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

We now have nearly forty disciples, and in the future there will be fifty, sixty, eighty, and one hundred.

He will carry forward the Huashan School!

"According to the old rules, you will fight each other in pairs. Your master's wife and I will see how much you have improved. We'll go in pairs. Who wants to go first?"

No one speaks.

Jiang Ning did not respond.

He was the junior disciple, and none of the senior disciples stepped forward. His stepping forward was just a deliberate attempt to show off.

Yue Buqun frowned slightly upon seeing this.

No one volunteered? Then he'll have to call on anyone.

"Dayou, you and Genming are in a group, you two go first."

"what?"

Lu Dayou gave a blank "Ah".

Yue Buqun frowned and scolded, "What are you 'ah' about? Hurry up."

"Yes Yes."

Lu Dayou nodded hurriedly and walked out from among the disciples with Gao Genming, his face showing fear, as did Gao Genming.

It wasn't that they had neglected their training lately and were afraid of being punished, but rather that they were nervous. They were the first group to step forward and were afraid of making a fool of themselves.

The other Huashan disciples made room for them and stood in a circle to watch them.

Being watched by so many people at the same time, including his master and mistress, as well as his junior brother who was stronger than them, Lu Dayou was extremely nervous. He felt his heart pounding, cold sweat began to seep from his forehead, and his hand holding the sword was trembling slightly.

When he looked up at the other side, he found that Gao Genming was not much better off than him, looking like he had kidney deficiency.

Chapter 14: Martial Arts Talent

The sight of the two of them before they even started fighting made Yue Buqun's brows furrow repeatedly, and he couldn't help but rebuke them.

What are you dawdling about for!

Upon being reprimanded by Yue Buqun, Lu Dayou trembled slightly, then drew his sword and thrust it at Gao Genming opposite him.

Gao Genming, seeing the incoming attack, also frantically raised his sword to defend.

The two immediately engaged in battle.

Jiang Ning watched the fight between the two from the edge of the training ground, his face expressionless.

There wasn't much to see. Lu Dayou and Gao Genming were just two weaklings fighting each other. Their initial fight was atrocious, but they improved considerably as they got into the swing of things. It was clear they had practiced seriously, showing progress compared to their previous matches. (I won't go into the details of the fight; it's not a main character's battle, so I'll just skip it briefly. I'm too lazy to pad the word count.)

Although Jiang Ning considered the fight between Lu Dayou and Lu Dayou to be a mere clash of weaklings, it was incredibly impressive to the children who had just started learning. They were all stunned by what they saw.

Watching the two fight, Yue Buqun's expression changed from gloomy to sunny.

"Humph!"

"what!"

At the end of the fight, Lu Dayou and Gao Genming shouted at the same time, then took a step back and stopped.

Their duel was now over.

Lu Dayou and Gao Genming sheathed their swords and bowed to Yue Buqun.

"Master."

"Although the fight was a mess, it's clear that you two practiced diligently."

Yue Buqun commented on their performance.

"Passed."

Upon hearing these two words, Lu Dayou and Gao Genming finally felt relieved.

The main reason was that their previous performance had been so poor that they were afraid Yue Buqun would give them a failing grade and they would be punished.

"Go down."

Yue Buqun waved his hand to dismiss the two men, then looked at the disciples who were watching.

Who's next in your group?

This time, Yue Buqun didn't need to call out names. Soon, two female disciples volunteered to step forward. They had just discussed it, and after stepping forward, the two immediately began their sword duel.

Unlike the male disciples, the female disciples' fighting style is more elegant and pleasing to the eye.

"Passed."

After the two female disciples finished their sword duel, Yue Buqun nodded, and Ning Zhongze also nodded with a smile.

Then, one by one, the Huashan disciples stepped forward in pairs to begin their sword duels, having already agreed on their opponents.

Jiang Ning just watched them compete, and no one asked him to join their group.

It's not that he's unpopular, but rather that he's the strongest among these disciples, and no one would be so tactless as to challenge him to a sword duel.

In previous sect assessments, Jiang Ning's opponent was Linghu Chong.

Among the second-generation disciples of Mount Hua, only these two have reached the level of second-rate masters. The rest are all hovering at the third-rate level. Therefore, in every internal assessment, all the disciples of Mount Hua automatically grouped them together with Linghu Chong. Now that Linghu Chong is not in Mount Hua, naturally no one will fight him.

