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Thread: Demi-God Semi-Devils

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    Thanks for the post FP!

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    Quote Originally Posted by forgot password View Post
    Chapter 18. cont.
    ...
    Thank you for the update. I'm really enjoying this story

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    Chapter 18. cont.

    At that pressing moment, having nowhere to hide, he saw 3 Buddha statues standing side by side in the sanctum. Without delay he leaped on the altar and hid behind the third statue. He heard the footsteps of 6 people in total who came in the rear sanctum abreast in 2 rows. Each of them sat down on a bulrush mat. From behind the Buddha statue Qiao Feng peeped out and saw that all the 6 people were middle-aged monks. He thought: ‘If I run away from the rear sanctum now, if these 6 monks’ martial arts are mediocre, they won’t be able to detect me, but if just one of them has profound internal energy, and keen eyes and ears, he’ll notice me right away. For the moment I’d better quietly wait and see here for a while.’ Suddenly he heard a monk on the right-hand side say: ‘Shixiong (older apprentice bro), this Bodhi Institute is an empty place, what sutra does it have? Why did master tell us to guard here, saying something like to prevent the enemy from stealing?’ A monk on the right-hand side smiled and said: ‘This is the secret of the Bodhi Institute. It’s no use talking much about it.’ The monk on the right-hand side said: ‘Humph, I see that you may not know either.’ The monk on the left-hand side could not bear the incitement. He said: ‘How come I don’t know? ‘Yi Meng Ru Shi’…’ (一梦如是 – literally ‘A Dream like This’, I use the pinyin for the sake of faithfulness) When he had just said half of the sentence, he suddenly became cautious and stopped talking. The monk on the right-hand side said: ‘What’s ‘Yi Meng Ru Shi’?’ The monk who was sitting on the second bulrush mat said: ‘Zhi Qing shidi (younger apprentice bro), normally you’re not gossipy and meddlesome, why do you keep asking nonstop today? If you wanna know about the secret of the Bodhi Institute, then just go ask your own master.’

    The monk named Zhi Qing did not ask anymore. After a while, he said: ‘I’m going to the back to pass water.’ As he finished saying he stood up. From the right-hand side he went to the side door on the left. When he passed by the back of the monk who was number 5 counting from the left, suddenly he raised his right foot and kicked that monk in the ‘Xuanshu acupuncture point’ on the back. The Xuanshu acupuncture point was located beneath the 13th vertebra. That monk was sitting cross-legged on a bulrush mat therefore his Xuanshu acupuncture point was right on the edge of the mat. After he was hit by Zhi Qing’s tiptoe, his body slowly fell rightwards. Zhi Qing had kicked very fast without making any sound. Next he kicked the 4th monk in the ‘Xuanshu acupuncture point’ then kicked the 3rd monk. In a very short time he had continuously downed 3 monks with his kicks.

    From behind the Buddha statue Qiao Feng saw that clearly. He was very surprised because he did not understand why infighting suddenly arose among these Shaolin monks. He saw Zhi Qing raise his foot and kick the 2nd monk on the left-hand side. When the tiptoe just touched his acupuncture point, 2 of the 3 monks whose acupuncture points had been hit by him fell down from the bulrush mats. Their heads hit the brick floor of the sanctum, creating peng peng sounds. The monk on the left-hand side was startled and jumped to his feet to look carefully. Catching a glimpse of Zhi Qing knocking down the monk behind him with a kick, he was even more frightened and asked: ‘Zhi Qing, what are you doing?’ Zhi Qing pointed outside and said: ‘You see. Who’s coming?’ That monk turned around and looked outside. Zhi Qing then raised the right foot and quickly threw a kick at his back.

    As this kick was executed very fast, it should be impossible to miss. But this sneak attack was reflected clearly in the copper mirror in front of them therefore that monk slanted his body and dodged it. He struck back with his palm and asked: ‘Are you crazy?’ Zhi Qing executed his stances like the wind. When they exchanged the 8th stances, that monk’s lower abdomen took a punch then he received a kick. Seeing Zhi Qing use Yin, soft and ruthless stances, which were absolutely not techniques of Shaolin School, Qiao Feng felt even more surprised.

    That monk knew that he was no match for Zhi Qing, therefore he shouted loudly: ‘Spy. Spy…’ Zhi Qing strode forwards and hit him in the chest with his left fist. That monk immediately fell down and lost consciousness.

    Zhi Qing quickly ran to the copper mirror. He extended his right forefinger and gave the word ‘Yi’ (一 - A) in the first line of the Buddhist verse a push. Through the mirror Qiao Feng saw him follow that by pushing the word ‘Meng’ (梦 – Dream) in the 2nd line. He thought: ‘That monk said the secret was ‘Yi Meng Ru Shi’. There’re 4 ‘Ru’ words (如 – Like) on the mirror, which one should be pushed?’

    He only saw Zhi Qing extend his finger and push the 1st ‘Ru’ word in the 3rd line, then push the word ‘Shi’ (是 - This) in the 4th line. When his finger had not yet left the surface of the mirror, chugging sounds were heard. The copper mirror already slowly turned over.

    This was a good chance for Qiao Feng if he wanted to run away at this moment, but he got curious and wanted to see exactly why this Shaolin monk wanted to harm his fellow disciples and what there was behind the copper mirror. He thought maybe they had something to do with the murder of Xuan Ku dashi.

    Before being hit by Zhi Qing, the first monk on the left-hand side had shouted loudly. There were more than 100 monks being on patrol all around in Shaolin Monastery, hence as soon as they heard the shouting, they rushed to where it had started. Not just a few footsteps were heard on all sides east, south, west, and north of the Bodhi Institute.

    Qiao Feng hesitated: ‘I mustn’t let them spot any trail of me.’ But he thought after the monks arrived, they would focus their eyes on Zhi Qing, he would have a great chance to extricate himself therefore there was no need to hurriedly escape. He saw Zhi Qing reach into a small hole behind the copper mirror to search but find nothing. At this moment, the footsteps from the north had already drawn near the outside of the Bodhi Institute.

    Zhi Qing stamped his foot. Obviously he was totally disappointed. When he was about to turn around and leave, suddenly he lowered his body to look at the back of the mirror then cried out happily in a low voice: ‘It is here!’ He stretched out his hand to take out from the back of the copper mirror a small package and put it into his bosom. He then wanted to find a way to flee, but at this moment there were a lot of monks gathering all around and there was no way out already. Zhi Qing swept around then immediately rushed out through the front door of the Bodhi Institute.

    Qiao Feng thought: ‘Going out like this, it’s impossible for this man not to be captured instantly.’ At this moment, he suddenly felt the sound of wind. Someone was rushing into the place where he was hiding. Qiao Feng located this person by hearing the wind. Stretching out his left hand, he grabbed the left wrist of the enemy. He then raised his right hand and exerted pressure on the Shendao acupuncture point on his back, sending out his internal energy. The whole body of that man immediately went numb, felt exhausted and became unable to move. After catching the enemy, Qiao Feng looked carefully at his face and saw that this man was unexpectedly Zhi Qing. He was startled but immediately understood: ‘That’s right! This man is just like me, also wanting to hide behind the Buddha statues. Luckily he also chooses the 3rd statue, perhaps because this statue has the portliest body. Why did he rush out of the front door first then quietly come in through the back door? Ah, there’re 5 monks lying on the floor, when outsiders enter and ask, those 5 monks will all say that he has escaped through the front door, everyone will then be unlikely to search in this Bodhi Institute. Oh dear, this man is really good at scheming.’

    Qiao Feng considered, his hand still holding Zhi Qing. He then put his lips next to Zhi Qing’s ear and said in a low voice: ‘If you make a noise, I’ll take your life in a palm attack, get it?’ Zhi Qing nodded.

    At this moment, 7 or 8 monks rushed in through the main entrance, 3 of whom were holding torches. The sanctum immediately lit up. Seeing that there were 5 monks lying on the floor of the sanctum, they immediately clamored: ‘That villain Qiao Feng’s carried out a murderous scheme again!’ ‘Hum, they’re Zhi Zhan and Zhi Yuan shixiong’s!’ ‘A’yo! No good! Why was this copper mirror lifted up? Qiao Feng has stolen the sutra of the Bodhi Institute!’ ‘Hurry up and report to Abbot.’ Hearing these people commenting noisily, Qiao Feng could not refrain from smiling bitterly: ‘This debt is again passed on to me.’ In a short period of time, there were more and more monks gathering in the sanctum.

    Qiao Feng felt Zhi Qing struggling, wanting to pull free. He understood his intention: ‘The monks are gathering in the sanctum. Zhi Zhan, Zhi Yuan and the others haven’t regained consciousness. If this Zhi Qing guy wants to escape, this moment is a good chance. Even if he arrogantly appears in the sanctum, no one would have a doubt as they all think that I’m the culprit.’ He immediately had another thought: ‘It seems this Zhi Qing guy isn’t clever enough. A little while ago, why did he need to hide here? Had he come out from the sanctum, why would someone possibly have had interrogated him?’

    Suddenly, the human voices in the sanctum stopped, no one said a word anymore. After that all the monks said in unison: 'Paying my respects to Abbot. Paying my respects to the Damo Institute's Chairman. Paying my respects to the Nagarjuna Institute's Chairman.' (Lol, this sounds so weird! Could someone please help me find an English equivalent of 参见 that is officially used in face-to-face formal meetings?)

    Soft pai-pai sounds were heard. Someone had used his palm to wake Zhi Zhan, Zhi Yuan and the other 3 monks up. Then someone asked: ‘Is it Qiao Feng who did this? How could he know about the secret of the copper mirror?’ Zhi Zhan said: ‘It’s not Qiao Feng. It’s Zhi Qing…’ All of a sudden, he jumped up and scolded: ‘Good, good! Why did you sneakily attack your fellow disciples?’

    From behind the Buddha statue Qiao Feng was unable to see who he was scolding.

    He only heard one man cry out in fear: ‘Zhi Zhan shixiong, why do you pull me?!’ Zhi Zhan angrily said: ‘You kicked the 5 of us down and stole the hidden sutra. How daring! Abbot, the traitor Zhi Qing illegally opened the copper mirror of the Bodhi Institute and stole the sutra!’ That man cried out: ‘What? What? I’ve always been with Abbot, how could I come here to steal that hidden sutra thing?’

    An aged hoarse voice sternly said: ‘Close the copper mirror first then relate what happened.’

    Zhi Yuan went put the copper mirror back to its original position. This time, Qiao Feng saw clearly in the mirror the situation of the monks in the sanctum. He saw a monk gesticulating, looking very agitated. When Qiao Feng looked at him, he could not help feeling startled as it turned out this man was Zhi Qing. Surprised, Qiao Feng involuntarily turned his head and looked at the monk at his side who had been captured by himself. He saw that this man’s appearance was completely the same as that of the Zhi Qing in the sanctum. If looking at them carefully, he might notice some tiny differences, but in a glance, it was really impossible to tell them apart. Qiao Feng considered: ‘In the world, people with similar appearances like this are extremely rare. That’s right, perhaps they are twin brothers. This plan is unexpectedly pretty clever. One became a monk at Shaolin Monastery and one waited outside. When there was an opportunity, the other one disguised as a monk and came in the monastery to steal sutra. That real Zhi Qing didn’t get away from the Abbot even by a single step so of course nobody would suspect him.’

    Qiao Feng only heard Zhi Zhan successively related things like how Zhi Qing had asked about the secret of the copper mirror, how he himself should not have blurted out the 4 words, how Zhi Qing had pretended to go outside to pass water then sneakily kicked down 4 monks, and how Zhi Qing had fought against and flattened himself. While Zhi Zhan was recounting, Zhi Yuan and the other 3 monks repeatedly chimed in and confirmed that there was nothing false in his words.

    Abbot Xuan Ci had all along had a disapproving expression on his face. Waiting until Zhi Zhan had finished relating, he slowly asked: ‘Did you see clearly? Was it really Zhi Qing without a doubt?’ Zhi Zhan, Zhi Yuan and the other monks said in unison: ‘Abbot, there’s no enmity between us and Zhi Qing, why should we frame him?’ Xuan Ci sighed and said: ‘There’s definitely something strange about this. A short while ago Zhi Qing was always at my side without leaving. The Chairman of the Damo Institute was also with us.’

    As soon as the Abbot said so, none of the monks in the sanctum dared to make any sound. The Chairman of the Damo Institute Xuan Nan dashi said: ‘Correct. I also saw Zhi Qing accompany Abbot Shixiong. How come he could go to the Bodhi Institute to steal sutra?’ The Chairman of the Nagarjuna Institute Xuan Ji asked: ‘Zhi Zhan, when that Zhi Qing fought you, was there anything unusual about his stances?’ He was the person with the aged hoarse voice.

    Zhi Zhan uttered a loud cry and said: ‘A’yo! Why haven’t I thought about this? When that Zhi Qing fought this disciple, what he was using weren’t the martial arts of our school.’ Xuan Ji said: ‘Then can you recognize what school those martial arts belong to?’ Seeing that Zhi Zhan was having a blank expression and was unable to answer, Xuan Ji asked again: ‘Was it Long Fist or a close-quarters technique? A Grasping hand technique? Ditang (Ground Tumbling Fist), Liuhe (Six Harmonies Fist), Tongbi (Full Arm Fist)?’ Zhi Zhan said: ‘He… He used very vicious martial arts. I was unaccountably hit by him several times.’

    The Abbot and the elderly monks with the highest rank such as Xuan Ji and Xuan Nan looked at each other. They thought that today opponents of extremely good abilities had come to the monastery and used deceitful tricks to make everyone feel as if being in a thick fog, therefore the immediate plan was, on the one hand, speeding up inspection, and on the other hand, dealing with everything calmly and facing the fearful with no fear, otherwise turbulence would arise in the monastery and the disaster would perhaps become even harder to put in order.

    Xuan Ci put his palms together and said: ‘The sutra hidden in the Bodhi Institute is a Mahayana sutra written by an eminent monk of an older generation in our monastery to promulgate Buddhism and assist human beings. If a Buddhist disciple acquires it and studies it intensively, he would naturally gain quite a few marvelous benefits. But if an ordinary person acquires it and doesn’t value it, the sin really wouldn’t be trivial. Shidi’s and shizhi’s (apprentice nephews), please return to your own institutes to rest. The ones who have duties carry them out as usual.’

    Following his order, the monks dispersed. Only the people such as Zhi Zhan and Zhi Yuan were still nagging nonstop at Zhi Qing. Xuan Ji gave them a stare. Scared, Zhi Zhan and other people did not dare to talk anymore and went out side by side together with Zhi Qing.

    After those monks had left, there were only three monks Xuan Ci, Xuan Nan and Xuan Ji in the sanctum. They were sitting on the bulrush mats in front of the Buddha statues. Xuan Ci suddenly said: ‘Amitabha, how sinful, how sinful!’ As he finished saying these 8 words, all of a sudden the 3 monks jumped up and went around to the back of the Buddha statue. From 3 different directions they sent their palm attacks towards Qiao Feng at the same time.

    (To be continued)
    _________

    I just reread my first several posts in this thread and found a bunch of grammatical errors and a few insignificant misinterpretations. Hopefully you guys can bear w/ them atm. Maybe I'll come back and correct them later when I have more free time.

  4. #584
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    Thanks for the update FP.

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    Chapter 18. cont.

    It was unexpected to Qiao Feng that these 3 monks had already discovered his own place by looking in the copper mirror. It was even more unexpected to him that these 3 senile elderly monks struck as soon as they finished saying and their palm attacks were fast and fierce like this. In an instant, he already felt his breathing had become heavy and the air in his chest was blocked. The joint attack of the 3 high-level monks of Shaolin Monastery was really no small matter. When he tried to tell the directions of the palm attacks apart at that urgent moment, he only felt that the 5 directions above him, below him, on his left, on his right, and at his back were already enveloped by the palm force of the 3 monks, if he was determined to break through, it would be impossible not to use hard techniques, if he did not injure the opponents, he himself would be injured. At that moment, not having time to think carefully, he channeled internal energy into his 2 palms and pushed out forwards. With loud ka-la-la sounds, the Buddha statue in front of him was pushed down. Qiao Feng conveniently lifted Zhi Qing up and leaped forwards. He suddenly felt a swift and fierce palm wind at his back. The palm force had not yet arrived but the wind force had already reached him.

    Qiao Feng was unwilling to clash palms with or try his power against high-level Shaolin monks therefore his right hand grabbed the screen in front of him on which the copper mirror was installed, then he turned his wrist and moved his arm backwards, using the screen to cover his back like a shield. Only a loud ‘deng’ sound was heard, a palm attack of Xuan Nan had hit the copper mirror, causing a shock that made Qiao Feng feel a little pain and numbness in his right arm. The screen around the mirror was broken into several pieces.

    Qiao Feng made use of the force of this palm attack of Xuan Nan and jumped forwards more than 1 zhang (3.333 m). Suddenly he heard someone at his back taking a deep breath. The sound of the breath was louder than usual. Qiao Feng knew instantly that a high-level Shaolin monk was going to use a type of martial arts akin to the ‘Air Splitting Divine Fist.’ Despite not fearing him, he himself did not want to waste internal energy together with him either, hence, without delay, he blocked his back with the copper mirror and also channeled internal energy into his right arm.

    At that moment, he only felt the palm wind of the opponent coming at a slanting angle, the direction of the palm attack was really bizarre. Qiao Feng was very surprised but he immediately understood. That elderly monk’s palm force was not for hitting his back, but instead, was aimed at Zhi Qing’s back. As Qiao Feng and Zhi Qing did not know each other, he at first had no intention of saving him, but because he was already carrying him in his hand, the idea of taking care of him involuntarily appeared in his mind. Therefore, he pushed the copper mirror to shield Zhi Qing with it. Only a low unclear ‘pai’ sound was heard then the sound from the copper mirror disappeared. It turned out this mirror had already been cracked by the palm force of Xuan Nan before, therefore, at this moment, when it was again hit by the Air Splitting Palm of Abbot Xuan Ci, it sounded like a gong getting broken.

    When moving the mirror backwards to block the attack, Qiao Feng had already lifted Zhi Qing and jumped up towards the roof. He felt that his body was very light, really being out of proportion with his tall and big stature. But when that sound, which was rather like the sound of a gong getting broken, was heard, unexpectedly he could not stand firmly on the eaves, his knees became weak and he fell back. Ever since he had started to travel in jianghu he had never met such a formidable opponent, therefore he could not help being startled. He immediately turned around and stood on the ground like a lofty mountain, showing a mighty bearing and paying absolutely no attention to the fact that he was being surrounded by strong enemies.

    Xian Ci said: ‘Amitabha, Qiao shizhu (almsgiver), besides coming to Shaolin Monastery and committing murder, you’ve also destroyed Buddha statues.’

