Smiling Proud Wanderer

[googee]

thank you for the update

[pokit]

His body moved like lightning entering the house. He saw a person in the main hall holding a sabre and the three apprentices tied up on the ground beside him. Linghu Chong jumped forward and took out his Yaodao saber. Then using his sheathed sabre, he stabbed it towards that person's throat. That person didn't even react before he died. Linghu Chong was dumbfounded, "How come my sword is so fast? I just extended my hand and it already reached his throat?" He himself didn't know that ever since he practised the Art of Essence Absorbing, the internal energies of the Peach Valley six fairies, Monk No-Commandment, and Mr. Black-White had become his own internal energy to use. His initial idea was that once he stabbed with his sabre then the enemy would raise his own sabre to block and he would then use his sheathed sabre to hit his enemy's legs to drop him on the ground. Then he would be able to save the three martial sisters. Unexpectedly, his enemy didn't even have time to raise his sabre before he got hit and killed.

Linghu Chong felt apologetic as he dragged the dead man away. Then he looked down, he saw that Yilin was among the three female apprentices lying on the ground. He extended his hand to check her breathing and found her breathing evenly. Except for being unconscious, she was otherwise unharmed. He quickly went to the kitchen to fetch a ladle of cold water and splashed it on her face. In a little while, Yilin woke up and groaned slightly. At the beginning, she didn't know that she was on the ground. She opened her eyes and suddenly realised what had happened. She quickly jumped up and wanted to draw her sword. But both of her hands and feet were tied up, and she fell back down.

Linghu Chong said, "Little Shi Tai, don't be afraid. That bad person has been killed by General." He then used his sabre to cut away the ropes binding her hands and feet. In the darkness, Yilin heard his voice and it was that person "Big brother Linghu" that she had been thinking of day and night. She was alarmed and happy at the same time. She called out, "You... you are Linghu Big... " This word "brother" wasn't said when she thought that it wasn't right. Her whole face turned red and she quietly whispered, "Who... who are you?"

Linghu Chong heard her recognizing him and then correcting herself. He whispered, "General is here. Those small-time thieves wouldn't dare to bully you anymore."

"Ah, so it's General Wu. How about my... my martial uncle?" asked Yilin.

"She's outside fighting with the enemies. Let's go out and take a look," said Linghu Chong.

"Sister Zheng, Sister Qin..." said Yilin.

She took out from her bosom a fire stick and lighted it up. She saw her two apprentice sisters lying on the ground.

She said, "En, they're all here." She wanted to cut the ropes on their hands and feet.

But Linghu Chong said, "Don't bother. Helping your martial uncle is more important at the moment."

Yilin said, "That's true."

Linghu Chong turned around and went outside with Yilin following behind. They had just walked several steps when they saw those seven enemies fleeing. Then they heard the projectiles being deflected and someone praising how high Dingjing Shi Tai's sword art is. Dingjing Shi Tai recognised that the person is from the Songshan School. Not long after that, he saw Dingjing Shi Tai following those Han Chinese to go into Xian An Inn. Linghu Chong signaled to Yilin to follow him to the inn and hid outside the window to eavesdrop. They heard Dingjing Shi Tai chatting with Zhong Zhen inside the room. That person surnamed Zhong wanted Dingjing Shi Tai to agree to the merging of the Heng-Shan School first before they would help save her disciples. Linghu Chong heard him harbouring evil intentions and taking advantage of someone who was already down. He secretly felt angry. He also heard Dingjing Shi Tai getting more and more angry as Zhong Zhen said more words until she finally jumped out of the inn.

Linghu Chong waited for Dingjing Shi Tai to go a bit further before he went down and knocked on Xian An Inn's door. He shouted, "Your granny, General wants to drink wine and sleep. Your granny shop servants, why don't you quickly open the door?" It was just at that time that Dingjing Shi Tai had run out of ideas when she heard this general's shout. She felt really happy and quickly went over. Yilin went up to welcome her and called out, "Martial uncle!" Dingjing Shi Tai felt even happier. She hastily asked, "Where did you go before?"

Yilin answered, "I was captured by Devil Sect witches. General rescued me..."

At this time, Linghu Chong had pushed the door open and walked in. Inside the main hall was two candles lighted up and Zhong Zhen was sitting in the middle of the hall. Zhong Zhen gloomily said, "Who's making all those noises? Come out quickly!"

Linghu Chong scolded him, "Your granny! This is general working for the government court; you still have the guts to speak out? Shopkeeper, Boss' wife, servants, quickly come out."