Although Laudenau was also a second-rate expert, he had concealed his strength and fought Shi Daizi to a standstill.

"Passed."

"Passed."

"Unqualified."

"Passed."

Yue Buqun evaluated the Huashan disciples in groups, and most of them passed. Only a very few failed and were severely punished. They were forced to practice for two extra hours every day and carry ten loads of water up Huashan from the foot of the mountain every day.

The purpose of the internal assessment set up by Yue Buqun was not to punish the disciples in order to demonstrate the authority of the master, but to urge the disciples to practice their skills. As long as their performance in the internal assessment was not too outrageous, even if their performance was similar to that in the previous internal assessments, Yue Buqun would allow them to pass.

After all, practicing martial arts is going against the natural order; if you don't advance, you regress. If you neglect your practice, your martial arts skills will decline. Since your performance is the same as before, it means that you are at least practicing seriously.

Not everyone makes rapid progress on the path of martial arts training. Martial arts training requires talent, and not everyone has the talent for martial arts. Some people have worked hard for half their lives, but their martial arts skills are not as good as those of a young person.

Sometimes, not regressing is the greatest progress.

Ordinary people make up the majority.

As the disciples in the sect passed or failed the assessment one by one, there were not many disciples left who had not yet been assessed, and Jiang Ning was one of them.

"Junior brother! Are you alright?"

A cry of alarm rang out, and one of the Huashan disciples in the last group quickly sheathed his sword, looking nervously at his junior brother opposite him, whose sword was stained with blood.

"I'm sorry, senior brother, I didn't mean it."

The junior brother opposite him was covering his wound with his hand, his face somewhat pale.

"It's alright, senior brother, it's nothing. It's just that my skills are not up to par, it has nothing to do with you."

Upon seeing that one of the disciples was bleeding, Yue Buqun said, "Since Songnian is injured, then your competition shall be temporarily suspended."

Swords have no eyes and can easily hurt people. Even though it was a sparring match between fellow disciples, Yue Buqun was prepared for accidents to happen. As long as no one was killed and no serious consequences occurred, there shouldn't be any major problems.

"Yes."

The two disciples bowed and said goodbye, and then the Huashan disciple who had attacked helped his injured junior brother leave the center of the training ground.

Now only Jiang Ning is left who hasn't taken the assessment yet.

Yue Buqun looked at Jiang Ning, pondered for a while, and then said, "Ning'er, normally it would be Chong'er who would spar with you, and the other Huashan disciples would not be able to spar with you. But Chong'er is not in Huashan now, so this time I will personally test your progress in the sect's assessment."

Although that's what they said, Yue Buqun didn't think Jiang Ning would fail the test.

Jiang Ning is the one among his disciples who requires the least amount of his attention. He is hardworking and self-disciplined, and it is impossible for him to regress.

However, that's just how the rules are in the sect. Even though Yue Buqun felt it was unnecessary to test Jiang Ning, it still had to be done, otherwise the other disciples would feel it was unfair and would feel resentful.

"Yes."

Jiang Ning nodded and then stepped forward.

He had been at the level of a second-rate master for some time now. Although he felt that he was getting stronger every day, he had no one to compare himself to. It would be good if Yue Buqun was willing to personally test him.

"Master, I have been rude."

Jiang Ning said this first, and Yue Buqun smiled, indicating that Jiang Ning could make a move.

Jiang Ning's eyes turned cold, his expression became indifferent, and he placed his hand on the hilt of his sword.

Clang~

The hilt of the sword was raised, revealing a glint of silver light inside the scabbard, and then it was slowly drawn out.

However, when the longsword was halfway drawn, some of the other Huashan disciples noticed something was wrong down below the mountain.

Someone has gone up the mountain.

There was a man and a woman; the man was about twenty-four or twenty-five years old, and the woman looked about sixteen or seventeen.

The two people were walking down the mountain along the mountain path at that moment.

Chapter 15: Linghu Chong

"Senior Brother."

"It's Senior Brother and Junior Sister back!"

The disciples of Mount Hua shouted with delight, causing Jiang Ning, who was about to make a move, to pause. Yue Buqun, on the other side, also looked down the mountain.

"It really is Chong'er and Shan'er who are back."

Yue Buqun looked surprised, while Ning Zhongze looked delighted.

Although Yue Lingshan came down the mountain with Linghu Chong, she was still worried about Yue Lingshan's safety. Seeing her daughter and disciple return to the mountain safely, she smiled.