    Xuan Ji shouted loudly: ‘Take one palm attack of mine!’ He moved his 2 palms inwards from the sides in circles then slowly pushed them out towards Qiao Feng. When his palm force had not yet arrived, Qiao Feng already felt his breathing had become difficult in his chest. In an instant, Xuan Ji’s palm force came fiercely like a raging tidal wave.

    Qiao Feng threw the copper mirror away and struck back with an ‘Arrogant Dragon Having Remorse’ stance in the ’18 Dragon Subduing Palms’. When the 2 streams of palm force met each other, they produced chi-chi sounds. Both Xuan Nan and Qiao Feng had to move back 3 steps. For a very short time, Qiao Feng felt his whole body had no strength and he also let Zhi Qing slip out of his hand. But as soon as he channeled his internal energy, he felt vigorous again. Without waiting for Xuan Ji to send out the 2nd palm attack, he shouted: ‘I must take my leave!’ He then lifted Zhi Qing up and leaped onto the roof.

    The 2 monks Xuan Nan and Xuan Ji both uttered a ‘yi’ sound simultaneously and felt extremely astonished. The palm attack sent out by Xuan Ji just now had really gathered all of his power and was called ‘One Hit Two Disperse’. The words ‘Two Disperse’ (两散) indicated that if using it to hit a rock, the rock would be broken into pieces which would then disperse, and if using it to hit a person, that person would become so frightened that their soul would leave their body and disperse. This palm technique only had 1 stance because the palm force was too powerful, and hence when facing the enemy, there would be no need to use the 2nd stance as the enemy would already be killed by the 1st stance. But because this one palm stance used such an extremely powerful internal energy as the basis, if a user of it wanted to change the stance or switch to a different one, they would not be able to do so. Unexpectedly, after Qiao Feng had taken this stance, not only had he not dropped dead on the spot, he had also recovered in a very short period of time then jumped onto the roof while carrying a person and run away.

    Xuan Nan sighed and said: ‘This man’s martial arts are really outstanding!’ Xuan Ji said: ‘We must eliminate him as soon as possible to prevent him from becoming an extremely great danger.’ Xuan Nan continuously nodded. But Abbot Xuan Ci looked at the horizon in the path in which Qiao Feng had just left, entranced.

    Just before running away, Qiao Feng had turned his head around and cast a glance, only seeing that the copper mirror had been broken into dozens of pieces, which had scattered on the ground, by that punch of Abbot Xuan Ci. His back had been reflected in every piece. Qiao Feng had again been startled without a reason: ‘Why do I always feel uneasy every time I have a view of my own back? In the end what’s unusual about this?’ In that moment, he had been eager to get away from Shaolin, and hence even though this suspicion had appeared in his mind, when hurriedly rushing away, he had also forgotten it.

    As he was extremely familiar with the paths at Mt Shaoshi, he fled to the back of the mountain and chose precipitous narrow tracks to go along. After running away quickly for several li’s (0.5 km), hearing no Shaolin monk chasing him, he felt a little bit calm. He then put Zhi Qing down on the ground and shouted loudly: ‘Walk by yourself! But don’t think about escaping.’ Unexpectedly, when Zhi Qing’s feet touched the ground, he immediately became weak, paralyzed and exhausted. He then curled up into a heap, looking as if he was already dead. Startled, Qiao Feng stretched out his hand to check Zhi Qing’s breathing, only feeling that his breathing was unclear and extremely weak. When he checked his pulse next, he also found that it was beating extremely slowly. It seemed he was going to die very soon.

    Qiao Feng thought: ‘There’re countless doubts and suspicions in my mind that I’m going to ask you about. I mustn’t let you die so easily like this. After falling into my hands, this monk fears that his schemes would be exposed so he has prolly taken a fierce poison to kill himself.’ He then held out his hand to touch Zhi Qing’s chest and check the monk’s heartbeat, only to feel that his hand was touching something pliant. This monk was unexpectedly a female!

    Qiao Feng hastily withdrew his hand. He felt more and more strange: ‘He… He’s a female in disguise?’ In the dark it was unable to examine carefully the appearance of this person. Unlike Duan Yu, who liked to read books, was familiar with decencies and had a lot of scruples, he was an open-minded tolerant man and did not stick to trivial matters, therefore he held Zhi Qing’s back, lifted him up and shouted: ‘Are you male or female? If you don’t tell the truth, I’m gonna undress you to find out about it!’ Zhi Qing’s lips made a few movements. He wanted to say but was unable to utter any sound at all. Obviously he was at his last gasp and his life was hanging by a thread.

    Qiao Feng thought: ‘Regardless of whether this person is male or female, good or bad, I mustn’t let him die at this point.’ He held out his right palm, putting it on Zhi Qing’s back. He then circulated his internal energy in his dantian (the point which is located ~ 5 cm below the navel), channeled it from his abdomen into his arm, from his arm into his palm and transferred it into Zhi Qing’s body. Even if he was unable to save his life, at least he also needed to ask and get some clues from him. Before long, Zhi Qing’s pulse gradually became stronger, and his breathing was also getting smoother. Seeing that he was unable to die at the moment, Qiao Feng was somewhat relieved and thought: ‘This place isn’t far from Shaolin. I can’t stay here for too long.’ He immediately bent his arms to carry Zhi Qing horizontally in them and strode westwards.

    At this moment, he again felt that Zhi Qing’s body was very light, which was out of proportion to his tall and big stature. He thought: ‘It’s not proper for me to remove your clothes, but don’t tell me that I can’t take off your footwear?’ He then stretched out his hand and pulled the Buddhist shoe off his right foot. When he pinched his sole, he only felt that his hand was touching something solid. Obviously it was not human flesh. He slightly pulled it with force. Following his hand, an object fell away, which turned out to be a wooden false foot. Only when he touched Zhi Qing’s foot once more was it a soft delicate sole. Qiao Feng uttered a ‘humph’ sound and murmured: ‘This person’s really a female.’

    He immediately used his lightness skill and went faster and faster. Running quickly until dawn, estimating that he was already more than 50 li’s (0.5 km) away from Shaolin Monastery, he carried Zhi Qing into a grove on the right-hand side. Seeing a clear brook, which ran through the grove, he went to the side of it, scooped up some clear water and splashed it on Zhi Qing’s face. Then he used the sleeve of her Buddhist robe to give her face a few wipes. All of a sudden, the flesh on her face fell down piece after piece. Qiao Feng was frightened and jumped to his feet: ‘Why is her skin rotten like this?’ Looking carefully with his doubtful eyes, he saw that under the rotten flesh on her face the smooth translucent skin was exposed.

    Being carried in Qiao Feng’s arms while he had been running, Zhi Qing had always been in a daze. At this moment, after her face had been wet by clear water, she opened her eyes, looked at Qiao Feng, forced a smile and softly said: ‘Chief Qiao!’ But because she was too weak, after uttering these words, she closed her eyes again.

    Seeing that her face had different colors and was uneven, making it unable for him to see her real face clearly, Qiao Feng soaked the sleeve of her Buddhist robe in the brook until it was drenching then used force to swab her face several times with it. The gray dust continuously fell down under his hand, exposing the dainty face of a young girl. Qiao Feng could not refrain from shouting out: ‘It’s Ms A’Zhu!’

    The person who had disguised as Zhi Qing and blended in with the monks at the Bodhi Institute was no one other than Murong Fu’s maid A’Zhu. Her disguising and making-up skills were really unmatched. She had walked on wooden feet to make her body look taller, used cotton to make her shoulders look higher and her abdomen curve outwards, used flour to make her cheeks look puffy, worn a Buddhist hat, and put on a Buddhist robe. Even the people who met Zhi Qing daily such as Zhi Zhan and Zhi Yuan had not been able to discover that she had been the fake one.

    When feeling confused and not being able to think clearly, she heard Qiao Feng call her ‘Ms A’Zhu’. She wanted to reply and explain why she had sneaked in Shaolin Monastery, but she had no strength at all. Her tongue did not obey her orders either, therefore she could not even reply with a ‘yes’ sound.

    Qiao Feng at first had firmly believed that Zhi Qing had been treacherous and vicious, and that the deaths of his father and mother must have had an enormous connection with him, hence he had not hesitated to spend his internal energy to save his life, wanting to investigate him and bring to light all the true facts. He had resolved that if Zhi Qing had not said, he would use all kinds of cruel unendurable tortures to force him to say the truth. Who could have expected that this person’s true identity was the young girl A’Zhu, who was dainty, clever, lovely and delightful? Really, no one could have expected this, even in a dream. Even though Qiao Feng had met A’Zhu and A’Bi a few times, and had saved the 2 of them from the hands of Western Xia warriors, he did not know that A’Zhu was very proficient at making-up. If Duan Yu had switched with Qiao Feng, he would have already guessed correctly.

    At this moment Qiao Feng already knew clearly that she was not poisoned, but was injured by palm force. After considering a little, he already knew the reason. Before Abbot Xuan Ci had sent out an Air Splitting Palm attack, he had used the copper mirror to cover his back. Even though the attack had not hit A’Zhu, because he had been carrying her in his left hand, the extremely swift and fierce palm force had transferred to her body as a result. After understanding this matter, he could not help feeling sorry inwardly: ‘If I hadn’t meddled in other people’s affairs, letting her come and go as her pleased, she would’ve already escaped and definitely wouldn’t have met with this disaster.’ He had a very high opinion of Murong Fu, and as they said, if a person liked someone they would like even his house and the crow on the roof of his house (the English equivalent of this proverb is ‘Love me, love my dog’, but ‘dog’ gives a negative connotation in a Chinese context, so I don’t use it here), therefore it was unavoidable that Qiao Feng also respected Murong Fu’s maid. He thought: ‘She suffered this serious injury all because of me. My sense of honor doesn’t allow me not to cure her. I must go to a town and ask a doctor to treat her.’ He then said: ‘Ms A’Zhu, I’m gonna carry you to a town to treat your injury.’ A’Zhu said: ‘There’s vulnerary in my bosom.’ As she finished saying she moved her right hand, but did not have any strength to reach into her bosom.

    Qiao Feng stretched out his hand and took out all the things in her bosom. Besides some pieces of silver, he saw a gold lock which was very finely crafted. On the lock, two lines of small characters were engraved: ‘Stars in the sky, which are twinkling, will glitter forever, and forever well will you be.’ (天上星, 亮晶晶, 永灿烂, 长安宁 – There’s a hidden message in this poem, I’ll explain in a later chapter) In addition, there was a small case made of white jade, which had been given to her by Grandpa Tan in the apricot forest. Qiao Feng felt happy as he knew this vulnerary was highly effective. He said: ‘Saving your life is important, please forgive me.’ Holding out his hands, he unfastened her gown then repeatedly applied all the Cold Jade Icy Toad Ointment in the case onto her chest. A’Zhu could not refrain from getting embarrassed. She felt a sharp pain in the injury again and passed out immediately.

    - to be continued -

  6. #586
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    Thanks FP!

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    Looks like XF has some very convenient reasons to be touchy feely.

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    Thanks for the translation, fp

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    Chapter 18. cont.

    Qiao Feng fastened her gown and put the white jade case and the gold lock back into her bosom, but he took the silver pieces. He then stretched out his hand to grab her body and walked quickly towards the north.

    After going for more than 20 li’s (0.5 km) he arrived in a densely populated big town called Xu Jia Ji. Qiao Feng went to the biggest inn and booked 2 rooms. He then helped A’Zhu settle down and invited a doctor to come and examine the condition of her injury.

    That doctor felt A’Zhu’s pulse then continuously shook his head and said: ‘The lady’s illness is incurable. This prescription is merely the best I can do. That’s all.’ Qiao Feng saw that the prescription had some licorice, peppermint, Chinese bellflower, pinellia ternata, all of which were mild medicines which might not necessarily be able to cure even a common stomach ache.

    He did not go buy medicines either and thought: ‘If even the effective medicine of Grandpa Tan of Chongxiao Cave can’t cure her then what’s the use of the medicines of a quack in this town?’ He then channeled his internal energy and transferred it into her body. In an instant, A’Zhu’s face became ruddy. She said: ‘Chief Qiao, luckily you saved me. Had I fallen into the hands of those bald thieves, my life would’ve been threatened.’ Hearing she talk with abundant energy, Qiao Feng was very happy and said: ‘Ms A’Zhu, I was really worried that you wouldn’t be able to get well.’ A’Zhu said: ‘Don’t call me Ms or something. Calling me A’Zhu straight out is okay. Chief Qiao, why did you come to Shaolin Monastery?’ Qiao Feng said: ‘I’m no longer a chief already. Later on don’t call me Chief…’ A’Zhu said: ‘Oh, I’m sorry. I’m gonna call you great master Qiao.’

    Qiao Feng said: ‘Let me ask you first. Why did you come to Shaolin Monastery?’ A’Zhu laughed and said: ‘Oh, speaking of that, please don’t laugh at me for playing the goat. I heard that our young master had come to Shaolin Monastery so I wanted to find him and talked to him about Ms Wang. Who would’ve known that when I just entered the monastery, that monk Zhi Qing, who was on guard at the main entrance, aggressively said that women couldn’t enter Shaolin Monastery? I had a quarrel with him. He instead scolded me. But I wanted to come in, besides I also disguised as him, to see what he could do.’

    Qiao Feng smiled and said: ‘You disguised, made up, and in the end entered Shaolin Monastery. Those monks couldn’t discover that you’re female at all. It’d have been better if after entering you had let them see your true appearance. They would’ve exploded in the bellies with anger without being able to do anything to you.’ At first he had greatly respected Shaolin Monastery, but he could not help feeling angry because, firstly, Xuan Ku were already dead, and secondly, the monks had wrongly accused him of the 3 most serious crimes under heaven, which were patricide, matricide and killing his master, without asking about the rights and wrongs of him.

    A’Zhu sat up, clapped her hands, laughed and said: ‘Great master Qiao, that’s a good idea. After I get well, I’ll disguise as a man to enter the monastery then change to female clothes, swagger to the middle of the Great Mighty Sanctum and sit there, making all the monks so angry that they would roll on the floor. How interesting would that be! Ah…’ Suddenly, she could not take even a breath. Her body then loosened and collapsed. She lay motionless on the bed.

    Qiao Feng was startled. He put his forefinger next to her nostrils and felt that her breathing seemed to have completely stopped. Feeling anxious, he hastily put his palm on the ‘Lingtai acupuncture point’ on her back and sent his internal energy into her body. Within the time to finish a cup of tea, A’Zhu slowly turned her body over, laughed apologetically and said: ‘A’yo, why did I fall asleep during conversation? Great master Qiao, I’m really sorry.’ Qiao Feng knew that her condition was far from good. He said: ‘You haven’t recovered yet. You’d better sleep for a while to rest.’ A'Zhu said: ‘I’m not tired, but you’ve been busy for half a night, so please rest for a while.’ Qiao Feng said: ‘Okay, I’ll see you after a while.’

    He went to the parlor to order 5 Jin’s of wine and 2 Jin’s of beef (1 Jin = 0.6 kg) then ate and drank alone. Because at this moment he felt very sad, it was easy for him to get drunk. After drinking up 5 Jin’s of wine, he unexpectedly felt slightly intoxicated. He then took 2 steamed buns to A'Zhu’s room for her to eat. After he entered the room, he called several times but did not hear any reply. He went to the bed and saw that her eyes were slightly closed and her cheeks were sunken. It looked like she was already dead. He stretched out his hand and touched her forehead. Fortunately it was still warm. He then hastily used his internal energy to save her. A’Zhu slowly woke up. She received the buns and happily ate them.

    This time, Qiao Feng knew that she was now totally depending on his internal energy to stay alive, if he did not transfer internal energy into her body, she would be exhausted within 2 hours and die. He did not know what he should do.

    Seeing that he was having a thoughtful and worried look, A’Zhu said: ‘Great master Qiao, am I so seriously injured that even the effective medicine of Sir Tan can’t cure me?’ Qiao Feng hastily said: ‘No, no! It’s nothing, after several days, you’ll get well.’ A'Zhu said: ‘Please don’t deceive me. I myself know it. I only feel empty, not having even the least bit of strength.’ Qiao Feng said: ‘Set your mind at rest and recover. I’ll surely have a way to cure you.’ Hearing his tone, A'Zhu knew that her injury was really serious therefore she could not help but get scared and her hand started to tremble. The bun half of which she had eaten then fell on the floor. Qiao Feng only thought that her internal energy had run out again, hence he immediately put his palm on her Lingtai acupuncture point.

    At this moment, A'Zhu was still in full possession of all her faculties, she felt a warm stream of internal energy being channeled into her body from his palm and her whole body instantly felt comfortable. After thinking a little, she already understood that actually she had almost died for several times and every time Qiao Feng had used his internal energy to bring her back to life, hence she felt both grateful to him and frightened. Even though she was clever, after all she was still very young. With tears streaming down, she said: ‘Great master Qiao, I don’t wanna die, please don’t ignore and leave me behind in here.’

    Finding her words pitiable, Qiao Feng consoled her: ‘That’s definitely impossible. Don’t worry. What kind of man is Qiao Feng? How can I abandon a friend who’s in jeopardy?’ A'Zhu said: ‘I don’t deserve to be your friend. Great master Qiao, am I gonna die? After a person die will they become a ghost?’ Qiao Feng said: ‘You don’t need to think too much. You’re so young like this, suffering a bit of minor injury, how could you die?’ A'Zhu said: ‘You’re not fobbing me off, are you?’ Qiao Feng said: ‘No, I’m not.’ A'Zhu said: ‘You’re a well-known hero in wulin. They all say: ‘North Qiao Feng, South Murong’, you and my young master, one in the north, one in the south, are equally famous. In your life, have you ever failed to keep your words?’ Qiao Feng smiled and said: ‘When I was little I often lied, but afterward, when traveling in jianghu, I no longer deceived other people.’ A'Zhu said: ‘You said the condition of my injury wasn’t serious. It’s deceiving me, isn’t it?’

    Qiao Feng thought: ‘If you know that the condition of your injury is serious, you’ll be anxious, making it harder to save you. Because of you I have no choice but to deceive you.’ He then said: ‘I can’t deceive you.’ A'Zhu let out a sigh and said: ‘Okay, I feel at ease then. Great master Qiao, I have one matter to beg you.’ Qiao Feng asked: ‘What’s the matter?’ A'Zhu said: ‘Tonight you stay in my room with me, and don’t leave me.’ She thought if Qiao Feng went away this time, she herself would possibly not be able to endure till dawn. Qiao Feng said: ‘Very good. Even if you hadn’t said that, I’d still sit here with you. Don’t say anymore, just sleep quietly for a while.’

