Insufficient balance

  After leaving Mount Hua, Linghu Chong was anxious and hurried, riding his horse quickly, and finally arrived at the Lingjiu Temple after half a month.

  With a loud "bang" the gate of the Lingyin Temple was opened, and a young monk came out, bowing and saying: "What brings the donor here?"

  "Please trouble Little Brother to inform Master Fang Zheng, that the eldest disciple of the Huashan Sect, Linghu Chong, has come to pay respects on the orders of his master, Yue Buqun." Linghu Chong also bowed in return.

  "Please wait for a moment, Master Linghu. I will go and inform the Abbot." The young monk bowed and retreated.

  Before long, Shaoyan came before Linghu Chong once again and pointed the way: "The abbot is already waiting in the meditation room. Master Linghu, please follow me."

  "Indeed, Linghu Shu is a young and talented hero with an extraordinary appearance!"

  In the Zen room, a kind-eyed and benevolent old monk wearing a plain robe was none other than the top master of the Carefree Sword Sect, Master Fang Zheng of Lingjiu Temple. At this moment, he praised Linghu Chong highly.

  "Master is overpraising, I'm ashamed and dare not accept!" Linghu Chong hastily showed humility and returned the courtesy, "This is a personal letter from my master!"

  It's all right, Fang Zheng is a standard monk image, with a Buddhist robe and beads, plus a shaved head, and there are also scars on his forehead. If he were to have long hair like the nuns of the Hengshan Sect, wear pink clothes, Linghu Chong estimated that he would be shocked out of his wits.

  "The Demon Cult's leader, Dongfang Bu Bai, is extremely ambitious and always thinks of unifying the Jianghu. His methods are even more ruthless than those of his predecessor, I Xing. In recent years, he has been stirring up bloodshed and chaos in the Jianghu. Now that the Orthodox Sect is declining, various factions are about to join forces to resist the Demon Cult!" Fang Zheng Da Shi sighed: "Please ask Ling Hu Shu Zhu to inform Yue Zhang Men that our Ling Jue Temple is willing to contribute its strength to the Wulin. I have written a letter inviting Wu Dang Chong Xu Dao Zhai to ascend Mount Song with me, and discuss countermeasures against the Demon Cult with the Five Peaks Sword Sect."

  "Master, I will surely repay your kindness," Linghu Chong slightly bowed and said: "I have an impolite request, please Master, grant me this boon. In recent years, I've been quite interested in Buddhist ideas, the Lingjiu Temple is a sacred place of Buddhism in the world, now that I'm lucky enough to be here, I humbly ask Master to allow me to go to the Cangjin Pavilion to copy a few volumes of Buddhist scriptures, and after returning to Huashan, I will carefully study them."

  "This..."

  "The junior knows that the Cang Jing Ge is a sacred place of the Ling Xiang Temple, but the junior only needs to copy a few volumes of Buddhist scriptures," seeing Fang Zheng's hesitation, Linghu Chong quickly mentioned the name of Huashan Sect and Yue Buqun, respectfully saying: "The rules of Huashan are strict, my master Yue Buqun is called 'Junzi Jian' by fellow practitioners in Jianghu, he has always been strict with the conduct of Huashan disciples, I absolutely will not pry into the martial arts of other sects."

  "It's rare for Lord Linghu to have a heart that is willing to offer something to the Buddha, how could I not agree?" After saying this, he instructed the young monk to bring Linghu Chong to the Scripture Storage Pavilion.

  Fang Zheng was not afraid of Linghu Chong stealing the skills, as the Scripture Pavilion in Lingjiu Temple hid dragons and tigers, with countless predecessors hiding within. Let alone Linghu Chong, a mediocre second-rate martial artist, even his master Yue Buqun would be powerless if he came personally.

  "Mr. Linghu, this is the Golden Pavilion scripture repository of our temple. The second floor and above contain secret martial arts manuals of our sect, which cannot be accessed without the abbot's permission. Buddhist scriptures are all on the first floor, you can select them yourself. There are also four treasures of the study available for you to copy." The young monk introduced briefly before retreating, no longer disturbing Linghu Cong from selecting scriptures.

  No one is around, but that doesn't mean the Lingjiu Temple has let its guard down against Lin Huichong. If Lin Huichong were to make even a slight mistake, it's likely that a sweeping monk would immediately jump out and take care of him with just two or three moves. The Lingjiu Temple is full of hidden dragons and crouching tigers, and who knows how many eyes are staring at him in the dark right now.

  In order not to arouse the attention of the people secretly guarding the Golden Pavilion, Linghu Chong chose to copy a volume of "Dizang Jing" first, and then took another volume of "Jingang Jing" before casually picking up the "Lengjia Jing" as well. With a tense and excited heart, he opened the "Lengjia Jing".

