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

Page 572

Upon hearing this, the Taoist priests immediately became agitated and rushed to the outskirts of the city.

At this moment, a large number of Taoist priests had gathered outside the city.

Everyone craned their necks and looked into the distance, only to see a dark line appearing on the horizon, constantly moving in their direction. When it got closer, they realized it was a dark mass of people, seemingly endless in number.

Several large flags stood in the crowd, with the first flag bearing the words "Huashan Sect," while the others were flags of the Kunlun, Emei, and Hengshan sects.

The arrival of the various factions immediately perked everyone up, but what drew their attention even more was the group at the forefront.

The enormous black tortoise, as large as a small mountain, moved its thick limbs, making a thumping sound on the ground. On the back of the black tortoise, a terrifying serpent coiled.

The serpent lay lazily on the back of the black tortoise, its tongue constantly flicking in and out. When its eyes occasionally swept over the crowd, a sense of fear would rise in their hearts.

However, these two extremely rare and ferocious beasts did not attract the attention of the Taoist priests; their eyes were all fixed on the figure on the back of the Xuan Turtle.

dong dong dong.

The black tortoise stopped in front of the group, looking at the Taoist priests. Its fierce aura made the priests feel somewhat uncomfortable.

The serpent also stood upright, its vertical pupils scanning the Taoist priests, and the oppressive aura of the two ferocious beasts immediately spread.

However, neither beast made any move to attack, which relieved the Taoist priests.

At this moment, the figure on the back of the black tortoise stood up, and the Taoists felt the figure's gaze turn towards them.

"We pay our respects to the Heavenly Venerable."

Taoist priests all over the mountain bowed down to the figure on the back of the black tortoise.

The Kunlun and Emei masters behind them were secretly shocked by this scene.

All Taoist priests in the land worship him.

Only now did they finally see the true value of holding the power of the Daoist sect and ruling over all Daoism in the world.

Jiang Ning looked at the Taoist priests and spoke.

"Everyone, please stand up."

The Taoist priests then straightened up.

"Everyone, this is the final battle between our righteous path and the demonic sect. This battle is perilous. I will go with you to Blackwood Cliff to completely eradicate the demonic sect, sweep away the evil influence, and restore peace to the world."

"I will obey the Heavenly Venerable's instructions."

The Taoist priests all answered in unison.

Jiang Ning dismounted from the back of the black tortoise and rode in the imperial carriage into the city.

The Taoist priests followed closely behind, escorting Jiang Ning into the city.

At this moment, their gazes were fixed intently on Jiang Ning, filled with respect and awe.

"Junior Brother Sect Leader is truly impressive."

Linghu Chong watched as Jiang Ning was escorted into the city by a group of Taoist priests and couldn't help but sigh.

"That's for sure. The sect leader is now the Demon-Subduing Heavenly Venerable, bestowed by the Emperor Chengtian. All Taoist sects are led by him, so of course he's very powerful."

Liang Fa exclaimed, "This imperial carriage is truly magnificent!"

Not long after the Huashan Martial Arts Tournament last year, Zhu Houzhao sent someone to deliver the imperial carriage to Huashan for Jiangning's daily travel.

The Huashan disciples, including Liang Fa, lacked experience and only thought the imperial carriage was impressive and beautiful. However, those with real knowledge would have realized that the imperial carriage ridden by Jiang Ning was of the same standard as that of the emperor.

This shows how much Zhu Houzhao valued Jiangning.

But Jiang Ning, sitting in the imperial carriage, felt slightly uncomfortable; it was not as comfortable as riding a horse.

Jiang Ning originally intended to ride a horse, but Yue Buqun said that this was the moment to highlight Jiang Ning's majesty, and riding a horse was not appropriate, so he made Jiang Ning ride in the imperial carriage.

Surrounded by Taoist priests, Jiang Ning entered the city. The area outside the city was already packed with people, and the city was even more crowded. Whether they were martial arts practitioners or ordinary people, they all gathered on the streets to see him and cheered for the Heavenly Venerable. In the end, the imperial carriage could hardly move an inch.

Faced with the enthusiasm of the crowd, Jiang Ning stepped out of the imperial carriage and chatted with them at close range.

