Chapter 26: Telling Old Yue about the Story of the Sunflower Treasure Manual
"Hey, Master, I've had some strange encounters over the years and received a legacy from a Jianghu predecessor named Jin Yong. This predecessor has studied various martial arts secrets and Jianghu Bagua. Linghu Chong smiled slyly: "Coincidentally, I also know a thing or two about the origins of the legendary Huashan Scripture."
"Oh?" Yuè Bù Qún suddenly felt very curious and hastily asked: "If that's the case, quickly tell me about it."
"This Huixiang Baojian is like Dugu Qianbei's Dugu Jiu Jian, it belongs to the top-notch and unparalleled martial arts in today's world. According to Jin Qianbei's research, the creator of Huixiang Baojian was a eunuch in the imperial palace. This person had high martial arts talent, but unfortunately, he was sent into the palace by his father at a young age and was castrated, resulting in physical defects that made it impossible to practice superior martial arts."
Linghu Cong said with a smile, "However, this eunuch did not give up. He extensively studied the Buddhist and Taoist classics in the imperial palace, as well as the secret books of the Jianghu. No matter how superficial or profound they were, he carefully analyzed their principles. Finally, after twelve years, he created an unparalleled martial art that only eunuchs could practice, called the 'Peony Jade Manual'. This martial art was extremely strange and unpredictable. After mastering it, one's movements would be as swift and elusive as a ghost or a demon, using speed to defeat one's enemies. It could counter all other martial arts in the Jianghu, and each generation of inheritors of the Peony Jade Manual were almost invincible under heaven. Only the most powerful and pure divine skills could rival it."
"What kind of martial art is the divine art of utmost yang and utmost yin?" Yue Buqun asked.
"The most famous of the Supreme Yang Divine Skill is the Nine Yang Divine Skill. In the past, a person named Qiu Hua had mastered it and was invincible in the martial arts world, until he encountered Zhang Wuji who had cultivated the Nine Yang Divine Skill to its highest level. With just three moves, Zhang Wuji defeated Qiu Hua with his unpredictable movements. From then on, people knew that the Nine Yang Divine Skill was the nemesis of the Qiu Hua Scripture. According to Zhang Wuji, other great martial artists such as Dugu Qiubai, Virtual Bamboo, Duan Yu, and Guo Jing had also defeated Qiu Hua in the past."
"In short, the unparalleled divine skill of Dugu Nine Swords can rival the Sunflower Manual, and the Purple Void Divine Skill of Mount Hua Sect can qualify to compete with the Sunflower Manual when it reaches its peak. And the most important condition for cultivating the Sunflower Manual is that the cultivator must be a eunuch, in other words, men need to castrate themselves before they can practice it, otherwise, their meridians will reverse and they will die from entering madness."
Although this is the case, people who have been practicing martial arts to achieve great success through self-cultivation from ancient times to the present day have never stopped. After the "Huāhuā Bǎodiǎn" (Sunflower Manual) spread into the Jianghu, it triggered a bloody storm, and countless Jianghu people fought for it, killing each other, with countless deaths and injuries. Until more than 100 years ago, this manual was obtained by the Fujian Putian Shaolin Temple. At that time, the abbot was Hongye Chan Shi (Red Leaf Zen Master), who was a highly intelligent and wise person. He discovered that the martial arts recorded in the Huāhuā Bǎodiǎn were extremely powerful but also extremely dangerous. Ordinary people practicing it would immediately die or be injured if they made even a slight mistake. Therefore, Hongye Chan Shi locked it up in a secret room, never to be released into the world again.
Later, the ancestors of Huashan's Qizong Jianzong, Yue Su and Cai Zifeng, secretly read the treasure book. Due to time constraints, they decided to divide the reading between them, with each person reading half. Unfortunately, both men had poor memories as they didn't like reading books since childhood. After returning, they completely messed it up. When they silently wrote it out and compared, they found that the words didn't match, thinking the other had remembered incorrectly, almost leading to a fight.