Songshan School people heard him scolding and then asking for the shopkeeper and the boss' wife. It was obvious to them that he looked fierce on the outside but soft on the inside and that he was feeling afraid in his heart. They all found it funny. Zhong Zhen was still thinking about the big matter in his heart when this government dog came in the middle of the night. He quietly said, "Get rid of this chap but don't kill him." Bright Hair Lion Gao Kexin nodded his head. He then laughed aloud and went towards Linghu Chong. He said, "So it's granddad from the government. Pardon me for not paying respect."

"It's already good that you know. You people are only ordinary folks so you don't know any rules..." said Linghu Chong.

[Demonic Swordsman]

ooo..i smell a big fight in the next few updates

thanx for the update

[myko85]

thanks for the update. cant' wait to see what happens

[marktio]

thank you pokit for the quick translation

always so grateful to you after reading

just to let you know i do enjoy the story

best regards

[s4life]

Thanks pokit and hhaung.. this translation is going great!

[gobie2920]

Yess!!! Another fight. Time to give this Songshan guy a good bashing. I am longing for someone to teach them a lesson ever since they massacre Liu Zhengfeng's family.
Thank you for the update.

[pokit]

Well, it's not much of a fight. More like bullying.

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Gao Kexin laughed, "Haha! Yes! Yes!" and in a flash, his body was in front of Linghu Chong. He extended his forefinger and stabbed it towards Linghu Chong's waist. Linghu Chong saw where he was aiming at and he quickly concentrated his internal energy at his waist. Gao Kexin stab found Linghu Chong's laughing acupoint. When an opponent was hit at this point, he would laugh loudly once and would immediately lose consciousness. To his surprise, Linghu Chong just giggled once and said, "You're not following any rules. What kind of joke are you playing with General moving your hands and feet about?" Gao Kexin was greatly surprised. But he already executed his second stab. This time he was using all of his power in his stab. Linghu Chong laughed loudly and jumped up. He laughingly scolded him, "Your granny, what are you doing rubbing general's waist? You wanna steal some silvers? Hmm, you look solemn, handsome and intelligent. But actually you're an unlearned man."

Gao Kexin's left hand shot out to grab Linghu Chong's right wrist and he was going to use his right hand to fling him down to the ground. Unexpectedly, as his hand touched Linghu Chong's wrist, his internal energy started to rush out of his body and he couldn't stop it. He couldn't help but be completely frightened. He wanted to shout but even when his mouth was opened wide, no sound was coming out.

Linghu Chong was aware that his opponent's internal energy was being absorbed into his body. It was just like that day when he grabbed Mr. Black-White's wrist. He was alarmed, "I can't use this demonical method." He quickly flinged Gao Kexin away, breaking the contact.

Gao Kexin felt as if he had received a King's pardon as he was stupidly thrown down. He quickly stood up but felt weak all over as if he had just recovered from a big illness. He shouted, "Art of Essence Absorbing. Art... Art of Essence Absorbing!" His shout came out as more of a hiss but it was full of fear. Zhong Zhen, Deng Bagong and the rest of the Songshan School disciples jumped up at the same time and asked, "What?" Gao Kexin stammered, "This.. this person is using art... art of Essence Absorbing."

All of a sudden the room was filled with lights flickering off swords as everyone drew their long swords out from their scabbards while Divine Whip Deng Bagong held a whip in his hand. Zhong Zhen's sword art was the fastest. Under the trembling cold light of the room, the reflective light of his sword had already pierced Linghu Chong's throat. When that Gao Kexin shouted, Linghu Chong already anticipated that Songshan School people would immediately gang up on him and they were now thrusting their swords towards him. But as they were pulling their swords out, Linghu Chong also pulled his Yaodao sabre along with its sheath out from his waist and used it like a long sword. His hand shook lightly and the back of everyone's hand was hit and "qiang lang" sounds were heard. The "qiang lang" noise had not stopped yet when all the swords were dropped on the ground. Zhong Zhen's martial art was the highest, even though the back of his hand had been hit by Linghu Chong's scabbard, he still managed to hold on to it. He was frightened and jumped back. Deng Bagong was distressed and let go of the whip's handle, which made the whip lashed up and wrapped around his neck restricting him from drawing any breath.

Zhong Zhen was leaning his back against the wall and his face had lost all colour. "A well known in Jiang Hu. Devil Sect's Chief Ren resurfaces. You... you... you are Chief Ren... are you Ren Woxing?"

Linghu Chong laughed, "Your granny, what Ren Woxing, Ren Nixing, General won't change his surname and won't change his name either. My surname is Wu, my name is Tiande. From which mound did you come from? Are you that whatever Zai's small time thieves?"

(Translator’s note: Ren Woxing: the Wo in his name mean I, Ren Nixing: the Ni in this name means You.)

