So what would Yue Buqun do?

[Ian Liew]

Possibly. Given his nature, he would most likely have found some other avenue to try something if he could. He wouldn't have found much chance to try anything, though.

I do wonder if that's how things would have turned out wulin-wise, though. Fang Zheng and Chong Xu were quite concerned about what was happening, and in the story they kind of banked everything on Linghu Chong who delivered. If Linghu Chong wasn't around, I do wonder what they would have done, as they did not look like the types who would have just sit down sadly and watched as Zuo Lengchan united the Five Sects under his rule and then challenged Shaolin and Wudang for wulin superiority. Actually, looking at things, I find it quite hard to understand how the other four sects were so weak compared to Songshan. Zuo, Lu, Fei and Ding were all top-class fighters, and apart from Northern Hengshan, all the other sects pretty much relied on a single master (Southern Hengshan had two if you counted the vagabond Mo Da) to carry them through. Huashan had their split, of course, but why did it take them so long to recover...

[hyoyatika]

I think many people are forgetting that YBQ and ZLC both planted spies into Songshan and Huashan respectively. I believe YBQ's alternate plan would be to assassinate ZLC.

Songshan was a bigger sect than Huashan and a full-blown battle would not be of any advantage to YBQ.