    A'Zhu closed her eyes, but after a while, she opened them again and said: ‘Great master Qiao, I can’t sleep. I beg you one thing, is that okay?’ Qiao Feng asked: ‘What is it?’ A'Zhu said: ‘When I was little, every time I couldn’t sleep my mother would sing for me to hear at the side of my bed. She would only need to sing 3 songs, I’d then sleep soundly.’ Qiao Feng smiled and said: ‘It’s not easy to find your mother now.’ A'Zhu let out a sigh and said quietly: ‘I don’t know where my father and mother are. I don’t know if they still live in this world either. Great master Qiao, you sing a few songs for me to hear, is that okay?’

    Qiao Feng could not help but smile bitterly. He was such a mighty man therefore if he sang to coax a young girl to sleep, this would really be outrageous. He then said: ‘I really can’t sing.’ A'Zhu said: ‘When you were little, your mother sang songs to you, didn’t she?’ Scratching his head, Qiao Feng said: ‘That seems to have happened, but I already forgot everything. Even if I remembered I wouldn’t be able to sing.’ A'Zhu sighed and said: ‘If you’re unwilling to sing then I can’t do anything about it.’ Qiao Feng said apologetically: ‘It’s not that I’m unwilling to sing, but I really can’t sing.’ A'Zhu suddenly came up with another idea. She clapped her hands, laughed and said: ‘Ah, I got it, great master Qiao, I beg you another matter, this time you can’t say no.’

    Qiao Feng felt this young girl was innocent and simple, but her words and behavior were often beyond people’s expectations. After she had said she would ask him for another thing, he had no idea what whimsical thing it would be. Hence, he said: ‘You say it first. If I can promise then I’ll promise. If I can’t promise then I won’t promise.’ A'Zhu said: ‘This matter, everyone in the world can do, as long as they are at least 4 or 5 years old. You think it’s easy or not?’ Not wanting to be fooled, Qiao Feng said: ‘In the end, what is it? You gotta say it clearly first.’ A'Zhu gave a charming smile and said: ‘Alright! Please tell several tales to me, it doesn’t matter if they’re about a rabbit gege (elder bro) or a wolf popo (husband’s mother/grandmother), I’ll always be able to fall asleep.’

    Qiao Feng frowned. An awkward expression appeared on his face. Not long ago, he had still been the Chief of the number one large society in jianghu who had had great might and been in charge of extraordinary people. But during the past few days, he had been dismissed from the Chief post and expelled from the Society. The 3 dearest people to him, who were his parents and master, had passed away in one day. In addition, he did not know if he was a Hu man or a Han man, his origin was unclear, and yet he was bearing the 3 heinous crimes which were betrayal and murdering his parents. After receiving such blows one after another, of course he had no one to share his worries, but who could have expected that, at this inn, he would have to keep a young girl company and would be asked to sing and tell tales by her like this? In the past, had he heard only half a sentence regarding these kinds of mushy trivialities, he would have covered his ears and run away quickly. In his life, he had only liked drinking wine and betting with his brothers and speaking loudly and openly. Besides engaging in carousals, he had only talked about serious national affairs and military affairs, and about heroes in the world. Those things such as telling a tale, a rabbit gege and a wolf popo were really jokes and absurdities to him.

    However, in a glance, seeing that there was an earnest expectant look in A'Zhu’s eyes and that her face was haggard, he thought: ‘Suffering such a serious injury, it’s perhaps already hard for her to recover. If she couldn’t take a breath, she would die at any moment. She wants to hear a tale then I’ll conveniently tell her one.’ He then said: ‘Okay, I’m gonna tell you a tale. But I’m afraid you’ll think that it’s not good.’

    A'Zhu was very happy. She said: ‘It’ll definitely be interesting. Please tell me quickly.’

    Even though Qiao Feng had agreed to tell a tale, he really did not know what to tell. Only after a while did he say: ‘Hum, I’m gonna tell a tale of a wolf. Once upon a time, there was an old man. While walking in the mountains, he saw a wolf which had been tied up by men and put into a cloth bag. That wolf begged him to set it free. The old man then untied the cloth bag and released the wolf. The wolf…’ A'Zhu continued: ‘The wolf said it was hungry and wanted to eat the old man, right?’ Qiao Feng: ‘Oh, so you’ve already heard this tale?’ A'Zhu said: ‘This is the tale of a wolf in the mountains. I don’t like to hear the stories in books. I want you to talk about the countryside, and not the stories written in books.’

    Qiao Feng considered and said: ‘Not a story written in books but a story in the countryside. Okay, I’m gonna tell you a story of a country kid.’

    ‘A long long time ago, there was a poor family in the mountains. The father and the mother had only 1 child. When that child turned 7, his body was very tall and big, and he could already help his father chop firewood in the mountains. One day, the father got sick, but because their family was very poor, they couldn’t afford to invite a doctor or buy medicine. But the father’s illness got more serious with each passing day. Not using medicine was out of the question. So, the mother took the only 6 hens and a basket of eggs of the family to the market and sold them.’

    ‘The hens and the eggs were sold for 4 silver qian (1 qian = 1/10 tael = ~ 4 g). But the doctor said it was too far to go into the mountains and he didn’t want to see the patient. The mother made every effort to beg him, but that doctor always shook his head and refused. The mother then knelt down and begged him sincerely. The doctor said: ‘Going to your house in the mountains to see the patient isn’t worth the trouble of being affected by the miasma and the poverty. What illness can your 4 silver qian cure?’ The mother then pulled a corner of his gown. The doctor used his strength to pull free. Unexpectedly, the mother was grabbing too tight, therefore, with a ‘chi’ sound, a long seam was torn in the gown. The doctor was very angry so he pushed the mother down on the floor then threw a heavy kick at her. He also pulled her and demanded that she paid for the damage to the gown, saying that this gown was newly made and that it was worth 2 silver taels.’

    Hearing him say to here, A'Zhu softly said: ‘This doctor really was too despicable.’

    - to be continued -
    _________

    Nice weekend, folks. Chapter 18 is about to be done.

  10. #590
    Senior Member SkyWalker's Avatar
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    Thanks FP.

    QF's life is just full of sadness.

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    Doctor will pay with interest for his arrogance...

    Thanks Fp for the translation

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    Qiao Feng raised his head, looking at the twilight, which was gradually getting dark, through the window, and slowly said: ‘That child was at the mother’s side. Seeing the mother being bullied, he rushed forwards then both hit and bit the doctor. But he was just a little child, what strength did he have? So, he was lifted up by the doctor and thrown out through the main door. The mother hastily went outside to take care of the child. The doctor was afraid that the woman would pester him again so he shut the door. The child’s forehead hit a stone and bled a lot. The mother was afraid of having problems so she didn’t dare to stay in front of the doctor’s house. She only wept and pulled the child’s hand to go home.’

    ‘When that child went by an ironware shop, he saw several sharp knives which were used for killing pigs and cattle being put on the stall. The blacksmith was very busy inviting customers to buy plows, rakes and hoes so the child stole a knife and hid it in his body. Even the mother didn’t see that.’

    ‘After they got home, the mother didn’t tell the father about what had happened as she was afraid that the father would get angry and his illness would become more serious. She wanted to take out the 4 silver qian to hand over to the father, but to her surprise, when she reached into her bosom, she didn’t find any silver.’

    ‘The mother both panicked and found this strange. When she went outside to ask the child, she saw that he was holding a shining new knife and sharpening it by rubbing it against a stone. The mother asked him: ‘Where did you get the knife from?’ The child didn’t dare to say that he’d stolen it so he lied: ‘Other people gave me.’ The mother of course didn’t believe it. At the market, a new sharp knife like this had to be sold for 1.5 qian or 2 qian of silver, how could someone casually give it to a child? She asked who gave it to him, but that child couldn’t answer. The mother sighed and said: ‘Son, dad and mom are poor so normally we can’t buy you any toy. We’ve really wronged you. You’ve bought the knife to play, to boys, there’s nothing wrong with this. But you give mom the remaining money. Dad is sick, so we’ll buy a Jin (~ 600 g) of meat and simmer a soup for him to eat.’ As soon as the child heard that, he goggled and asked: ‘What remaining money?’ The mother said: ‘Our 4 Qian (~ 4 g) of silver, you took them and bought the knife, didn’t you?’ The child was anxious and cried out: ‘I didn’t take the money, I didn’t take the money.’ The father and the mother had never smacked or scolded him. Even though he was just a several year old child, they’d treated him like a guest and always been polite to him…’

    Telling to here, Qiao Feng suddenly shivered with fear: ‘Why was it like this? Parents in the world never treat their children like this. Even if they spoil or take a pity on their children, they definitely can’t respect them and be polite like this.’ He talked to himself: ‘Why was it so strange like this?’

    A'Zhu asked: ‘What was strange?’ When she said the last 2 words, her breath was already feeble like a silk thread. Qiao Feng knew the internal energy in her body had exhausted. He immediately pressed his palm on her back and sent internal energy into her body.

    A'Zhu gradually regained her energy. She sighed and said: ‘Great master Qiao, every time you transfer energy to me, your internal energy decreases. To martial arts users, internal energy is the most important thing. You treat me like this, how can A'Zhu… repay you?’ Qiao Feng laughed and said: ‘So, I only need to breathe in meditation for several shichen (1 shichen = 2 hours) then not only will my internal energy be restored but I’ll also be able to talk about repaying? I and your master Mr Murong have a deep telepathic friendship despite being thousands of li (0.5 km) apart. Even though we’ve never met, I always regard him as a friend. You’re a member of his family, why do you need to regard me as an outsider?’ A'Zhu said sadly: ‘My energy will gradually disappear in every 2 hours. You can’t… you can’t forever…’ Qiao Feng said: ‘Don’t worry. We can always find a doctor with brilliant medical knowledge to treat your injury.’

    A'Zhu smiled and said: ‘I’m afraid that doctor would hate me for being poor and fear that he would be affected by miasma and poverty so that he wouldn’t treat me. Great master Qiao, you haven’t finished telling your story yet. What was so strange?’

    Qiao Feng said: ‘Oh, it was just a slip of the tongue. Seeing that the child didn’t admit, the mother didn’t say either. She went back into the house. After a while, when the child finished sharpening the knife, he came into the house. He heard the mother talking in a low voice to the father that he himself had stolen money and bought a knife but was unwilling to admit. His father said: ‘Ever since staying with us, this child hasn’t got any toy. If he wants something then let him be. We’ve rather wronged him all along.’ When the 2 of them talked to here they saw the child enter the house and stopped talking. With a kind and pleasant expression, the father patted his head and said: ‘Poppet, later on watch your step, how could you fall and have your head so badly injured?’ As for the missing 4 qian of silver and the matter of him buying a new knife, the father didn’t mention a single sentence. He didn’t even have the least bit of an unhappy expression.’

    ‘Even though the child was only 7, he was already very sensible. He thought: ‘Dad and mom suspect me of stealing money to buy the knife, if they gave me a good beating or a good scolding, I wouldn’t mind at all. But unluckily they still treat me this well.’ He felt uneasy so he said to his father: ‘Dad, I didn’t steal money. I didn’t buy this knife either.’ The father said: ‘Your mom is meddlesome. What’s so urgent about the missing money? Why questioned and made a fuss? Women are just small-minded. Good child, does your head hurt?’ The child had no choice but to answer: ‘I’m still fine!’ He wanted to offer an explanation but had no way to argue. He was sulky and skipped the dinner to go to bed.’

    ‘He tossed and turned in bed and couldn’t fall asleep. He heard the mother softly crying. He thought it was because she was worried that the father’s illness was serious and also felt angry about being insulted and beaten by the doctor during the day. The child quietly got up then climbed out through the window. During the night, he rushed to the town and went to the outside of the doctor’s house. The front door and back door of that house were tightly shut so there was no way to go inside. But the child’s body was small, so he crept into the house through the dog hole. He saw lamplight passing through the paper of a room’s window. The doctor hadn’t gone to bed yet and was decocting medicine. The child pushed the door of the room open…’

    Feeling worried about that child, A'Zhu said: ‘This child entered other people’s house at night. Perhaps he was gonna be in big trouble.’

    Qiao Feng shook his head and said: ‘No. Hearing the sound of the door opening, the doctor raised his head and asked: ‘Who?’ The child didn’t say anything. He came near him, drew the sharp knife and gave a thrust. His body was short so this thrust pierced the doctor’s belly. That doctor could only groan with several ‘hum’ sounds then fell down.’

    A'Zhu uttered an ‘Ah’ sound and said in a shocked voice: ‘This child stabbed dead the doctor?’

    Qiao Feng nodded and said: ‘Correct. The child then crawled out through the dog hole again and returned home. In the night he made a round trip of several tens of li (0.5 km) so he was terribly tired. Only in the early morning of the next day did the family of the doctor find out that he was dead with his belly broken and his gut sticking out, looking very nasty. But all the front and back doors were still being locked tightly and were bolted from the inside, how could an outside murderer enter the house? Everyone suspected that people in the doctor’s family had done this. The district chief (zhixian – Song dynasty’s district-level top-ranking official) then tortured and investigated the doctor’s brothers, wife and children, causing a disturbance for a few years, so the doctor’s family was broken up. Since then, this incident has become a doubtful case in Xu Jia Ji.’

    A'Zhu asked: ‘You said Xu Jia Ji? Did that doctor… live in this town?’

    Qiao Feng said: ‘Yes. This doctor was surnamed Deng. At first he was the most famous doctor in this town. Even the several districts around knew about his reputation. His house was located to the west of the town. Originally it was surrounded by tall and big white walls, but now everything has been ruined. Just a moment ago, when I was going to invite the doctor to see your illness, I also went to the front of that house to have a look.’

    A'Zhu asked: ‘How about the sick father? Did he recover from the illness?’ Qiao Feng said: ‘Afterward, a monk from Shaolin Monastery brought medicine to their house and cured his illness.’ A'Zhu said: ‘It turns out there’re still good monks in Shaolin Monastery.’ Qiao Feng said: ‘Of course there are. Shaolin Monastery has several high monks that are benevolent and knightly. They really make other people revere them.’ As he finished saying, he felt sad because he thought of his first enshi (kind master) Xuan Ku dashi.

    A'Zhu let out an ‘En’ sound and muttered to herself: ‘That doctor looked down on the poor and thought nothing of their lives. He was of course despicable, but his fault didn’t deserve death. This child was also too barbaric. I really can’t believe this, how could a 7 year old child dare to kill a person? Ah, great master Qiao, you said this was a tale and not true, right?’ Qiao Feng said: ‘It’s a real incident.’ A'Zhu let out a sigh and said softly: ‘This kind of cruel child seems like a Khitan villain!’

    Qiao Feng suddenly trembled all over. He jumped to his feet and said: ‘You…. What did you say?’

    Seeing that his face had changed color, A'Zhu was scared and suddenly understood everything. She said: ‘Great master Qiao, great master Qiao, I’m sorry, I… I didn’t mean to hurt you with words. I really didn’t say it on purpose…’ Qiao Feng stood in a state of shock for a short while then sat down dispiritedly and said: ‘You already guessed it?’ A'Zhu nodded. Qiao Feng said: ‘Words that are said unconsciously are often sincere words. I acted without mercy like this, was it really because of the Khitan origin?’ A'Zhu gently said: ‘Great master Qiao, A'Zhu talked nonsense. You don’t need to think about it. That doctor kicked your mother and you’ve been heroic and righteous since childhood so there’s nothing odd about you killing him.’

    Qiao Feng hugged his head with his hands and said: ‘It wasn’t merely because of him kicking my mother. It was also because he made me face a false accusation. My mother’s 4 silver qian must’ve fallen on the floor during the struggle in the doctor’s house. I… In my life, what I can’t stand the most is being wrongly accused by other people.’

    However, within this day he had suffered 3 great injustices. It was unable to know if he himself was a Khitan, but Qiao Sanhuai and wife and Xuan Ku dashi obviously were not murdered by him, yet the 3 heinous crimes which were patricide, matricide and killing his master all had been put on his head. In the end, who was the murderer? Who shifted the blame onto him like this?

    At this moment, Qiao Feng thought about another matter: ‘Why did dad and mom both say that I was treated unfairly by staying with them? If the parents are poor, the child naturally will be poor, why is there anything fair or unfair about that? Perhaps I’m not their real son, but someone entrusted me to them. Most prolly the person who put me into their fosterage has a very high status, that’s why dad and mom were very polite to me. Not only being polite, they also respected me deeply. Who was the person that entrusted me to them? Prolly he was Chief Wong.’ His parents had treated him completely differently than how normal parents treated their children. As he was astute, he should have been aware of this long ago, but because it had been like that since childhood, he was accustomed to it. Even a more astute person would not have been able to figure them out as they would only think that his parents had been particularly benign. At this moment, when considering, he felt that everything confirmed that he himself was a Khitan barbarian.

    A'Zhu consoled him: ‘Great master Qiao, they say you’re Khitan but in my opinion they’re definitely slandering and starting a rumor. Needless to say, you’re kind-hearted, righteous and well-known in the whole world. To just a negligible little maid like me, you’ve also watched over with all your heart. Khitan people are cruel like tigers and wolves. You’re like the sky and they’re like the earth, how can they compare with you?’

    Qiao Feng said: ‘A'Zhu, if I’m really a Khitan, will you still let me watch over you?’

    At that time Han people in the Central Plains detested Khitan people and regarded them as poisonous serpents and ferocious beasts, hence A'Zhu was startled. She then said: ‘Don’t let your imagination run away with you. That’s definitely impossible. If the Khitan ethnic group can produce such a good person like you then we won’t detest Khitan people.’

    Qiao Feng did not say anything and thought: ‘If I’m really a Khitan then even such a little maid like A'Zhu won’t pay attention to me.’ In an instant, he felt that even though the world was big, he himself had nowhere to take shelter. His thoughts surged up like tidewater and his chest burned with righteous indignation. He knew that because he had transferred energy to A'Zhu repeatedly, his internal energy had been spent quite a lot. Without delay, he sat cross-legged on a chair beside the bed then slowly breathed and channeled his internal energy.

    A'Zhu also closed her eyes.

    END OF CHAPTER 18

    _________

    Chapter 19 would be done fairly faster than Chapter 18 was, as a veteran translator Moinllieon already did the 2nd half of it a long long time ago. Thank you, Ren Wo Xing, for re-posting it.

    http://www.spcnet.tv/forums/showthre...t-Juxian-Manor

  13. #593
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    Thanks for the update FP.

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    much thanks fp

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    Smile Thanks

    OOooo. I'm liking the mystery.. but how did A'Zhu know to be investigating there? Have I missed something?

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    I've been doing a lot of reading lately, and this is one of the books I am really looking forward to. I haven't been around to show my appreciation, but I think it is time for me to say thank you.

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    Chapter 19: I’ll go, despite a myriad of foes.

