but if something really happens to him, and you, as his senior brothers, do nothing and just watch him get into trouble, I will definitely not forgive you!"

Lu Dayou, Gao Genming, and the others looked bitter and powerless to refute, unable to utter a single word.

“What my senior brothers said is not wrong.”

Jiang Ning calmly said, "We must be careful and cautious before we know the enemy's strength or weakness. We should plan carefully and make thorough preparations to avoid losing our lives in vain."

"However, how should we plan for the long term? And to what extent should we prepare? If we prepare this, we need to plan that; if we've prepared this, should we start preparing for the next one? If we've planned this, should we start planning for the next one?"

"Preparing and planning, discussing and deliberating, when will this preparation end? When will this discussion end? I can wait, my senior brothers can wait, but can Wang Yuan wait? Can the next Wang Yuan wait?"

"Everyone talks about justice, but what is justice? Helping the weak and punishing the strong is justice, punishing evil and promoting good is justice. Since it is justice, it seems that it doesn't matter if it comes a little late. But if we wait until Master comes back to help Wang Yuan, by then his wife and daughters will have been killed. Even if we help him avenge himself and take back his property, what then? Is justice delayed still justice?"

Jiang Ning's voice was not loud and was very calm, so calm that there was no emotional fluctuation, no sense of accusation or reprimand. But to Lu Dayou and the others, it was like a knife cutting into their hearts.

With each sentence Jiang Ning spoke, Lu Dayou, Gao Genming, and the others lowered their heads a little further. By the time Jiang Ning finished speaking, they had buried their heads deep in the ground.

On the contrary, Yue Buqun's anger gradually dissipated as Jiang Ning spoke, and he even revealed a few smiles in the end.

His disciple was just like that; he was usually very quiet, calm, and never showed his emotions. Although he was young, he was very opinionated, just like now. He had his own understanding of the world and justice, which was completely different from Linghu Chong's personality. He was also very talented and was already on par with his eldest disciple at a young age.

Sometimes Yue Buqun felt that if Jiang Ning weren't so much younger than the other disciples, he would be more suitable to be the senior disciple.

Chapter 5: With the heart of a Bodhisattva, yet with thunderous methods

"Alright, you can get up now."

Finally, it was Ning Zhongze who spoke.

“Ning’er is right. Justice delayed is justice denied. You should remember this from now on.”

"Yes, thank you, Master's wife, thank you, junior brother."

Lu Dayou, Gao Genming, Shi Daizi, and the others then stood up one after another to bow to Ning Zhongze, and finally thanked Jiang Ning, their faces showing shame.

"Humph."

Yue Buqun snorted again, but this time it wasn't as strong as before. Since Ning Zhongze had told them to get up, he would let it go.

"By the way, after you went to Yunmeng County, what kind of people were those martial arts practitioners?"

Yue Buqun seemed to remember something and asked Jiang Ning.

Jiang Ning smiled upon hearing this and said, "They're just a bunch of people who only know how to use their fists and feet. None of them are particularly skilled. Dealing with them is no big deal."

Yue Buqun nodded, but then frowned and said, "If that's the case, why did it take so many days to return to the mountain?"

“On my way back, I passed through Anyang County and found that there was a thief there. The Anyang County government had issued a reward. Thinking that the sect was in dire financial straits and that we were always being supported by Master, I felt bad about it. So I spent some time catching the thief to lighten Master’s burden.”

As Jiang Ning spoke, he took out a silver ingot from his sleeve and handed it over with both hands; it weighed a full ten taels.

Although ten taels of silver may not sound like much, it has considerable purchasing power. One tael of silver can buy two shi of rice, and one shi of rice weighs approximately one hundred to one hundred and fifty jin.

Yue Buqun remained silent.

After a while.

Yue Buqun waved his hand and said, "Since this is what you caught, you can keep it. Don't worry about the livelihood of the sect. I will find a way to solve it. Just focus on practicing your skills."

"Yes."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Ning took the silver back and put it back into his sleeve.

Since Yue Buqun has already said so, continuing to insist would only embarrass Yue Buqun.

"Alright, we just got back today. You can go and prepare dinner first. We'll be paying respects to our ancestor later."

Pay homage to the patriarch?

Jiang Ning raised an eyebrow upon hearing this.

Generally, the ceremony is only held when Yue Buqun accepts a disciple or on an important occasion of the Huashan Sect; it is not done on ordinary days.

Today is not a special day, yet Yue Buqun and Ning Zhongze have just returned and are already paying homage to their ancestor. Have they taken on new disciples?

"Yes."

Jiang Ning didn't ask any further questions, just responded and prepared to go back to his room, but was stopped by Yue Buqun.

"By the way, Ning'er."

Yue Buqun asked Jiang Ning, "What did you do with the steward and those dozen or so people afterward?"

Upon hearing his master's question, Jiang Ning did not hesitate.

“Kill him.”

The voice was very soft, as if it were about something trivial.

Yue Buqun was taken aback.

"Kill them all?"

Jiang Ning nodded, his expression calm.

"Yes."

Lu Dayou, Gao Genming, Shi Daizi and the others were all stunned and looked at each other in disbelief.

Lu Dayou, Gao Genming, and others joined the Huashan Sect at different times. Most of them joined later than Jiang Ning and knew nothing about him. They only occasionally heard their senior brother say that Jiang Ning was brought back from outside by their master twelve years ago when he was only three years old. He is only fifteen years old now.

Since they met, they had never seen their junior brother descend the mountain. Except for one time when Yue Buqun felt that Jiang Ning was too much of a homebody and insisted on organizing a sect spring outing, forcing Jiang Ning to go on a budget trip to Shaanxi. Apart from that, Jiang Ning had never left the mountain.

Even though his master took some of his disciples to visit other Five Mountains Sword Sects a few times to make them known and familiar to others, Jiang Ning never went. He stayed at Mount Hua instead. As a result, although he was a disciple of Mount Hua, none of his fellow disciples from the other Five Mountains Sword Sects had ever seen him; they only knew that he existed.

In their impression, Jiang Ning usually did nothing but practice martial arts and read books, and had no other entertainment activities. Even his junior sister Ling Shan said that he was very boring. The last time he went down the mountain with Wang Yuan to Yunmeng County was his first time going down the mountain, but they did not expect that he would kill people on this trip alone, and kill so many people.

These people weren't inexperienced in killing; they would often intervene when they saw injustice on their way down the mountain. But none of them could be as calm as Jiang Ning after killing someone, as if he had killed pigs or dogs instead of humans.

This attitude sent chills down the spines of all his fellow disciples.

In the past, they thought that Jiang Ning's usual indifferent demeanor was just his personality, but at this moment they felt that it was more like indifference.

Yue Buqun then frowned and asked again, "What about that county magistrate? Did you kill him too?"

A barely perceptible hint of nervousness lingered in his expression as he was questioned.

Jiang Ning shook his head and said, "No, I just asked him to return Wang Yuan's assets and then I left."

Upon hearing this, Yue Buqun nodded, no longer showing any of the tension he had felt before.

Jiang Ning remained calm and composed.

He did not kill the county magistrate, but the magistrate suddenly died five days later, the cause of death unknown.

"Alright, Ning'er, you must have had a long and tiring journey. Go down and rest. I'll have Denuo call you when it's time to eat."

"Yes."

Jiang Ning nodded and turned to leave.

Watching his departing figure, Ning Zhongze, who had remained silent the whole time, couldn't help but speak up.

"Senior brother, Ning'er, he..."

His tone carried a hint of worry.

Jiang Ning's ruthless and indifferent attitude towards killing made her fear that she might go astray in the future.

"fine."