However, Jiang Ning had a terrible experience with the imperial carriage and decided never to ride in it again, leaving it to gather dust in the warehouse of Mount Hua.

Everyone was very enthusiastic towards Jiang Ning. The martial arts people were alright; although they were enthusiastic, they still knew their limits.

However, the people surged forward, each chattering away, leaving Jiang Ning completely bewildered.

These people regarded Jiangning as an omnipotent god, and made wishes to him. Some wanted to get rich, some prayed for the safety of their sick children, and some wanted to get married. The wishes were varied.

Some women even regarded Jiang Ning as a god who grants children, kneeling down in front of him and begging him to give them a child.

These miscellaneous wishes gave Jiang Ning a headache. Jiang Ning, who had fought his way in and out of the Demonic Sect's encirclement without batting an eye, now had his pupils dilate slightly when faced with the enthusiastic crowd of people.

Especially after discovering that Jiang Ning was approachable, the people became even bolder, pressing close to him and tugging at his clothes. Amidst the clamor, Jiang Ning clearly heard a tearing sound.

Some bolder women, seeing Jiang Ning's fairly handsome face, couldn't resist reaching out to try and take advantage of him, but Jiang Ning noticed and prevented them from succeeding.

Faced with these people, Jiang Ning felt somewhat helpless and could only try to dodge them in the crowd.

Fortunately, a few Taoist priests noticed Jiang Ning's predicament and quickly came to his rescue, pulling him away from the crowd's enthusiasm.

"Hahaha."

At this moment, a villager excitedly raised his hand, holding a strip of cloth.

“I got a piece of cloth from that deity’s clothes. It’s clothes that a deity wore, so it’s sure to bring good luck. I’m going to put it up for worship when I get back.”

"Tch, what's so special about that?"

Some people were disdainful and immediately raised their hands.

"I managed to snag a divine pair of intimate underwear; my luck is definitely better than yours."

Under the envious gazes of the crowd, the commoner was extremely proud, but one of the commoners shouted angrily.

"Damn it, you took my underwear!"

Chapter 778: The Legacy of Quanzhen

"Your Majesty, the people are being a little too enthusiastic."

The Taoist priests who came to Jiang Ning's rescue spoke as they followed behind him.

They didn't understand Jiang Ning's temperament and were afraid he would get angry.

"That's okay."

Jiang Ning laughed: "It's just that I can't fulfill the wishes they made."

All other wishes are fine, but asking him to grant a child is truly outrageous; it's like treating him like a fertility god.

Seeing that Jiang Ning was not angry, but instead smiled and spoke, the Taoist priests breathed a sigh of relief, thinking to themselves that the legendary Celestial Venerable was not so cold-hearted after all, but rather full of human warmth.

Rumor has it that this man killed countless evil spirits and heretics upon his debut, earning him the murderous title of King Ning. Several Taoist priests had only heard of him before but had never seen him in person. Now, after talking to him up close, they found that Jiang Ning was quite easy to talk to, had no strange temper, and was quite amiable.

This made the Taoist priests feel a sense of closeness.

"I have yet to ask the Taoist names of you gentlemen."

Jiang Ning asked with a smile.

Several people were flattered.

"I dare not use such a title as the Heavenly Venerable."

A slightly older Taoist priest quickly introduced himself: "I am Wujizi, and these are my junior brothers, Qiming Daoist, Gushanzi, and Shiquan Daoist."

Wujizi explained as he spoke.

Jiang Ning nodded.

Wujizi suddenly said, "Reporting to the Heavenly Venerable, we are actually of the same origin as the Huashan Sect."

Ok?

Jiang Ning looked at the group in surprise.

Same origin?

"Which branch of the Seven Masters of Quanzhen Sect do you belong to?"

The Huashan Sect is a branch of Hao Datong and is one of the branches of the Quanzhen School. In recent days, it has claimed to share the same origin as the Huashan Sect, which means it is also a branch of the Quanzhen School, but it is unknown which branch it is.

But Jiang Ning was even more surprised at this moment, because Yue Buqun had previously said that the branches of the Quanzhen Sect had gradually disappeared, leaving only the Huashan Sect.

The emergence of a new branch of Quanzhen (全真) was truly unexpected.