    Qiao Feng channeled his internal energy for a long time. Suddenly, he heard two soft ‘ge-ge’ sounds high above in the northwest corner. He knew that there was a person in wulin walking on the roof. After that, there were also 2 sounds up in the southeast corner. When hearing the sounds in the northwest, Qiao Feng had still not paid any attention to them, but when there were 2 people gathering together like this, he knew it was likely they had come because of him. He lowered his voice and said to A'Zhu: ‘I go out for a while and will come back immediately, don’t be afraid.’ A'Zhu nodded. Qiao Feng did not blow out the candle. As the door of the room was half closed, he turned his body sideways and went out. He then went around to the window at the backyard and stood next to the wall.

    He only heard someone say in a room in the east of the inn: ‘Is that 8th master Xiang? Please come down.’ The man on the northwest corner laughed and said: ‘Qi the Sixth of Guanxi has also arrived.’ The man in the room said: ‘Very good, very good! Please come in together.’ 2 people jumped down from the roof in succession and walked into the room.

    Qiao Feng thought: ‘Qi the Sixth of Guanxi is called ‘Fast Saber Qi Liu’ (Liu = Six). He’s a famous brave man in Guanxi. That 8th master Xiang is most prolly Xiang Wanghai of Xiangdong. I’ve heard that these people are generous in aiding the needy and their martial arts are remarkable. These 2 people aren't the treacherous vicious type and have no dispute with me either. Definitely they've come here not because of me. It turns out I’ve had a silly suspicion. The voice of the man in the room sounds somewhat familiar, but who is he?’

    He heard Xiang Wanghai say: ‘‘Yama’s Foe’ Divine doctor Xue suddenly sends out hero invitation cards to invite every fellow in jianghu, the situation is also very urgent because it says ‘To the hero who sees this card, your esteemed presence is requested.’ Big brother Bao, do you know what this is for?’

    When Qiao Feng heard the words ‘Yama’s Foe Divine doctor Xue’, he immediately had a mixed feeling of happiness and fright: ‘Divine doctor Xue is around here? I only knew that he was far away in Ganzhou. If he is around here, the little maid A'Zhu can be saved.’

    He had heard that Divine doctor Xue was the number one wizard in medical circles nowadays. Because the 2 words ‘Divine doctor’ were too famous, everyone did not even know what his original real name was. The tales of him in jianghu were even more exaggerating, saying that he could even bring the dead back to life, as for the people who were alive, no matter how serious the injuries or illnesses they suffered were, he always had methods to cure them, and for this reason Yama of Hell also had a serious headache as every time he sent Wuchang little demons to capture people, Divine doctor Xue would often stay at the side and thwart them or block the way and snatch the people. Not only did Divine doctor Xue have godlike medical knowledge, his martial arts were also outstanding. He liked making friends with fellows in jianghu. When he cured a person of an illness, he often consulted them about 1 martial arts stance or two. The person involved felt grateful to him for saving their life therefore naturally they would not hold back anything when passing on their knowledge and only teach him their proudest skills.

    He heard Fast Saber Qi Liu ask: ‘Shopkeeper Bao, recently have you bought or sold something good?’ Qiao Feng thought: ‘No wonder the voice of the man in the room sounds familiar. It turns out he’s ‘No Capital’ Bao Qianling. This man robs the rich to aid the poor. He has quite a heroic reputation. That year, when I assumed the Beggar Society’s Chief post, he also participated in the ceremony.’

    Already knowing that there were 3 people Xiang Wanghai, Qi Liu and Bao Qianling in the room, he did not want to hear other people’s private matters and thought: ‘Tomorrow morning I’ll visit Bao Qianling’s room and ask him about where Divine doctor Xue is staying.’ When he was about to return to A’Zhu’s room, suddenly he heard Bao Qianling sighed and said: ‘Oh, for the past several days I’ve been in a very bad mood and uninterested in buying or selling. Today, hearing that he killed his father, mother and master, I was even more furious.’ As he finished saying he stretched out his hand and gave the table a heavy slap.

    When Qiao Feng heard the words ‘killed his father, mother, and master’, he was scared: ‘They’re talking about me.’

    Xiang Wanghai said: ‘This Qiao Feng guy has always had a big reputation and been hypocritical. Not just a few people have been fooled by him. Who would have expected he could commit monstrous crimes like this?’ Bao Qianling said: ‘That year, when he assumed the Beggar Society’s Chief post, I and he also had a chance to meet each other. I’ve always totally admired the conduct of this man in the past. Hearing Zhao the Third say he belonged to the Khitan barbaric ethnic group, I still tried my best to argue that he didn’t, for this reason I and Zhao the Third quarreled to the point that we turned purple with rage and almost had a fight with each other. Oh, barbaric people really are the same as animals. He could hide it for a period of time, but later on, the ferocious character eventually broke open.’ Qi Liu said: ‘Who could have expected that he has roots in Shaolin Monastery? Xuan Ku dashi was his master.’ Bao Qianling said: ‘This matter at first was very secret. Even in Shaolin School, very few people knew about it. But Qiao Feng already killed his master so Shaolin School can no longer conceal the truth. This Qiao surnamed vicious traitor only thought that after killing his father, mother and master he’d be able to hide his origin and he’d rather die than admit it to anyone. But he couldn’t have expected that he would overreach himself and his sins would become more and more serious.’

    Standing outside the door, hearing Bao Qianling assessing his mind like this, Qiao Feng thought: ‘‘No Capital’ Bao Qianling and I can be regarded as having some friendship. This man is definitely not the type to make irresponsible remarks. If even he is saying like this, of course other people’s words are even more unbearable. Oh, I, Qiao Feng, have suffered this unjustifiable injustice, why should I bother clearing myself of it? From now on I’ll just conceal my identity, more than 10 years later, friends in jianghu would all forget that there’s a person like me, that’s all.’ In an instant, he could not help but feeling utterly disheartened.

    He heard Xiang Wanghai continue: ‘My guess is that Divine doctor Xue sends out hero invitation cards to confer with other people about how to deal with Qiao Feng. This ‘Yama’s Foe’ hates evil like an enemy, I’ve also heard that he and the 2 dashi Xuan Nan and Xuan Ji of Shaolin Monastery have a really deep friendship.’ Bao Qianling said: ‘Correct! I think recently in jianghu, besides Qiao Feng doing evil, there’s no other major affair. Brother Xiang, brother Qi, come on, come on, come on, let’s drink up several Jin (600 g) of white spirit, tonight we’re gonna have a long talk.’

    Qiao Feng thought even if they talked till dawn, they would merely make an extra effort to angrily scold him hence he did not want to hear anymore and returned to A'Zhu’s room immediately.

    Seeing that his face was pale and was having a very ugly expression, A'Zhu asked: ‘Great master Qiao, did you meet enemies?’ She was worried that he had suffered internal injuries. Qiao Feng shook his head. A'Zhu was still uneasy, she asked: ‘You’re not injured, right?’

    Ever since Qiao Feng had started to step into jianghu, he had only been respected by friends and feared by enemies. He had never been despised and looked down upon like he had for the past several days. Hearing A'Zhu ask him so, he could not help but sense his pride rising. He said loudly: ‘No, I’m not. It’s not difficult for those ignorant narrow-minded lowlifes to defame and spread false rumors about me, but if they want to fight and injure me, it may not necessarily be easy.’ Suddenly, heroic and mettlesome feelings surged up in his heart. He said: ‘A'Zhu, tomorrow I’m gonna find the best doctor under heaven to treat the injury for you. Just relax and sleep.’

    Seeing his proud expression, A'Zhu had a lot of respect and admiration for him but she was also scared. She felt that the man in front of her was totally different than Mr Murong but they also had very many similarities as both of them did not fear Heaven and Hell, and were both prideful and majestic. But Qiao Feng was straightforward and heroic like a mighty lion, while Mr Murong was refined and unaffected like a phoenix.

    After making up his mind, Qiao Feng was no longer worried. He then fell asleep soon after sitting down on the chair.

    A'Zhu saw the dim lamplight beaming on his face. After a while, she could hear him snoring. Suddenly, his facial muscles twitched slightly and he ground his teeth. The muscles on both sides of his square face stuck out. A'Zhu felt that the brawny man in front of her was very pitiable and really was much unhappier than she herself was.

    Early in the morning of the next day, Qiao Feng transferred his internal energy to A'Zhu, paid the rent and asked the inn attendant to go hire a mule wagon. He helped A'Zhu take a sit in the wagon then went to the outside of Bao Qianling’s room and said loudly: ‘Brother Bao, this little brother Qiao Feng pays a visit.’

    After cursing Qiao Feng for half a night, the 3 people Bao Qianling, Xiang Wanghai and Qi Liu had been very tired and fallen asleep. At this moment they had not yet waken up. Suddenly hearing the shout by Qiao Feng, they were all frightened and immediately jumped out of the earthen bed simultaneously, taking out the saber, drawing the sword, and touching the whip. As soon as the 3 people held weapons in their hands, they were dumbfounded because they saw that there was a small piece of white paper on which 4 small words ‘Qiao Feng paying respects’ were written sticking to the weapon of each of them. The 3 people looked at each other, gasping with astonishment. They knew that the previous night Qiao Feng had played a trick on them, had he wanted to take their lives, it would have been as easy as turning his hand over. Among them, Bao Qianling was even more embarrassed as his nickname was ‘No Capital’; he had gone to thousands of houses in the daytime and had broken through hundreds of doors at nighttime; leaping onto roofs, vaulting over walls and stealing other people’s money were his best skills, yet during the night he had been played a prank on by Qiao Feng without knowing anything about it until now.

    Bao Qianling wound the flexible whip back around his waist, knowing that if Qiao Feng had wanted to harm them he would have done it the night before. He immediately ran to the door and said: ‘The head on Bao Qianling’s neck, brother Qiao can take it whenever you want to. I, Bao, specialize in doing business without capital, even if my entire home is lost at the hands of brother Qiao, it’s still nothing. You killed even your father, mother and master, and only have a nodding acquaintance with me, why should you show mercy to me?’ As soon as he had seen the piece of paper on his flexible whip, he had already made a decision. He knew the situation today was very dangerous, if he himself argued insolently with Qiao Feng to the end, there would really be no way to flee for his life; therefore it would be better to hand over himself to him.

    Qiao Feng cupped his fist in his hand and said: ‘Several years have flown by since the day we bid farewell to each other in Qingzhou prefecture in Shandong. Brother Bao’s demeanor is still the same as before. This is really pleasing and commendable.’ Bao Qianling ha-ha laughed and said: ‘I’ve just been dragging out an ignoble life. Until now, on the whole, I haven’t died yet.’ Qiao Feng said: ‘Hearing that ‘Yama’s Foe’ Divine doctor Xue has sent out hero invitation cards, I rather like to go to increase my knowledge. May I go with the 3 of you?’

    Bao Qianling was astonished and thought: ‘Divine doctor Xue has sent out hero invitation cards only to deal with you. Having the nerve to go alone, you must be impatient not to live. In the end, what’s your intention? I’ve long heard that Chief Qiao of the Beggar Society is bold but cautious, and both brave and resourceful. If it’s not because he’s secure in the knowledge that he has strong backing, he definitely won’t hurl himself into the net. I mustn’t fall into his trap.’

    Seeing that he was hesitant about replying, Qiao Feng said: ‘I have a matter to beg Divine doctor Xue. Hopefully, brother Bao will lead the way.’

    Bao Qianling thought: ‘I’m worried about not being able to escape from his murderous hands. If I lead him to the hero banquet, extraordinary people will jointly attack him, even if he had 3 heads and 6 arms, he would be hopelessly outnumbered. But going with him is really like facing an almost certain death.’ Even though he was worried, he still thought that it would be good to lead Qiao Feng to the meeting of heroes, hence he said: ‘This great banquet for heroes will be held at Juxian Manor which is 70 li (0.5 km) away to the northeast of here. Brother Qiao wants to go there. This can’t be better. But I’m gonna make it clear that, in the first place, this meeting isn’t a nice meeting and this banquet isn’t a nice banquet. If brother Qiao goes there, it’ll bode ill rather than well for you. Please don’t blame Bao Qianling me for not telling you in advance.’

    Qiao Feng smiled half-heartedly and said: ‘I appreciate brother Bao’s good intentions. The hero banquet will be held at Juxian Manor so the organizers are the You Clan’s 2 Heroes, aren’t they? It’s also easy to ask about the location of Juxian Manor so the 3 of you please go ahead. It won’t be late if this little brother slowly goes 2 hours later. This will also allow time for everyone to prepare.’

    Bao Qianling turned around and looked at Qi Liu and Xiang Wanghai. The 2 of them slowly nodded. Bao Qianling said: ‘If so, the 3 of us will respectfully wait for brother Qiao’s arrival at Juxian Manor.’

    The 3 people Bao, Qi and Xiang hurriedly paid the rent then got on their horses and whipped them towards Juxian Manor. They urged the horses on all the way and sometimes they turned their heads around to take a peep, fearing that Qiao Feng would suddenly ride a fast horse and catch up with them from the back. Fortunately, all along they did not see him. Bao Qianling was certainly a very clever person and Qi Liu and Xiang Wanghai were also extraordinary people in jianghu who had a lot of experience and extensive knowledge. But after the 3 of them discussed and made guesses on the way, they still could not understand what Qiao Feng's intentions were when he had said he would go to the hero banquet alone.

    Qi Liu suddenly said: ‘Big brother Bao, did you see that big wagon beside Qiao Feng? I’m afraid there’s something strange in it.’ Xiang Wanghai said: ‘Could it be that there’s someone formidable hiding in the wagon?’ Bao Qianling said: ‘Even if the inside of the wagon was to be packed with people to the point that the air couldn’t pass through, it’d only be possible to shove 7 or 8 people into it. Adding Qiao Feng, there’d still be less than 10 people. If they went to the hero banquet, it’d be like a small boat going into the ocean. What would it be able to achieve?’

    While they were talking, they gradually met more wulin fellows on the way, all of whom were rushing to Juxian Manor to attend the hero banquet. This time, the invitation to the hero banquet had been issued shortly before the opening and the invitation cards did not have the names of the guests, but whoever saw one of them would be welcomed as long as they were a person in wulin. The people who had received the invitation cards had used fast horses to forward them to their fellows in the same night, one person forwarding to another, therefore within 1 day and 1 night the invitation cards had been spread very far. Because the time was too limited, most of the people who went to Juxian Manor were from within several hundreds of li of Shaolin Monastery. But Henan was a central region, hence besides local martial arts people, the well-known experts in wulin of the North and the South who had received the message all went to the meeting. The number of people was really not small.

    This time, the invitation to the hero banquet was jointly issued by the You Clan’s 2 Heroes of Juxian Manor and ‘Yama’s Foe’ Divine doctor Xue. The You Clan’s 2 Heroes You Ji and You Ju were rich and powerful and had a wide circle of acquaintances, remarkable martial arts and resounding names, but they were not a formidable force in wulin; they could not be regarded as being people of noble character and high prestige to invite so many heroes and extraordinary people. But Divine doctor Xue was the person that everybody wanted to make friends with. Even though in general martial arts users were vainglorious, very few people were confident that they could fight without equal under heaven; even if they really flattered themselves that they were the #1 in martial arts nowadays, it was still difficult not to get sick or suffer injuries. If they could make friends with this Divine doctor Xue, they themselves would have an extra life because as long as they did not get killed on the spot and Divine doctor Xue was willing to treat them, they would narrowly escape death. Therefore, if the You Clan’s 2 Heroes invited guests, the people who received the invitation cards would only feel that they themselves were honored, but these were also the invitation cards by Divine doctor Xue, hence they were like a life saving talisman. They all thought, if today they got in touch and made friends with him, in the future, if they met unforeseen disasters or accidents he would not be able to ignore them; moreover, as people whose lives were put on the tip of the saber, who could be sure that they would not meet unforeseen disasters? The signatures on the invitation cards were 3 names ‘Xue Muhua, You Ji, You Ju’, followed by a line of small words: ‘You Ji and You Ju’s additional explanation: Mr Xue Muhua is addressed as ‘Divine doctor Xue’.’ If there had not been this line of small words, probably the receivers of the invitation cards would not have known what kind of highly able person Xue Muhua was, and hence the number of people going to Juxian Manor would perhaps have been even less than 3/10th of what it was at the moment.

    When the 3 people Bao Qianling, Qi Liu and Xiang Wanghai arrived at the manor, the 2nd brother You Ju personally came out to welcome. After entering the hall, they saw that there were already full of people sitting in the hall. Bao Qianling was not acquainted with all of them but as soon as he entered the hall, there were human voices all around, mostly saying: ‘Shopkeeper Bao, are you enjoying prosperity?’ ‘Old chap Bao, how has your business been doing?’ Bao Qianling continuously folded his hands in salute and greeted all the heroes. He really did not dare to be careless as even though many of these heroes in jianghu were generous and open-minded, there were also not just a few narrow-minded people. If he forgot to give someone a nod or a smile in return, he would possibly unconsciously displease them, thus causing endless future troubles; even if it led to a fatal disaster, this also would not be something strange.

    You Ju led him to the top position in the east. Divine doctor Xue stood up and said: ‘Brother Bao, brother Qi, brother Xiang, the esteemed presence of the 3 of you here really makes me feel as if my face is covered in gold. I extremely appreciate it.’ Bao Qianling promptly returned the salute and said: ‘Once Master Xue has beckoned, even if Bao Qianling was so sick that I couldn’t move, I would still ask other people to carry me here.’ The big brother You Ji laughed and said: ‘If you were really bedridden, you’d wanna ask other people to take you here to meet Master Xue even more!’ The people around all laughed heartily. You Ju said: ‘The 3 of you have had a tiring journey, please go to the rear hall to have a snack.’

    Bao Qianling said: ‘It won’t be late to have a snack later. May I ask a question? Is Qiao Feng among the guests that Master Xue and the 2 Masters You invite this time?’

    When Divine doctor Xue and the You Clan’s 2 Heroes heard the 2 words ‘Qiao Feng’, their faces slightly changed colors. You Ji said: ‘This time we’ve sent out invitation cards without guest names. Whoever sees them is invited. Brother Bao has mentioned Qiao Feng, what’s your intention? Brother Bao and that Qiao Feng guy have quite a friendship, right?’

    Bao Qianling said: ‘That Qiao Feng guy said he was going to Juxian Manor to attend the great banquet for heroes.’

    As soon as he said so, the crowd was startled. At first everyone in the big hall had been talking noisily and in a high-flown way, but all of a sudden, everyone became quiet. The people who were standing far from Bao Qianling could not hear what he had just said, but suddenly finding that no one was saying anymore they themselves also stopped saying what they had not yet finished. The big hall fell silent instantly, but the distant sounds of people drinking wine in the rear hall and of people talking and laughing in the corridor could be heard.

    Divine doctor Xue asked: ‘Brother Bao, how do you know that Qiao Feng guy is gonna come here?’