Hongye Chan Master knew that the martial arts recorded in this treasure were extremely dangerous, so he sent his disciple Duoyuan Chan Master to Huashan to persuade the two not to practice this extremely harmful martial art. However, Duoyuan Chan Master was a very clever and ambitious person who had long been unable to bear the days of eating vegetarian food and reciting Buddhist scriptures in the temple. He took advantage of the opportunity to come to Huashan to persuade them, and added that Yue Su and Cai Zifeng were two foolish people with extremely low intelligence, where they could be no match for the clever and wise Duoyuan Chan Master, who was easily deceived into giving away all the moves and incantations of the Kuihua Treasure.
As soon as he got the treasure, Yuanyuan Zen Master went down the mountain and sent a letter to his master, Hongye Zen Master, telling him that Laozi had returned to secular life and could now drink wine from a big bowl and eat meat with a big mouth. He asked him to find another apprentice to accompany him in eating vegetarian food and reciting Buddhist scriptures.
After crossing the Yuan, he changed his name to "Lin Yuantu", based on "Kuihua Baodian", created Lin's 72 roads "Bixie Swordsmanship", and defeated all over the world. Later, he joined the Brocade Guard and became a national civil servant.
Later on, the Devil Cult's elders besieged the Huashan Sect and snatched away the Huashan Sect's "Chrysanthemum Treasure Manual", leaving only a few residual moves in Yue Buqun's hands.
"In short, the complete version of the Sunflower Manual is a top-tier, peerless martial art. The incomplete version used by the Devil Cult is a high-tier, peerless martial art. And the Lin family's Evil-Repelling Sword Spectrum only belongs to mid-tier, peerless martial arts. Their common point is that practitioners must first castrate themselves with a knife." Linghu Chong concluded with a chopping motion of his hand.
If it weren't for the Du Gu Nine Swords, Yue Buqun wouldn't dare guarantee that he could resist the temptation of the Supreme Divine Art. For the sake of reviving the Huashan Sect, he couldn't help but think about cutting himself with a knife, imagining the scene of him chopping off his own chicken*. Yue Buqun suddenly felt a chill run down his spine and quickly pushed this thought out of his mind.
Nowadays, Lao Yue has accepted a disciple with extraordinary talent and he has already mastered the unparalleled swordsmanship of the "Dugu Jiujian" which is on par with the complete version of the "Kuihua Baodian". As a result, the allure of the Lin family's "Bixie Jianpu" to him has naturally dropped to an extremely low point.
What made him very curious was that the predecessor who left the legacy to Linghu Cong was a certain Mr. Jin Yong, and why he had never heard of his name and story before.
Linghu Chong naturally wouldn't tell him that Jin Yong was the original author of "The Smiling, Proud Wanderer" in the 21st century, and that Old Yue was written by him to be self-mutilated and die a miserable death, with no one to mourn.
"These morons in the martial arts world, fighting over a incomplete manual like it's going out of style. Don't they ever think that even if they master it, what's the point? Do they really think they'll be invincible? And don't they wonder who created this thing? Do they really think the incomplete copy in their hands is the only true 'Peerless Jade Manual' in the world?"
How can becoming the ultimate martial arts master not allow one to roam freely in the world? How can there be many people who will master the legendary manual of the Peony Flower Treasure? Old Yue is thoroughly unsettled, if even the ultimate martial arts become common goods, how can he lead the Mount Hua Sect to dominate the world.
Linghu Chong said disdainfully, "I won't mention other things, but I can be certain that the Imperial Palace will not lack the Huashan Sect's Quanjing Manual. Yu Canghai and his gang of idiots are fighting over a eunuch's martial arts manual, losing face for their ancestors."
"It turns out that we have some connections with the Lin family, since this is the case, if the Qingcheng Sect wants to deal with the Lin family, we can't just stand by and do nothing. You immediately call De Nuo and Ling Shan to the main hall, I want to arrange a task." Yue Buqun decided to save the Lin family, and to understand the situation in the imperial palace, he instructed Linghu Chong as such.
"Yes, Master. I'll go and take care of it now." Linghu Chong bowed and took his leave.
Wishing good luck to fellow citizens in Ya'an, Sichuan, hoping that all the people in the disaster area can get rid of their difficulties as soon as possible, have a new home and start a new life.