"Reporting to the Heavenly Venerable, we are not one of the Seven Masters of Quanzhen."

Wujizi slowly recounted their origins.

"I see."

Jiang Ning nodded.

It turns out that these Taoist priests were descendants of some disciples of the Quanzhen School who went into seclusion in the mountains after the sect disintegrated. However, they usually lived in seclusion in the deep mountains and rarely appeared in the world, so few people knew about them.

Their presence here was truly due to the widespread dissemination of Jiangning's edict to subdue demons; even they knew about it, which prompted them to descend the mountain and come here.

After confirming the identity, Jiang Ning was overjoyed to find that the other party was indeed a descendant of the Quanzhen lineage. He smiled and said, "So it turns out that you Daoists and my Huashan Sect are of the same lineage and origin, both branches of the Quanzhen lineage. This is truly a cause for celebration."

After revealing their identities, Wujizi and the others secretly observed Jiang Ning's expression, feeling quite uneasy.

They hadn't originally intended to introduce themselves, fearing that Jiang Ning and the Huashan Sect would think they were poor relatives trying to curry favor and look down on them. However, during their brief conversation, they found Jiang Ning to be quite easygoing, so they introduced themselves.

Seeing that the other party's joy seemed genuine, they smiled as well.

"Since it is one of the branches of Quanzhen, it is only right to get closer to it."

Jiang Ning said with delight, "For many years, my master Yue Buqun thought that the Quanzhen School had disappeared and only the Huashan School remained. He was very disappointed. Now that he heard that the Quanzhen School still has other branches that have been passed down to this day, my master is also very happy."

"We are all from the Quanzhen School, so why haven't we kept in touch for so many years?"

Jiang Ning asked.

Wujizi gave a wry smile: "Back then, my master and the others also wanted to get closer to the Huashan Sect, but at that time the Huashan Sect was still the leader of the Five Mountains Sword Sects and had a great reputation in the martial arts world. We were afraid that the Huashan Sect would look down on us, so we did not make contact."

The Huashan Sect is descended from Hao Datong, who was one of the Seven Masters of Quanzhen in his day. His status far surpassed that of other Quanzhen disciples. Especially after the Huashan Sect reached its zenith, the descendants of these ordinary disciples dared not contact them, fearing that instead of building closer ties, they would be humiliated.

More importantly, although the Huashan Sect is a branch of Hao Datong, it has not had any real Taoists in recent years. Instead, it has become more like a Jianghu (martial arts world) person. As a result, they gave up the idea of ​​contacting the Huashan Sect. It was not until recently, when Jiang Ning announced that the Huashan Sect was a branch of Quanzhen and that the Huashan Sect had returned to Quanzhen, that they had the intention to make contact.

"This……"

Jiang Ning chuckled; he could understand the other party's concerns.

"Master Wujizi, are there only a few of you left in your lineage now?"

"The Celestial Venerable may simply call me Wujizi."

Wujizi said in a panic, "Our lineage is left with only a few of us brothers and a few young disciples. My master, Mingxuzi, passed away ten years ago."

Jiang Ning felt a little disappointed upon hearing this, but it was also within his expectations.

He observed that these individuals wore very simple Taoist robes with numerous patches, and were thin. Although they possessed some martial arts skills, they were only average, indicating that they were not experts and that their lineage likely did not have many disciples.

Jiang Ning then asked, "Since you are also descendants of the Quanzhen lineage, are there any other branches of the Quanzhen lineage that have survived to this day?"

"Have."

Wujizi nodded.

When their patriarch left the Quanzhen School, he also had contact with other Quanzhen disciples. Over the years, they have maintained contact with each other and have been cultivating in the deep mountains.

Jiang Ning's eyes lit up upon hearing this, and he asked, "Could we invite them to meet us?"

Wujizi laughed and said, "Heavenly Venerable, they are all in the city now."

Jiang Ning became interested and said, "Then I'll trouble you to introduce me, Daoist."

"As instructed by the Heavenly Venerable."

Wujizi bowed and said.

Before long, dozens of Taoist priests arrived in front of Jiang Ning.

“The lineage of Quanzhen Dongmingzi”.

"Hanshan Daoist, a descendant of the Quanzhen School."

"The legacy of Quanzhen..."