    Bao Qianling said: ‘I, brother Qi and brother Xiang personally heard that. It’s a shame to say, but last night the 3 of us took a serious tumble.’ Xiang Wanghai continuously gave him signals with his eyes, wanting to tell him not to relate the shameful incident of the night before. But Bao Qianling knew Divine doctor Xue and the You Clan’s 2 Heroes were undoubtedly highly capable, there were also many intelligent people in the hero meeting, if he himself hid a bit, it would definitely cause other people to be suspicious. This matter was very important; he himself had become entangled in the maelstrom, if he dealt with it just a bit improperly, his status and reputation would instantly go out the window. He slowly took the flexible whip out from his waist. The piece of paper which had the 4 words ‘Qiao Feng paying respects’ was still sticking to it. He passed the flexible whip to Divine doctor Xue using both hands and said: ‘Qiao Feng ordered the 3 of us to pass on a message that today he was going to Juxian Manor.’ After that, he recounted things such as how they had met Qiao Feng and what he had said, not holding back even a single word. Xiang Wanghai continuously stamped, his whole face reddened with shame.

    After Bao Qianling calmly recounted everything, he said: ‘This Qiao Feng guy is from the Khitan dog ethnicity, we should still eliminate him even if he was noble and righteous, let alone the fact that his evil has become obvious and he’s an increasingly intense danger. If he runs off to distant parts, it’ll be hard to hunt him down. But Heaven really has its will, who could have expected that he would willingly hurl himself into the net?’

    You Ju muttered: ‘I’ve usually heard that Qiao Feng is both brave and resourceful. His abilities are sufficient for him to successfully do evil. He’s not a reckless lout. Could it be that he really dares to go to this great banquet for heroes?’

    Bao Qianling said: ‘I’m afraid he has other wicked plans. We mustn’t be without caution. The more people the more ideas. Let’s plan together, everyone.’

    While he was saying, many more heroes and extraordinary people arrived at the outside, including ‘Impartial Judge’ Shan Zheng and his 5 sons, Grandpa Tan, Granny Tan and Zhao Qiansun. Before long, the 2 high-level monks of Shaolin School Xuan Nan and Xuan Ji also arrived. Divine doctor Xue and the You Clan’s brothers welcomed and sincerely received them one by one. When mentioning the evil of Qiao Feng, they all raged.

    Suddenly, the housekeeper who received guests came in and reported: ‘Elder Xu of the Beggar Society has led the Elder of Merit Propagation, the Elder of Rule Enforcement and the 4 Elders Song, Xi, Chen and Wu to our Manor for a visit.’

    Everyone shivered with fear. The Beggar Society was the number 1 large society in jianghu and could not be held in contempt. Xiang Wanghai said: ‘As expected, the Beggar Society has come here in great force to express support for Qiao Feng.’ Shan Zheng said: ‘Qiao Feng has already been expelled from the society. He’s no longer the Beggar Society’s Chief. I saw with my own eyes that they turned their backs on and became the enemies of one another.’ Xiang Wanghai said: ‘But at this point they haven’t necessarily forgotten all the old feelings.’ You Ji said: ‘All of the Beggar Society’s elders are proud brave men. How could they disregard rights and wrongs to protect their enemy? If they still helped Qiao Feng, wouldn’t they become Han traitors to the country?’ Everyone nodded in approval and said: ‘Definitely not even a good-for-nothing would wanna be a Han traitor to the country.’

    Divine doctor Xue and the You Clan’s 2 Heroes went out of the manor to welcome. Seeing that there were only 12 or 13 people of the Beggar Society coming, they felt relaxed and thought: ‘Needless to say, these beggars are unlikely to protect Qiao Feng. Even if they were up to no good this time, with these 12 or 13 people, what would they be able to achieve?’ They greeted the people such as Elder Xu perfunctorily then invited them to enter the big hall. They could see a worried expression on the faces of all of the Beggar Society’s people. Obivously these people were bearing a very heavy load on their minds.

    After splitting into hosts and guests, everyone sat down. Elder Xu started the conversation: ‘Brother Xue and the 2 laodi (younger male friend) of the You Family, today you invite all the heroes to gather here, is it because of the newly emerging cause of trouble in wulin Qiao Feng?’

    After the heroes heard him call Qiao Feng ‘the newly emerging cause of trouble in wulin’, they looked at each other, and without prior consultation they all let out a sigh of relief. You Ji said: ‘It’s exactly for this reason. Elder Xu and every elder of your noble society come here together. This is really a great luck to wulin. If we want to kill this foreign dog, we must get the nod from the elders of your noble society. Otherwise, it would provoke misunderstanding and damage the harmony, making everyone unavoidably regret.’

    Elder Xu let out a deep sigh and said: ‘This man is extremely ruthless and vicious, and acts strangely. Originally, he achieved quite a few great feats for our society. Recently, when we made mistakes and were plotted against by crooks, it was also him who saved us. But when a dazhangfu (an ambitious or successful man) conducts himself he should attach most importance to the general situation, so we have no choice but to banish those few small kindnesses from our minds. He’s a mortal enemy of our Great Song. The Elders of our Society have been treated well by him, but we can’t abandon public righteousness because of personal gratitude. They say righteousness must be placed above family loyalty, let alone the fact that now he isn’t a relative of our Society’s people’s.’

    As soon as he said that, everyone in the crowd applauded and cheered.

    You Ji then mentioned that Qiao Feng also wanted to attend the great banquet for heroes. When the elders heard that, all of them were astonished. Having followed Qiao Feng for a long time, they knew that he always acted with both valor and strategy, if he really single-handedly came to Juxian Manor, it would be extremely unusual.

    Xiang Wanghai suddenly said: ‘I think that Qiao Feng guy has deliberately created a diversionary front to make everyone kick their heels in here, but he has slipped away to somewhere no one knows. This is called the tactic of escaping by using crafty schemes.’ Elder Wu stretched out his hand, gave the table a heavy slap and scolded: ‘Escaping your mother by using crafty schemes! What kind of man is Qiao Feng? Once he says something, how could he not keep his words?’ Scolded by him, Xiang Wanghai’s face reddened. He said angrily: ‘You wanna appear in public to support Qiao Feng, right? I, Xiang, am the first to disapprove of it. Come here; come here; come here. Let’s have a fight.’

    After hearing all kinds of news that Qiao Feng had killed his parents and master then caused a big disturbance at Shaolin Monastery, Elder Wu had been very depressed, his heart had been filled with resentment and rage and he did not know who he should vent his feelings on. Hence this Xiang Wanghai guy unreasonably challenging Elder Wu was really most welcomed by him. In a flash, he jumped into the courtyard in front of the big hall and said loudly: ‘Qiao Feng is from the Khitan dog ethnicity or is completely a Han man? At this moment it’s still unclear. If he’s really a Khitan barbarian I’ll be the 1st to fight him to the death. Wanna kill Qiao Feng? Even if counting to the person numbered 1000, it still wouldn’t be your turn, you stinking turtle egg (~ s.o.b). Who the heck are you to gab in here? Escaping your grandmother by using stinking crafty schemes! Come here, your father’s gonna teach you a lesson.’

    Xiang Wanghai’s face had already turned livid. A ‘shua’ sound was heard, he had drawn the saber out of its sheath. As soon as he looked at the blade, he remembered the piece of paper which read ‘Qiao Feng paying respects’ and could not help feeling at a loss.

    You Ji said: ‘The two of you are my honorable guests. Please have some consideration for my face. We cannot lose harmony.’ Elder Xu also said: ‘Brother Wu, you shouldn’t be rash in your actions. You must take into account the reputation of the whole Society’s.’

    Suddenly someone in the crowd said in a soft voice: ‘Having produced such a person as Qiao Feng, the Beggar Society really has a very good reputation. You must take it into account and preserve it carefully!’

    As soon as the Beggar Society’s extraordinary men heard that, they shouted furiously: ‘Who’s saying that?’ ‘Come out if you have skills. What kind of brave man would hide in the crowd to be a dwarf?’ ‘Which goddamn turtle egg is that?’

    But after saying those sentences that person kept silent, hence no one knew who had just said those words. Being ridiculed with those 2 sentences, the extraordinary people from the Beggar Society were totally annoyed but because they could not find anyone who admitted saying so, they could not do anything either. Even though the Beggar Society was the number 1 large society in jianghu, the extraordinary men of the Society were all beggars. After all, they were not upper-class people who paid particular attention to formalities, hence some of them shouted and some even cursed other people’s 18 generations of ancestors.

    Divine doctor Xue frowned and said: ‘All of you please calm down and hear this senile old man say a few words.’ The beggars gradually became quiet.

    Suddenly, in the crowd, that cold voice said again: ‘Very good, very good, Qiao Feng has sent this many formidable guys to here to carry out undercover tasks. After a while, there’ll definitely be a good play to watch.’

    As soon as the people such as Elder Wu heard that, they got even angrier. Shua-shua sounds were heard continuously; dazzling lights of sabers were seen; many people had taken out their weapons. The rest of the guests only thought that the Beggar Society’s people wanted to fight therefore many of them also took out their weapons. With a lot of shouting and cursing, the hall was plunged into disorder. Divine doctor Xue and the You Clan’s brothers advised everyone to calm down, but the shouts by the 3 of them only added to the uproar in the hall.
    _________

    Thanks for your encouragement, guys. This part of chapter 19 wasn't translated by Moinllieon when he did the battle at Juxian Manor. So, chapter 19 is done. See you in chapter 20.

    @ disrupt: A'Zhu tricked a Shaolin monk into telling her the secret of the mirror. You can read about this event in one of my previous updates.
    Last edited by forgot password; 12-05-10 at 03:09 PM. Reason: replaced some weird expressions w/ better ones

  18. #598
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    I repost the rest of chapter 19 here so that everyone won't need to open another thread to read it.

    [the Battle at Juxian Manor - translated by Moinllieon, reposted by Ren Wo Xing]
    http://www.spcnet.tv/forums/showthre...t-Juxian-Manor

    Chapter 19.

    In this chaos, a servant hurriedly ran into the hall. He ran up to You Ji's side and whispered something to him. You Yi's face darkened as he asked the servant something. The servant, his face full of fear and surprise, pointed to the outside. You Ji turned and whispered something to Divine Doctor Xue, causing his face to drop as well. You Ju walked up to his older brother's side and You Ji told him as well. You Ju's face dropped immediately.

    One man told 2, 2 men told 4, and just like that the word spread among the crowd. In an instant, the noisy and chaotic hall was in complete silence.

    Because everyone had heard the words by now: "Qiao Feng is here!"

    Divine Doctor Xue nodded towards the You brothers and shot a look towards Xuan Nan and Xuan Ju, the 2 ShaoLin representatives before declaring: "Let him in!"

    The servant turned and walked out.

    Everyone's heart was beating a mile a minute, despite of the fact that all of them knew that with their numeric advantage, they could overwhelm Qiao Feng and chop him into a million pieces in an instant. But this man was just too famous, and coming here all by himself like this, obviously he wasn't afraid, don't know what kind of devious plot he is pulling.

    In the silence, the only sounds one can hear is the steady beat of horse hooves and the low rumble of wheels on stone-slabs as a donkey carriage approached the front door. But it didn't stop there and just walked in through the door. The You brothers were both frowning heavily, feeling that they have been slighted by this show of manners, or lack thereof. "Ge-Dong". "Ge-Dong". The wheels of the carriage hopped over the door sill. A huge man, with a whip in his hand, was sitting on the driver's seat. The curtains of the carriage were down, hiding something in the carriage. But everyone was staring at the driver.

    Square-faced and tall with a wide chest and huge shoulders, his eyes weren't angry but demanded attention and instilled fear. Who else could it be but former leader of the Beggar Clan Qiao Feng?

    Qiao Feng put the whip down besides him and hopped off the carriage. Cupping his fist, he said: "I heard that Divine Doctor Xue and the You Brothers were hosting a Gathering of Heroes here at JuXian Mansion. I can't consider myself a 'hero' and don't dare attend such a gathering. It's just that there's an emergency I have to ask of Divine Doctor Xue. I hope you will forgive me for such an intrusion."

    He bowed deeply, looking very sincere.

    The more polite Qiao Feng acted, the more convinced the rest of them were that he's got something up his sleeves. You Ju gave his left hand a slight flick and 4 of his disciples immediately snuck out from the sides to inspect the surrounding areas.

    "What does Brother Qiao want of me?" Divine Doctor Xue cupped his fist back and asked.

    Qiao Feng took 2 steps back, moved the carriage curtains aside and helped Ah-Zhu out.

    "Because of my rash actions, this girl was hit by another's palm and was severely injured. In this world, nobody but Divine Doctor Xue could help her. That's why I was so rude to come here, to ask Divine Doctor Xue to save her life."

    When everyone saw the carriage, they all got suspicious about what was inside. Some guessed that it was probably some poison or bomb, others thought it was some poisonous snakes or ferocious beasts, and still others guessed it was Divine Doctor Xue's parents or relatives that Qiao Feng was going to use to blackmail him. Nobody could have guessed that it would be a 16 or 17 year old girl that would be stepping out of the carriage asking Divine Doctor Xue for help. Everyone was surprised.

    The girl was wearing a light yellow colored shirt and had a very pronounced forehead, making her look very unattractive. Turned out that Ah-Zhu decided that the MuRong family of GuSu had too many enemies out in the martial world and there was a chance if Divine Doctor Xue found out who she was that he would refuse to help her. So she went out and bought a new set of clothes and put on a disguise in the carriage. However, since she was going to see the doctor, she couldn't disguise herself as a man or an old woman.

    This turn of events caught Divine Doctor Xue off guard as well. In his life, he had seen plenty of people coming to him from faraway to seek his medical help, it happens almost every day. But presently, with everyone trying to figure out how to catch and kill Qiao Feng, this despicable and incorrigible villain would just walk up in here and trap himself. It was quite a hard pill to swallow.

    Looking Ah-Zhu over, he decided that Qiao Feng could not possibly be doing this out of lust because of her unattractiveness and young age. Suddenly, an idea hit him: "Maybe this little gal is his younger sister? Um, not possible. This man killed his parents and his master as well, there's no way he would take such a risk over his younger sister. Maybe it's his daughter? I don't remember hearing that Qiao Feng got married." {Qiao Feng didn't do it, he was framed}

    Being the great doctor he was, he could always tell the health of people with one glance as well as their bodily characteristics. Seeing Qiao Feng and Ah-Zhu standing side by side, with one big and strong, the other small and weak, the two of them had nothing in common. Therefore he decided that they were not related at all.

    "What is this young miss's surname?" He said after humming a little while his thought worked itself out. "And what relation is she with you, sir?"

    Qiao Feng was taken a back a bit. He had called Ah-Zhu nothing but "Ah-Zhu" ever since they met, but was her surname really "Zhu"? He didn't know. So he turned to Ah-Zhu and asked.

    "Is your surname Zhu?"

    "My surname is Wan," Ah-Zhu replied with a smile.

    Qiao Feng nodded. "Divine Doctor Xue, her surname is actually Wan. I just found that out myself."

    "So... this young miss and you aren't well acquainted?" Divine Doctor Xue found that this was getting stranger and stranger.

    "She's a maid of a friend of mine." {Ah-Zhu is MuRong Fu's maid}

    "Who is that friend of yours sir? Must be very important to you sir, or else how could you care so much for your friend's maid?"

    "That friend is only my friend in spirit," Qiao Feng shook his head, "I have never met him before."

    An audible gasp escaped from nearly everyone present when they heard this. Most of them didn't believe him, thinking that he must be carrying out some plan and was just using this as an excuse to get in. But still, a good number of them knew that Qiao Feng had always been a very straightforward man, no matter what kind of terrible things he might have done, he probably wouldn't lie in front of everyone because of the pride he had in who he was.

    Divine Doctor Xue reached out and felt Ah-Zhu's pulse. Noticing that her pulse was indeed very weak but the life force {for lack of a better word} inside her was very strong, totally opposite of what one would expect. He switched and felt Ah-Zhu pulse through her left wrist. By then he had already figured out everything.

    "Had this girl not been fed the incredible Elixir of Master Tan of Mount TaiHeng and not received your constant infusion of inner force, she would have died a long time ago from the Abbot Xuan Ci's Buddha's Great Warrior Attendant Palm." He said to Qiao Feng. {That's what Da Jin Gang Zhang translates to}

    This caused quite a stir from the crowd. Master Tan and Grandma Tan looked at each other, wondering: "How did she get fed our Elixir?" {Ah-Zhu stole it from them, I think, don't quite remember}

    XuanNan and XuanJu was even more astonished: "When did our Abbot hit a girl with Buddha's Great Warrior Attendant Palm? And if she really did get hit by it, how in the world could she have survived?"

    "Doctor Xue," XuanNan had to speak up, "our Abbot had not left the premise of our humble temple for years now. And women aren't allowed into ShaoLin Temple. So this Buddha's Great Warrior Attendant Palm could not have come from my elder martial brother."

    Divine Doctor Xue frowned: "Is there anyone else in the world who knows this Buddha's Great Warrior Attendant Palm?"

    That question quieted both XuanNan and XuanJu. They have been at ShaoLin for several decades now and were taught by the same master as XuanCi, they worked as hard as possible and tried as hard as they might. But this Buddha's Great Warrior Attendant Palm still required some natural born talent and neither was able to master it. But neither one was bitter nor regret trying, for they knew that only once several centuries in the history of ShaoLin does someone with enough martial arts genius come along to master this palm skill. There were times when nobody among the hundreds of monks in the temple knew it, but it was never lost because of the great pains that the monks of the past generations took to to record down the details of training for such a skill.

    "Did she really get hit by Buddha's Great Warrior Attendant Palm?" XuanJu wanted to ask. But he stopped himself before he did. For asking such a question would be questioning the skills of Divine Doctor Xue, which would have been incredibly rude and unseemly. So instead he turned to Qiao Feng.

    "Last night you snuck into ShaoLin and killed my martial brother XuanKu. At that time you had been hit once by Abbot's Buddha's Great Warrior Attendant Palm. Had that palm hit this girl, how could she have survived?" He inquired accusingly.

    "Father XuanKu is my master and I am indebted to him forever." Qiao Feng shook his head in response. "Until I repay him for everything he has done for me, I would rather die than harm him one bit."

    "Still won't own up to it?" XuanJu angrily replied. "Then what about that ShaoLin disciple that you kidnapped? Did you not do that either?"

    "The 'ShaoLin disciple' I took with me is right in front of you at this moment." Qiao Feng thought to himself. Instead he replied: "If Father insist on accusing me of kidnapping a ShaoLin disciple, then could you please tell me what is the name of the ShaoLin disciple that I have kidnapped."

    XuanJu and XuanNan looked at each other, again, in stunned silence as neither one of them could say a thing. Last night, along with XuanCi, they had quite clearly saw Qiao Feng take a ShaoLin disciple with him as he was escaping. Yet when they checked afterwards, nobody was missing. This was one riddle that they could not figure out for the life of them.