  "Huh? How come there isn't?" He had flipped through the Lanka Sutra inside and out, but still couldn't find the Nine Suns Divine Skill. What was going on? Where did the problem lie?

  Linghu Cong furrowed his brow, suddenly slapping his forehead. The Nine Yang Divine Skill was originally hidden in the Lanka Sutra, later discovered by Zhang Sanfeng's master, Jueyuan Dashi. Then, Zhang Wuji found it in a cave, inside the belly of a white ape. Now that Zhang Wuji has been dead for hundreds of years, where can you still find the Nine Yang Divine Skill?

  I'm so angry I could spit blood! After all the hard work and planning, you actually miscalculated the time. This is infuriating!

  Linghu Chong took the three copied Buddhist scriptures and bid farewell to Fang Zheng, but in his heart he was so angry that he wanted to tear the scriptures into pieces and throw them into the latrine. However, he had to put on a delighted expression, which made him feel like he had swallowed several flies.

  In the market under the Lingjiu Temple Mountain, Linghu Chong was dejectedly leading his horse, hanging his head in despair. The Nine Suns Divine Skill was gone, and the Easy Muscle Technique was even more hopeless. With his current martial arts skills, trying to sneak into the Lingjiu Temple to steal the Easy Muscle Technique would be no different from seeking death. Thinking of this sad situation, he couldn't help but let out a long sigh: "Damn it——"

  At this moment, a horse carriage in front accelerated towards Linghu Chong, the coachman on the carriage was sweating profusely, panicked and desperately pulling the reins, apparently out of control.

  Linghu Cong is also a second-rate master of the martial arts world, and Huashan's internal energy is renowned throughout the land. How could he be injured by a mad horse? Just then, Linghu Cong took a step forward, suddenly turned sideways to grab the reins, and shouted loudly: "Stop for me!"

  The out-of-control horse let out a long whinny, its entire head pulled back and upwards, its front hooves lifted high, before finally collapsing powerlessly to the ground.

  "Master is indeed a divine being!" The groom was extremely admiring and grateful to Linghu Cong, but Linghu Cong was in a bad mood and didn't bother to respond, simply giving a few brief instructions before turning to leave.

  "Master, please stay!" Just as Linghu Cong was about to lead his horse away, a short and ugly man with a crooked face and wearing a tattered hemp garment caught up from behind and blocked his way.

  "This young master is extraordinary, with a majestic aura, he must be a renowned young hero," the sly man flattered Leng Qiu, then looked around cautiously and whispered to him: "I have something precious in my hands, I'd like to make a deal with you, are you interested?"

  "You think I've never seen precious things before? Do you look like someone with valuable treasures? I'm in a very bad mood right now, do you know that? Take advantage of me not having blown up yet and get out of here quickly!" Linghu Chong cast a sideways glance at the sly-looking man, curled his lip in disdain, and said lightly.

  "Young master, how dare I deceive you? This is indeed a treasured family heirloom, a heavy iron sword weighing 99.81 catties. I observe that your strength is unmatched in the world, and you must be destined to possess this treasure. My humble abode is nearby; why don't you come with me to verify its authenticity?" The sly man seemed determined to make this deal with Linghu Chong.

  "A nine-nine-eighty-one catty heavy iron sword?" Linghu Chong's heart moved, and he secretly thought: "It seems that Dugu Qiubai's Xuan Tie Heavy Sword is indeed ninety-nine eighty-one catties heavy!"

  "Since you say so, then I'll go take a look. You lead the way." Linghu Cong made up his mind, going to take a look wouldn't hurt, and if it wasn't true then it didn't matter, but if it was real then he would be set for life.

  "Alright, this way please, young master." Seeing Linghu Cong agree to go see the iron sword, the sly man's eyebrows curved into a smile as he hastily led the way, heading straight for his lair.

  The name of the lecherous man is Zhao Dabao, his ancestors were once Mojin school lieutenants under Cao Cao of the Three Kingdoms, and were the most famous tomb robbers at that time. Later, he was injured and returned to his hometown, but couldn't bear to lose the skills, so they were passed down from generation to generation. However, when it came to Zhao Dabao's generation, it completely fell apart. Zhao Dabao was lazy and fond of eating since childhood, liked to idle around, had a strong gambling habit, and couldn't stand loneliness. How could he have the patience to practice tomb raiding skills? Dealing with dead people is such an unlucky thing, and being stained with the aura of death would make him lose at gambling every time, so this great profession completely declined in this generation.

  Zhao Dabao was a compulsive gambler and was particularly bad at it. He had lost all the family's valuables, so he started selling off some of the items his ancestors had collected over the years. Everything that could be sold was sold, leaving only a broken iron sword and a few old wooden boxes.

