Reborn Song Qingshu: Besieging Bright Peak at the Start

Kunlun Mountain.

At the edge of a cliff.

The snow here has not yet melted.

Five days have passed since the six major sects besieged Bright Peak.

On the day Zhang Wuji was elected as the leader of the Ming Cult, before the followers retreated into the secret passage, Yang Xiao ordered the Fiery Banner to set fire to the houses to block the pursuers.

The fire burned for two days and two nights, turning hundreds of magnificent halls and houses on Bright Summit into ashes.

As Song Qingshu stood at the entrance of the secret passage and looked back at the billowing black smoke rising into the sky, he felt a pang of heartache and clicked his tongue.

What a magnificent building, with its carved beams, painted rafters, and flying eaves; all of it was destroyed in a single fire.

But then I thought about it again, and since it wasn't his house that was burned down, I felt relieved.

All the Ming Cult masters were injured, and after hiding in the secret passage, it would take them at least ten days to half a month to recover their strength.

After a brief consideration, Song Qingshu went to bid farewell to Zhang Wuji.

His explanation was quite reasonable—the original plan was for the two of them to return to Wudang together after Wuji recovered from his injuries, but now plans can't keep up with changes. Since his junior brother has become the leader of the Ming Cult, once the masters in the cult have recovered from their injuries, there will inevitably be a lot of cult affairs to deal with.

It would be better if he returned to Wudang first and explained the whole story of what happened on Bright Peak to his father and grandmaster, so that his elders could rest assured.

Zhang Wuji listened, and although he was very reluctant, he understood that his senior brother was right.

He has just taken over as the leader of the cult. How can the new leader just leave like that?

  

"Senior brother is right."

Zhang Wuji sighed and had no choice but to nod in agreement.

As they parted, Zhang Wuji's eyes finally reddened.

To be honest, after spending these few days together, he had already come to regard Song Qingshu as his own elder brother.

From childhood to adulthood, he has encountered too many people along the way—some greeted him with smiles but harbored murderous intentions, while others spoke of benevolence and morality but had ulterior motives.

Zhu Changling was like this, He Taichong was like this, but in comparison, Senior Brother Song's kindness to him was genuine and without any impurities.

On Bright Peak, he publicly recognized his relatives; in front of the six major sects, he stood guard with his sword drawn; when he was unconscious, he stayed by his bedside without leaving for a moment; when he was elected as the leader of the sect, he stood up against the opinions of all the heroes in the hall—each and every one of these acts was a genuine act of kindness.

Now that he has taken on this important responsibility for the first time, Zhang Wuji may not say it, but he actually has no confidence at all.

Fortunately, Senior Brother Song was there to help him, which put his mind at ease.

But in the blink of an eye, even this pillar of support was leaving. Zhang Wuji felt a void in his heart, as if something had been taken away. A thousand words were stuck in his throat, but in the end, they could only be summed up as, "Senior brother, take care on your journey."

Seeing him like this, Song Qingshu's heart softened.

Although he was a time traveler, carrying a belly full of calculations and schemes, he was still a man of flesh and blood.

A sincere person like Zhang Wuji would be hard to find even with a flashlight in his previous life, an era rife with materialism.

He patted Zhang Wuji on the shoulder, smiled and offered a few words of comfort. The two brothers agreed to meet again on Wudang Mountain, and then Song Qingshu turned and stepped out of the secret passage.

After exiting the secret passage, Song Qingshu did not head east to return to the Central Plains, but instead turned southwest and plunged into the vast snow-covered mountains of Kunlun.

He's been preoccupied with something for a long time.

Nine Yang Manual!

The original text clearly states that after Zhang Wuji mastered the Nine Yang Divine Skill in that nameless valley, he buried the four volumes of the Lankavatara Sutra, which recorded the core techniques of the Nine Yang True Scripture, in the rock wall of the valley and did not take them with him.