    "Brother Qiao, all by himself, snuck into and out of ShaoLin last night without a single injury and still was able to kidnap a ShaoLin disciple with him. That's rather hard to believe." Divine Doctor Xue cut in. "There must be something going on here that you are not telling us about."

    "I didn't kill Father XuanKu, and I certainly did not kidnap a ShaoLin disciple last night either. There's a lot of things that you guys don't understand, and there's a lot of things that I don't understand either." Qiao Feng replied.

    "No matter what," XuanNan declared, "this young miss could not have been injured by my martial brother, the Abbot. The Abbot is a respected and enlightened leader of a sect. How could he possibly bring himself to hit a young miss such as her? No matter what this young miss is guilty of, my martial brother would not stoop to her level and hit her." {This is sort of a put down, but not really. Etiquette and protocol calls for the leader of a sect to ignore the misgivings of youths and people in a lower position}

    Qiao Feng figured: "It's probably better that they insist that Ah-Zhu wasn't injured by Abbot XuanCi. Otherwise Divine Doctor Xue might, because of ShaoLin, refuse to heal her." So he decided to just push the boat down the river and go along with it.

    "Of course, Abbot XuanCi is forever benevolent and would never hurt a girl like her so. Most likely it's somebody disguising as a ShaoLin master causing trouble, hurting people, and spreading rumors." Qiao Feng said.

    XuanJu and XuanNan looked at each other, again, and slowly nodded: "This bastard Qiao Feng may be villainous, but these couple of words are very reasonable."

    Ah-Zhu was giggling inside: "What Master Qiao said is completely true, there really was somebody disguised as a ShaoLin monk, causing trouble and spreading rumors. Only the person who the pretender was trying to be wasn't Abbot XuanCi but Monk ZhiQing."

    But how could XuanJu, XuanNan, Divine Doctor Xue, and the rest of them figure out the real meaning behind Qiao Feng's words?

    Seeing XuanJu and XuanNan's reaction, Divine Doctor Xue decided that it was ok to move on.
    "So, it seems that there's actually another person in the world that knows Buddha's Great Warrior Attendant Palm," He continued his diagnoses. "When this person made his move, something was in the way and much of the power of his strike was dissipated. That's how Miss Wan was able to survive the strike. That person's strike power is probably on par with that of Abbot XuanCi's"

    Qiao Feng had to admire the doctor: "Much Abbot XuanCi's strike's power was indeed blocked with my bronze shield. Divine Doctor Xue is truly amazing to be able to describe all of this just by simply measuring Ah-Zhu's pulse. Looks like there's hope that he would heal Ah-Zhu."

    Smiling, he said: "If this young girl would die from Buddha's Great Attendant Palm, then it would cause ShaoLin to lose some face. So I beg Divine Doctor Xue to cure her." He bowed as he finished.

    "Who hit you? Where were you when you got hurt? Where is that person now?" XuanJu asked Ah-Zhu before Divine Doctor Xue could reply. He was worried over the reputation of ShaoLin and decided that he must get to the bottom of this.

    Ah-Zhu, unlike the serious and measured Qiao Feng, was a fun loving girl who tells harmless lies and makes stuff up all the time. So at this point, she figured: "These monks are all afraid of master, so why don't I just bring him into this and scare them a little?" {Ah-Zhu is really just Huang Rong without any knowledge of kungfu}

    "That person is a young gentleman, very handsome and suave looking, around 28 or 29 years old. This Master Qiao and I was just talking about how amazing Divine Doctor Xue is. He's not just the best in the world, he's just about the best there ever was and ever will be. There's nobody like him before and almost surely nobody as good will come in the future. Even the gods and goddesses in the heavens aren't as great."

    There isn't a single person in this world who doesn't like hearing his own praise. Divine Doctor Xue had heard so many praise like this in his life time that he had lost count a long time ago. But this is the first time that he had ever heard praise from an articulate young girl. Plus the fact that she was exaggerating shamelessly. He could not help but stroke his beard and smile at the praise.

    Qiao Feng, however, was frowning: "What is she talking about? This gal is making stuff up like crazy."

    "That's when I said: 'With Divine Doctor Xue in the world, we don't have to bother learning kungfu anymore.'" Ah-Zhu continued. "Master Qiao asked: 'Why not?' I said: 'Divine Doctor Xue could even resurrect a dead person, then what's the point of learning kungfu? You kill one, he cures one; you kill 2, he heals a pair. Aren't we just wasting our efforts for nothing?'"

    She was articulate and her voice was easy on the ear. And even though she's injured, and was imitating the QingCheng Sect disciples in their SiChuan dialect, this spiel sounded like marbles rolling around in a jade bowl and was a pleasure to listen to.

    Everyone smiled at her talk, some even laughed out loud.

    But Ah-Zhu didn't smile at all as she continued: "There was this young gentleman sitting by us listening to us talk. He suddenly snickered and said: 'The strike powers of people in this world are mostly weak and completely devoid of inner force. That doctor named Xue is not worthy of such a lofty of status. Let's see if he can't heal this palm strike of mine.' As he said that, he struck out towards me through air. I thought he was joking with me because he was so far way. But Master Qiao was shock...."

    "And he stuck his arm out to block it?" XuanJu interrupted.

    "No!" Ah-Zhu shook her head and continued. "Had Master Qiao stuck his arm out to block, then I wouldn't have been hurt. But Master Qiao was too far away from me to do that, so instead he picked up a chair and threw it over. His timing was just right and with a huge crack, the chair was smashed into pieces by the force of that young gentleman's palm strength. That young gentleman spoke is such a soft SuZhou dialect, but there was nothing soft about his kungfu. I immediately felt as if I was weightless, as if I had flown into the clouds, without a single ounce of strength left in my body. Then I heard that he say: 'Go and tell that Divine Doctor Xue of yours to go flip a couple more medical books and get a little practice. That way when he has to do the same thing for Abbot XuanCi in the future he would know what to do.'"

    "What did he mean by that?" XuanNan frowned.

    "He seemed to say that he would use this Buddha's Great Warrior Attendant Palm on Abbot XuanCi in the future." Ah-Zhu replied.

    "Ooooh!" Almost everyone in the crowd uttered in unison. Several more people simultaneously added: "Using your own method, back onto yourself!"

    "So it is GuSu MuRong!" A couple of other people chimed in, making sure to add the "so it is" part in so as to tell everyone else that they suspected as much a long time ago.

    Nobody knew that Ah-Zhu was doing because of ShaoLin's wrongful accusation of her Master MuRong. Figuring that sooner of later he and ShaoLin's misunderstanding was going to come to a head, she figured that she might as well make something up to boast her Master MuRong a bit and scare ShaoLin at the same time.

    Suddenly, You Ju cut in: "Brother Qiao just said a while ago that it was somebody disguised as a ShaoLin master in order to cause trouble who injured this young miss. But this young miss said it was a young gentleman who injured her instead. Who's telling the truth here?"
    "There's also some people disguised as ShaoLin monks as well." Ah-Zhu immediately replied. "I saw 2 monks who claimed they were from ShaoLin, but they stole black dog from a family, killed it, and ate it."

    She knew she had made a mistake in her lies, so she immediately went off on a tangent and changed the subject.

    Knowing that she wasn't really telling the truth, Divine Doctor Xue couldn't make up her mind whether or not to try and treat her. He looked over at XuanJu and XuanNan before turning towards You Ji and You Ju, and then finally turned his eyes towards Qiao Feng and Ah-Zhu.

    "Divine Doctor Xue," Qiao Feng spoke up, "if you save this girl today. I, Qiao Feng, would be forever indebted to you."

    "Forever indebted to me?" Divine Doctor Xue sneered. "Do you actually plan on walking out of JuXian Mansion alive today?"

    "Dead or alive, it doesn't really matter. But this young girl's injuries had to be treated by you, doctor."

    "Why should I save her?" Divine Doctor Xue casually asked.

    "Save one life, 7 steps closer to Paradise. Divine Doctor Xue is a respected member of the martial world and surely could not bare to let an innocent girl like her die needlessly."

    "If anyone else asked me, I would treat this girl. Hmph. But if you asked me, then I wouldn't."

    Qiao Feng's face immediately stiffened as he sincerely declared: "The heroes are gathered today at JuXian Mansion to discuss how to get me, I know that."

    "Ai-yo!" Ah-Zhu cut in. "Master Qiao, if that's the case, then you shouldn't have taken such a risk for me."

    "I thought that since everyone here is a real man and know the difference between right and wrong." Qiao Feng continued. "The person you want to kill is me and me alone. This young girl has nothing to do with this. Divine Doctor Xue would actually move his hatred of me onto this young Miss Wan. How could that be right?"

    Divine Doctor Xue had no comeback for what he said. Only after a long pause did he finally say: "Whether or not to treat a person is my decision and mine alone, others can't force me to do it. Qiao Feng, with your terrible crimes, we were just talking about how to catch you, chop you into a million pieces so as to avenge your parents and master. But instead you came walking in instead. That's better than anything we could hope for. Why don't you just end it yourself right here?"

    He flicked his right hand a little. Everyone in the crowd gave a shout and unsheathed their weapons. The hall shimmered in the almost blinding reflected light of the weapons. There were countless amounts of sabres and daggers, axes and whips. This was followed by another loud cheer from up above as the ceiling was suddenly filled with people as well, guarding every piece of the room.

    Qiao Feng had been in plenty of huge battles and fights in his life. But he was usually leading the Beggar Clan into to battle and hence usually had the numerical superiority over his foes. Never had he ever been trapped in such a predicament all by himself, not to mention there's a severely injured girl at his side. How exact does he get out of this? He had no idea and his heart began to pound.

    Ah-Zhu was even more frightened as she began to cry. "Master Qiao, just get out of here. Don't worry about me. They have no issues with me and wouldn't hurt me."
    "That's right, these people are all good people. They would never harm her for no reason. It's probably best for me to get out of here as soon as possible." Qiao Feng thought. "A real man should treat other's life like his own. Divine Doctor Xue hasn't promised to treat her yet. Her life is not saved yet, how could I be so afraid to die and leave her like this?"

    Looking around, he could see that there was several famous martial arts masters present, quite a number of them he knew personally, all of them possessing great skills. But with this, the blood in his veins began to warm up: "So what if I died here? Real men should live joylessly and die fearlessly."

    He let out a hearty laugh: "You all say that I am Khitan and want to get rid of this stone from your shoes. Hehe, am I Han or am I Khitan? Even I don't know."

    "That's right, you are a mutt, a bastard! Only that even you yourself don't know what kind of bastard you are!" A thin and squeaky voice suddenly said from amidst the crowd. This was the same person who had made fun of the Beggar Clan earlier. But since he just says a couple of words at a time, nobody knew who it was. Everyone looked to where the voice came from, but saw no lips moving. If you say that it came from a short person, there was no short person present either.

    Hearing those words, Qiao Feng quietly observed for a long time before nodding a bit and moving on. Turning around to Divine Doctor Xue: "If I was Han, how could I forgive you for your insult today? If I really am a Khitan, the sworn enemy of everything that is of the Great Song, the first person I would kill would be you, so to avoid me killing one hero of the Great Song and you saving one patriot of Great Song. Right?"

    "That's right." Divine Doctor Xue replied. "No matter what happens, you are going to kill me."

    "I ask you to save this girl today and exchange one life for another. If you save her, I would never even touch your hair."

    "In all my life, I have only listened to other beg, not threats." Divine Doctor Xue coldly sneered.

    "A life for another. It is as fair of an exchange as you can get, it's not threat."

    "Aren't you the least bit ashamed?" That squeaky voice suddenly said. "You are going to become meat sauce under everyone's lives and you are still talking about showing mercy and letting others live? You...."

    "Get the hell out of here!" Qiao Feng suddenly screamed at the top of his lungs, causing the roof tiles to shake and the dust to come falling off of the ceiling bars. Everyone's ears were buzzing from the scream and their hearts pounding.

    A man stumbled out from the crowd as if he was drunk. He was wearing a green robe and his face was deathly gray. Nobody recognized him.

    "Ah!" Master Tan suddenly shouted. "That's Tan Qing, the Soul Chasing Cane! That's right, he's "Overflowing Evil" Duan YanQing's disciple."

    The Beggar Clan members, upon hearing that he's Wan YanQing's disciple, began cursing at him furiously. Turned out that soon after the West Xia martial arts master were captured using their own "Gentle Breeze of Sadness," Duan YanQing arrived. Nobody within the Beggar Clan was able to stand up to him as he cured those West Xia kungfu masters using an extremely bad smelling antidote and turned them towards the Beggar Clan, causing the Beggar Clan to take on huge losses. Everyone in the clan hates and fear Duan YanQing, knowing that without Qiao Feng, there's nobody in the clan that could stand up to this "World's Evilest Man" in the future. {If you read that part of the book, you don't feel sorry for the Beggar Clan after all, they deserved to be defeated and taught a lesson the way they treated Qiao Feng.}

    Tan Qing's face was contorted almost beyond recognition, as if he was in great pain. His hands kept on grasping his chest as a voice came emanating from within his body: "I... I don't owe you anything and you not me, why... why did you have to do that?"

    His voice was squeaky and sharp, but was staggered as if he couldn't catch his breath. But his lips did not move at all, to the amazement to most everyone present. A few of the people present knew that he was using a skill to talk out of his stomach which, when used in conjunction with a high level of inner strength, could be used as a depressant which would confuse and even kill whoever that hears him. But when up against a person with stronger inner force, this skill would not only not work, but would backfire and hurt the practitioner.

    "You are Duan YanQing's disciple?" Divine Doctor Xue angrily shouted at him. "This is a gathering of heroes, only the heroes of the world are allowed. How did such a low-life scum like you get in?"

    "Gathering of heroes my *** !" A voice suddenly said. "Looks more like a gathering of zeroes to me!"

    When he said the first word, he was still far away, on top of the tall walls outside. But by the time he said the word "me," he had arrived with his voice. Jumping off of the tall wall, one could see that he unusually tall and incredibly fast. The people stationed on the roof tried to stop him by throwing their swords or hitting him through the air with their palm strikes, but all for naught as they were too slow and he was able to dodge out of the way. Quite a number of people in the hall recognized that he was "Evil Extreme" Yun ZhongHe. With a flick of his body, Yun ZhongHe had arrived inside of the hall. Grabbing a hold to Tan Qing, he shot directly towards Divine Doctor Xue. Fearing that he would kill Divine Doctor Xue, everyone in the hall immediately rushed up to protect him. But Yun ZhongHe had expected this and played a trick with them, feigning attack so as to retreat. Seeing everyone rush up to protect Divine Doctor Xue, he immediately jumped back and hopped onto the wall again.

    There's plenty of martial arts masters in the room, and those whose kungfu are better than Yun ZhongHe number in the 40s if not the 50s. But because he had grabbed the initiative and caught everyone off guard, plus his superiors lightness kungfu, nobody was able to catch up to him once he had hopped onto the wall. Several people reached into their shirts for projectiles and those people on the roof tried to stop him again, but all looked too late.

    "Stay here!" Qiao Feng shouted and struck out a palm strike through air. The force of the strike was like a formless blade, flying through air and hit Yun ZhongHe squarely in his back.

    Yun ZhongHe let out a suppressed moan as he fell flatly onto the ground, blood spilling out of his mouth like a fountain. Tan Qing was still standing though, just that he would stumble left a bit and then jump to the right, all the while humming a little tune. Quite a comic scene, only that nobody was laughing. Everyone was shocked by the horror that was playing out in front of their eyes.

    Divine Doctor Xue knew that even though Yun ZhongHe was hurt badly, he could still be saved. But Tan Qing had already lost his soul and no amount of medicine of miracle cures in this world could save him anymore. Reflecting how Qiao Feng, with a casual scream and a palm strike, would inflict such incredible damage, he realized that if Qiao Feng want to take his life, there probably isn't anyone that could stop him. While he was reflecting, Tan Qing had stopped stumbling around and just stood there. The humming had seized as well and his eyes were wide open, but he wasn't breezing anymore.

    Back when Tan Qing had insulted the Beggar Clan, the clan members were furious but had nobody to take it out on, so they were forced to swallow all that anger. But now, seeing how Qiao Feng took care of him, all of them cheered on the inside. The more straightforward ones like Elder Song and Elder Wu almost let out a shout of praise but held back, realizing that Qiao Feng was from Khitan.

    But deep inside every one of their heart they thought: "If he was our leader, the Beggar Clan would never lose. Otherwise... Ay! The going is going get really tough from here on out, the Beggar Clan would never be return to its former glories."

    Yun ZhongHe struggled up and stumbled out of the door. He took a couple of steps before throwing up another mouthful of blood. Seeing how badly he's injured, nobody felt like troubling him anymore as everyone thought: "He called this the 'Gathering of Zeroes', yet none of us could do anything about him. Ironically it was Qiao Feng who struck and made him pay for such an insult."

    "Honorable Brothers You, I have met up with many friends here today who, after today, will be friends no longer." Qiao Feng turned towards the You Brothers. "I could not but feel sad, so I would like to ask you for some wine."


    Everyone was caught off guard by his request. "Let's see what the hell he's going to do here." You Ju thought to himself as he instructed the servants to go fetch some wine.
    Because this was a planned gathering at JuXian Mansion, there was plenty of wine in stock and soon the servants came in with flasks of wine and cups to drink as well.

    "These cups are just too small. Could you get something big to drink out of?" Qiao Feng replied.

    Two servants went off and returned with several huge bowls and a newly opened jug of white wine. They placed them on the table in front of Qiao Feng and filled one bowl up with wine.

    "Fill them all up!" Qiao Feng commanded and the 2 servants obeyed.

    Lifting up one bowl in his hand, Qiao Feng turned towards the crowd: "Of the many heroes gathered here today, there are many who are old friends of mine. But since you are suspicious of me, I propose we drink our friendship away. If any friend wishes to take Qiao Feng's life, then come up and have a drink with me. Afterwards, our old friendship will history. If you kill me it's not betrayal, if I kill you it's not cross. Let the heroes of the world be our witness."

    A coldness shot through everyone as the hall was completely silent. "If I go up and drink with him, he would undoubtedly try a sneak attack on me," each of them thought. "That close, how can I block that strike power of his?"

    In this stunned silence, a woman dressed in funeral clothing suddenly walked out. It was Ma DaYuan's widow Madame Ma. "My husband died in your hands, this friendship that you spoke off ended a long time ago." she said in a grave voice as she lifted the bowl up to her lips and took a sip.

    "I cannot drink the entire bowl. But the vengeance of my husband will be like this wine." She said as she slowly poured the wine that was left in the bowl onto the ground.

    Qiao Feng looked her straight in the face and couldn't help but notice how beautiful and elegant she looked. It was dark that night in the apricot woods and the firelight was flickering, so he didn't get a chance to get a good look at her. Never could he had guessed that such a formidable woman would look so fragile and delicate. Without a word he picked up another bowl, drank its entire content in one breath, and signalled the servant at his side to fill the bowls again.