  That iron sword looks mighty, but unfortunately it's too cumbersome. I've introduced it to several vendors before and they weren't very satisfied. Nowadays, the young masters who wear swords on their waists are all about showing off and being fashionable, of course the lighter the better. Do you want to carry such a heavy burden on your back and risk crushing yourself?

  It's not easy to catch someone with great strength who is also interested in this broken sword, so I won't let go easily. When even iron can't be sold for much money, only these young masters and chivalrous youths are willing to pay a high price to buy it.

  Following Zhao Dabao to a dilapidated thatched cottage, he finally saw the iron sword that had been casually thrown into the corner of the wall. Linghu Chong grasped the hilt and lifted it up, and it was indeed heavy. The body of the sword was entirely black and shiny, the edge somewhat dull, as if it hadn't been sharpened yet.

  Linghu Chong carefully grasped the heavy sword, and suddenly his whole body shook, his eyes fixed, and then he stared dead at the two small characters engraved on the hilt of the sword - "Seek Defeat"!

  "This sword is pretty good, I'll take it. Name a price!" Linghu Cong suppressed the excitement in his heart and spoke calmly to Zhao Dabao.

  "Young master has a good eye, this is a treasured family heirloom passed down from my ancestors, if our family hadn't fallen on hard times and I wasn't in urgent need of money, I would absolutely not sell it..." Zhao Dabao began to boast.

  "Stop your nonsense! You're still haggling over the price of something that's been lost in a corner?!" Linghu Chong shouted: "Name a price already!"

  "At least twenty taels..." Zhao Dabao said.

  "What? Twenty taels?" Zhao Dabao had just opened his mouth when Linghu Chong interrupted him, staring in shock.

  Is the Xuan Iron Heavy Sword worth only twenty taels? Not to mention anything else, this 81 jin heavy Tianwai Xuan Iron is a priceless treasure, and you're offering only twenty taels?

  "Gentleman, don't be like that, just fifteen taels. Just fifteen taels." The sly man Zhao Dabao thought Linghu Chong was being too proud and hastily explained: "Or else I'll throw in a small book of strategy passed down with the Heaven Sword together with you."

  "This little book may not be a famous work, but it's a genuine ancient text and has great collectible value. Master Lianhu, take a look!" Zhao Dabao hastily pulled out an old wooden box from under the table and handed it to Lin Hu.

  Linghu Cong opened the box and flipped open this little book, and was immediately shocked.

  "I am Yang Guo, son of Yang Kang. My father died early and I was raised by Guo Fu. The skills I have learned in my life, the ones that make me most proud are the creation of the 'Melancholy Sorrowful Palm' and the 'Lonely Nine Swords' of Dugu Qiubai. The 'Melancholy Sorrowful Palm' was born with Dragon Girl and should also be destroyed by her, but the unparalleled swordsmanship of Dugu Qiubai should not be lost because of me. I will leave behind a manual to wait for someone who is destined to learn it."

  Then comes the detailed sword moves of Dugu Jiujian, as the eldest disciple of Huashan, Linghu Chong can tell whether the sword manual is genuine or not at a glance. Moreover, it was destined that Linghu Chong and Dugu Jiujian would have a fate, and in the original work, he also learned this Dugu Jiujian from Feng Qingyang's hands.

  Linghu Chong stared at Zhao Dabao with his eyes fixed, the corners of his mouth twitching uncontrollably, and spoke incoherently: "The Book of the Small Man? Damn it, if you dare, bring out a few more copies..."

  "Master, you truly have a good eye for things. It's rare to meet someone as distinguished as yourself today. If Master is willing to spend 15 taels of silver on this iron sword, I'll throw in the few books of 'little people' that have been passed down through my ancestors!" Zhao Dabao gritted his teeth and pulled out two small wooden boxes from under the table.

  "My name is Zhang Wuji, in my youth I was hit by the Xuanming Old Man's Xuanming Divine Palm, fortunately, I obtained the true Qi of my Master to nourish me. Later, I found the Nine Yang Divine Skill in the belly of a white ape... In my later years, I secluded myself on Ice and Fire Island, leaving behind the Nine Yang Divine Skill and the Qiankun Great Shift Secret Manual for those who are destined!"

  "I am Duan Yu of Dali, in my youth I was close friends with the great heroes Qiao Feng and Xuzhu, we became sworn brothers. Unfortunately, my elder brother passed away at a young age, and now we are also getting old. I couldn't bear to see our divine skills lost, so together with my second brother, we have imparted our lifelong skills into the Sharira, leaving behind the martial arts of us three brothers, hoping that those who obtain it will use it to protect their families and country, and bring benefits to the world of martial arts!"

  Linghu Cong's hands trembled as he pulled out two silver ingots from his bosom and flung them to the ground, tucked three wooden boxes into his bosom, dragged the Xuan Tie heavy sword, and with two legs swinging, slowly walked away.