In other words, the peerless martial arts technique that has driven the entire martial arts world mad is still lying quietly in that secluded valley, waiting for a destined person to retrieve it.

And Song Qingshu was that destined person.

To be fair, Song Qingshu had a fairly clear understanding of his own martial arts skills.

Although the original owner of this body was known as "the number one disciple of the third generation of Wudang", he was indeed outstanding on Wudang Mountain, but that was because he was the tallest among the short among a group of disciples of the same generation.

In the real world of martial arts, let alone comparing himself to someone like Zhang Wuji, who is a cheat code, he might not even come out on top against the leaders of second-tier sects like He Taichong and Xianyu Tong.

In the future, he will not be facing just any Tom, Dick, or Harry, but rather the formidable Xuanming Elders, Ah Da, Ah Er, and Ah San under Zhao Min's command.

Without solid skills, how could he possibly put on such a big show in the upcoming Battle of Wan'an Temple?

Don't let it turn into a big mess!

Therefore, he was determined to obtain the Nine Yang Manual.

However, the nameless valley was hidden deep in the Kunlun Mountains, surrounded by sheer cliffs. Zhang Wuji had fallen into it by chance when he was chased and forced to fall off a cliff by Zhu Changling.

Want to enter through the main gate at the valley entrance?

No way!

That place is basically a sinkhole; getting in or out depends entirely on luck.

The only entrance is the narrow stone cave that Zhang Wuji climbed out of back then, and that stone cave is located halfway up the cliff.

During those days on Bright Summit, Song Qingshu wasn't just busy joking around with Xiao Zhao.

He took some time to chat with a few veteran members of the Ming Cult's Fiery Banner, subtly inquiring about the terrain on the southern slope of Kunlun Mountain.

The Ming Cult had been operating on Bright Peak for decades and knew the terrain of the surrounding hundreds of miles like the back of their hand. Although the old members of the cult did not understand why this young hero Song was so interested in cliffs, they still enthusiastically drew him a rough topographical map.

Based on this map and the description in the original work, Song Qingshu basically pinpointed the target area.

First, we need to find the Zhu-Wu Lianhuan Village—the Zhu Family Village of Zhu Changling and the Wu Family Village of Wu Lie were built next to each other and were collectively known as the Zhu-Wu Lianhuan Village. It was not an unknown place in the area on the southern slope of Kunlun Mountain.

Local herders and hunters all know about these two villages; they can find them by asking around along the way.

Zhang Wuji stayed in Zhu Family Village for a period of time. The cliff there was only a few miles away from Zhu Family Village and was the only high cliff in the vicinity that fit the description of "a bottomless abyss".

This morning, Song Qingshu finally stood on the edge of this cliff.

The mountain wind howled, causing his moon-white Taoist robe to billow and swirl. The snow beneath his feet was whipped up by the wind and tumbled down the cliff, leaving no echo of its landing for a long time.

He peered down and saw only swirling clouds and mist, the bottom of which was nowhere to be seen. He kicked a pebble down, but there was no sound for a long time.

Faced with this scene, Song Qingshu felt a surge of heroic spirit, as if the vastness of heaven and earth were right before his eyes, and he couldn't help but want to compose a poem.

He took a deep breath, focused his energy, and sang loudly—

"I stand here! In the fierce wind—"

cough cough...

No, no, we've got the wrong channel.

He cleared his throat and changed to a more appropriate song.

"Don't betray my righteous cause, I will rely on the Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber~ I hope that loyalty and righteousness will blend together, allowing me to see things through to the end~ Let me~ see things through to the end~"

After the song ended, the wind on the cliff top continued to blow, and no one applauded.

Song Qingshu, without any embarrassment, nodded with self-satisfaction: "Excellent, truly excellent."

Enough with the daydreaming, time to get down to business.

He untied the hemp rope that had been prepared beforehand from his back.

