Riboku's explanation of Houken was appropriate when they met. However, Houken has long stopped being a Bushin representative. As a great man once said: he is a buffoon.
Houken was hit by depression since sexy Big Lips cut his face. His entire path of enlightenment was tossed aside for a path of revenge and self-doubt. Where he desperately clings to the one thing he dedicated his life to, in hopes that in the end, he was not wrong in his path. That it was, a correct answer.
But since then, he just keeps spiraling down and down. He beat Ou Ki with the help of an arrow (empty accomplishment). Got his arm dislocated/fractured by a dying man. A kid cut his face, one that had been under siege by "the GeNiUs Riboku" nonetheless, for several days.
Just because he has dedicated himself to the path of strength, does not mean every other human characteristic in terms of mannerisms, thoughts, personality get tossed aside as it was vaguely displayed in the flashback. Netero from HxH also pursued a path of strength and he is anything but one dimensional. But if you do write a character without personality, you get a clown like Houken.