They cut off the bandit leader's head, wrapped it up, and then set fire to the bandit base.
Lian Cheng, carrying the looted goods and the bandit leader's head, walked out of the bandit base and went straight to Yue Buqun.
Yue Buqun watched his disciple go through the whole process and felt increasingly satisfied. Though it seemed a bit clumsy, it was already quite impressive.
“How do you feel?” Yue Buqun asked softly.
“Oh, it's just so-so.”
Lian Cheng shook his head. “Those bandits were too weak, they weren't a challenge. As for killing for the first time, I didn't feel anything. Those bandits deserved their fate, killing them was like killing animals.”
Yue Buqun carefully examined Lian Cheng for a while, making sure he was truly alright before finally relaxing.
They quickly left, and Yue Buqun took Lian Cheng through the process of collecting the bounty, so he could do it himself next time.
After exchanging the bandit leader's head for the bounty, they immediately returned to Mount Hua.
The Huashan Sect took down the bandits within a day, making their reputation even stronger.
However, Yue Buqun's intention was to announce that he personally wiped out the bandits and to keep Lian Cheng's name hidden for now. He didn't want Lian Cheng to be targeted by the Demon Cult or the Songshan Sect, which would be dangerous.
The future of a sect depended greatly on its young disciples.
The Demon Cult and the Songshan Sect were eager to destroy the Huashan Sect, and if they knew that Huashan had a talented disciple, they would surely come up with evil schemes.
So, they would keep it under wraps for now and let Lian Cheng become famous later when he was stronger.
Back in Mount Hua, Yue Buqun directly gave Lian Cheng one hundred taels of silver as a reward. Linghu Chong, along with his junior disciples, surrounded Lian Cheng and asked him to tell them about the bandit suppression.
Lian Cheng was helpless, but he patiently told them about it.
However, instead of saying the bandits were weak, he said they were ferocious and strong, and it was his master who took care of them, while he only dealt with a couple of trash characters.
He did this to prevent these youngsters from becoming arrogant, thinking that bandits were easy to deal with, so they wouldn't be careless when they went down the mountain to fight bandits in the future.
The next day, Lian Cheng kept his promise and began to teach Linghu Chong the Lian Cheng Sword Art.
“Big brother, the Lian Cheng Sword Art, also known as the Tang Poetry Sword Art, is derived from thirty-six Tang Dynasty poems. Each move corresponds to a line of poetry, very exquisite. I will only teach you one poem at a time, and then move on to the next one when you’ve learned it.”
“You take this ‘Selection of Tang Poems’, remember to memorize it, to understand the meaning and the artistic conception of each poem. If you don’t understand anything, go ask Master and Mistress.”
“Don’t lose this collection. It’s not just a poetry book, it’s also a sword manual!”
Lian Cheng handed the collection to Linghu Chong with a smile, ignoring the look of constipation on his big brother's face.
He knew that Linghu Chong was impulsive and had good swordsmanship talent, but he had no interest in studying. It would be difficult to make him learn Tang poetry, but if he wanted to learn the Lian Cheng Sword Art, he had to learn Tang poetry, there was no way around it.
Linghu Chong held the poetry book, reluctantly agreed: “Second brother, don’t worry, I’ll memorize Tang poetry every day!”
Lian Cheng was secretly happy, but he remained expressionless and began to teach the first move, “Moonlit Night at Maple Bridge.” He recited the poem as he performed the exquisite sword moves, making Linghu Chong marvel.
“Great swordsmanship! It’s truly amazing!”
Linghu Chong watched once, then started to learn and practice it.
Initially, Lian Cheng thought that Linghu Chong's understanding of Tang poetry was shallow, and it would be difficult to learn it, considering his Mistress’s experience. However, the result was beyond Lian Cheng’s expectation.
Linghu Chong also recited the poem while performing the sword moves. The first time was just a form, but after three times, it started to become authentic.
By the fifth time, Linghu Chong was already performing it very well, it seemed he had already learned it.
Lian Cheng was surprised: “Big brother, do you understand the meaning of ‘Moonlit Night at Maple Bridge’ so well? How come you learned it so quickly? You know, Mistress took a whole day to learn it!”
“Um, haha, is that so?”
Linghu Chong scratched his head. “I don’t know, actually, I don’t understand much about Tang poetry. I just followed Second Brother’s moves. And Second Brother said before that this swordsmanship is about understanding the artistic conception of the poems, in other words, it’s more about meaning than the moves. I don’t understand Tang poetry, but I can still pick up some of the charm of Second Brother's swordsmanship. As long as I get that feeling, I seem to be able to learn it.”
So that’s it!
Lian Cheng understood and gained a deeper understanding of Linghu Chong’s talent.
In simple terms, Linghu Chong’s talent was indeed very high, but it was different from the common understanding of talent and couldn't be taught in the usual way, otherwise, it wouldn't be effective.
In the original story, when Feng Qingyang taught the Dugu Nine Swords, the key was to impart the concept of “no move is better than a move”, along with the nine moves to break other moves, but there were no fixed moves.
Linghu Chong's personality wasn't suitable for learning within strict frameworks. He needed to break free!
Therefore, he quickly grasped the essence of the Dugu Nine Swords!
The same was true for the Lian Cheng Sword Art. It emphasized meaning over moves, and Linghu Chong, with his talent and comprehension, broke free from the framework of Tang poetry. He only focused on understanding the artistic conception of the sword moves and miraculously mastered it.
It was unbelievable.
Lian Cheng couldn't help but ponder, then decisively made a decision: “Big brother, your situation is special, so we need to change the teaching method. Give me back the poetry collection, you don’t need to memorize Tang poetry anymore, you only need to understand the artistic conception of my sword moves.”
Linghu Chong immediately rejoiced and returned the collection: “Haha, that's great, I can't learn this Tang poetry anyway!”
Lian Cheng took back the collection, but said: “You don’t have to learn, but you still need to recite them when you practice swordsmanship!”
Linghu Chong was dumbfounded: “Ah? That, that's not good, is it? Second brother, no matter how much I recite Tang poetry, I still don't understand the artistic conception, so isn't it a waste of time? Moreover, if I encounter an opponent in the future who is familiar with the Lian Cheng Sword Art, and I recite Tang poetry, wouldn't that let them know my moves?”
“Hehe, you don’t understand, do you?”
Lian Cheng folded his arms, with a strange smile. “Big brother, think about it, you’re wielding a graceful sword, while calmly reciting Tang poetry, wouldn’t that give you a graceful and chivalrous aura? Wouldn’t it make others submit to you? Wouldn’t it enchant countless women? And who said that the poetry I recite must be the moves I use? I can recite “Moonlit Night at Maple Bridge”, but use the moves from “Arrival at the Frontiers”, wouldn't that make your opponent suffer?”
Huh? If you put it that way...
Linghu Chong actually imagined it, and immediately smiled slyly.
Indeed, he thought that feeling was pretty cool.
He could look cool and also trick his opponents, what's not to like? So, he still had to recite Tang poetry, it wasn't a big deal, at most he’d get thirsty after reciting so much, then he could just have another pot of wine, wouldn't that be great?
Linghu Chong immediately nodded: “Second brother makes sense, I will recite Tang poetry when I practice swordsmanship!”
PS: This book has been signed, feel free to chase after it!