Outside Hengyang City, Yue Buqun’s face was ashen. Seeing the ridicule and lecturing from the bullet comments, he felt a burning shame on his face.
Fei Bin!
Xianyu Tong!
He had memorized these two names.
Xianyu Tong was in another region, so he couldn’t do anything about him for now. But Fei Bin was one of the Thirteen Guardians of the Mount Song Sect.
Yue Buqun couldn’t take on all thirteen at once, but if he ever caught one alone, he would kill one. A murderous intent boiled in his heart. He only hated that he hadn’t been chosen by the livestream.
Otherwise, forget Fei Bin—he might have taken on the entire Mount Song Sect by himself. Beside him, the disciples of the Mount Hua Sect were silent and terrified.
Even the usually lively and playful Yue Lingshan didn’t dare to act out at this moment, for fear of provoking Yue Buqun. However, while they remained silent, they couldn’t help but think to themselves,
This ancestor of the Mount Hua Sect seems quite different from how the Master usually describes him. He even turned into a thief!
Ning Zhongze spoke in a gentle voice, comforting him.
“Senior Brother, what happened decades ago is beyond our control. We only need to focus on the present.”
“Mm,” Yue Buqun responded indifferently.
The discussions among the spectators were unknown to the five participants. When they were transported to their respective positions, before the footage began to play, the bullet comments had already been blocked.
Not only that, but they also couldn’t see each other. Each of them was effectively in an independent space.
In other words, apart from the livestream footage, they couldn’t see anything else. This meant that there was no way to cheat on the quiz—they could only rely on their own knowledge.
Ye Luochuan had watched the original story, so he was essentially playing with cheat codes—he naturally knew the answer.
Without hesitation, he chose D. And the moment he made his choice, the livestream restrictions were lifted—he could once again see the other participants and the bullet comments.
At this moment, the other four were carefully analyzing the question. They each applied their intelligence to analyze each option one by one.
“Yue Su and Cai Zifeng sneaking into the Shaolin Sutra Library to learn martial arts is a grave violation of Jianghu’s unspoken rules.”
“Now that they’ve been caught, of course, they’ll feel guilty and uneasy.”
“Deny everything?”
“No way! Although the Mount Hua Sect seems strong, it’s probably no match for the Shaolin Temple.”
“Moreover, the Shaolin Temple holds high prestige in the martial arts world. Otherwise, why would Yue Su and Cai Zifeng have been so respectful and cautious when they first visited?”
“If they act shamelessly and provoke Shaolin, leading to the matter being made public, the reputation of the Mount Hua Sect would be ruined!”
Long Xiaoyun immediately eliminated A.
“Avoiding the confrontation? Now, that’s a good idea.”
“If they stall for a while longer, they might be able to comprehend the secrets of the ‘Sunflower Manual.’”
“By then, the deed would be done. What could Shaolin do about it?”
Long Xiaoyun temporarily kept B as an option.
“C, admitting to theft and apologizing—that does make sense.”
“But promising never to practice it again? That’s highly unlikely.”
“If Yue and Cai could let go of the ‘Sunflower Manual’ that easily, they wouldn’t have ended up breaking ties over it.”
“And the last one… This option is so long and detailed—could it be the right answer?”
“No, it could also be a deliberate trap!”
“The more detailed an answer is, the more likely there’s a single false statement mixed in.”
“A nine-truths-one-lie scenario is the easiest way to deceive people.”
“Yes, this must be a trap!”
“Besides, this monk Duyuan was the favorite disciple of Master Hongye. If he wanted to read the ‘Sunflower Manual,’ he would have done so already—why would he need to secretly memorize it?”
“Even if he hadn’t read it before, so what? If he learned it now, he learned it. Would he really need to renounce his monkhood and never return to Shaolin?”
With these thoughts, Long Xiaoyun felt assured.
Yes, he would choose B!
One word: Stall!
Two words: Play Dead!
This was Long Xiaoyun’s specialty.
He had successfully used this trick to steal Li Xunhuan’s fiancée. No, not steal—he had made Li Xunhuan willingly hand her over.
Thinking of this, Long Xiaoyun couldn’t help but smile smugly. As he made his choice, his surroundings returned to normal. Now, he could see the bullet comments, the other participants, and Ye Luochuan’s answer.
Seeing that Ye Luochuan had chosen D, Long Xiaoyun was startled for a moment. Then he dismissed it. He was confident that he was right.
Lianxing’s reasoning was similar to Long Xiaoyun. But she noticed an important detail. The ‘Sunflower Manual’ was extremely powerful, yet Master Hongye had locked it away instead of practicing it.
And after Yue Su and Cai Zifeng secretly read it, he burned it immediately.
Why?
Lianxing speculated that there must be something wrong with the ‘Sunflower Manual’!
It was precisely because there was something wrong with it that Monk Duyuan hadn’t read it before.
But after memorizing some of the content, he must have been fascinated by its martial arts principles and became eager to practice it. As for why he didn’t return to Shaolin and instead renounced monkhood?
The answer was simple. He was probably afraid of being punished by his master. After all, if Master Hongye had allowed him to learn it, he would have given him the manual earlier.
Faced with the choice between supreme martial arts and his Buddhist faith, Monk Duyuan chose the former!
Yes, that had to be it!
With this conclusion, Lianxing decisively chose D.
“The two predecessors of the Mount Hua Sect made a grave mistake by stealing someone else’s martial arts.”
“But Master always said that even saints make mistakes.”
“To recognize one’s mistakes and correct them is a great virtue.”
“Yue and Cai must have sincerely regretted their actions.”
“The Shaolin monks are compassionate and broad-minded. They would surely choose to forgive them.”
With innocence and sincerity in her watery eyes, Yilin chose C—an answer that would make everyone happy.
“ Hmph! So what if they stole the techniques?”
“As long as they weren’t caught red-handed, what proof does Shaolin have to accuse them?”
Tian Boguang scoffed, quickly dismissing the last three options, and chose A. His reasoning was simple.
Yue Su and Cai Zifeng had already committed such disgraceful acts. Since they even quarreled over the manual’s contents afterward, they were clearly hypocrites. So what was stopping them from playing dumb one more time?
After all, who would have believed they’d turn out to be thieves in the first place? Same logic here. And as for Shaolin publicly exposing the scandal and tarnishing Mount Hua’s reputation?
Heh, who says Shaolin gets to control the narrative? Whatever they say goes? He could just accuse them of slander and malicious defamation!
Besides, the ‘Sunflower Manual’ was in Shaolin’s possession. If Shaolin wanted peace, they had no choice but to suffer in silence!