Zhong Zhen clasped both his hands, "Sir, you have re-entered Jiang Hu. Zhong knows that I'm not your match so I'm going." He jumped through the window to get out. Gao Kexin followed him and jumped out the window too. Then one by one, they all jumped out through the window. Although the floor was full of long swords, none of them dared to take any of them. Linghu Chong's left hand was now holding the scabbard while his right hand was holding the sabre's handle. He then used his strength to pull on the handle a few times but that sabre never came out from its sheath. He said, "The rust on this treasured sabre is really bad. I should look for a grindstone and sharpen it."

Dingjing Shi Tai clasped her hands and asked, "General Wu, how do we save my disciples?" Linghu Chong expected that as soon as Zhong Zhen and his people went away, no one would be able to match Dingjing Shi Tai's divine sword. He replied, "General wants to drink a few bowls of wine here. Old Shi Tai, do you want to drink wine too?" When Yilin heard him talking about drinking wine again, she thought, "If this general meets with big brother Linghu, they would certainly become drinking buddies." As she took a peep at him, she saw that the general was staring at her. Her face turned slightly red and she lowered her head. Dingjing Shi Tai said, "Forgive me. Poor nun doesn't drink wine. General, I won't accompany you!" She clasped her hands again and then turned around to leave. Yilin followed her out but when she reached the door, she couldn't help but to take another look at him. She saw him looking for wine and calling out in a loud voice, "Your granny, all the people in the inn have all disappeared. How come those servants are still not coming out.” She thought, "His voice sounds similar to big brother Linghu's but whenever this general speaks, he's very vulgar. Every sentence he has to mention his whatever. Big brother Linghu isn't like that at all. His martial art is also much higher compared to big brother Linghu. I... I must be imagining things... Ai, must be... "

Linghu Chong had finally found some wine and he immediately gulped it down. He thought, "When these nuns, grannies and ladies come back, they'll talk non-stop and I'll have to endure it for sure. It’s better if I just run away before then. Saving these people would take around an hour and my tummy would be very hungry by that time. It's better if I find something to eat first."

[Demonic Swordsman]

Well, it's not much of a fight. More like bullying.

aw man...we wanted to see LHC kick some butt lol

[efflix]

Well, it's not much of a fight. More like bullying.

haha aww this bullying is funny. LHC should've exposed the people who had captured Yilin to Dingjing Shi Tai though.

[pokit]

I guess the readers would've realised by now something is fishy. But Linghu Chong doesn't know that the people who captured the disciples were Songshan School people.

But his reaction after defeating the Songshan School's people indicated that he knew. Because he actually thought that Dingjing Shi Tai would be able to save her disciples after he defeated the Songshan School. Isn't the Devil Sect still out there?

He again revealed a bit later that he still thought that the Devil Sect was the one behind the capture of the disciples. So there's a slight illogical thinking on Linghu Chong's part here. Why would he let Dingjing Shi Tai run around if he thought that there's still eighteen Devil Sect's people out there? Or maybe Jin Yong just forgot that Linghu Chong was still clueless on the identity of the Devil Sect's people.

[myko85]

thank you for the post!

[ChronoReverse]

I think that LHC believes that the Devil Cult captured the nuns but the Songshan people wouldn't help unless Ding Shitai agrees to their conditions.

[pokit]

I agree with you Chronoreverse.

But why would he let Dingjing Shi Tai walked out of the inn by herself? Does he really think that she could take eighteen people on by herself? He said it himself that nineteen Devil Sect's people could still cause some problem so he must help them in secret. But now he just decided that her divine sword skill would be able to save her disciples. This suggests that he knew that he had gotten rid of the problem which is Songshan School.

[hhaung]

Or it could be that Linghu Chong saw the supposed Devil Sect's people running away and thought they might not come back for the night. If they had been people from the Devil Sect, once defeated or scared off, knowing that Song Shan School is there now along with the Hengshan nuns, they are not likely to come back and attack any time soon. They will have to regroup first. Just my 2 cents...

[ChronoReverse]

Ding Shitai did pretty well on her own too. LHC obviously thought highly of her (and even thought she could take on multiple assailants long enough for him to save the disciples first).

Still, LHC is being haphazard here. It's in his character though. Remember that for the events of later. LHC is a nice guy but he is neither the most cunning, the most honest, the most honourable, etc.

Anyways, he's rather concerned about being found out. Yilin is awfully close to unmasking him and LHC doesn't want trouble for himself

[eliza bennet]

LHC should learn how to control the Art of Essence Absorbing, and fast. Not only he inadvertently hurts people more than he wants to but also he is causing a mistaken identity situation to occur.

[ChronoReverse]

It's probably not that easy. Even DY inadvertantly drained people left and right.

[Yang Guo]

that worked out rather well for DY though they were all enemies... well guess u could say that for this situation too

[ChronoReverse]

More like DY didn't feel nearly as bad about draining other people as LHC seems to.