    After Madame Ma walked back into the crowd. Elder Xu walked up and, without saying a word, drank an entire bowl of wine with Qiao Feng doing the same. Then came the Scribe Elder, after whom Enforcer Elder Bai ShiJing walked up. Just as he lifted up his bowl and was about to drink, Qiao Feng stopped him.

    "Hold on!"
    "Brother Qiao, do you have something you want to say?" Bai ShiJing had always admired Qiao Feng and treated him with the utmost respect, and even now he was still the same, just that now he doesn't refer to Qiao Feng as "chief" anymore.

    "We have been like brothers for so long now. Who could have known that we would end up being enemies?" Qiao Feng sighed.

    "Brother Qiao's birth, I had heard rumors about it for a long time." Bai ShiJing replied, fighting back tears. "Back then I would not have believed it even if it meant my life. But now... now it really is true. If it wasn't because our country is at war, Bai ShiJing I would rather die than be Brother Qiao's enemy."

    "I understand." Qiao Feng nodded. "Soon we will be friends no more and be enemies in battle. But I have a favor to ask."

    "If it doesn't hurt my country, I would give my all."

    Qiao Feng smiled and pointed to Ah-Zhu: "All brothers of the Beggar Clan, if you still feel the slightest beholden to me for what happened in the past, then all I ask of you is to insure this young miss's safety."

    Everyone got the sense that it was almost as if he was asking others to take care of his orphan. For after drinking with his friend one-by-one, he would fight. Being surrounded by so many masters, even if he kills a good number of his foes, it was highly unlikely he was going to survive. Even though everyone in the crowd hates him for being Khitan and for committing such heinous crimes, they couldn't help but admire the courage in his actions.

    Bai ShiJing had always had a good relationship with Qiao Feng, and upon hearing what is equivalent to his last wishes, he had to reply: "Don't worry Brother Qiao. Bai ShiJing I would personally beg Divine Doctor Xue to treat her. If anything should happen to Miss Wan, then I would kill myself so as to as for repent for Brother Qiao."

    {Hate to give the story away, but LIES, ALL LIES!!}

    He brought the bowl to his lips and drank the strong wine down in one breath. Qiao Feng did the same.

    Elder Song, Elder Xi, and the rest of the Beggar Clan all came up and drank the wine with him. After the everyone in the Beggar Clan finished, the heroes and masters from other sects all walked up and drank.

    The longer this spectacle went on, the more amazed everyone became. Qiao Feng had already drank at least 40 or 50 bowls of wine by now. The hug jug of strong wine had long since been killed and the servants had to go and fetch another jug. But Qiao Feng still looked sober and alert, other than the fact his belly was protruded a bit, there was no sign of anything different about him.

    "Forget the fight, at this rate, he would drink to death," everyone thought.

    But Qiao Feng was one of those people who grows more alert the more he drinks. These last couple of days all the frustrations from the false accusations had been bottled up inside him, finally he just decided to just let it all out and drink to satisfaction before ending it all with a fight.

    After even Bao QianLin and Fast Sabre Qi Liu had drank with him, Xiang WangHai walked up and picked a bowl up. "Hey you! I'm going to drink a bowl with you," he said in a rude tone.

    Feeling the effects of the wine, Qiao Feng looked at him out of the corner of his eye and replied: "I'm drinking this friendship-ending drink with the heroes of the world to say that our friendships are a thing of the past. What have you done to deserve this drink? What friendship did I have with you?"

    Not waiting for an answer, Qiao Feng took a step forward and grabbed his chest with his right hand. With a simple wave of his arm, Qiao Feng threw him out of the hall. Xiang WanHai hit the marble walls outside with a loud "bang" and instantly fainted.

    At this, the hall descended into chaos.

    Qiao Feng jumped out of the hall and into the yard before turning around to face the crowd. "Who want to come out here and fight to the death first?" He shouted at the top of his lungs.
    Seeing him standing there in all his glory, nobody dared to ran forth and challenge him.

    "If you guys aren't going to start this off, then I'm going to!" Qiao Feng shouted.

    "Bang!" "Bang!" Two men were already hit by his palm through the air and fell to the ground. Going along with his own momentum, he charged back into the hall and, with a flurry of fists and kicks mixed with palms and elbows, instantly took down several other fighters.

    "Everyone, back up against the wall, don't get into a melee!" You Ji shouted.

    There were more than 300 fighters within the hall. If they all charged up at once, there was no way Qiao Feng could fend them off no matter how good he was. It was just that when everyone was stuck together pushing against one another, only 5 or 6 men was at Qiao Feng's side and could truly fight him. And even then, with all the weapons waving around, a lot of people were actually trying to protect themselves instead of attacking. But with You Ji's shout, the middle of the hall immediately emptied.

    "Let's see how great the You Brothers of JuXian Mansion are!" Qiao Feng shouted as he lifted his left palm and sent a huge wine jug flying towards You Ji's face. You Ji put up both hands and was about to conjure up some inner force to bat the jug away. But unexpectedly Qiao Feng followed up with a right fist, which, with a loud bang, smashed the wine jug in a million pieces in mid-air. The sharp broken pieces and shards of the jug, pushed by the force of Qiao Feng's palm, were like hundreds of metal darts or daggers. Three pieces hit You Ji in the face, which was soon covered in blood. Several people at his sides were hit as well. The shouting and cursing of pain and warnings were deafening.

    "Daddy! Daddy!" Suddenly a boy's cry could be heard coming from a corner of the hall. You Ji recognized the voice as that of his only son, You DanZhi's. Despite his predicament, he still found time to look over and see that You DanZhi's left cheek was covered in blood, having been hit by one of the piece of the jug.

    "What are you doing here? Get back inside!" You Ji yelled.

    "Yes sir!" You DanZhi replied and snuck back behind a column but still stuck out his head to watch the fight.

    {He was introduced as a wounded character, is there any doubt that Jin Yong created YDZ to suffer?}

    Qiao Feng kicked with his left foot and another jug flew off. Just as he was about to add another palm strike to smash it, he suddenly felt a soft and gentle palm force approaching him from behind. Even those the force of the strike was gentle and soft, it was very powerful and backed up with a quite strong inner force. Knowing that it had came from a strong foe, Qiao Fend did not dare to wait any longer and immediately returned a palm strike back in response.

    The 2 forces met and both sides were slightly taken aback and needed a moment to collect themselves. When Qiao Feng took a good look at who his foe was, he saw a weird looking ugly man. It was none other than Zhao QianSun. "He has a tremendous inner force, got to be careful of him." Qiao Feng told himself as he drew in another breath and unleashed a second, mountain-splitting palm strike out at him.

    Knowing that he could not stand up to this strike with just one palm, Zhao QianSun brought up both of his palm in an effort to block the incoming strike.

    {Yet even more evidence that having 2 hands is a huge advantage to only one hand, are you paying attention those of you who maintain Yang Guo can beat Guo Jing?}

    "Don't you want to live anymore?" A female voice came from the side as he was suddenly pulled over to the side and just avoided Qiao Feng's strike.

    But the force of the Qiao Feng's palm still came rolling in, hitting the 3 men behind Zhao QianSun head on and sent them flying into the wall, kicking up a huge amount of dust and knocking loose a couple pieces of the wall.

    Turning around, Zhao QianSun saw that it was Grandma Tan who had pulled him away. He was overjoyed: "Xiao Juan, you saved me!"

    {Their relationship, or lack there of, was the source of quite a bit of comedy earlier in the book. Anyhoot, Juan means beautiful and graceful and Xiao means little. It is quite an affectionate term, too affectionate for a man to use on another man's wife.}

    "I'll attack his left and you attack his right." Grandma Tan said.

    Just as Zhao QianSun nodded his head and said "ok," a short and skinny old man charged toward Qiao Feng. It was Grandpa Tan.

    Even though he had quite a small built, his kungfu was quite formidable. As his left palm struck out, his right palm immediately followed, at which he pulled back his left hand and struck out with it again. Three palm strikes in a row, just like 3 consecutive waves, one after another, each building on the other until it was released all at once with a force 3 times more powerful than his normal palm strike.

    "Wonderful! 'Three Rolling Waves of the Yangtze!'" Qiao Feng shouted as he waved out his left palm.

    The 2 forces collided violently, pushing many spectators on the side away. At this time, Zhao QianSun and Grandma Tan's attacks arrived as well. They were soon followed by the Beggar Clan as Elder Xu, Elder Cheng, and many other elders joined the foray.

    "Brother Qiao, Khitan is the sworn nemesis of our Great Song. We are only doing this for our country, forgive us!" Scribe Elder shouted.

    "We have already drank our friendship away, why so polite? En guarde!" Qiao Feng replied with a laugh as he stuck his left foot out at him.

    Despite what he said, because of what they went through together, not only could he not bring himself to take away the lives of his Beggar Clan brothers, he did not want to make them look back in front of others. So as he stuck his foot half way out, he suddenly switched directions.

    Fast Sabre Qi Liu let out an unusual yelp and took off. He didn't jump, but was kicked by Qiao Feng in his stomach. He was prepared to slash down with his sabre onto Qiao Feng's head, but because his body took off, this slash went astray. With a loud thud, his sabre came down upon one of the support beams on the ceiling. With the force he put into the chop, the cut was several centimeters deep and his sabre actually got stuck within the cut. This particular sabre was the prized weapon of Fast Sabre Qi Liu, it was the weapon that made him famous. So, facing such a formidable foe, he could not bring himself to let go of the sabre as he grasped the handle of the sabre tightly as he could with his right hand. In doing this, he doomed himself to hang in the air. It was quite an unusual situation, but everyone down in the hall was staring death in the face and nobody dared to even spare a moment to even take a look at him, much less laugh at his predicament.

    Ever since he joined the martial world, Qiao Feng had never lost a single one of his hundreds of battles. Not only that, even though he had fought against many a martial arts masters, he had never been in much danger. By now the effects of the wine, with the help of his huge exertion of inner force, had really taken hold. As his palms danced around the air, none of the master present was able get close to him.

    Despite his astonishing medical skills, Divine Doctor Xue's kungfu left something to be desired. He was a true genius when it came to medicine, it was as if he knew it all without even being taught. Even so, he had been interested in martial arts as a small kid and his master was an even more amazing and knowledgeable master. However, a number of years ago, Divine Doctor Xue and all 7 of his martial brothers were all kicked out by his master at the same time. Not willing to find another master, he instead took to another route, exchanging his medical services of kungfu. Picking up a move here, a skill here, rarely would you find a person with more knowledge in kungfu as he. But unfortunately, the broadness of his knowledge was also his downfall. In essence, he bit off more than he could chew and never really mastered any single kungfu. But because of his renowned medicinal skills, whenever he asked others about kungfu advice and such, people, not really being serious, would always add a couple of words of praise along with their critique so as to get on his good side. So he couldn't help but be a little arrogant, figuring that he had mastered most of all the martial arts in the world. But watching this fight, he realized that the speed with which Qiao Feng strikes and the force with which the strikes land were beyond anything he could have imagined before. His faced turned deathly pale and his heart were just about to leap out of his throat, he was not even able to utter a sound, much less join in on the fight.

    Flattening himself against the wall, he wanted to quietly sneak out for the life of him. But he could not bring himself to do it. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw XuanNan standing at his side. He suddenly remembered something and felt terrible about it.

    "I was incredibly rude before, I ask for Father's forgiveness," he turned toward XuanNan.

    XuanNan's attention was entirely fixated upon Qiao Feng and didn't hear Divine Doctor Xue at all. Only after he had repeated it twice did XuanNan finally snapped out of his trance.

    "How were you rude?"

    "I had said: 'Qiao Feng, all by himself, snuck into and out of ShaoLin last night without a single injury and still was able to kidnap a ShaoLin disciple with him. That's rather hard to believe.'" Divine Doctor Xue replied.

    "What's wrong with that?"

    "Well, with such amazing skills, Qiao Feng is indeed practically unmatched in the world. Only now do I realize that if he wanted to enter ShaoLin and to cause trouble, it is almost impossible to stop him." Divine Doctor Xue said in sincere voice.

    He meant to be apologetic, but in XuanNan's ears, they sounded caustic.

    "Hmph, Divine Doctor Xue want to see exactly what ShaoLin kungfu is all about?" XuanNan replied.

    Not waiting for an answer, he slowly stepped forward and twirled his sleeves up. Underneath the sleeves, the sound of a fist strike could be heard shooting out. This was one of the 72 Supreme Skills of ShaoLin, "Heaven Within the Sleeve," in which even though the sleeves are twirled up in a knot, the force of the fist would still shoot out from inside the sleeves. ShaoLin monks had always been based strictly to Buddhist teachings to learn and practice martial arts for self improvement. Even getting angry was forbidden, much less striking someone. But ShaoLin Sect had been the leader of martial arts in the world for centuries now, how could it not join in the fight? With the fist hidden within the sleeve, this "Heaven Within the Sleeve" was a very graceful move. The sleeve served as a screen for the force of the fist so the foe could not see where the fists were coming from, therefore making it easier to catch him off guard. But few people knew that the sleeves contain a huge variety of viciously strong moves. If the foe concentrate solely upon figuring out the moves of the fist behind the sleeves, then he would turn the diversion into the real thing and attack with the sleeve.

    Qiao Feng was watching his attack as two sleeves flew up with the wind as if they were 2 huge sails. The force of the attack was truly amazing.

    "'Heaven Within the Sleeve'! Incredible!" Qiao Feng shouted as he, with a swoosh, swatted at the sleeves. The force of XuanNan's sleeves were applied over a large area while Qiao Feng's strike was concentrated. With a string of loud tearing sounds, the 2 forces met. Suddenly the hall seemed to be filled with gray colored butterflies.

    Caught by surprise, everyone paused to collect themselves. Turned out that the gray butterflies was actually what used to be XuanNan's sleeves. When one turned one's gaze to XuanNan, one could see that his incredibly skinny arms were now completely exposed. When those 2 forces met head on, how could XuanNan's sleeves possibly take that kind of pressure? Thus they instantaneously torn to shreds. Now that he lost his sleeves, his sleeves naturally lost their "Heavens". In his fury, his face turned a metallic green color. With a simple palm strike, Qiao Feng was able to defeat the very skill that had made him famous. Not able to stand such humiliation, waving his arms wildly, he charged without abandoned. Everyone recognized that what he was using was "Founder's Long Fist." It was this fist skill, along with a cane skill, that was used by the Founder of Song dynasty, Song TaiZu Zhao KuangYin to conquer and unite all of China under the Great Song. None of the Emperors since then had been as fierce or brave as Song TaiZu. These set of "Founder's Long Fist" and "Founder's Cane" was the most popular skills in the martial world, even if one didn't practice it, one was familiar with it.
    Seeing such a famous ShaoLin monk, whose kungfu prowess was world famous, use such a plain, everyday skill surprised everyone. But after he had gone through 3 moves, everyone couldn't help but praise: "ShaoLin Sect's fame and acclaim is indeed well merited. The same 'Crossing Thousand Kilometers' would be so powerful when he uses it."

    Because of their admiration, none of them seemed to mind how strange XuanNan looked without any sleeves.

    Qiao Feng was surrounded by several scores of people, but as soon as XuanNan struck, the others, feeling that they were merely getting in the way, temporarily backed off. They still surrounded him in the middle of several rings, so as to not let escape. But everyone was completely mesmerized by the fight between XuanNan and him.

    Noticing that others have backed off, an idea suddenly popped into Qiao Feng's head. With a loud swoosh, he struck out with his palm with a "Charging the Formation and Killing the General", yet another move from "Founder's Long Fist". The move was looked completely natural and poised. There was a hint of give within the unyielding force of the strike as well as a hint of firmness within its softness. The state of perfection in mastery that all kungfu practitioner wish for had been clearly exemplified by this move. Of all the people gathered here in this "Gathering of Heroes", even if their kungfu skill weren't good, they were at least extremely knowledgeable, so everyone knew and understood the essence of "Founder's Long Fist." Upon seeing Qiao Feng's move, quite a number of them could not help but cheer in admiration!

    {Ok, I'm convinced, Qiao Feng is the better than Duan Yu and Xu Zhu, by a mile!}

    Many people immediately regretted the cheer, for it was in praise and support of their sworn enemy. But now that the sound had left their mouth, they couldn't take it back. Qiao Feng followed with a "New Moon's Majesty", which was just as refined, it was hard to tell whether this move was better or worse than his last move. Another cheer went up in the hall as a number people still couldn't hold it back in, but because several people realized the paradox the cheering created and held back, the cheer this time was quieter than last. Nevertheless, there were still quite a number of "oohs" and "ahhs" uttered in admiration. Everyone had been too involved in battle with Qiao Feng to worry about anything else, but now that they were an outside observer, they finally realized how amazing his kungfu really was.

    After Qiao Feng and XuanNan exchanged 7 or 8 moves, it had became obvious who was better. Despite the fact that both were using the same simple fist techniques, every one of Qiao Feng's moves came after XuanNan's move. As soon as XuanNan made a move, Qiao Feng would follow it up, but for some reason, maybe it was his youth or maybe he was just quicker, every one of Qiao Feng's moves would arrive at its objective before XuanNan's move. There's only 64 moves in "Founder's Long Fist," but each one of them could effectively counter another. Qiao Feng would recognize his opponent's move before countering with the move that would cancel it. In this situation, how could XuanNan not lose? Everyone present understood the reason behind this, but to be able to "move later but arrive faster", especially when facing such a master such as XuanNan, had they not witnessed it themselves, none of them could have imagined it was possible.

    Seeing XuanNan in trouble, Xuan Ju shouted: "You barbaric Khitan dog! How dare you use such despicable methods?"
    "I'm using our country's founder's fist, how dare you call me 'despicable'?" Qiao Feng answered righteously.

    Everyone immediately understood why he was using "Founder's Long Fist." If he had used other fist styles to defeat "Founder's Long Fist", then others would not say that it was because of his superior skills but rather accuse him of humiliating the founder of their country by using the skills of another race or country, which would only add to the hatred towards him. But now that everyone's using "Founder's Long Fist", the only thing that made difference was each person's skills and nothing else.

    Seeing that XuanNan was moments away from being in mortal danger, XuanJu didn't bother to reply and just simply pointed his finger at Qiao Feng's Whirled-Pearl Point and attacked using ShaoLin Sect's acclaimed pressure point hitting skill, "Tangutan Buddha Finger."

    {Whirled Pearl Point is the part of the scalp where your hair goes into a whirl.}

    Hearing the sound of his finger slashing through the air, Qiao Feng stepped aside to dodge the move.