The rope was something he had taken out of the secret passage. It was about the thickness of a thumb, made of top-quality ramie, and a full thirty feet long.

He found an ancient pine tree about the size of a bowl on the edge of the cliff. Its roots were deeply embedded in the rock crevices. He pulled hard a few times but it didn't budge. So he confidently tied one end of the rope firmly to the tree trunk and threw the other end off the cliff.

Song Qingshu held onto the rope, his back to the abyss and his face to the cliff, and slid down the rock face little by little with his feet pushing against the rock.

This kind of bouncing descent is child's play for his body.

I don't know how many feet I slid down, the clouds and fog grew thicker and thicker, the icicles that had formed on the cliff face grew longer and longer, and the howling of the mountain wind became muffled and distant in my ears.

Just as his arms began to ache, a flat stone platform suddenly appeared in his sight—about ten zhang square, as if it had been forcibly ripped out of the mountainside by some enormous force, hanging abruptly on the mountainside.

Song Qingshu was greatly encouraged.

That's it, this is the place!

He swung with all his might, landing firmly on the stone platform.

The platform's edges were covered with thick vines and withered grass, making it impossible to discover the hidden world behind it without careful observation.

He parted the vines, revealing a narrow opening. The rocks around the opening were worn smooth, indicating that someone had repeatedly climbed in and out.

Song Qingshu crouched down and crawled into the hole. After only a few steps, he saw a corpse.

The corpse was wearing a tattered blue robe, the fabric long faded and brittle. The body was shriveled and stuck between the stone walls, its posture contorted, clearly indicating that it had experienced a violent struggle before death.

Song Qingshu crouched down and examined the man for a moment in the dim light coming through the cave entrance, confirming that it was indeed Zhu Changling.

"Old bastard, he really deserves it." Song Qingshu sneered.

Zhu Changling perfectly embodied the saying "a man's greed is like a snake trying to swallow an elephant."

Back then, he went to great lengths to extract the whereabouts of Xie Xun and the Dragon-Slaying Saber from Zhang Wuji.

First, let his daughter Zhu Jiuzhen get close to Zhang Wuji and use her beauty to seduce him.

They then joined forces with Wu Lie's family to stage a grand spectacle of burning down Hongmei Manor, even at the cost of destroying their ancestral home, all to gain Zhang Wuji's trust.

Poor Zhang Wuji was only a fifteen or sixteen-year-old boy at the time. He was so infatuated with Zhu Jiuzhen's beauty that he completely forgot his mother Yin Susu's dying warning that "the more beautiful a woman is, the more likely she is to deceive people." All he could think about was going to Icefire Island with "Sister Zhen" and her family to live a carefree life away from the world.

If Zhu Jiuzhen hadn't been unable to restrain herself and hadn't secretly met with her cousin Wei Bi on the eve of the plan's near completion, only to be accidentally discovered by Zhang Wuji, who overheard their entire conspiracy—to poison Xie Xun upon arriving at Icefire Island, then blind Zhang Wuji, leaving him to fend for himself on the deserted island, all while claiming that "sparing his life is already an act of chivalry."

Zhang Wuji was probably kept in the dark until his death.

His beautiful dream shattered, and his Daoist heart collapsed.

Zhang Wuji ran wildly to the edge of a cliff. Facing Zhu Changling's relentless pursuit, he leaped into the air, preferring death to falling into the hands of this hypocrite.

But he was not destined to die.

Not only is there a platform at the bottom of the cliff for cushioning, but there is also a stone cave behind the platform, and beyond the stone cave is a secluded, verdant valley.

Not only did he not die, but he also learned the Nine Yang Divine Skill in the valley. Five years later, the cold poison was completely gone, and his martial arts skills were perfected.

And what about Zhu Changling?

When he saw Zhang Wuji jump off the cliff, he was unwilling to let his hard work go to waste, so he reached out to pull him back. As a result, Zhang Wuji pulled him down the cliff, and they both landed on this platform.

