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

Zhong Zhen smiled and said, "Senior Brother Sun is right."

"Speaking of which..."

Another man, dressed in an earth-yellow robe like Zuo Lengchan, said, "The Huashan Sect is currently the weakest among the Five Mountains Sword Sects. Even if we wanted to annex them, the Huashan Sect wouldn't dare to say no. I don't know why Senior Brother Zuo would target the Huashan Sect ahead of time."

"hehe."

Zhong Zhen laughed and said, "Sixth Senior Brother, you don't know this, although the Huashan Sect is the weakest in strength now, Senior Brother Yue himself is very secretive. I heard that he mastered the Zixia Divine Skill a few years ago, but he never shows it off. I don't know how strong he is. I suppose that's why Senior Brother Zuo wants to subdue him, so he made his move ahead of time."

Sun Shen, the sixth of the Thirteen Protectors of Mount Song, nodded: "Perhaps."

He laughed again as he spoke: "However, annexing Huashan is not a good deal right now. Huashan Sect is so poor that even the sect leader has to rely on capturing thieves to exchange for bounties in order to make a living. Even if we annex Huashan Sect, we will probably have to pay out a lot of money. This is a really bad deal."

"Ha ha ha ha."

Upon hearing his words, the other thirteen bodyguards couldn't help but burst into laughter.

……

Time passed by, and by the time Yue Buqun, Jiang Ning, and their group returned to Mount Hua, it was already early July, not much different from the time it took them to go to Mount Heng.

The journey back to Mount Hua went smoothly without any unexpected incidents. The only unusual thing was that when Jiang Ning and Yue Buqun stopped to rest in a small town, Jiang Ning discovered that Lao Denuo had secretly slipped out of the inn once, but returned shortly afterward.

Jiang Ning took no further action, as if he hadn't noticed anything. Apart from that, he didn't discover anything else and continued on his journey back to Mount Hua.

During the time they were away from Mount Hua, nothing major happened on Mount Hua, and the situation was relatively stable. The disciples were also working hard to practice their skills.

After returning to Mount Hua and resting for two days, Yue Buqun summoned all the Mount Hua disciples to the training ground. He had something important to announce.

"What? Bandit suppression?"

When they heard what Yue Buqun was about to announce, everyone in the Huashan Sect except for Jiang Ning and Ning Zhongze looked incredulous.

"Ah."

Yue Buqun nodded and said, "Bandits are rampant in the four prefectures of Xi'an, Hanzhong, Fengxiang, and Pingliang. Some bandits have been entrenched in the mountains for a long time. They are kings of the mountains, harming the local people and robbing passing merchants and civilians. I have long wanted to eliminate them all, but firstly, their strongholds are hidden and difficult to find, and secondly, my Huashan has been in a recovery period for more than 20 years and has been closed for a long time, so it has been delayed until now."

Yue Buqun looked at the group of disciples, his tone slightly raised, but firm and powerful.

"But it takes ten years to hone a sword, and its sharp edge has yet to be tested. Our Huashan Sect has been dormant for long enough, and has been recovering for long enough, to the point that other sects have begun to have designs on us. Now that you have grown up, you no longer need to cultivate hard on the mountain. You must also take up the banner of the Huashan Sect and let those demons and monsters test the sharp sword of our Huashan Sect."

"Let's start eradicating the villains from the four prefectures!"

Chapter 90: The Suppression of Bandits Officially Begins

Yue Buqun's words stirred up a restless desire among the disciples, their expressions revealing a surge of emotion.

At this moment, Yue Buqun said again, "Over the years, I have explored eighteen of these bandit strongholds. Your next task is to wipe out these eighteen bandit dens."

Upon hearing this, the disciples of Mount Hua couldn't help but want to go down the mountain and fight the bandits right now.

But Yue Buqun continued, "Considering that some bandit dens are far apart, it would take a long time for you to cross them one by one. Therefore, I have decided to send you to different places, and let the disciples with the best martial arts skills lead you to fight the bandits."

At this point, Yue Buqun paused, raising his voice slightly.

"Linghu Chong".

"Jiangning".

"Lauderno".

"Exit!"

When Linghu Chong's name was called, he became excited and was the first to stand up. Jiang Ning walked alongside Linghu Chong with a calm and composed expression.

Huh? There's still some for me?

A look of surprise flashed across Laudenau's eyes, but he didn't think much of it and stepped forward to stand alongside Linghu Chong and Jiang Ning.

Of the three, Linghu Chong was full of vigor, Jiang Ning was young and highly skilled in martial arts, and only Lao Denuo was old and frail.

Yue Buqun looked at the three people in front of him and said, "I have divided these eighteen bandit dens into three parts. Next, I will divide the Huashan disciples into three groups, each of you three will lead one group, and each of you will be responsible for six groups."

"Yes, Master."

Linghu Chong, Jiang Ning, and Lao Denuo bowed and agreed.

Linghu Chong was excited.

Before returning to Mount Hua, Yue Buqun had already taught him all of the Mount Hua sword techniques, and even explained the sword techniques of the other five mountain sword sects to him. Yue Buqun's attention to him touched him deeply. So when Yue Buqun decided to suppress bandits in the four prefectures and asked him to personally lead a team of junior brothers, he secretly made up his mind to work hard and do a great job in the task Yue Buqun gave him.

Jiang Ning remained calm as always, while Laudenuo seemed somewhat indifferent.

He's here as an undercover agent, not to contribute to the Huashan Sect; his enthusiasm is really low.

But what Yue Buqun said the next second made him tense.