    "I have heard of the power of 'Tangutan Buddha Finger' for a long time, and it really is as powerful as the rumors say. You are using the kungfus of those Tangut barbarians against the martial arts of our Founder that I'm using. If you defeat me, then aren't you selling out to those barbarians and bringing shame to our great China?" Qiao Feng said.

    XuanJu was quite taken aback by this. ShaoLin Sect's founder Bodhidarma was indeed a Tangut. Today everyone was teaming up against Qiao Feng for being of Khitan birth, yet because ShaoLin kungfu had been established in China for so long that every single sect or style of kungfu had at least a little bit of relationship with ShaoLin Sect. So much so that everyone had forgot the close relationship ShaoLin has with the barbarians. But now, reminded by Qiao Feng's words, everyone remembered.

    Some of the wiser people among the crowd wondered: "We treat Bodhidarma with reverence like a divinity, yet why do we hate the Khitan people so much? They are all people of different races than us. Hmm, these 2 races are obviously different. The Tangut people do not slaughter us fellow Chinamen while the Khitan people are despicable and vicious. But in this sense, it doesn't mean that everyone of a different race is evil, there are good and bad people within them as well. But does that mean there are some good people within the Khitan?"

    In reality, with such a huge fight at full swing, there were plenty of brutes who never thought such thoughts. Even though all of the more thoughtful people had thought such thoughts, they didn't have time to dwell it over, only feeling a little bit at the bottom of their hearts that: "Qiao Feng may not have to be killed, and we may not be as in the right."

    Fighting 2 against 1, XuanNan and XuanJu still had to defend more than they attacked. Frustrated by the fact that whatever he did was always countered by his foe, XuanNan changed his style as soon as XuanJu joined him in the fight, switching instead to ShaoLin's "Arhat Fist".

    "So you are going to use the martial arts of the Tangut? Let's see which is better, your foreign kungfu better or that of our Great Song!" Qiao Feng coldly snickered as his fist were loudly swung about in the style of "Founder's Long Fist."

    Everybody present had a sick feeling in their stomach. They were attacking Qiao Feng because he was a foreigner, yet instead they were using foreign kungfu while he was using the fist of the founder of their country.

    "Who cares about fist style? This man killed his father, his mother, and his master. He deserves to die!" Zhao QianSun suddenly shouted as he charged into the fight, followed closely by Grandpa Tan, Grandma Tan, Elder Xu, Elder Cheng, and scores of others.

    Everyone of them were kungfu masters, and despite the great number of them, they attack was well organized, essentially taking turns one after another attacking Qiao Feng.

    Fighting them off, Qiao Feng declared: "You say that I am Khitan, but then Grandpa Qiao SanKui and Grandma Qiao can't be my father or mother anymore. Forget the fact that they always treated me with great love and care without the slightest intention of harm, even if I did kill them, how could I be guilty of 'killing my father and mother'? Father XuanKu is my savior and master, if ShaoLin Sect admits that he's my master, then I would be a ShaoLin disciple. How could you gang up on a ShaoLin disciple like this?"

    "Hmph! How could you stoop so low as to resort to such sophistry and equivocation?" XuanJu replied.

    "If it justified and consistent, then it isn't sophistry or equivocation. If you guys don't regard me as a ShaoLin disciple, then don't accuse me of killing my master. As the saying goes, 'One could always trump up charges if one's out to condemn me' (yu jia zhi zui, he huan wu ci). If you guys want to kill me, then just do it like a man. Why bother accusing me of all these inconsistent and deceitful charges?"

    Even as he was debating, he never stopped fighting: fist hitting Dan ShuShan, kick landing on Zhao QianSun, elbowing a green clothed man that he didn't see the face of, and palm striking a white bearded old man that he didn't know the name of. While arguing, he knocked down 4 people in a row. Knowing that these people weren't bad people, he held back with his strikes, of the 18 or so people that he had knocked down, none had lost their life. As for his brothers in the Beggar Clan, he didn't even touch them, when Elder Xu attacked him, he just ducked out of the way.

    But with so many people at the gathering, as soon as he knocked 10 people down, another 10 people took their place. "If this keeps up, I'll eventually die of exhaustion. It's probably the best to find a place to escape first." Qiao Feng figured as he carefully surveyed for an escape route as he fought.

    Zhao QianSun was lying on the ground, unable to move. But he was still able to see that Qiao Feng was looking to escape.

    "Everyone, attack him! Don't let this despicable dog bastard get away!" He shouted.

    Adrenaline pumping, Qiao Feng could feel his fury gradually taking over, hearing Zhao QianSun's words finally sent him over the edge.

    "This dog bastard is going to start off his killing spree with you!" He howled as his palm came screaming down upon Zhao QianSun.

    "No!" XuanNan and XuanJu simultaneously shouted as both of them stuck out with their right hand, trying to save Zhao QianSun's life.

    Suddenly a human form appeared in mid air as a sickening scream reverberated around the hall. XuanNan and XuanJu's blows landed on the person's chest as Qiao Feng's palm landed squarely in the middle of the back. Caught in the middle of those 3 powerful and violent forces, the person's ribs immediately shattered and internal organs collapsed. Blood gushing out of the person's mouth, the body collapsed onto the ground like a pile of mud.

    Not only was XuanNan and XuanJu shocked, Qiao Feng was caught by surprise as well. Turned out that this person was Fast Sabre Qi Liu. He had been hanging in midair for quite some time now. Rattling back and forth, he was finally able to pry loose his sabre and fall. Quite unfortunately, he just happened to fall in between those 3 strikes, it was as if 2 gigantic steel slabs came slamming together on him. There was no chance of him surviving.

    "Amida Buddha," XuanNan was first to say something. "Qiao Feng, have you not sinned enough?"

    "I only half responsible! You 2 are just as responsible as I for his death, why are you guys dumping it all on me?" Qiao Feng screamed in fury.

    "Amida Buddha. Amida Budda. Had you not sinned first, would there have even been a fight today?" XuanNan replied.

    "Alright, ok, it's all my fault. So what!" Qiao Feng screamed back as he finally let his anger take over, which instantly turned him into a wild beast.

    He grabbed somebody with his right hand, who happened to be Chan Zheng's second son Chan ZhongShan. Snatching his sabre with his left hand, he let go of his body and immediately slammed down with his right hand, caving in the top of Chan ZhongShan's head. The rest of the people gasped in horror and anger.

    Now that the killing started, Qiao Feng's fighting became even more desperate and violent. Slashing ferociously with the sabre in his left hand and switching periodically between palm and fist with his right, he was not to be stopped. Slowly but surely, the white walls was becoming more and more covered with small droplets of blood as the hall began to fill up with corpses. By now he did not worry about past friendships anymore, even that of the Beggar Clan. Not even waiting to make out his foe's faces anymore, his eyes were blood-shot as he killed whoever that he happens into. It was like this that Elder Xi died under his sabre.

    Of the people that were at the gathering, 9 out 10 of them had killed before. After all, to become known in the martial world required more than just making friends and talking a good show. And those who had not killed before had witnessed such events many times before. But none of them had ever seen such a violent and horrifying battle as the one that was unfolding in front of their eyes. There was only one foe, but he was like a crazed tiger, a possessed demon, charging back and forth, attacking and chopping left and right indiscriminately. Many a master had stepped up to challenge him, but all were mowed down by his faster, stronger, fiercer, better moves. Nobody present was a coward who was afraid to die, but in front of them was an crazed opponent whose kungfu skills nobody could stand against as their eyes were filled with images of blood and flesh were flying across the hall, of human heads were rolling on the floor and their ears were filled with the desperate and stunned screams of death, most of them wanted to run away as soon and as quickly as possible. Was Qiao Feng guilty or wasn't he? They did not care for it anymore.

    Seeing the situation quickly deteriorate, the Brothers You each brought up their circular shield with their left hand and a weapon in their right hand, one had a short spear while the other had a sabre. With a whistle, the 2 of them attacked Qiao Feng from 2 sides with the shields protecting their body.

    Even though Qiao Feng was letting it all out for the fight, he was still completely coherent and not a least bit panicked as he easily and quickly picked apart every opponent's move, hence why he still hadn't been wounded. Noticing that the You Brothers were charging in, he immediately chopped down the 2 men by his side and, trying to grab the initiative, attacked You Ji. You Ji brought his shield up at the last moment. With a loud clang, Qiao Feng's sabre bounced back. Upon closer inspection, he noticed that the blade of the sabre had curled up, rendering it completely useless. The shields in the You Brothers' hands were melded using the finest of metals that had been melted and reshaped over hundreds of times, even priceless swords could not penetrate them, much less that ordinary iron sabre that Qiao Feng grabbed out of Chan ZhungShan's hands.

    Immediately after deflecting his foe's attack away, You Ji immediately struck the short spear in his right hand from underneath the shield, like a snake striking out of its hole, aiming towards Qiao Feng's stomach. At this precise a moment, there was a cold flash as the shield that was in You Ju's hand came flying in at Qiao Feng's torso.

    With one glance, Qiao Feng could tell that the edges of the shield were incredibly sharp, like those of an ax. If it hit him, it would surely slice him in two. A truly vicious move.

    "Excellent!" Qiao Feng shouted as he threw down the sabre in his hand and punched out with his left fist.

    With a tremendous bang, his fist landed squarely in the middle of You Ji's shield. He then shot out his right fist, which was followed by an equally deafening bang as it hit You Ju's shield directly at its center.

    The You Brothers felt half of their bodies go numb as Qiao Feng's overwhelming power shook them to their very core. Stars appeared in their eyes as they, losing all their strength in their arms, dropped their shields and weapons onto the floor. The place where the base of their thumb and index finger came together bursted and split open, covering their hands in blood.

    "Great, thanks for lending me 2 weapons!" Qiao Feng chuckled. He bent down, picked up the shields, and gave each a twirl. The shields were truly amazing devices that could be used to attack or defend. Several dying screams went up as 5 people fell by the shields. The You Brothers' faces looked shamed and defeated.

    "Brother, remember what master said? 'Shield lives, we live. Shield dies, we die!'" You Ji shouted.

    "After such humiliation, how could us brothers have any face left to live on this world?" You Ju replied.

    With a slight nod toward each other, both of them picked up their weapons and stabbed them into their hearts, dying instantly.

    "No!" Everyone shouted in dismay. But with Qiao Feng waving his shields around as he was, who had enough courage to venture to within 10 meters of him to drag the bodies out. Who could have ventured within 10 meters him?

    The screams of a young man could be heard above the chaos: "Daddy! Daddy!" It was that of You Ju's son, You DanZhi.

    Qiao Feng paused in shock, never expecting that the You Brothers, the Masters of JuXian Mansion would commit suicide. His back felt cold as he suddenly sobered up a great deal.

    "Why did you do that, Brothers You? Here, let me return these shields back to you." Qiao Feng said with regret as he bent down and laid the shields at the You Brother's side.

    He hadn't quite straightened himself back up yet when a girl suddenly shouted: "Watch out!"

    Qiao Feng immediately side-stepped to the left letting a green flash shoot by as a sword barely missed him. Had it not been for Ah-Zhu's timely warning, even though he probably would not have been hit, he would have been at a very disadvantageous position. The perpetrator of the sneak attack was Grandpa Tan, who, as soon as he missed, dashed away to safety.

    As everyone was concentrated on fighting Qiao Feng, Ah-Zhu curled up in a corner as she became weaker and weaker. Seeing everyone ganging up on Qiao Feng, remembering that it was because he was trying to save her that he put himself into such great danger, she could not but be greatly moved and worried. Noticing Grandpa Tan sneaking up from behind Qiao Feng as he laid down the shields, she had to call out and warn him.

    "Oh is that it you little devil you!" Grandma Tan was furious. "We don't bother you so you go and help him?" With a flash, her palm came crashing down at the top of Ah-Zhu's head.

    Just as her palm was about to hit Ah-Zhu, Qiao Feng arrived. Grabbing Grandma Tan by her collar from behind, he forcefully pulled Grandma Tan to a stop and tossed her aside, sending her crashing onto a priceless carved pear wood chair. Even though she was not hit, Ah-Zhu was severely frightened and her body just gave out.

    "The life force in her body is about to be completely drained." Qiao Feng thought to himself. "But at this moment, how could I help her?"

    "Her life force is about to run out, are you going to prolong her life with your own inner force?" Divine Doctor Xue coldly spoke out. "If she stops breathing, then even real divine goddesses couldn't bring her back to life."

    Qiao Feng was in a bind, he knew that what Divine Doctor Xue said was the truth, but if he help Ah-Zhu, the people around him would immediately bear down upon him. Some of the people lost sons, others lost friends, so none of them would be the least bit hesitant at finishing him off. But was he supposed to just watch her die and do nothing?

    He had taken such a risk to get her here to Gathering Virtue Mansion and it would a shame if it was all for naught if she died because she ran out of life force before Divine Doctor Xue could treat her. However, if he was going to keep her alive by transferring his inner force into her, it would be the equivalent of exchanging his own life for hers. For all she was, Ah-Zhu was still just merely a maid that he met in his travels. He had no real feelings toward her, just that helping people out and saving people were something that he'd normally do. But to exchange his life for hers was too much to ask.

    "She's not a relative of mine, and I am not beholden to her at all. I had tried my best to get to here and done all that I could. I got to get out of here as soon as possible. Whether or not Divine Doctor Xue could save her would be just depend on fate and her luck." Qiao Feng thought.

    So he picked the 2 shields up from the floor and continuously performed "Roc Spreading Wings" several times, creating 2 rings of white light around him that rolled towards the exit as he charged.

    Despite the numerical advantage, Qiao Feng's moves were too vicious and those 2 shields too great of weapons. So nobody was able to get within several meters of Qiao Feng's body to stop him.

    Having made it to the exit in several steps, Qiao Feng had just stepped over the threshold with his left foot, he suddenly heard a raspy old man shout defiantly: "Kill the girl first, then let's worry about getting him for revenge!"

    It was Iron Faced Judge Chan Zheng that said that. His eldest son Chan BoShan immediately responded with a "yes" and lifted up his sabre in preparation to bring it down upon Ah-Zhu's head. In the heat of the moment, Qiao Feng didn't have to think and just threw the shield in his left hand out. It whirled violently as it exploded through the air.

    "Watch out!" Seven or eight different people shouted at the same time. Chan BoShan immediately brought his sabre around in an attempt to parry. Qiao Feng's toss was too forceful and the edge of the shield too sharp.

    "Crash!" Chan BoShan's body and sabre were cut in half. Still going strong, the shield kept on flying. "Zeng!" It cut through one of the huge columns that supported the hall, sending dust and roof tiles into the air and onto the ground.

    {Chan Zheng had 5 sons, they were introduced earlier in the book.}
    Chan Zheng and the 3 of his sons who were still alive screamed in sadness and fury. But with Qiao Feng standing there in all his menace and glory, they did not dare to go up to him. Instead, they, along with 6 or 7 others, charged toward Ah-Zhu.

    "Have you know shame!" Qiao Feng cursed at them and let loose 4 straight palm strikes, which shook those people enough to stop them.

    Quickly flying to her side, Qiao Feng picked Ah-Zhu up with his left arm and shielded from the others her with the shield he had left.

    "Master Qiao, I'm not going to make it." Ah-Zhu pleaded. "Don't worry about me, just... leave!"

    Seeing so many "heroes" stooping so low as to pick on Ah-Zhu, a defenseless and dying girl, aroused Qiao Feng's indomitable sense of pride.

    "Now that it has come to this, they would never let you live. Let's die together!" He replied in a booming voice.

    Reaching out with his right hand, he snatched a sword from someone and began slicing and dicing his way towards the door. Carrying Ah-Zhu, his movements were slowed on top of the fact that he had now one less hand to fight with, putting him in a very disadvantageous position. But he had long put his life on the backburner as he made the sword dance around him. He had only taken 2 steps before a pain shot up from his back, someone had slashed his back with a sabre.

    {Ok, even more evidence that fighting with one arm stinks, JY explicitly stated so here. Qiao Feng was not even touched, now he got hurt after only 2 steps.}

    He lifted his leg and kicked back, sending that man flying for almost 100 meters before crashing into another person, killing both of them instantly. At that moment, a spear stabbed Qiao Feng on his right shoulder, which was soon followed by a sword thrusting into his right chest.

    Qiao Feng let out a thunderous howl and screamed: "Qiao Feng would rather kill himself than to die in the hands of you low lives!"

    But the other fighters were, by now, so completely absorbed in the fight that there was no way that they were going to allow him the luxury of ending his own life. A dozen or so people charged up together. Gathering his strength and spirit, Qiao Feng suddenly reached out with his right hand, grabbed XuanJu by the "Mid-Chest Pressure Point", and lifted his body up in the air. Everyone involuntarily gasped in shock and instinctively took a couple of steps back.

    His pressure point being hit, XuanJu was completely paralyzed and could not move despite his incredible kungfu skills. Looking down, he saw that his neck was only centimeters away from the edge of the the shield, Qiao Feng only needs to lift his left arm a little or give his right arm a push and his head would have been chopped off. Resigning himself to his fate, XuanJu sighed and closed his eyes, awaiting death.

    The incredible pain on his back, his chest, and his right shoulder felt like someone had poured acid on the wounds. Qiao Feng gritted his teeth and said: "All the martial arts in my body had originally come from ShaoLin. How can I kill a high monk of ShaoLin? Qiao Feng is doomed to die today anyway, what's the good in killing one more?"

    Gently, he put XuanJu down onto the ground and let go. "Well? Come on! Finish this!" He said at the top of his lungs.

    The fighters looked at each other, all moved by his courage and spirit. Nobody could bring himself to take his life. Still some more thought: "He wouldn't even harm XuanJu, how could he possibly take the life of his master Father XuanKu?"

    However, Iron Faced Judge Chan Zheng, heartbroken and furious over the death of 2 of his sons, did not hesitate. With a loud yell, he charged up and thrust his sabre directly at Qiao Feng's heart.

    Qiao Feng knew that with his severe wounds, he could not possibly fight his way out anymore, so he just stood there motionlessly. In that instant, an infinite amount of thoughts flashed through his mind: "Am I really Han or am I Khitan? Who killed my parents and master? I have always lived honorably and tried to the do the right thing in my life, why did I kill all these heroes and good men today for no good reason? I wanted to save Ah-Zhu, but ended up giving my own life away, would all the heroes in the world laugh at me for such stupid actions?"

    Seeing Chan Zheng's dark and contorted face, eyes bugging out and charging at him with a sabre aimed at his heart, Qiao Feng's heart was suddenly overwhelmed by sadness and anger. Not able to hold it back anymore, he suddenly snapped out and howled up into the heavens like a proud and dying beast.

    END OF CHAPTER 19

  19. #599
    Senior Member littleli's Avatar
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    Thanks very much fp...

  20. #600
    Senior Member SkyWalker's Avatar
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    Thanks for the repost FP.

    XF was so glorified in the last chapter! Is there any doubt that he's the best fighter of them all?

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