The platform is surrounded by sheer cliffs, trapping the two people there, unable to move forward or backward.

After several unsuccessful attempts, Zhu Changling finally dropped his pretense and revealed his ferocious fangs to Zhang Wuji, intending to vent his anger.

In his panic, Zhang Wuji crawled into the narrow stone cave. Zhu Changling, being tall, couldn't squeeze in and could only watch helplessly from the outside.

Even so, Zhang Wuji did not let him starve to death on the platform.

This silly child was so kind-hearted that he picked wild fruits in the valley and would bring them out of the cave every few days to Zhu Changling to satisfy his hunger.

Without interruption, I fed him for a full five years.

Five years later, Zhang Wuji had mastered his divine skills and used the Bone Shrinking Technique from the Nine Yang Divine Skill to emerge from the stone cave.

At this point, Zhu Changling was no match for him.

But when he heard that Zhang Wuji had mastered unparalleled martial arts, he was consumed by jealousy and devised a vicious scheme to lure Zhang Wuji off the cliff a second time.

After Zhang Wuji left, he thought that this kid was taller and bigger than him and could squeeze out of the cave, so maybe he could do it too if he tried hard.

So he plunged inside, fantasizing about finding a divine martial arts manual after entering the valley and thus dominating the martial arts world—

Then there is no more.

He was trapped and died inside the cave.

They cannot advance; they cannot retreat.

A living person was reduced to a piece of dried meat embedded in a crack in the rock.

Looking at Zhu Changling's corpse, Song Qingshu couldn't help but shake his head.

Human greed is like a snake trying to swallow an elephant; this old man never understood a principle until his death—some opportunities are predestined and cannot be forced by anyone.

Even Song Qingshu, who transmigrated here, wouldn't dare to dream of overthrowing Zhang Wuji and replacing the protagonist. What is Zhu Changling anyway? How dare he shake the protagonist's halo?

"Master Zhu, I'm seeing you off on your final journey."

Song Qingshu took out several bundles of explosives from the package and stuffed them into the crack in the stone next to Zhu Changling's body.

Where did the explosives come from?

Of course, it was taken from the secret passage at Bright Peak.

Cheng Kun, that old bald monk, stockpiled a mountain of explosives in the secret passage in order to blow up Bright Peak. The amount was astonishing, and it took the Ming Cult several days to clean it up afterwards.

It's not unreasonable for Song Qingshu to take a little something on a whim, is it?

Since it would be a waste to leave it there anyway, it's perfectly reasonable for him to take it from the Ming Cult and use it for himself.

He pulled the fuse outside the hole, took a deep breath, and lit it with a tinderbox.

With a deafening roar, debris flew everywhere, and dust billowed into the air.

After the dust settled, it became clear that the previously narrow opening was now completely sealed off...

Song Qingshu was dumbfounded—he had used too much explosives, and the collapsing rubble blocked the entrance to the cave.

Song Qingshu stood at the cave entrance, remained silent for a moment, then raised his hand and gave himself a light slap on the face.

It made you impulsive.

There was no other way; we had to dig the hole we blew ourselves, even if we had to do it on our knees.

He rolled up his sleeves and began clearing away the rubble piece by piece.

Fortunately, only the entrance to the hole was blocked. After digging for less than half an hour, the rubble began to loosen.

He kicked it a few times with force, and with a crash, the stones blocking the innermost part rolled down, and a warm, damp smell wafted out of the cave.

pass.

Song Qingshu let out a long breath, wiped the dust off his face, and crouched down to crawl inside.

The cave is not long, only about ten feet long. It gets wider and wider as you go in. There is a faint phosphorescent glow on the cave walls, which makes it barely possible to see.

After crawling for a while longer, a sliver of light suddenly pierced through the darkness ahead, growing brighter and wider with each passing moment.

He squeezed out through the last crevice between the rocks.

Suddenly, everything became clear!