Yue Buqun said to Linghu Chong, Jiang Ning, and the other two, "In order to increase your enthusiasm, I have decided to give you part of the cultivation manual of the Zixia Divine Skill as a reward this time."

"what?"

Linghu Chong and Lao Denuo were dumbfounded, as were the other Huashan Sect disciples.

"Father, isn't the Purple Cloud Divine Skill a martial art that only the head of the Huashan Sect can practice?"

Yue Lingshan called out.

"good."

Yue Buqun nodded and said, "But techniques are static, while people are dynamic. Only living people are the treasure of my Huashan Sect. I have decided to pass on part of the Zixia Technique."

After saying that, Yue Buqun said to Linghu Chong, Jiang Ning and the other two, "The three of you will all receive my Zixia Divine Skill, but I have one request for you."

Yue Buqun paused slightly, and after seeing that Linghu Chong and Lao Denuo were looking at him seriously, he continued, "That is, whoever can wipe out the area they are responsible for within half a month, whoever is the first to finish, will get a part of the Zixia Divine Skill's incantation."

Upon hearing this, Linghu Chong said urgently, "Master, rest assured, your disciple will do his utmost!"

"No need to rush, I haven't finished speaking yet."

Yue Buqun continued, "Besides the first person to complete the goal receiving a portion of the Zixia Divine Skill's manual, the second and third place winners need not be disappointed. I will also teach you a portion of the Zixia Divine Skill, but not as much as the first place winner. The second place winner will receive less of the Zixia Divine Skill's manual than the first place winner, and so on down to the next place."

"Yes, Master!"

Linghu Chong and Lao Denuo's eyes lit up at the same time, and they shouted loudly.

Yue Buqun looked at Jiang Ning and said, "Ning'er, your strength is the strongest among all my fellow disciples, so for the sake of fairness, I will assign you fewer people than Chong'er and Denuo. Do you have any objections?"

Jiang Ning shook his head: "No, Master."

"it is good."

Yue Buqun nodded, then looked at his disciples and said, "Next, I will start assigning people. Those whose names are called, step forward. You will be in a group with Linghu Chong."

"Yue Lingshan, Lu Dayou, Gao Genming, Liang Fa..."

Yue Buqun called out the names of fourteen people in total, and the disciples whose names were called stood behind Linghu Chong.

"Shi Daizi, Tao Jun, Shu Qi..."

Fourteen more people stepped forward and stood behind Laudenau.

"Du Lanyin, Qiaojun, Lin Pingzhi..."

In the end, only six people were assigned to Jiangning, which was more than half fewer than the other two groups.

Finally, one person was left out and not assigned to any team; they were singled out.

After dividing the team into groups, Yue Buqun took out three pieces of paper from his pocket and handed them to Jiang Ning, Linghu Chong, and Lao Denuo, saying, "The locations marked on these are the targets you need to eliminate. I have set an order for each bandit stronghold based on its difficulty. You should eliminate them in this order."

Linghu Chong and Lao Denuo opened it and took a look. It was a simple map, and they were each in charge of six bandit dens.

Jiang Ning glanced at it casually and didn't pay any attention to it.

He had already looked at these three drawings before.

After the three of them looked at the simple map in their hands, Yue Buqun gave Ning Zhongze a slight nod, and Ning Zhongze turned around, took out a package, opened it, and placed it on the ground.

Inside were eighteen signal arrows, each three fingers wide and half a foot long.

Yue Buqun said, “These are the signal arrows used by the Huashan Sect Leader to summon the disciples. Normally only the Sect Leader can use them, but this time the situation is special, so each of you will take six.”

"I have already discussed it with the people of Huaming Village. Many of them will assist in this bandit suppression operation. When Songnian is stationed in Hanzhong, you will fire a signal arrow on the mountain every time you destroy a bandit's den. The people of Huaming Village who are waiting for you at the foot of the mountain will see it and report your progress to Songnian. At the same time, you can also learn about the progress of the other two teams in suppressing bandits from these people."

Song Nian was the disciple who wasn't assigned to any team.

The villagers of Huaming Village were very enthusiastic when they heard that the Huashan Sect was going to do something big. If it weren't for Yue Buqun's strong insistence, they wouldn't have wanted the hard-earned money.

"Yes."

"Yes."

"Yes."

Jiang Ning, Linghu Chong, and Lao Denuo all agreed.

Yue Buqun nodded: "Alright, the task has been assigned to you. The sooner the better in suppressing the bandits, so you can set off today."

"Yes, Master."

Linghu Chong, Jiang Ning, and the other two agreed.

Yue Buqun then looked at his disciples and said, "Although you will not be able to obtain the cultivation manual of the Zixia Divine Skill this time, I will teach you some Huashan sword techniques that you have not learned before when you return."

The other Huashan disciples were delighted upon hearing this. This seemed like a good idea: the eldest, second, and youngest brothers would eat the meat, and they would drink the soup.

"Yes!!"

"Yes!!"

The disciples replied excitedly.

Yue Buqun waved his sleeve: "You may proceed."

After saying that, Linghu Chong led his team to hurriedly pack their things and set off in a grand procession.

Even the seasoned veteran Laudenau showed a fighting spirit, determined to win second place.

"Junior brother, when are we going down the mountain?"

Qiaojun asked.

Jiang Ning smiled and said, "Senior brothers and sisters, you can go back and prepare now."

Upon hearing his words, the rest of the people didn't hesitate and hurriedly went back to their rooms to pack their things. Lin Pingzhi was especially nervous.